Defaults

Nikkiryden

I was in a controlling relationship whereby my finances and the household finances were dealt with by my partner. Towards the end of the relationship I went into hospital for emergency brain surgery that left me on intensive care with bleeding on the brain. I was in hospital for almost 4 months. When I got out of hospital, I left my partner with the support of my family. Unfortunately, access to the house I shared with my partner was restricted and I wasn't able to get my post/paperwork. I have since found out that a credit card I had at the time was left unpaid and I received a default on my credit file. I have also since spoken to the company, who have been fantastic, and am paying the amount owing back.
My question then comes to this, are you able to have a default removed from a file or noted with the circumstances in which is was received? I physically received no written communication to make me aware the default was going to happen and due to brain damage from the bleed, my memory is permanently damaged and impacted so recalling debts etc from before the bleed has been essentially impossible.
I've heard of having these circumstances recorded on your credit file so that creditors are able to see the circumstances in which it was received. Is this correct? Is there a way of appealing the default due to it having ever received a letter informing me of the intention to do so? Finally, is it true that a default stays on your credit file for 6 years and is as damaging as a CCJ?
Thank you!

spadoosh

Theyre pretty damaging and yes 6 years.

Youve got some mitigating circumstances clearly, the issue is youre probably going to be reliant on the company requesting the default be removed.

You can go down the not informed route but its hard to prove. They only need evidence that it was sent, not normally hard to get when systems are usually automated. Its not their fault if you havent recieved it for whatever reason so long as they can prove theyve sent it.

I would speak to the company and ask if they can remove the default, explain your circumstances, get evidence from the hospital/doctor and see what they do from there.

Try and avoid the getting notes added. For the best result you need to try and get it removed, computers dont read the notes and computers make decision on credit. Unless you fancy sending every credit application to underwriters (and even then theyre well within their rights to refuse lending with mitigating notes) i would avoid getting notes added and aim for full removal.

Good luck! They can be removed, ive had one removed myself although that was fraud and took about a year to sort out.

Hopefully a proper expert can offer you better solutions.

sourcrates

Good advice above,

The creditor, at there own discretion can remove defaults, if they want to.

It's like been caught speeding, the offence has been committed, question is do you have a good enough reason for doing it, all you can do is write and ask them, detail the events surrounding it etc.

If they say no, you may be able to take it to the financial ombudsman, who decide cases on the basis of fairness to both sides.

National_Debtline

Hi Nikkiryden and welcome to MSE,


I agree with the other posters, that you can write to the creditor and ask them to remove the default because of the mitigating circumstances. You could potentially ask them to write off the debt based on the fact that the debt was a result of a financially abusive relationship. This can be hard to prove, but ask the creditor what evidence/ information they would need from you to consider this request. If you can provide it they may write off the debt, as well as potentially remove the default.

I will mention however, that having a default recorded on your credit is different to the creditor having to send a default notice before court action. The default on your credit file is added 'when the creditor feels the relationship has broken down' and they don't have to strictly send you notice. Good luck,


Laura
@natdebtline