Need advice re credit rating

darich

I checked my credit rating on Experian and found that the Bank of Scotland had me down as defaulting on credit card payments for 5 months in succession.
I queried this as i was sure that this was a mistake. This mistake was preventing my girlfriend and I from getting switch cards and an overdraft on our joint account (despite the building society being willing to lend us almost 200k.)
I've now had a response from BOS and they've sent me the credit card bills which do indeed show me as not paying for 5 months. An amount of £7.76 was forgotten about and since i was never charged a late fee, the amount outstanding only climbed a few pence per month to a total of around £8.10 when i eventually cleared it.

I've spoken to Experian who tell me that this will remain on my report for 6years. I've asked if there is any way it can be removed or explained off and i was told that regardless of the amount, it is a defaulted payment and shall remain on my record.

My question is does anyone know of a get around or excuse or method to have this removed especially since it is such a small amount.
I'm annoyed with myself for missing it and it's not become a pain in the butt.
One further question - that is the only blemish on my entire record - i've been paying a mortgage for 10 years and never missed a payment, same with any loans or other credit card bills. Will that blemish be big enough to prevent me getting any further credit until it drops off my record in 2012?

thanks

immoral_angeluk

Did they send you bills every month? If not you could argue that it was there error and they *might* remove the defaults as good will...

Snaggles

You can add a notice of correction, which is basically a few lines of text to explain the circumstances of the default. This will be visible when anyone does a search. It doesn't guarantee they wont still refuse you credit, but it at least gives you the chance to explain what happened.

headoutthesand

Hi there - i'm not sure what the correct term used is but you can add a note to any entry on your report.

Its like putting an explanation on so that creditors can see your reasons for a missed payment e.g you were in hospital for 3 months and no-one delt with your mail or you were young and stupid but have faced up to responsibilities now as you more recent affairs can prove.

If you are through experian (i hope you got your report via quidco) you can add your reason online.

Have a rumage through the site and you should find the link

Good luck

hur575

darich

I have the same problem and it was for only stupid £5 a month for premium account with hsbc which I opened and changed address and forgot to inform them. now that 3 missing payment show in my report like sore thumb and iam beating myself everyday because every thing else is in order but I have no mortgage and finding IT difficult to find a loan.

CLAPTON

have you tried talking to them and explaining that it was simply an oversight?

when you say it shows you defaulting... do you mean this or does it simply show a late payment.
If they have defaulted you then they should have sent you written notice of their intention.. if they didn't then you have a strong case to have the default withdrawn.

angelavdavis

Have a look at this page that I found recently, it details how to try to challenge the default - simply because the banks are so bad at maintaining their records.

How To Possibly Remove A Default Notice From Your Credit File

Might be worth a try?

hur575

thank you angelavavis but in my report it show missing payments is that the same as default?? what if the bank can source the documents?? they have closed my account but could they??

angelavdavis

hur575 wrote: »

thank you angelavavis but in my report it show missing payments is that the same as default?? what if the bank can source the documents?? they have closed my account but could they??

If they can source the documents, you have to accept that they can prove the debt and the fact you have missed payments. It depends how old your account is as to whether they will have the information or not. The article I linked to actually gives you more of a time indication on when most banks tightened up their act.

They don't apply a default until you have missed several payments.

Experian in particular does the following:

1 against a month represents one late payment
2 represents up to two late payments
3 up to three late payments
4 up to four late payments
5 up to five late payments
6 up to six late payments

The you get an 8 this is a default. According to Experian, this means: The account is defaulted. You have failed to keep to your credit agreement and have not responded satisfactorily to requests to put your account in order. As a result the credit agreement has ended.

I would expect you could also get a default also if you miss payments on a regular basis and incur up to seven late payments within a 6 year period, but I am not sure. I also don't know what happens if you don't pay at all.

darich

headoutthesand wrote: »

Hi there - i'm not sure what the correct term used is but you can add a note to any entry on your report.

Its like putting an explanation on so that creditors can see your reasons for a missed payment e.g you were in hospital for 3 months and no-one delt with your mail or you were young and stupid but have faced up to responsibilities now as you more recent affairs can prove.

If you are through experian (i hope you got your report via quidco) you can add your reason online.

Have a rumage through the site and you should find the link

Good luck

Headoutthesand - my credit report was indeed through Experian and after reading your response together with the letter from the BOS i now know i can add a reason for the non-payments. I've no excuse because BOS sent me copies of the unpaid bills - i bought a cd for around £7.60 and the five months interest takes the final one that i actually paid up to £8.11.
It was my fault and i can't really argue it but i'll add a note on my file if i can find out where to do it!

I've spent some time on the experian site and even though it also says i can add a notice online, i cannot find the link to the page to add one.
Can anyone point me in the right direction?

many thanks
David

darich

CLAPTON wrote: »

have you tried talking to them and explaining that it was simply an oversight?

when you say it shows you defaulting... do you mean this or does it simply show a late payment.
If they have defaulted you then they should have sent you written notice of their intention.. if they didn't then you have a strong case to have the default withdrawn.

Are they obliged to send me notification of what they will do if i don't pay? The difficulty is, that the unpaid bill is from aug 05 and was finally paid in Jan 06. I moved house in Jun 06 and at that time the account was closed with no money outstanding, so any correspondence i may have had was destroyed. However, if i had received any letter saying that they were going to take me to court/report my non-payment to credit reference agencies/whatever then i would have done something pretty quick.

I wasn't deliberately not paying - it was less than a tenner - i honestly forgot nad now it's biting me in the bum big time.