Help with Credit report (Arrangement to Pay)

bacchants

Welp. I could really do with some help/advice to do with my credit report, and I love this site for tips and tricks so thought I’d ask for a bit of help. I’m new so please be gentle, although I’ll try to be concise.

I split from my partner of four years a few months ago, and this has prompted me to really take a proper handle of my finances (mostly to save for a deposit). I’d made a start shortly before we split and as we had a premier account I was able to check my score with the Lloyds id aware. I can’t remember the agency but I had 3 stars (in August). I cleared a few errors that were listed and it started to look pretty good, and I didn’t see anything of concern.

I don’t have premier anymore so no id aware, so I signed up for Noddle and checked my details. Which is showing as 1/5. I think I can see why this is, but I’m really stressing about how long it will affect me, as I was hoping to buy a car on credit in Jan. I’m currently on the ER on my old address, but I’ve sent in a form changing it to my current address. So I’m aware that’s an issue but should be sorted by the time I want to apply for credit in Jan.

First black mark: I bought some dfs sofas which my ex wanted to keep, so he agreed to take payments, and the report revealed these had bounced. This is now sorted for next month and will now come from my account and he will wire money to me.

Second black mark: I missed a sofa payment back in Sept 2011 as I didn’t have enough in the account.

Third black mark and perhaps the worst: I had a Natwest account that had an arranged 0% overdraft of £2000 which was maxed out. I then was sent a letter saying I’d be charged for interest as I was no longer classed as a graduate account. I didn’t see the letter as it went to my parent’s. So it started to rack up interest and this started to spiral. I no longer used the account as I had changed to Lloyds. I first went over the 2k limit in Jan, however, in March/April (ish) Natwest contacted me saying that I needed to pay it. I was able to negotiate a reduction of charges so they said it was now ~£2500 and I was able to get it reduced to ~£2200. I agreed to pay £55 back a month and they made scary noises saying it would be serious if I missed any payments. As it turned out I was able to fully pay it off in July (My ex was able to get a PCU loan to pay off all of his debts + my overdraft, it was in his name so isn’t on my credit file, I was guarantor but I’ve been removed).

Anyway, the three months (Apr-Jun) I was paying the £55 are marked as ‘Arrangement to Pay’ and that the agreed repayments were behind, but they weren’t as I paid them all on time! I googled to look at what it meant and it sounds really bad and as bad as a default! I’m also confused because when I checked my id aware report from Lloyds it didn’t mention anything about AP. I asked Noddle who said that I would need to speak to Natwest. When I agreed to pay Natwest I had no idea that it would affect my credit rating and I’m certain I wasn’t told that it would, so I feel like this is really sneaky that I’ve now got damage to my credit report when I didn’t know it would!

How bad is an arrangement to pay? Am I not going to be able to get credit until it drops off in 6 years? Would I be able to dispute this with Natwest as I didn’t know what I was agreeing to? Why would it not show on one credit report and show on another?

I’m not in a bad position right now, I have no credit cards, and the only debt I have is student loans (boo). I’m saving money each month and being frugal as I can. However I’m really stressing out that such a small mistake will haunt me for 6 years.

(Also sorry this ended up so long! If you need any more info in order to help people then please ask!)

Tixy

Hi

It is quite common that not all creditors report to all 3 of the credit reference agencies. Its worth checking your report with all 3 agencies so you know which shows on each (as you won't know which a potential lender would search when you apply for credit).

I would get copies of your files from experian and equifax (you don't need a score just the statutory £2 report).

That said I was under the impression that IDaware based on your callcredit report, which is the same as your noddle report.

The AP markers sound reasonable in that you exceeded your overdraft limit but came to an arrangement with them that you could repay this over a few months.
But you could try contacting them and explaining it wasn't made clear to you that these entries would be made on your credit file and ask them to consider removing them (its worth a shot).

In terms of being able to get accepted for new credit - do you have any other open credit accounts aside from the sofa you have missed payments on?

bacchants

Ahhh I hadn't thought to get a report from experian/equifax. I shall have to apply and see what they say.
It's weird as my idaware definetly didn't show up the natwest account as being arranged to pay and didn't show any negatives for it.

I'll give Natwest and give it a go. I really hope they do consider it as if I had known it affected my credit then I would have paid a lump sum to get back into arranged overdraft.


I only have the credit for the sofa.

Then I have a few other accounts:
My EE Phone Bill, Natwest (Which I need to close), My current lloyds account, and what was my joint account with my ex. It's been closed but it's still showing as open, but it should show as closed next month.

Tixy

Once the joint account is closed its worth filing a notice of disassociation from your ex (need to do with all 3 agencies). That will mean that you would no longer be impacted by anything on his credit file (and vice versa).

bacchants

Well it's already closed, but the guy I asked at noddle said it can take 6 weeks for the bank to notify the credit people and when I first signed for noddle it hadn't been six weeks. He said he can do it for that agency so I'll have to contact the other two.

I've just been on hold for 45 mins waiting for someone from the natwest lending team to speak to, but as they go home at 8pm I figured I may as well go in branch tomorrow and ask.
I really hope they can remove it, as I am so upset that I've got the equivalent of a default on my file

Tixy

It isn't quite as bad as a default, but some lenders do think its almost as bad.
(I know thats not much consolation)

bacchants

Le sigh, no it's not much of a consolation. It's so frustrating that I'm going to be stuck with bad credit for years because of some stupid mistakes.