Default Notice on File for 7+ Years?

InTheField

Hello

I made a couple of late payments on my mortgage back in the autumn of 2012 - this is not at issue. I moved house in the autumn of 2013 and repaid the mortgage in full.

I subsequently discovered that the bank has applied a default notice to my credit file from the date at which I sold my house and settled my mortgage - not from the date of the original defaults.

Consequently, although I thought I had now almost 'served my time' and that the default notice would be removed in the autumn of 2018 after 6 years, it is showing as 'Remaining' until the autumn of 2019 (autumn 2013 + 6 years) which is actually slightly more than 7 years since the original event that caused the default.

Is my former bank / mortgage provider allowed to do this? It strikes me as vexatious and vindictive, if not illegal. I am pretty sure I remember (although it would be hard for me to check so many years later) that a default notice was applied properly at the time (back in 2012) and so it appears to me that the bank removed it and re-applied it when I sold the house and repaid the mortgage.

Any advice on how I can get this fixed would be gratefully recieved

Thanks in advance

[Deleted User]

It's not illegal (and certainly not vexatious or vindictive), but a default should generally be applied within 6 months.

Contact them and ask them to backdate it if appropriate.

InTheField

Thanks, ZX81.

The reason I think it could be vexatious and vindictive, is that there were other 'events' where I called them out for their behaviour.

For example, on repaying my mortgage - via my solicitor upon the sale of the house - the bank managed to 'misplace' the entire six-figure repayment and called me a few days later to ask if I knew what had happened to it. The person who called me from the bank didn't like the fact that I laughed at her and the bank's inept behaviour in 'losing' the repayment before hanging up the phone.

So I think it's fair to say that our relationship was pretty strained by the end ... Playing 'David and Goliath' can perhaps still backfire, even if you think you were winning at the time

Thanks again

National_Debtline

Hi InTheField


Welcome to the forum. A couple of things to bear in mind here, the issuing of a default notice is not the same thing as a default being registered on your credit file. That means they could have issued a default notice at the point you missed a payment, but it could have been some time later a default was registered on your credit file.


A mortgage lender also has much more discretion than an unsecured lender as to when they will register a default, but it is generally accepted this should not be later than 6 months after the date of the repossession. Unfortunately that does mean it's unlikely you'll get the date of the default changed.


Susie
@natdebtline