2x AP Markers - will this stop me getting a Mortgage???

cherry221

Hi, just looking for a bit of advice!

Basically i had a Barclays graduate account with an overdraft of £2k. I was within the overdraft but the account wasn't being used - i had a different current account with Barclays.

I moved house with my wife in Sept 2013. We both went into the bank and changed our address.

In Nov 2013 i had a call from Barclays saying they had sent me letters asking me to credit the account and as i didn't do this the account had been sent to collections.

I didn't receive any letters. Infact, they had the wrong address for me! They had me living at number 6 and my wife at number 19.

I argued this on the phone and she said 'theres nothing we can do about that now so lets move forward in paying off the account'

Anyway i immediately transferred £800 into that account - and agreed to pay £400 per month until it was £0 - I actually paid it off in January 2014 and closed the account.

I've only just discovered i have 2 AR markers on months Nov and Dec of 2013.

Pretty peeved off about it as they never mentioned this would happen AND if they had my blimin address correct in the first place i would have credited the account like they asked!

I've made a complaint to Barclays and waiting for a response. My question is:

Will 2 AR markers affect me getting a mortgage? My credit history is clear apart from these 2 markers!

And are Barclays likely to remove them?

Thanks!

matttye

Sometimes when a mistake is made its easy to focus on the mistake even if that isn't the cause of the issue you face.

Even once you became aware that Barclays wanted the overdraft to be paid back, you paid it back in agreed instalments and thus it was an arrangement to pay, because overdrafts are repayable on demand.

The fact that they had the wrong address isn't the issue - it's that once you became aware they wanted the overdraft to be repaid, you couldn't or didn't pay it back in one go but in agreed instalments.

An arrangement to pay is only slightly less serious than a default so could affect your mortgage chances.

Barclays are unlikely to remove them.

cherry221

Damn...

They don't show up on my Experian report - Only Noddle and Equifax - Also they are green marks as opposed to red.. does that make any difference?

cherry221

Sorry i should have also mentioned that i asked if it would have any adverse effect on my credit and they said no...

matttye

cherry221 wrote: »

Sorry i should have also mentioned that i asked if it would have any adverse effect on my credit and they said no...

If you have that in writing you might have an argument, but if it was said verbally then chances are no member of staff would admit saying it.

It's likely to be in the terms and conditions of the account (I know hardly anyone reads them in their entirety - I certainly don't - but they're still binding) that if you don't repay an overdraft when they demand then negative information will be reported. It's effectively a breach of contract.

matttye

cherry221 wrote: »

Damn...

They don't show up on my Experian report - Only Noddle and Equifax - Also they are green marks as opposed to red.. does that make any difference?

Red is a missed/late payment, green is a payment on time, so albeit you're paying less than what they asked for you were still paying on time, so green seems like the right colour to use.

Thrugelmir

cherry221 wrote: »

Will 2 AR markers affect me getting a mortgage? My credit history is clear apart from these 2 markers!

Most certainly yes. That's the whole point of credit file data.

Whatever the in's and out's. You had a debt and ignored it. A salutory lesson I suspect. One you'll be unlikely to repeat again.

cherry221

Hi.. I just wanted to post an update to this incase anyone is reading it and might be in a similar position!
We wrote to the financial ombudsman as Barclays had taken so long to deal with the complaint (received a letter saying we could contact them as it's taken so long!) we did this in the middle of November and received a call on NYE to say that Barclays and the judicator agreed with us, they are having the AP markers removed AND compensating with £225! Sticking to your guns when you know you aren't in the wrong really does pay off!!! ��

matttye

I'm pleased it worked out well for you but you definitely WERE in the wrong in this instance.

You paid back the overdraft in instalments. That is an arrangement to pay and that is what was reported. Therefore, the markers on your credit file were accurate.

Not sure why Barclays or the Ombudsman have agreed that the markers should be removed. It's probably because they've kept poor records of what has actually happened.

Pleased you've had a good result though.

cherry221

Hmm Do you understand what actually happened?

They were removed because if Barclays had sent the letters to the correct address and we received them we would have credited the account as asked - which they agreed with.

We were not told we were entering into an agreement to pay, or that this would cause a detrimental effect on the credit file - this was confirmed when they checked the phone call recording.

So... They were in the wrong - not us.

matttye

cherry221 wrote: »

Hmm Do you understand what actually happened?

They were removed because if Barclays had sent the letters to the correct address and we received them we would have credited the account as asked - which they agreed with.

We were not told we were entering into an agreement to pay, or that this would cause a detrimental effect on the credit file - this was confirmed when they checked the phone call recording.

So... They were in the wrong - not us.

You said:

"Anyway i immediately transferred £800 into that account - and agreed to pay £400 per month until it was £0 - I actually paid it off in January 2014 and closed the account."

You agreed to pay £400 per month until it was £0. That is an arrangement to repay a debt. You clearly did know that it was an arrangement to pay because you said so in your original post.

Do you mean that you didn't realise it would be reported as an arrangement to pay on your credit file?

The point I'm making is that an overdraft is repayable on demand, so you should ALWAYS be in a position to repay an overdraft in full otherwise you risk adverse information being reported to your credit file if you can't repay the overdraft at any given time.

The fact that Barclays sent the letters to the wrong address doesn't change the fact that you didn't pay back the overdraft immediately when they actually did contact you and you still entered an arrangement to pay.

Hope that makes sense.