£42 default on credit rating

mattsday

gazter wrote: »

Contact T mobile about the default, explain that you werent aware of debt, moved house etc, pay it off and ask if they can remove the default from your credit file. They can.

Thanks - I'm going to do this, worth a punt at the least!

hcb42

I think you can overcome this error - we were in a similar situation recently (and completed a week ago, whoop!).

we did put a notice of correction or whatever it is on equifax and did appeal to our lender, as we were initially declined. another key factor against us was that we had recently moved into rented also, from owning our own home for 25 years, and had inadvertently not registered on the electoral roll, which was probably a lot worse than a missed payment..good luck!

demontfort

I can only judge you on the limited information you've provided and based on your salary you should clear at least £5k per month after tax. You may even be a contractor who pays tax through some dodgy scheme in which case you may clear a lot more.

Either way 6-12 months of solid saving should allow you to build up another 10%-20% deposit so you can avoid Help to Buy and apply directly for a mortgage so ensuring that your ropey finances are not placed under such scrutiny. The best things come to those who wait!

mattsday

Thrugelmir wrote: »

The scheme is geared to weed out those that can afford to save for a deposit, or a buying a cheap house.

On your salary raising a 10% plus deposit shouldn't be an issue.

Right, but 10% isn't as good a mortgage as a 25% one, so the programme benefits me by letting me get straight on to being a homeowner instead of waiting 2, 3, 4 years to save up and buy later...

Given the fact that fees kick in after 5 years, I thought it was designed for people who would take around that kind of time to make 20% in savings...

Or is the government just taking on more debt from people who can't afford the deposit ever?

Do people get rejected for earning too much? Says anyone can qualify.

mattsday

Just looping back on this one, as it's helpful for other people in a similar position to me to know what's going on...

In spite of the default being 18 months old, my mortgage broker was able to get me a regular deal with Nationwide on a low APR with no snags!

It turned out that they took in to consideration the bigger picture, which I was not expecting... so for those of you that may hit this via a search, THERE IS HOPE!!!

TheEffect

mattsday wrote: »

Just looping back on this one, as it's helpful for other people in a similar position to me to know what's going on...

In spite of the default being 18 months old, my mortgage broker was able to get me a regular deal with Nationwide on a low APR with no snags!

It turned out that they took in to consideration the bigger picture, which I was not expecting... so for those of you that may hit this via a search, THERE IS HOPE!!!

Thanks for coming back and letting us know.

Did you write a letter to t-mobile, as in all likelihood, I'd imagine if you sent them a cheque, a well written letter etc, you'd be in with a good chance of getting the default removed?

mattsday

TheEffect wrote: »

Thanks for coming back and letting us know.

Did you write a letter to t-mobile, as in all likelihood, I'd imagine if you sent them a cheque, a well written letter etc, you'd be in with a good chance of getting the default removed?

Thanks - no news about T-Mobile, I did write a very long sob-story message, so I guess if it does get removed it'll be a bonus!

mattsday

Another update on this in case someone comes here wondering what happened...

I applied for the help-to-buy equity loan and was approved - they seemed to mainly care that I could pay it back and sustain a mortgage. The final hurdle with this whole thing is to take all the approval so far and get Nationwide to convert the Agreement in Principal to a full blown mortgage offer... Here's hoping!

Also, I never heard back from T-Mobile and it's been three weeks now. I suspect I'll eventually get a very corporate letter telling me that they can't remove it, but not entirely given up hope!

mattsday

Final update here and ending it all with a happy note.

Both Nationwide and Halifax declined my mortgage applications straight away for having defaults. I explored the possibility with them of increasing my LTV to 85%, but they were having none of it.

So I called HSBC who I'm largely told I'd be wasting my time with - but 18 years of banking with them and an otherwise spotless record, I decided it was worth a punt. I called up, spoke with the underwriter directly and an hour later was APPROVED.

They told me that the default wasn't a high enough amount for them to care and although they suggested I settled it, they were fine with me taking the mortgage based on my loyalty with them. I'm not using Help to Buy any more, but instead took an 85% LTV... So my credit file looks awful with millions of searches + an unsettled default - but who cares! I got a mortgage approved

So for those who read this thread maybe in the future or are in a similar boat, good luck! It can work out in the end.

satchef1

A nice timely thread here. My income is nowhere near as big as the OP's, but I'm in a similar situation. 'Cancelled' a T-Mobile contract when I was 20 before heading off backpacking. Came home 12 months later to find that the contract actually hadn't been cancelled properly and T-Mo had continued to bill me, placing a default on my credit file a month before I got home.


The 'lovely' people at T-Mobile were quite happy to accept payment, but refused to remove the default (apparently it's not possible to do this...). As such, I never paid it off. Now (5 years later) I'm looking at getting a mortgage. I was feeling more than a little worried about the prospect of getting one when there's a default on my record, but this thread gives me some hope