Intelligent Finance still reporting updates

BRB-79

Hi all,

My 6 years of Bankruptcy was finally up last week and I've now begun the process of finding a mortgage advisor with whom myself and my wife can hopefully arrange a mortgage to get the family home we have been wanting. I won't bore you with the details other than to ask for opinions on this small but (seemingly) significant problem.

My mortgage broker said that the credit files I sent him this afternoon from Credit Expert were all fine except for the fact that Intelligent Finance are still making updates and reporting a default as recently as May 2015. He said that looking at my report, it was Status 8 which means default or arrears on May. I have sent numerous letters to old creditors in the past few years and all my defaulted accounts have now dropped off my file with the exception of IF. I contacted them in May once more to get them to alter the default date on the mortgage to the date of my BR (August 10th 2009) but they wrote back and refused saying it was the date of repossession that's recorded for the default date which was 19th October 2009. The satisfaction date on it should have been the date I was discharged from the mortgage (April 5th 2010) but they are recording May 28th 2010 - I assume this was the date the property was sold at auction.

So at the very least in October this year I would expect the defaulted mortgage account to drop off my file. Correct?

The mortgage advisor was saying however that lenders can, if they want to, look back further than the 6 years and even if it did drop off my file in October this year, they might still see an account that was reporting arrears in May 2015 - and he then went on to say that no lender would give me a mortgage if that was the case.

I feel I'm at my wit's end with this - I have contacted IF before and they have refused to change the dates, and now I'm being told they are actually reporting recent defaults which is further harming my credit file. I know the Financial Ombudsman is an obvious course of action but I assume that will take months to get resolved. I am going to contact IF tomorrow by phone but I don't really know who I should be speaking to or what I should be demanding.

Has anyone had any experience of this kind of behaviour, 6 years almost after a Bankruptcy? Is what the mortgage advisor is saying true, about being able to search credit agreements older than 6 years ? I didn't think that information was kept by the reference agencies?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

fermi

BRB-79 wrote: »

Is what the mortgage advisor is saying true, about being able to search credit agreements older than 6 years ? I didn't think that information was kept by the reference agencies?

The advisor is talking a load of nonsense there. The CRAs remove the data from their systems and no reports will show it for any lender checking.

(Mortgage advisors oddly often seem to be clueless about CRA issues. Strange as you would think it would be vital to their job, but many will tell you a complete pile of BS about how they work and what lenders can see)

The lender you defaulted with will still know from their own records, but you obviously won't be applying to them.

IF is also talking nonsense as any default should be backdated to the date of your bankruptcy, but most are either ignorant of that fact or will deny it and fight you out of spite.

You can win: see ---> 5 Year Battle Won against Mortgage Lender

but if this is coming off in October anyway it would probably take you longer than that to fight it, for no real gain and a lot of hassle.

BRB-79

Thanks for the positive reply. The more I think about it the more I think this mortgage broker I talked to today is completely mis-informed. A copy of my credit expert report from 2 years ago lists the same information back then, but it was updated close to the time of the report being generated. What he's saying about my report still indicating that I was defaulting on the mortgage back in May 2015 looks more and more like a red herring. A copy of my Call Credit report shows the mortgage account with a balance of 0 in July 2010 - which was around the time they sold it at auction.

I think I need to check with Credit Expert tomorrow, exactly how I am supposed to interpret the report from them and clear this up at source rather than trust what this guy is telling me. The fact he suggested to me I should wait until October 2015 to apply for a mortgage, and then "hope" the lender doesn't find out about this default in May (there wasn't one!) sounds like a fool talking IMHO

BRB-79

Update:

Spoke to Credit Expert / Experian today and explained what was happening. If you've ever seen your report on there, you'll see a series of tabs reporting the history on the account. 1-12 months, 12-24 and 24-36 etc. On my report the Month 1 entry was a balance of £0, Month 2 was a balance of £32k. Directly above this section on the printed report it says when the account was last updated and in my case it shows 14 May 2015.

The mortgage advisor looked at this bit yesterday and assumed that IF were still reporting a default on the account as late as May 2015 and in his view, this would mean an instant decline from all lenders as it was within the last 2 years. He even went as far as to suggest calling them and demanding they correct this inaccuracy as it was damaging to my credit file years after it should be.

When I explained this to Credit Expert, they said that was wrong. The month 1-12 tabs etc. are relative to the date the account was closed which was June 2010. So month 1 was June 2010 showing a balance of £0 and month 2 was May 2010 showing the £32k balance. The fact that it was showing last updated as May 2015 is simply because that was the last time IF refreshed this account with the CRA - nothing was changed as a result of this update. He said the lenders decision making software will be looking at the Default date which was 19 October 2009 and see that the account was therefore defaulted 5 years, 10 months ago. Not 3 or 4 months ago this year.

So the bloke was basically talking rubbish and Fermi, you're right - clueless!

fermi

Glad you got that sorted.

And yes, I still find it hard to believe how useless some mortgage advisors are on credit report issues. You would think it would be something that was vital to their job to get right.


Just to be clear for anyone else reading.....

Regardless of anything else, after 19th Oct 2015 when the original default date expires (6 years), there will be no trace or history of this account for ANY lender to see on your credit reports.

The whole account and history is removed. A lender checking your report from then on will not see any trace the account ever existed.