Please Help!

CreditHelpNeeded

Hi all,

I am 33, living in the UK. I was very foolish and irresponsible when I was younger, racked up debt via credit card, an overdraft, numerous contract phones, utility bills and most recently a repossessed house all of which left me with a credit score of 431 in the 'very poor' category. I desperately want to fix this but do not know the best foot forward. I am dubious of these debt free fast companies all offering services online, eager to call you up and 'help' you out. They all have an end game so are surely biased when giving advice.

All I can say for certain right now is that I am registered with Experian, my credit rating has improved slightly since I last checked to 520. I think this is due to me not pursuing credit applications and the age of my defaults.

Some of these defaults are due to be removed in the next year or so and although I question whether or not its ethically right to just ignore them and hide away from it until they disappear, I feel it's probably the best option.

According to Experian I have 3 CCJ's, a mixture of utilities and one phone contract. I know for a fact I have had much more in my lifetime but it doesn't seem to be showing? Does that mean it's gone? Surely there must be some form of ruling that regulates the information held by ALL credit reporting agencies to ensure they are all giving the same information?

My most worrying debt however is the repossession of my house. £203,000. According to Experian, it was registered as a default with the balance showing as 'satisfied' even though I have never paid them a penny. I have read on other threads that it is possible for these debts to be sold on, is this correct? If so, why haven't I heard from these people? Admittedly i'm probably not that easy to find, I am not on the electoral role and have moved from the address obviously since the repossession. In my mind it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever for a company to pay even a reduced amount to purchase that debt when they have no way of tracking me down and securing it. It has been a year since the debt was classed as satisfied and I haven't heard anything.

My question to you is this. What should I do?! Should I ignore the debt and hope the 6 years passes by without contact? To be honest I have gone for so long with such terrible credit, it makes no difference to me not having it for another 5 years but what are the chances that this can come back and bite me again? If thats a likely option then I would rather get a plan in place now and make a start towards sorting this all out once and for all.

PLEASE HELP!!!

nicp60

Hi there and welcome,
I didn't want to read and run, and I'm sure someone with more experience will be along shortly to give you some more advice. A few things stand out from your thread:

• Firstly credit score numbers are pretty much meaningless. Lenders don't see them, they all have their own criteria, so please don't worry about those for now.

CreditHelpNeeded wrote: »

Hi all,

I am 33, living in the UK. I was very foolish and irresponsible when I was younger, racked up debt via credit card, an overdraft, numerous contract phones, utility bills

How many of these do you still owe money to?

CreditHelpNeeded wrote: »

and most recently a repossessed house

How recently? Was there a shortfall on the mortgage and the sale price (ie when the bank sold the property on?

CreditHelpNeeded wrote: »

I am dubious of these debt free fast companies all offering services online, eager to call you up and 'help' you out. They all have an end game so are surely biased when giving advice.

Absolutely - steer clear of these at all costs

CreditHelpNeeded wrote: »

Some of these defaults are due to be removed in the next year or so and although I question whether or not its ethically right to just ignore them and hide away from it until they disappear, I feel it's probably the best option.

Does that mean that you never addressed these defaults and still technically owe the money?

CreditHelpNeeded wrote: »

According to Experian I have 3 CCJ's, a mixture of utilities and one phone contract. I know for a fact I have had much more in my lifetime but it doesn't seem to be showing? Does that mean it's gone?

I assume that CCJs drop off after 6 years like other defaults - please someone correct me if that's not right?

CreditHelpNeeded wrote: »

Surely there must be some form of ruling that regulates the information held by ALL credit reporting agencies to ensure they are all giving the same information?

Yeah, you'd think so, but in reality they can often hold different info.

CreditHelpNeeded wrote: »

My most worrying debt however is the repossession of my house. £203,000. According to Experian, it was registered as a default with the balance showing as 'satisfied' even though I have never paid them a penny. I have read on other threads that it is possible for these debts to be sold on, is this correct? If so, why haven't I heard from these people?

Did the house eventually sell at auction? If so it may have satisfied the outstanding mortgage. If not you will be liable for any shortfall for at least 12 years.

CreditHelpNeeded wrote: »

My question to you is this. What should I do?! Should I ignore the debt and hope the 6 years passes by without contact?

Which debt are you referring to?

CreditHelpNeeded wrote: »

To be honest I have gone for so long with such terrible credit, it makes no difference to me not having it for another 5 years but what are the chances that this can come back and bite me again?

For the repossession yes, it will have consequences for longer than 6 years.

If you can provide the info above (maybe a list of all your debts, default dates etc and any other info you have about them), then I'm sure we can advise you more.

Hope this helps. If I've made any mistakes then please feel free to correct me!!

nicp60

Hi again,
Just did a little digging and it sounds like it might not be unusual not to be chased immediately for any shortfall on the repossessed mortgage:

This was taken from the Council of Mortgage Lenders website:

Lenders who are members of the Council of Mortgage Lenders voluntarily agreed from 11 February 2000 to begin all recovery action for a shortfall within six years of the sale of a repossessed property. If your property was taken into possession and sold more than six years ago, and you have not been contacted by your lender to recover any outstanding debt, you will not now be asked to pay the shortfall.
http://www.cml.org.uk/cml/consumers/guides/debt