This pesky default

Chappaz

As I mentioned in my previous thread, I have a poor credit score namely because I've never used credit (apart from mobile contracts etc), so I don't have any history to prove myself.

However, what certainly isn't helping matters is a default I have on my report from 2012.

This is particularly frustrating because it's only for £15 (a phone contract), and it only occurred because my contract wasn't cancelled when I was told it would be. I was naive to cancel the DD too soon, but hey ho, lesson learned.

To be honest, my memory is hazy about this as it was so long ago. On my Experian credit report, I have a long list of 0 codes (meaning paid up to date), but then suddenly there's an [8] (account in default) with £15 underneath.

However, the next rating a month after that is another 8 for default, but the balance underneath is £0. The history then stops there and hasn't budged since with a note which says "Last updated to 02/05/2012". On the report, the current balance is also listed as "satisfied" and the default balance as £15.

So my question is, does this mean that the default is listed as being settled and resolved? Is there anything I could do to it to make it look a bit better for my report?

I'm pretty sure I would have paid this eventually. I'd be surprised if I didn't although I can't fully remember. I'm just not sure if this means whether they consider the default matter closed or whether it's effectively still open to be paid.

Thanks for any advice.

jonesMUFCforever

Have you tried asking them if you paid?

Chappaz

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

Have you tried asking them if you paid?

Not yet. I'm a bit worried about opening a can of worms, to be honest. I've read that it's often better not to touch anything from a long time ago in case it drags it back up and starts messing with my report again.

I may be wrong here though. I just imagine the nightmare scenario of asking them, and then they realise that my report has been marked wrong and it should have 4 years of defaults on it or something.

boo_star

It sounds like it's been sold on and the new owner hasn't updated your file yet.

Chappaz

boo_star wrote: »

It sounds like it's been sold on and the new owner hasn't updated your file yet.

So what would you suggest that I do?

Here's the snippet from the report:



Default balance says £15 but the current balance says satisfied. Bit confusing for me.

boo_star

You could ask them about it, if it has been sold on they should know who bought it.

Other than that you'll just have to wait for the new owner to contact you, or wait until 2018, when it'll disappear for good.

Chappaz

boo_star wrote: »

You could ask them about it, if it has been sold on they should know who bought it.

Other than that you'll just have to wait for the new owner to contact you, or wait until 2018, when it'll disappear for good.

But surely they would have contacted me by now or done something if it was back in 2012? 4 years seems a long time to wait to take action over a £15 debt.

I suspect I did pay it. I certainly don't recall resisting repeated requests, and I think they would have tried to contact me about the money at some point instead of immediately selling it on.

Is there any risk to anything being changed on my credit report if I do contact them? Is it even worth it (i.e. could I even do anything about it to improve my score)?

PS: Just realised that this was posted in the wrong forum section. Apologies. Any mods feel free to move it.

m4rc

If it was bought it would be in bulk, they just buy a pile of debts, they don't go in and pick them up one by one, and when they sift through the piles (metaphorically, its most likely a list of numbers on a screen) they would be starting with the largest amounts and working down. They would stop at the pint where it isn't worth their effort to chase, and I would say £15 is below that cut off.

Some companies do chase for teeny amounts after adding their fees on of course. It could be either or it could be something else entirely. To be honest it's very unlikely a debt is sold a month after its defaulted, I've not heard of that before, so if the timeline is correct maybe they just wrote it off, maybe you paid it and didn't realise, maybe something else.

What I do know is you are worrying about it far too much. I'm not sure there are many credit companies who would care about that little default that has since been satisfied. If you are declined for credit it will more likely be your lack of credit history and therefore a good track record of being able to pay your bills. If you are on the electoral roll then start with Barclaycard Initial, good card for poor credit, once you've had that a few months get an Aqua card, give it a year of using hose two well and you should be able to get a prime card without too many worries as long as there is nothing else on your history, you are working, on the electoral roll etc.

Some credit companies will give a card on a default that's over a year old, most will as long as over 3 years old, and they don't have to be settled, just over 3 years old. In your case this is a teeny thing. Your 'score' doesn't matter to anyone other than you, and it shouldn't matter to you. It's the history that matters, and you don't really have one. You don't have a bad history, that's a good thing, you just don't have one, you are in a strong position, you just need to build a good history now.

Stop worrying and get on with it!

Good luck

Chappaz

m4rc wrote: »

If it was bought it would be in bulk, they just buy a pile of debts, they don't go in and pick them up one by one, and when they sift through the piles (metaphorically, its most likely a list of numbers on a screen) they would be starting with the largest amounts and working down. They would stop at the pint where it isn't worth their effort to chase, and I would say £15 is below that cut off.

Some companies do chase for teeny amounts after adding their fees on of course. It could be either or it could be something else entirely. To be honest it's very unlikely a debt is sold a month after its defaulted, I've not heard of that before, so if the timeline is correct maybe they just wrote it off, maybe you paid it and didn't realise, maybe something else.

What I do know is you are worrying about it far too much. I'm not sure there are many credit companies who would care about that little default that has since been satisfied. If you are declined for credit it will more likely be your lack of credit history and therefore a good track record of being able to pay your bills. If you are on the electoral roll then start with Barclaycard Initial, good card for poor credit, once you've had that a few months get an Aqua card, give it a year of using hose two well and you should be able to get a prime card without too many worries as long as there is nothing else on your history, you are working, on the electoral roll etc.

Some credit companies will give a card on a default that's over a year old, most will as long as over 3 years old, and they don't have to be settled, just over 3 years old. In your case this is a teeny thing. Your 'score' doesn't matter to anyone other than you, and it shouldn't matter to you. It's the history that matters, and you don't really have one. You don't have a bad history, that's a good thing, you just don't have one, you are in a strong position, you just need to build a good history now.

Stop worrying and get on with it!

Good luck

Thanks m4fc. Very helpful.

I just wasn't sure how much of a difference it was making.

I have had a 4 year longer-term debt (car finance) and I've never missed a single payment. There's also nothing else wrong per se other than the default, so I was a little surprised at how "poor" my score is.

I know the score is meaningless, but I've been declined for some pretty basic credit in the past couple of years. I even went to buy a new phone contract recently and I wasn't automatically accepted, so I had to satisfy them with employment details etc over the phone.

Can a lack of any credit card history really make THAT much of a difference? It almost seems like every person in the UK must have a CC at some point just to build any sort of reasonable credit report - even if they never actually need credit.

Anyway, I've already got myself an Aqua rewards credit card which I've started using. I'll keep the credit utilisation low and pay it off in full every month to see how that goes. Clearscore also seem to be showing up as a negative that my available credit is low, so hopefully that will rise soon.

Would you say that it's better for me to have two credit cards? Would my report history build up faster if there were two satisfied credit payments on my report every month instead of just one?

Thanks for your advice.

premierfella

If you want a second opinion, m4rc's advice is spot on.

If the second card you are thinking of getting is just another credit-builder type then whilst it wouldn't hurt (if accepted - naturally it could hurt if rejected given its another application), I doubt it would add too much in terms of achieving what you are after. In your position I'd just turn over small amounts on the Aqua for a good while before considering applying for a standard credit card that would come with a higher credit limit. No doubt you can have fun watching the credit score trending up over the months.

From what you've said you have/have had car finance, a mobile phone contract and this Aqua card. The black mark is historic and drops off completely in less than 2 years, that's even if the credit applications have been taking any significant notice of it in recent applications (which I doubt).

With a spotless credit record and tidy long term employment, even I have a pretty ordinary credit score (for what its worth). In my case I suspect its simply because I live in a high crime/low average wage area. Chances are there are other factors impacting on the largely meaningless credit score and it may be (as in my case) that you may not even be able to do anything about those other factors anyway!

Chappaz

premierfella wrote: »

If you want a second opinion, m4rc's advice is spot on.

If the second card you are thinking of getting is just another credit-builder type then whilst it wouldn't hurt (if accepted - naturally it could hurt if rejected given its another application), I doubt it would add too much in terms of achieving what you are after. In your position I'd just turn over small amounts on the Aqua for a good while before considering applying for a standard credit card that would come with a higher credit limit. No doubt you can have fun watching the credit score trending up over the months.

From what you've said you have/have had car finance, a mobile phone contract and this Aqua card. The black mark is historic and drops off completely in less than 2 years, that's even if the credit applications have been taking any significant notice of it in recent applications (which I doubt).

With a spotless credit record and tidy long term employment, even I have a pretty ordinary credit score (for what its worth). In my case I suspect its simply because I live in a high crime/low average wage area. Chances are there are other factors impacting on the largely meaningless credit score and it may be (as in my case) that you may not even be able to do anything about those other factors anyway!

Thanks for the advice. Always welcome!

The second card would be a credit builder type card. I just wonder if seeing more activity of on-time payments might help move it along a little bit quicker. Either way I'll wait a few months as I know it's frowned upon if multiple lines of credit are applied for too close together.

I know the black mark will drop off after 2 years, which is good. I was just double checking whether this default could ever come back to haunt me (i.e. it could be actioned upon after all these years and then more defaults or other negatives will be added to the report which then take another 6 years to drop off). If anyone could alleviate my fears regarding that, it would be appreciated!

I am self-employed, which certainly doesn't help matters at all. I've even been rejected for store cards. That's why I'm keen to get this credit report looking as rosy as possible so it can "combat" against the negative of putting my status as self-employed on applications, if that makes sense.

It does make you wonder just what it takes to be considered for these 900+ ratings. Would be interesting to take a peak into the report of someone who does have that.