Cleaning up my credit file

PippaGirl_2

Apologies in advance as my main questions are not strictly BR related, but this is the forum where I have gained all my knowledge and I know there are people who will know the answers.

On my credit file I have one Nationwide account which they have failed to correct since my BR and Capital One have an incorrect default date but have amended the rest of the entry ok, and I am ok with dealing with both those things as the cleaning up your credit files sticky here explains how to very clearly, thank you.

However, on my credit file I have both a Nationwide credit card and a Nationwide current account both of which are not my accounts and belong to my xh. They show defaults and negative balances. They give his DOB but my previous address, where he has never lived. I have been in to Nationwide about the credit card and they say they can't give me any details about the account as it is not mine, but have said that it is only in his name and my name is not on it and as far as they can see never has been so they don't know why it is on my credit report. They say there is nothing they can do. I have written to the DCO at Nationwide about both the credit card and the current account stating that these accounts are not mine and should not be on my credit report and that they are breaching my xh's confidentiality by having it on my report for me to see. I have told them to correct it. I did this in March this year. They have failed to ammend either or respond to me in any way.

So, what can I do? I seem to be blighted by my xh's poor credit right now, rather than my own! I've used the template letters on the sticky for BR related amendments but this isn't strictly BR related, they just need to get my xh's accounts off my credit report, so any ideas of wording as to what to say would be hugely appreciated. TIA

Pippa.

scorpioyorks

Hi Pippa, I have had a very similar problem to you. You can contact the credit score company and they will send you a form to fill in to disassociate from your ex husband.

scorpioyorks

I signed up to check my credit file (which is call credit and equifax) I did this for free using the 30 day free trial and you can contact them through a private message board, they have emailed me the form to dis associate my ex husband from my credit report.

PippaGirl_2

I have contacted Noddle and they say that they are getting this information from Nationwide and are unable to amend anything unless they hear from Nationwide themselves that there is no association unless I can prove to them that these are not my accounts.

Basically my only port of call with the CRA is to prove that these accounts are not mine, which I can't. How can I prove that? Me just telling the CRA's that these accounts are not mine is not sufficient according to them without evidence and I need to approach the bank directly.

I'm still amazed that someone else's account can be on my credit report, what a breach of confidentiality! It's a nightmare.

PippaGirl_2

Well though I kept copies of the letters I sent in February and I did check online that they had arrived with the DCO, I failed to print off the internet conformation that the letters had arrived and now it is too many months later for the information to still be live on the PO website. So I guess as I have no proof my letters arrived I will have to write again. So I have written to Nationwide with a repeat letter requesting they amend my credit file and remove me from my xh's account. This time I will print off the proof that the letters have arrived with them and then having given them sufficient time to act, I will escalate it up. Nationwide have failed to act for both my xh's account and for adjusting my credit card account, which is still showing as defaulting each month now. Nationwide therefore, are fairly rubbish!

thrifty_pete

I have had a similar experience with Nationwide Credit Card Services. They have refused to correct an error in my payment history kept by a credit reference agency. They say that as it was from 2008 they "cannot find a record" of me holding an account with them at that time. I have explained that I would have held another type of credit card with them (before they discontinued it). They confirm I've been a customer of theirs since 1999 so it is really mysterious. Perhaps they lost most of their records when they moved from Southend to Coventry.
It seems very strange that a credit card company doesn't have clear procedures in place to deal with such queries. It all sounded like new territory to them. Even their complaints department seemed at a loss to know what to do. I guess they are probably quite a small credit card firm, relative to the banks. All a bit too amateurish for me though.

Pete

PippaGirl_2

Ok, new credit report is ready and now everything is corrected except my xh's Nationwide current account is still there and still in default. I sent my letter recorded delivery and when I go online and put the number in it says "is processing through our network" so I have no proof it arrived there! So I assume my complaint against Nationwide can't be escalated up to regulatory bodies? One other letter I sent at the same time says the same thing on the royal mail system and yet that company have updated my credit report so I would think my Nationwide letter did get there but I have no proof at all.
What sort of complaint can I make to royal mail about not being able to prove its arrival? I only have a mobile phone and it's locked against calling 0845, 0800 and 0870 type numbers so I can only call geographical numbers and I don't think you can contact Royal Mail by goegraphical number. This is a nightmare and I just want my credit report sorted, this account isn't even mine or my debt in the first place!

easygoingchap

PippaGirl wrote: »

Ok, new credit report is ready and now everything is corrected except my xh's Nationwide current account is still there and still in default. I sent my letter recorded delivery and when I go online and put the number in it says "is processing through our network" so I have no proof it arrived there! So I assume my complaint against Nationwide can't be escalated up to regulatory bodies? One other letter I sent at the same time says the same thing on the royal mail system and yet that company have updated my credit report so I would think my Nationwide letter did get there but I have no proof at all.
What sort of complaint can I make to royal mail about not being able to prove its arrival? I only have a mobile phone and it's locked against calling 0845, 0800 and 0870 type numbers so I can only call geographical numbers and I don't think you can contact Royal Mail by goegraphical number. This is a nightmare and I just want my credit report sorted, this account isn't even mine or my debt in the first place!

Either ask at a post office counter or use "say no to 0870" to find a suitable land line

PippaGirl_2

Thanks. Amazingly there was a geographical number on saynoto0870 so I phoned them. The recorded letter is classed as lost so royal mail are sending me stamps to compensate me for the cost of the lost recorded delivery letter. This credit file clean up is not going well!

So I have to reprint and resend all over again.

PippaGirl_2

To update this thread the online system with Royal Mail says the item was processing through the network for a month and on calling Royal Mail they say they lost the letter and it can't have got there so they have refunded me the cost of the recorded letter by sending me some stamps. Cleaning up this default is not proving easy! So I sent a third letter to Nationwide recorded and have printed off the notification from the Royal Mail website saying it arrived there safely and have now had a reply from Nationwide saying they are looking in to my complaint. Apparently they have 56 days in which to investigate before I can escalate this to an ombudsman? But they aim to reply by 25th of this month. So it seems Nationwide are investigating my complaint finally, 9 months after I first wrote to them about it. Really want this default off my file, annoyingly it's not even my account or my debt. Once that is done my credit file will be all tidied and cleaned.

Plus in other news, I applied for a mobile phone contract today and was approved. And it's with a provider that was included in my BR so I am obviously forgiven! So now I have a new smart phone and now I need to learn how to use it. Any clues?! From a very technically challenged person who is so used to a basic phone ..