Default on zero balance - update!

nicp60

Hi there,
I've searched the forum but couldn't find the answer to this, so apologies if I'm repeating any obvious questions.

I'm applying for a mortgage and have a default which I settled (in full) in July 2011. It's with Cahoot, who are still updating my credit report monthly with 8s. There's a zero balance on this account, but my mortgage broker said that lenders would just see that it's a defaulted account and has been defaulted every month.

Should a settled account be updated with 8s every month? Unfortunately I would have been in a better position now if I'd just not paid off any of my debts!

Haven't been able to post a screenshot, but I'll try and do it below.
Thanks!

matttye

I have two defaults and on both of them, my lenders put an 8 on the month of the default and then nothing else until I paid the accounts. They then put 'satisfied' for the month I cleared the debt.

In other words:

February: 8
March: (nothing)
April: (nothing)
May: (nothing)
June: (nothing)
July: Satisfied

You need to write a letter of complaint to Cahoot because they definitely shouldn't be reporting in that way. Send it recorded delivery. If they haven't satisfied your complaint about eight weeks, go to the financial ombudsman.

nicp60

Hi Mattye,
Thanks for the reply.

I actually brought this up with them in November and they changed the incorrect default date but have continued to default the account monthly since then.

Ironically my (completely irrelevant) credit score was 916!!

Anyway I've emailed the CEO and will contact the ombudsman if it's not dealt with immediately.

Thanks!

patman99

I had this on one account. Found this out when I signed-up for a Noddle account.
Luckily, noddle allow you to report errors on accounts, so thats what I did. All the defaults I reported going back 5 months got removed.

rizla_king

nicp60 wrote: »

Should a settled account be updated with 8s every month?

Not once it is settled.

nicp60

Rizla that's exactly what I thought, but Experian told me it was 'standard practice'.
Hardly fair!

rizla_king

nicp60 wrote: »

Rizla that's exactly what I thought, but Experian told me it was 'standard practice'.
Hardly fair!

Experian are talking bollucks.

Complain to the lender.

nicp60

Well a few weeks later and I am still tearing my hair out with Santander!!!

I complained to the lender, who at first admitted that it was an error and said that they would be confirming it in writing, updating and backdating my credit report and sending my £50 as an apology.

A week later and I chased this up (credit file not updated and nothing received in the post), and they say that:

The information we are reporting is correct

The account defaulted and it is now settled, we continue to report this information six years from the date it happened.

It will show on your credit file on a monthly bases as defaulted and settled.

Needless to say, I'm furious. I'm also pretty sure that this is incorrect - if the account had been run perfectly would they still be reporting on a closed account?? Anyone have any ideas? I'm going to call the FOS, but was hoping to get a mortgage soon, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen now!

rizla_king

If it is settled and closed then it should be marked as settled under the current balance field rather than showing £0, and no more updates would be applied from that point. The lender is talking tosh and needs to mark it settled properly.

Experian status history markers do remain at status 8 though even when saying settled elsewhere on the entry. Thats just the way they do it.

nicp60

Thanks Rizla.
Yes they should simply have stopped updating it! It looks for all intents and purposes like I defaulted last month (and the 23 before that)!

Just been on to the FOS and they were lovely! They're going to send a letter to Santander tomorrow and raise it as a formal complaint.
They agreed that once it's been settled that should be the end of the matter.

Fingers crossed this'll finally get sorted!

rizla_king

Just looking at the Experian sample report and looks like an 8 with £0 balance is OK for the final entry on the report in the status histories. As long as on the main part it says balance = satisfied.

http://www.experian.co.uk/downloads/consumer/mock-report.pdf

Entry C5 shows what it should look like. Compare yours with that.

Should not be constantly updated after that I think.