Defaults and cleaning up credit file

Aerobaticrug

So after 7 long years we are at the end of our DMP, so we have took a look at both of our credit records. Obviously they are a total mess now with loads of defaults.

However, and correct me if I'm wrong, but defaults drop off your credit record 6 years from the date of the first one on each account?

If this is the case, both myself and my wife have some major discrepancies on when defaults were issued. This will leave some on our record for another 4 years despite going on a DMP 7 years ago and therefore impacting our future credit worthiness.

Are we able to contact the creditors and ask them to revise the original default dates to when we actually breached the agreements? Would this be a route to take or is there nothing we can do?

Obviously our circumstances have significantly changed since we got in this mess and we are a hell of a lot more responsible shall we say. Ideally we want to start working towards a mortgage now that we have freed up the huge monthly payment to the DMP. But this will be a major challenge with the defaults on record.

Really appreciate any advice.

National_Debtline

Hi Aerobaticrug, welcome to MSE.


You are absolutely correct in what you say that the default will be on your credit file 6 years from the original default date.


If you find that the creditor has registered the default quite late then you can complain and ask them to amend the original date. You can reference the Information Commissioners Guidelines about what is an appropriate amount of time to register a default. If the creditor refuses to amend the default date and you wish to take the matter further then you can escalate the complaint to the Information Commissioner and the Financial Ombudsman Service. Good luck,


Laura
@natdebtline

Aerobaticrug

Thanks for that Laura, that's good to hear

daniel86_2

This is a big issue, its sometimes better to allow your debts to go default before entering agreements with creditors. I suspect what has happened is that they have kept some accounts alive long after the start of you DMP and defaulted them later.

I think your best bet is to work out the date your defaulted accounts were 6 months in arrears and you ha d not made the contractual payments, complain that the default date should be no later than this as you had not made agreed contractual payments and you had actually defaulted the account, take your complaint FOS if they don’t agree. There is no guarantee this will work for all creditors but its probably the best hope.

Aerobaticrug

I've now managed to get most of this sorted, however I have two left that I have no idea how to approach.

One of them seems to have listed the debt as 1 payment late for some 2 years. They then change it to the green tick for up to date for 21 months. They also list a note on the record that I was in a DMP between March 2013 and April 2014 then they change the record to default from April 2014.

The original start date of this DMP was 2010. I have no idea how to approach them as the record has no consistency in what they have recorded, so I can't figure out what to say to them to try and get the default date set to 2010 when all the rest of my creditors set it. This one is suggesting that it was defaulted in April 2014, some 4 years later than the start of the DMP. I have found letters from this one threatening me with a default in 2010 as some sort of evidence of the relationship breaking down.

The last one I am having an issue with is when a collection agency (Arrow Global) took over one of the accounts. The original creditor is not listed on my credit record. The date of the default is now set September of 2014. Up until this point it was listed as green then a payment or two behind. This ties in to when we had to renegotiate our payment as my wife was off on maternity leave. Do i have any grounds to try and get them to set the default date to when we first were unable to meet the original agreement? If so how should I approach them?