Non-Defaulted Accounts on Debt Arrangement Scheme (DAS)

risko

I am currently three and half years into a DAS (debt arrangement scheme) and should have enough money saved in around six months to pay it off completely (18 months early!)

The payment plan has been paying off six different debts - an overdraft, two loans, and three credit cards

I decided to check my credit report on Experian, and noted that four of the accounts went into default at the beginning of my DAS, as I expected.

Two of the accounts, however, have not been defaulted but are marked "Debt Management Programme'. I have been reading that, without defaults, these accounts would stay on my credit report for another six years after being settled. One article suggested that it would be a good idea to request that these accounts are defaulted (obviously backdated to the beginning of my DAS) as this will cause them to be completely removed six years after the default date.

Is this true? And is it even likely that the creditor will do it?

Thanks!

sourcrates

Hi,

Yes by all means, you can write and ask the creditor to default you, and back date the default.

If they refuse, take the matter to the FOS and/or the ICO for resolution.

Companies do not have to default you, but it is considered unfair and detrimental to yourself, if they don't treat you in a fair manor.

risko

Thanks sourcrates!

Is it true that these debts would drop off my credit report quicker if they were defaulted than if they were flagged as 'DMP' and then settled?

StopIt

That is correct.


A defaulted account drops off your file 6 years after the default, as that is counted as an account closure.


An account with a DMP or more commonly an AR Arrangement to Pay flag is counted as a live account, so will show those flags for 6 years after you finish paying the account. That's why it is actually better to just get a default than the longer term damage these flags cause.