Post divorce Finance Clean up:Defaults & Settlements

Farmer_jones

Hi all
I am nearing the end of a very painful divorce and I have around £35k of Credit card debt (divorce, unemployment & loss of business caused this).

Anyway, my Experian credit score is, erm, very poor like 400 and something. I want to buy a property and a mortgage will be needed. So I have to clean up my credit report...and here's the problem, I have three default notices dated 2018 which are causing the poor score.

One of the credit card companies have offered to settle for 20% of the debt, which is attractive. I maybe able to settle with the others as well. However I understand that a default stays on a credit file for 6 years....is this correct ? What happens if I start making full payments, can I clear the default notices ?

If I have to wait for 6 years for the defaults to be removed, its unlikely I'll get a mortgage at that point as I'll be 60.

Advice anyone ?

sourcrates

Hi,

Unfortunatly the defaults will stay on your file for 6 years regardless of what you do, settled will look better than not settled, but its the defaults that cause the issues here, you cannot get them removed.

EssexHebridean

Once you have followed Sourcrates advice above re settling the debts my suggestion would be to rent in the short term and save every penny you can towards a bigger deposit against buying - this will help to offset the time passing and your age (apologies) increasing. It may be that as time does pass and the defaults get older, you'll start to find some options for mortgages opening up for you.