credit file headache!

london1973

notwithstanding Fermi's fine thread on this i'm really finding this clean up a nightmare

Just registered with experian-it shows one defaulted account with the right default date-i.e before my bankruptcy date, and a 'partial settlement' date of before my discharge-and a balance of zero-is that all good and sorted, why 'partial'

More of a concern however I can't seem to find any record of any of the other debts that went into my bankruptcy, one credit card, a bank loan and a bank overdraft-they appear on clearscore but I thought Experian was far more thorough? are they hiding somewhere, I must say I find Experian quite cluttered and hard to navigate-if they aren't there is this good or bad?

Help!!!!1

[Deleted User]

Experian will only show the lenders who report to it.

It may be that then only report to Equifax and/or Call Credit.

london1973

ok thanks, so is the one aforementioned account all sorted, do I need to do anything, not sure what partial settlement means-the balance is zero though

also the others that are missing are Barclaycard and Natwes-surely companies like this report to Experian? just worried i'm missing them somehow

[Deleted User]

Partial settlement means you didn't repay it in full.

Not all lenders report to all CRAs and not for all accounts. If you can't find your account on one, it means they don't - at least for those accounts in question.

london1973

ok sorry to be a pain but i'm lost here
I didn't repay it at all! it was a 5k credit card debt, went into my bankruptcy, that's it-balance now shows as zero, with a 'partial' settlement date - but as I say balance is now zero, does that mean its closed and I don't need to do anything?
sorry i'm finding this all really impossible to get my head around!

[Deleted User]

You don't need to do anything, as it was part of your bankruptcy. So you don't owe anything, but it was only partially settled.

london1973

but I thought the whole point of the credit file clean up was to make sure all previous accounts are satisfied on your credit file, so they don't come back to bite you when you apply for credit 6 years hence?

[Deleted User]

They are satisfied. Settled means there is nothing more to pay and they will not chase you.

GazHatesBanks

london1973 wrote: »

but I thought the whole point of the credit file clean up was to make sure all previous accounts are satisfied on your credit file, so they don't come back to bite you when you apply for credit 6 years hence?

The point of the clean up is to make sure that the default dates and satisfied/partially settled dates are in line with your bankruptcy date and discharge date. Left to their own devices, many lenders will report late default dates and may never show the account as closed.

For closed accounts the agencies/lenders have 3 ways of reporting them:

• Settled - paid in full and account closed;
• Partially Settled - not paid in full, but lender has accepted a settlement figure of less than the amount owed and written off the balance;
• Satisfied - not paid in full, but lender has accepted the closure of account and any balance is written off.

Generally under bankruptcy (and possibly other forms of insolvency), most lenders will report the account as satisfied (as they haven't agreed to a partial settlement but are forced to accept it), but in reality the two options are often interchangeable.

Either way, the account is closed and it will fall off your credit report 6 years from default date.

As to Barclaycard, they nearly always sell off the debt to another company (who presumably hope for a dividend from the bankruptcy estate) which could explain why it isn't showing on Experian. Some of these companies may not bother reporting to the CRAs - after all they're not expecting you to repay it.

I don't know about Natwest, but they may do the same.

You could check the other two CRAs - Noddle (for Call Credit) and Clearscore (For Equifax) and see if the accounts appear there and are correct.

london1973

immensely helpful thankyou

london1973

final annoying question but does one need to keep checking the CRAs into the future to make sure lenders haven’t reported the debt at a later date (for whatever reason) - or can one assume, with experian for example, that if its not there now its not going to be

if it helps i was declared BR oct 2016 and discharged a year later-