Question about defaults

andy210187

Can anybody help?
Some years ago I got into some difficulties and fell behind on all my payments. Since then I payed off nearly all my debts totalling about £10k. Apart from 1. It was a £5k loan from Barclays Bank and had about £3200 left outstanding on it when I stopped making payments. During the middle of my struggles I moved house. All my other debts followed me (including another one from Barclays bank actually) and I payed them off, but I never heard anything else about this particular one and naively buried my head in the sand thinking it might just go away.
Anyway, recently checked my credit statement and found that all they've been doing is applying a default to my credit file on the balance every month for the last 3.5 years despite as far as I can tell making no attempts to track me down or hand this to a DCA
First question; is this something they can do?
Second question; I'm now in a position to pay this debt off in one go (£3200) but what do you think my chances are of having them remove some of these defaults in return for me clearing the debt?
Thirdly; because it's now way over 3 years and I've had no correspondence from the bank at my new address I've not got any of the details of the loan. How on earth would I go about getting it settled? The only thought I've got is literally to go into a branch of Barclays and say "hello, I owe you some money"

fermi

1. Yes, as they are not new defaults, just status updates on the original.
2. The history sounds accurate, so it would have to be removal of the whole record. Very slim chance, but never say never.
3. Yes, or contact their customer services etc.

National_Debtline

Hi andy210187,

Fermi is right about the defaults on your credit file, they will be updates of the status of the debt. There should be an original default date as well, and the debt will be removed from your credit file 6 years after the date of default. Once the balance is cleared the monthly updates should stop and the account status change to ‘settled’ or ‘satisfied’ and this will start to help you improve your score (but this will take time).

Unfortunately, it is very unlikely that any of the information will be removed because it is correct, and only incorrect data can be removed from credit files.

In order to pay the balance I would suggest writing/ emailing customer services (as Fermi suggested), ask them to confirm the outstanding balance to you in writing and then arrange to send them the payment. Keep a copy of the letter confirming the balance and proof of payment for future reference if required (i.e. in case a debt collection agency tries to chase you for the money). I hope this helps to clarify what you can do,

Laura
@natdebtline