Credit Report help

LaylaMC

After watching Friday's program I thought it was time to check my credit report as I haven't done it for over a year.
My brief history is that 5-6 years ago my husband and I made lots of bad decisions resulting in lots of defaults and lots of accounts being passed onto debt collections companies. Since then we've done everything to help right that. So no new credit, no more debt and slowly working our way to paying off our many debts.
We knew the defaults would stay on our record for 6 years and knew that as of December 2014 they should all be gone.
Imagine my dissmay at looking at my report to find a default and 4 missed payments from August-December 2011!!
It turns out being the lovely big sister that I am I had offered to take out a mobile phone contract in my name for my younger brother (back before all my own troubles) which he then defaulted on. He settled the account in full the following month but am I now back to square 1. I've e-mailed the network provider and requested that they remove the default now the account is settled in full and closed but am I fighting a losing battle?
I feel absolutely gutted that after all our hard work we've been set back by another 4 years through no fault of my own. Please tell me there is something I can do?

matttye

Sorry to say but you are at fault here, by taking out a contract for your brother in your own name and then leaving it up to him to make the repayments.

This sort of thing is okay as long as you make all payments yourself and get the money off of your brother. You should also be prepared to pay the monthly bill yourself if your brother is no longer in a position to keep up the repayments.

Seriously, NEVER take out credit for someone else in your name and then leave it up to them to make repayments as it's just asking for trouble.

The default is accurate so I don't think you will be able to get it removed, but good luck!

LaylaMC

Thanks for your response. Don't worry i've learnt my lesson, never lend money to family! I originally did it about 8 years ago but had assumed he had gone on to take one out in his own name in that time (my fault I know for not checking). Is there anyway I use the fact that I wasn't notified of the default until after it had been applied even though they had my up to date address.
Also I have a couple of other defaults that are due to expire in the next year where the accounts are now held with collections companies so not settled yet. However, there is still information on my credit report from these companies from back in 2006 (good information) which is more than the 6 years I thought it would stay on for. Could this be because the account is still open even though it's not open with that company. I'm just worried the defaults won't disappear after their 6 years is up.

OneLife_OneShot

No way the default will be removed, it was in your name and it was not paid. I am sure they will be able to provide details of this too.

LaylaMC

Thanks, Just so annoying, I wish he'd just told me at the time as I would have paid the bill to stop it happening. Grrrr! How bad is one default on your record with regards to applying for a new mortgage. We've been waiting years to be in a position to get a new mortgage and buy a bigger house :-(

matttye

LaylaMC wrote: »

Thanks, Just so annoying, I wish he'd just told me at the time as I would have paid the bill to stop it happening. Grrrr! How bad is one default on your record with regards to applying for a new mortgage. We've been waiting years to be in a position to get a new mortgage and buy a bigger house :-(

You should be able to get a sub prime mortgage but unlikely to find anything decent. You could probably get the default removed if you can prove to a court that the creditor didn't send the default notice out in order to give you two weeks to rectify the situation. You'll need to send them a subject access request and see if there's a note of the default notice being sent out.

LaylaMC

Ah thank you, I'll give that a try. I do have a mortgage at the moment, so hoping my current mortgage provider will look favourably on the fact that I've never missed a payment on that and let me have a bigger one.

matttye

LaylaMC wrote: »

Ah thank you, I'll give that a try. I do have a mortgage at the moment, so hoping my current mortgage provider will look favourably on the fact that I've never missed a payment on that and let me have a bigger one.

With the information they hold about you, if you explain what has happened to them they might give you another mortgage - worth a shot!

Just so you know though, I've had overdrafts ranging between £100 and £1500 with my current bank (currently £0), always paid them back promptly and had no problems with them, been 'up to date' on my credit report for the entire 5+ years I've held the account, and they still won't give me a credit card.

Unfortunately lenders do still take credit reports into account even if you've always ran your account with them favourably.

That said, I know mortgages are completely different so they may apply different principles

oopsadaisydoddle

matttye wrote: »

You should be able to get a sub prime mortgage but unlikely to find anything decent. You could probably get the default removed if you can prove to a court that the creditor didn't send the default notice out in order to give you two weeks to rectify the situation. You'll need to send them a subject access request and see if there's a note of the default notice being sent out.

I don't mean to be the bearer of bad news but I believe that a network provider is not covered under the consumer credit act and as such, is not required to send out a default notice.

Usually a default only happens after a few months of no payment/contact. Up until then, it should just show as late payments.

matttye

oopsadaisydoddle wrote: »

I don't mean to be the bearer of bad news but I believe that a network provider is not covered under the consumer credit act and as such, is not required to send out a default notice.

Usually a default only happens after a few months of no payment/contact. Up until then, it should just show as late payments.

You're right, I forgot about that.

From what I can find on Google it looks like there are no laws regulating the entry of a default by mobile networks.. worrying

oopsadaisydoddle

matttye wrote: »

You're right, I forgot about that.

From what I can find on Google it looks like there are no laws regulating the entry of a default by mobile networks.. worrying

It is a bit worrying!

Especially since OP said the default was settled the month after. I am not sure whether they mean late payment rather than default? Usually though, even a default doesn't happen until they have had a good few missed payments with no attempt to contact the network.

Re: the default. I had a default that dropped off in 2010 which my ex had left me with. I managed to get a normal mortgage with a good rate just before it dropped off. We went through a financial advisor and they basically told us of which banks/building societies they knew that would overlook the default.

I can't remember the rate without looking but we are on a really good fixed rate until feb next year. The only issue we had was that we were slightly restricted with which lenders would look at us but we managed it without going sub prime.

We did have some things in our favour though in that the default was that old and I explained that my ex had 'caused' it and that it wasn't a reflection of me - the rest of my credit report was spotless. Mr Oops also had a fantastic credit history!