Credit file clean up when discharged but still have an IPA

paul1672

Hi there. I was declared bankrupt end November 2017 and was given an IPA which I’m paying until jan 2021.
I was discharged end November 2018 and I have been looking at my credit file and so far only one account is now marked as settled out of the 13 accounts that were included in the bankruptcy.
My question is, how soon after discharge should the accounts be marked as settled? And also, nearly all the accounts have a default date later than my bankruptcy order date, is it worth getting this corrected straight away even though I’m still paying into an IPA for another 23 months and should I also contact all the accounts creditors to get the default dates amended?

Thanks in advance

Paul

COS

I went bankrupt 35 grand due to ex, I paid £700 to courts and a year later discharged. I didn't know I was discharged and 5 years later had a free credit report and continued to pay monthly , my credit record was as high as you could get Excellent it said . I was able to get , credit cards , loans and very careful in paying them off. The point is I lost so much sleep with worry and for the sake of 6 years with out credit when in fact it was only a year for the discharge. my rating is good. I would recommend if you are eligible for bankruptcy try save the £700 , probably more now. I took forms to court window they stamped them and I paid money. That was it . Get advice it is free . I remember getting in touch with a company who I paid £300 pound to sort paperwork but so pleased I did as my life turned around in such a short time . I did not bother with IVA's as the money I saved not paying paid the fees. I have to say companies harassing me were companies which had purchased debt from 20 years plus and kept selling on and upping the sums . It got to the stage I wanted to fight back . I am now fighting a case for someone else who is a victim of identity theft . I learned so much. Paul write to the holders of your credit file to make the correction. December I increased a direct debit payment and because of it was reported not paid . I have since won back £75 from my bank and £25 from experien for falsely reporting my record. Payment has just gone into bank this morning .

Craig1981

it will take a few months to go through the channels to get settled

Defaults do stay on your file 6 years regardless of debt solution, although they should show as satisfied with a zero balance once discharged

TheGardener

I think it is worth the small amount of hassle it takes to clean up the files. If you read the 'stickes posts' at the top of the board there is a whole section about file clean up. I used the letter templates there with some small amendments sent letters with a copy of the BR certificate to all my creditors - within a few weeks pretty much all of them had marked the accounts with the right default date (BR date) and with satisfied balances. Most of them wrote to me confirming they had done so.


When the 6 years are up your finances will be all the better for the effort you took. Once you are discharged, even if paying an IPA its worth doing. Credit 'scores' are fairly meaningless but a good, well managed credit 'history' is worth a great deal.

paul1672

Thank you for the advice.
I’ve managed to call two of my creditors and they have confirmed they will update my file within 6-8 weeks. Some of my creditors default dates are incorrect but only by a few weeks so I might just let them slide as a few weeks shouldn’t make a big difference. It’s not like I’m in a rush to get credit again anyway.

Thanks again

Paul

TheGardener

The reason the clean up is recommended is because some creditors do not update your files at all - some folk have posted on here because even many years later they find that they have defaults being constantly updated so the 'drop off' at 6 years never comes if you see what I mean.

Cleaning you files up is worth it regardless of whether you want credit.

paul1672

So would you say it’s advisable to contact the ones that have a default date only a few weeks later than my actual bankruptcy default date as well as the ones that are completely incorrect?
I just thought if they are only a few weeks out they would just drop off slightly later than the 6 years?

Paul

[Deleted User]

Personally I'd want everything to be recorded as defaulted on or before the Bankruptcy date and settled on or before the discharge date, as per official guidance.

Reason for this is that if you go through any kind of automated scoring in the future, negative information dated AFTER the bankruptcy may cause a lender to think you'd got further negative info and/or outstanding debts which weren't written off in bankruptcy (I believe one of the few reasons for this is fraud, and you don't want a lender assuming that!).

There may be some tolerance built into credit scoring, but I think it's worth the effort to get it accruately updated.

All mine were eventually updated, although I noticed recently Cap1 are reporting the wrong date by a month (ironic, as it's them that have given me £4k limit!)

paul1672

Somerset_La_La_La wrote: »

Personally I'd want everything to be recorded as defaulted on or before the Bankruptcy date and settled on or before the discharge date, as per official guidance.

Reason for this is that if you go through any kind of automated scoring in the future, negative information dated AFTER the bankruptcy may cause a lender to think you'd got further negative info and/or outstanding debts which weren't written off in bankruptcy (I believe one of the few reasons for this is fraud, and you don't want a lender assuming that!).

There may be some tolerance built into credit scoring, but I think it's worth the effort to get it accruately updated.

All mine were eventually updated, although I noticed recently Cap1 are reporting the wrong date by a month (ironic, as it's them that have given me £4k limit!)

Thanks for the info, I’ve bitten the bullet and contacted all the creditors today and surprisingly most were happy to contact the credit agencies and amend the details (albeit it possibly taking 6-8 weeks to confirm it’s done) I only have three creditors that want a discharge certificate which I will gladly post on.
So, hopefully in next 6-8 weeks all creditors should be updated as settled/partially settled with a correct default date.
Fingers crossed and thanks for all the advice guys.

WOW, £4,000 credit limit, how long after discharge before you got that?? Lol

Regards

Paul

[Deleted User]

2 years discharged to the month when it first hit 4K.

2 different cards was merging limits and opening new ones etc. Got £1250 a year after discharge and it kept getting upped from there (same card, or opening a 2nd card)

My limit seems to be 4K though, never got any higher. If I lower the limit by £200 I can open another card (at £200). Don’t know if £4k is the limit for sub-prime cards (they have a prime card with higher limits) or if 4 is the most they think I can afford. Not fussed really but having a big limit helps credit file.