I've ruined my husbands credit rating, help!

ValHaller

matttye wrote: »

.... It seems I was mistaken and six months is the maximum amount of months in arrears rather than the minimum, but they indicate that defaults should not be filed where payments are less than three months in arrears.

I am thinking that the default notice has been sent on 2 months arrears so that a default can actually be filed immediately 3 months arrears is reached.

matttye

ValHaller wrote: »

I am thinking that the default notice has been sent on 2 months arrears so that a default can actually be filed immediately 3 months arrears is reached.

I think you're probably right. If that is the case, then paying the arrears plus this month's bill should prevent the default - in theory!

Perhaps the OP can confirm what the letter actually says and whether a default has already been applied.

Jonesy_McJones

koliver1312 wrote: »

Hi, Can anyone offer any advice please?

My husband has just received a letter from credit card company to say he has defaulted and not paid the last two months minimum payments. This is entirely my fault as I was meant to pay it off in full a few months ago. However I didn't check the statement for the next two months and there were interest payments. He didn't receive paper statements so this went unnoticed.

We would now like to remortgage, however this is now mentioned on his credit file. Is it worth contacting credit agencies to say this was a stupid mistake. (minimum payments were only £5!)

Please only respond if you have positive advice to offer, I feel awful about this and don't need anyone to tell me how bad the situation is!
Many thanks

Have you or your husband actually seen his credit file since this happened? Is there definitely something adverse on there?

I would guess that the letter has been issued by the system. Give them a call, explain that you meant to clear it in full and didn't realise / forgot about the interest - hence why it wasn't cleared correctly - and ask if there's anything they can do with regards to his credit file. Also explain that you are about to remortgage and that obviously this might affect that. If you have any other products with them, you could use this as your leverage - but be nice, you are asking for a favour after all. I would think that the response is going to depend partly on which company it is, and partly on who answers your call.

Did you ring them to find out the balance before you cleared it? If so, it would have been best practice to remind you about the interest.

I used to work in Financial Services in a credit & collections area - I amended peoples' credit reports regularly - so it can be done.

ETA - if there is something on his credit report and they won't change it - he can add a 'notice of correction' to explain the circumstances, but like others have said, it should only be a late payment recorded, not a default.

Experian_company_representative

Getting your husband's credit report would be a good idea at this stage, assuming he hasn't done this already. It's standard practice to register a default at 3-6 months of arrears so perhaps by default they do just mean missed payments. If the data is accurate, whatever is recorded, then adding a notice of correction to explain the circumstances is probably the only option I'm afraid.

James Jones

redonion

matttye wrote: »

ICO guidance says a default should be placed for around six months of missed payments - not just two!

Plus they should have sent you a default notice explaining how you could rectify the situation before a default was actually placed on his file.

I think you have a fair shot of contesting this.

This is the first piece of info I've heard on credit history and lending policy that makes any sense to me. Huge brownie points, in my book, for citing specific documents (which are presumably publicly available in writing)!

Given the numbers of people who miss payments on credit cards and similar credit agreements simply through lack of time to mind their pennies, any sort of link between that and mortgage repayment seems remarkably tenuous without a policy such as this.

stclair

Equifax also use the word default for missed payments.

Thrugelmir

redonion wrote: »

Given the numbers of people who miss payments on credit cards and similar credit agreements simply through lack of time to mind their pennies, any sort of link between that and mortgage repayment seems remarkably tenuous without a policy such as this.

If you don't have the time to manage your personal affairs properly. Then there's little hope of that person making 300 monthly payments on a mortgage on the due date. Simple as that. A lender can profile people fairly accurately in terms of the risk they pose.