Missing current account on Experian report

Flapjack1

I write this on behalf of my boyfriend who is currently struggling to get a mortgage because of his Experian report.

After being told by a broker and mortgage provider that his incomings and outgoings would represent no problem is getting a mortage, both were baffled when 'computer said no', after looking so promising to begin with. Thus, he signed up for Experian. Despite having and excellent rating and a score of 999, Experian notes that he might be a risk to lend high value credit to as he has only had and used low value credit in the past - the thanks you get for being sensible with your money! However his Natwest current account with a £3k overdraft is not present neither were a previously settled loan and credit card, both from Natwest. The loan and CC have since appeared after speaking to Experian, but they can't retrieve the current account, and had never heard of it before. Frustratingly, the individual at Experian stated that if his Debenhams store card was worth the value of £1001, and not £1k, he would not have this issue.

After numerous calls to the bank, being thrown from deparment to deparment, and filing two complaints, only one member of staff has actually heard of this before, and the query is now with some specialist team. (If they had Googled it, as I did, they would have discovered it was not present because the account was opened over ten years ago). He was told he was to be sent a letter that states he gives his consent for data to be sent to Experian, but it has never arrived. Thankfully he sent his own after being told the script of the letter. HOWEVER, the letter has to be sent to some faceless company in Edinburgh, to which no one at Natwest can provide a name or contact number, because even senior staff no nothing about this place, so he has no idea if it has arrived or is being processed. He has been told someone from the bank will be in touch and to send some account details to Experian.

I apologise for the length of this, but I had to share how awful procedures are in a case like this.
Has anyone else suffered something like this? What can he do to quicken the process of getting his current account to appear on Experian, or to get rid of the 'risk' on his report? This is currently threatening the house sale. And would it be worth checking the other CRA's to see if the account is present?

Thanks.

StuC75

If the current account has a £3k overdraft that is in use, then it would likely have a detrimental affect on his credit rating.. so sometimes not being there can be a blessing.

The 999 score is meaningless - everyone kind of starts off at that level, then knocked down from there depending on what 'may be wrong' - rather than a score of 0 building up for positive facts if you get what I mean.. 999 really just means there isn't much of a history there..

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

Flapjack1 wrote: »

...excellent rating and a score of 999...

You may be interested in a post I made the other day on the subject of 999 Experian scores.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=63598503&postcount=9

Thrugelmir

Flapjack1 wrote: »

I write this on behalf of my boyfriend who is currently struggling to get a mortgage because of his Experian report.

Unlikely that the issue is related to missing information. Unless it's the lack of electoral roll history.

Flapjack1

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Unlikely that the issue is related to missing information. Unless it's the lack of electoral roll history.

He's on the electoral roll, sorry probably should have mentioned that earlier. And to clarify he has:
- No CCJs
- No missed/late payments
- No mismatched addresses
- No problem with linked addresses/persons

Just need Natwest/Experian to make the his bank account appear on the report to demonstrate he can be trusted with credit (with the overdraft he's used very little), but neither Natwest or Experian are really sure what to do as they have rarely experienced this issue before.

Round and round in circles we go!

StuC75

Don't think a well maintained OD is ever a 'good thing' for a credit report \ scoring since its not the typical source of financing \ credit - payments are generally via salary credits (so not something that you actively choose to repay)..

credit reports are only a snapshot of balance on that day of the month so bank cannot profile how you may chose to use the account on the days inbetween..

I think you are putting too much faith in this account improving matters, and as for credit scores - I checked my file recently as did a transfer of equity (takin ex off mortgage), have taken a new credit card with Barclaycard and a loan through Tesco at there best 5. odd rate to help with doing house off - all with my Experian score showing around 970.... But never had an OD...

stclair

Flapjack1 wrote: »

He's on the electoral roll, sorry probably should have mentioned that earlier. And to clarify he has:
- No CCJs
- No missed/late payments
- No mismatched addresses
- No problem with linked addresses/persons

Just need Natwest/Experian to make the his bank account appear on the report to demonstrate he can be trusted with credit (with the overdraft he's used very little), but neither Natwest or Experian are really sure what to do as they have rarely experienced this issue before.

Round and round in circles we go!

If it helps I've worked for natwest 10 years and I can't even get them to report my account to the CRAs lol

However on a serious note any credit reference queries you need to write to the following address:

Credit Reference Officer, NatWest, Tay House, 5th Floor, Bath Street, Glasgow, G2 4RS

Experian_company_representative

I'm sure I've seen examples of historical accounts being added by this bank, so definitely worth persevering as it may help you. I would also press the mortgage lender that said no to give you more of a reason.

James

Flapjack1

stclair wrote: »

If it helps I've worked for natwest 10 years and I can't even get them to report my account to the CRAs lol

You don't know how good it is to hear that someone who works for Natwest has actually heard of this before! I'm sorry you're having the same trouble.

Currently he's been assigned an ivestigating officer at Natwest in order to resolve it. He's been told that could take up to 8 weeks though - we don't have that long!

Thanks for the address, but we still have no idea if the last latter has arrived. Fingers crossed the investigating officer can sort it.

Flapjack1

Experian_company_representative wrote: »

I'm sure I've seen examples of historical accounts being added by this bank, so definitely worth persevering as it may help you. I would also press the mortgage lender that said no to give you more of a reason.

James

Hi James. Thanks for your response.

Have sent account details to Experian but have been told there is nothing they can do until Natwest have been in touch. Hopefully the investigating officer at Natwest will be able to resolve that. It is good to know you have hear you know of this being resolved in the past.

Our mortgage broker has tried pressing the mortgage lenders, but they were pretty useless and told us there's nothing more they can do, or even go into why he was refused. Will keep trying!

stclair

Flapjack1 wrote: »

You don't know how good it is to hear that someone who works for Natwest has actually heard of this before! I'm sorry you're having the same trouble.

Currently he's been assigned an ivestigating officer at Natwest in order to resolve it. He's been told that could take up to 8 weeks though - we don't have that long!

Thanks for the address, but we still have no idea if the last latter has arrived. Fingers crossed the investigating officer can sort it.

Just bare in mind if the bank share the information it will only start sharing current data. They won't share previous data so I very much doubt what you want to achieve will actually make any difference. They will most likely add the account share the account opening date and one green zero from the current date from experience then report going forward.