When / whether to settle a debt in full

Gustavo_F

Hi, I've got a couple of queries regarding an entry on my credit report that I'm hoping someone can help with

As a bit of background I got into some financial trouble approx 6 years ago and defaulted on a number of credit cards. I've been making payment ever since and most have now dropped off my credit report due to their age.

There is however one debt that didn't default (credit card) and instead shows in arrears from Sept 08 to Mar 09 and then statuses of AR and DM on my Noddle credit report payment history. These markers run from Feb 09 to Sept 12, which is the time when the debt was passed to a 'loan servicing company'. All subsequent payments show as OK.

I'm in a position where I may soon be able to clear the outstanding balance of the debt but I'm not sure when would be the best time to do this. Will the arrears entries mentioned above drop off my credit report after they are more than 6 years old? And if I was to settle the account in full now, would all of the payment history (including the arrears) stay on my record for 6 years from the settle date?

Hope someone can help, thanks for reading

matttye

"Will the arrears entries mentioned above drop off my credit report after they are more than 6 years old?"

Yes.

"And if I was to settle the account in full now, would all of the payment history (including the arrears) stay on my record for 6 years from the settle date?"

Yes.

Is it Barclaycard by any chance? They often report ARs instead of defaults and they often refuse to remove them too.

I would be making strong representations to them in a letter that they should replace the ARs with a default. The ICO says that arrangements to pay should not run for more than 6 months. Look up "ICO Default Guidance" on Google to see the guidance.

Gustavo_F

Hi, thanks for the reply. It's MBNA rather than Barclaycard that's reporting ARs and DMs. I think I'll try writing to them as you've advised to see if they will change to a default from March 2009

matttye

Gustavo_F wrote: »

Hi, thanks for the reply. It's MBNA rather than Barclaycard that's reporting ARs and DMs. I think I'll try writing to them as you've advised to see if they will change to a default from March 2009

Quote the relevant parts of the ICO guidance in your letter to them, and ask them to provide you with information about their complaints procedure. Head your letter "Complaint"