Finished DMP, time to clean up Credit File?

WiggyDiggyPoo

Hi All

A little ramble (arn't we all guilty of one from time to time!) but I'd appreciate your help/opinions.

As a bit of background in July this year I settled (via full and final) the last of 4 debts that I had been repaying with help from StepChange and a DebtManagementPlan. The plan started Nov '09 and all payments were made ontime throughout its life.

I've given it a month or two to let things settle and requested my credit file to see what state it has been left in:eek:

To my surprise, its not to bad and I just want a second opinion on whether I should chase getting some things corrected that I think should have been recorded differently, or accept that this is as good as its going to get for the period the DMP was active and it could look a lot worse!

A fair summary of what the 4 debts and the payments look like is :

1. They all show settled :money:
2. 1 of them shows Arrangement To Pay for the period of the DMP
3. 3 of them show late payments at various points, the last late payment is July '12
4. 1 of them shows as defaulted May '10, but then does show settled later.

I suppose I'm only really unhappy about the one that shows default when I was making payments, it did transfer to a (internal) debt management department at that time and I got a new account number so I suppose they could count me as defaulting on the original agreement.

Just looking for a little reassurance and advice for the future really, I know Ive done good to settle things and its now a chance to improve for the future.

Cheers All :j

nicp60

Hi there,
Congrats on sorting everything out.

I would set about changing the Arrangement to Pay marker. These are terribly damaging and are only supposed to be used for a temporary (ie 6 months) arrangement. This is actually set out in the ICO guidance, so you have good grounds to get them to change it. Unfortunately that means they'll probably change it to a default, but it will still be better on your report than an arrangement to pay. (APs stay on your file for 6 years from the last payment, whereas a default will be on there for 6 years from the default date)

It sounds like the other default was valid - you did break the original agreement and this would have been in the t&cs. Just make sure the date is correct (they have 6 months to apply it, so it sounds like it is right). Unfortunately this will stay on your account until May 2016, but it will have less impact as it gets older.

Tixy

Well done on getting them all paid off.

On entering a DMP its common for creditors to enter a default, as you have defaulted on the original terms of the agreement.
A default should usually be entered between 3 and 6months of when you originally get behind on the payments. If you started the DMP in Nov 09 then a May 10 default is just within the timescale that would be considered 'fair' by the ICO.

I'd focus on trying to start rebuilding your file going forward. Do you have any other items on your file? any ongoing accounts you are paying on time each month?

Thrugelmir

nicp60 wrote: »

I would set about changing the Arrangement to Pay marker. These are terribly damaging and are only supposed to be used for a temporary (ie 6 months) arrangement.

ARP's have no specified time frame. They could last years.

nicp60

That's not correct. This is directly from the ICO guidelines:

21 An ‘arrangement to pay’

This involves a temporary, short-term (up to six months) arrangement where the lender agrees to accept reduced payments.

WiggyDiggyPoo

Cheers all for replies... Apoligies for late response I was waiting for the Experian report to come through the others I got online.

I'm going to concentrate on rebuilding, rather than trying to correct something that may seem slightly out of kilter.

There are some other payments on their being recorded, some bills and a bank account for instance, I don't have the paper report at hand right now but I can check what they are later.

Another thing I only moved house this year, so I think I need some more time in the address to show some stability?

I'm currently at 70% on the 'MSE Pre Eligibility' checker for a Captial One Extra, when that is a little higher I'll apply and hopefully get that to start properly rebuilding.

iancrt

nicp60 wrote: »

That's not correct. This is directly from the ICO guidelines:

21 An ‘arrangement to pay’

This involves a temporary, short-term (up to six months) arrangement where the lender agrees to accept reduced payments.

Which is why every six month you will be contacted to discuss your payment arrangements. I had a £40 AP from 2008 to 2012 on two barclaycards. every six month they would ring me and ask for a higher payment arguing I was paying more than £40 anyway. I would offer a cheeky F&F of around 25%. They refused it, I refused to increase my agreed amount unless they put me back on normal payment terms which they wouldn't, and the AP went on for another 6 months.
Oddly, I was expecting them to sell the debt on at some point as £40 a month would have taken 28 years to pay off without the 1% monthly interest but they didn't.

WiggyDiggyPoo

iancrt wrote: »

Which is why every six month you will be contacted to discuss your payment arrangements. I had a £40 AP from 2008 to 2012 on two barclaycards. every six month they would ring me and ask for a higher payment arguing I was paying more than £40 anyway. I would offer a cheeky F&F of around 25%. They refused it, I refused to increase my agreed amount unless they put me back on normal payment terms which they wouldn't, and the AP went on for another 6 months.
Oddly, I was expecting them to sell the debt on at some point as £40 a month would have taken 28 years to pay off without the 1% monthly interest but they didn't.

This is exactly as I understood it, I had 6 monthly calls with Halifax Credit Cards and (I'll need to check later) I believe it showed ATP until about 9-12 months before the DMP finished, they did charge an interest rate which was at times discounted but never 0%. Presumably nearer the end I was paying above the minimum (as other debts cleared) which is why it showed normal payments nearer the end.

My other debts:

Egg CC (then later Barclaycard) and Natwest CA only ever spoke to me once (via letter) to advise they accepted the lower payment, although on more favourable terms than Halifax CC in that that they never charged Interest or Charges after starting the DMP provided I always paid what was originally agreed.

Last but not least the largest Halifax CA did freeze all interest/charges, but at the cost of a default 3 ish years ago. That one kind of annoyed me as at that point I was a year into the DMP and had recently increased the monthly amount been paid. But, 3 years hence this won't matter so much.

Looking back, I was annoyed with Halifax CC for not freezing interest/charges and perhaps I should have paid more to them first. But I might have risked the other lenders following suit if I reduced their payment after agreement.

Frankly I am just glad to have it cleared :T

I'll post up some dates later to see what possible effect the last ATPs may have, cheers all:)