catalogue account on credit report showing as settled

BadBehaviour

I ordered my statutory credit report from Experian and noticed that Shop Direct Finance Company account shows as "settled", which seems to be a negative thing.
I have a limit of £400 and never actually bought anything on this catalogue (Littlewoods). I had placed two orders, both cancelled from customer service no problem. One was a buy now, pay later they rejected and the second one I requested cancellation because in the end I bought the laptop outright on eBay.

This happened around October last year.

So, why is this account showing as settled, with a balance of 0? I've never actually used any credit from Littlewoods.

I will add that I have been anyway approved for a M&S Credit Card the other day, so maybe it hasn't done much harm. I only have a mobile phone on contract (no missed payments) and my basic bank account that does show up on the credit reports as OK since December 2012. I have no overdraft facility, mind you.

happy_bunny_2

If you don't have much on there, and the littlewoods is settled and has no late payment markers, then it's probably doing more good than harm.

If you want rid of it, send a complaint letter to littlewoods. Doesn't seem worth it though.

BadBehaviour

happy_bunny wrote: »

If you don't have much on there, and the littlewoods is settled and has no late payment markers, then it's probably doing more good than harm.

If you want rid of it, send a complaint letter to littlewoods. Doesn't seem worth it though.

Thanks, but I still don't get why they put it's settled. Of course I don't have late payment markers - I have never bought anything on there!

I read that "settled" means they accepted an offer for the account to be paid off that wasn't the original amount owed... how is that possible in my case? I've never owed them any money.

happy_bunny_2

Settled means its been paid in full.

partial settlement means they have accepted less than the full amount.

Just because you never bought anything, doesn't mean there will be no late payment markers. Quite often credit reports have no resemblance to an actual account status due to companies (especially shop direct) being useless.

BadBehaviour

I see... so you're saying it's an error? As I said, I didn't receive any goods from them to be paid, so how would I get late payment markers with no purchase? Or how would I settle anything? If it's not doing much harm, it can stay on there... it's a matter of principle: the entry, as far as I am concerned, is erroneous.

happy_bunny_2

BadBehaviour wrote: »

I see... so you're saying it's an error? As I said, I didn't receive any goods from them to be paid, so how would I get late payment markers with no purchase? Or how would I settle anything? If it's not doing much harm, it can stay on there... it's a matter of principle: the entry, as far as I am concerned, is erroneous.

They might have set up some kind of credit account, even though you never ended up with anything.

if you want rid, complain, I'd leave it.

tinkerbell28

You did however open an account with them (a credit account) whether you ordered anything or not.

It's marked as settled because it's a satisfactorily closed credit account. Which you did have. Settled is showing it's closed and ermmm settled. It's a true account and 100% ok.