credit score dropped 178 because of a mistake?

lkelly23

First of all I'd like to apologise for being absolutely clueless, no ones ever taught me anything about credit scores and such so I'm a bit ignorant. Basically over the summer, I couldn't afford to pay my mobile bill. My data and calls were cut off, but I didn't really hear anything else about it. When I got my first student loan payment in September, I immediately payed my phone company a sum of 200, covering all missed payments.

A few days after that, I got an email from them saying I owed £68, and if they don't receive the payment a debt collection company would be notified and my credit score would be affected. I clicked on the link provided and checked my account, but they both said I was up to date and didn't need to pay anything at the moment. However, soon after I started receiving calls from a debt collection company. I never got to answer any of the calls because I'm always either working or in uni and just missed them.

I chatted to an adviser from the phone company and told him everything, he apologised and said it would be sorted and I wouldn't hear from the company anymore. However, a few days later, a few more missed calls. I haven't heard anything in maybe a week, but when I checked my credit score a few minutes ago, it had dropped by 178.

I'm pretty upset because I had just got it out of poor and into fair, and now I'm at the bottom end of poor. Is this due to the debt collection company? What steps can I take next and what if anything can be done about it? I appreciate anyone who takes a minute to offer any advice

Socajam

You need to break this up, people are not going to respond because of the difficulty of reading and following what you have written.

[Deleted User]

Your score is irrelevant. It could have changed for any reason, or no reason at all. So nothing to be upset about.

Check your three files. If there is anything in them that shouldn't be there, dispute it.

[Deleted User]

It doesn’t matter.
The score is irrelevant.

papaface

lkelly23 wrote: »

A few days after that, I got an email from them saying I owed £68, and if they don't receive the payment a debt collection company would be notified and my credit score would be affected. I clicked on the link provided and checked my account, but they both said I was up to date and didn't need to pay anything at the moment.

You should have queried why you received notification to the contrary.

lkelly23 wrote: »

However, soon after I started receiving calls from a debt collection company. I never got to answer any of the calls because I'm always either working or in uni and just missed them.

This is really not an excuse. If you were getting missed calls you obviously knew you were getting them and CHOSE not to return their calls at a time such as lunch. Ignorance of the debt doesn't make it go away.

lkelly23 wrote: »

I'm pretty upset because I had just got it out of poor and into fair, and now I'm at the bottom end of poor. Is this due to the debt collection company? What steps can I take next and what if anything can be done about it? I appreciate anyone who takes a minute to offer any advice

I'm no expert but I suspect you'll have been marked down for your missed payments.


The best advice I'd give us to deal with the problem rather than looking for technicalities (as I suspect you're trying to do) to try and get out of the debt and magically correct your credit score.


Although the posters above say that your credit score does not exist (and of course they are correct), the pertinent point here is your credit history and THAT is tangible and does effect your prospects of getting credit.

lkelly23

sorry, not sure if either of us are misunderstanding but there is no debt to be paid, all owed payments were paid at the start of September a few days before any of this went down. I've even confirmed with my phone company that I do not currently owe anything and that this was a mistake on their behalf. I'm not looking to 'get out of debt' I'm simply wondering if my credit score has dropped so much because of this mistake and if so, is there anything I can do about it?

elsien

lkelly23 wrote: »

sorry, not sure if either of us are misunderstanding but there is no debt to be paid, all owed payments were paid at the start of September a few days before any of this went down. I've even confirmed with my phone company that I do not currently owe anything and that this was a mistake on their behalf. I'm not looking to 'get out of debt' I'm simply wondering if my credit score has dropped so much because of this mistake and if so, is there anything I can do about it?

Forget the numbers. As already explained, even though you have now paid what you owed, your missed payments will still show on your credit history and may be a factor that would be taken into account when applying for further credit.
Check the actual information the credit agencies hold on you, not their magic numbers. That is what will count in the future. If the phone company are still chasing you for a debt you need to contact them (not by phone) to get a written breakdown of what they think you owe and why, so you can dispute it if you need to.
What you can do about it is to not miss any more payments - the longer you show you can manage credit without difficulty, the less likely it is your missed payments will continue to be relevant.

Ben8282

There are two problems here. The nuisance debt collection agency and the drop in credit score.
Taking the credit score problem first, as has already been pointed out to you, credit scores are meaningless and are a marketing tool used by the CRA's to get people to subscribe to their services/be exposed to the credit advertising on their sites.
Although you claim to know nothing about credit scores, you nevertheless appear to be in the habit of checking yours in order to know that it has dropped. In order to determine why the score has dropped, it will be necessary for you to look at the information contained in your credit files to see what the actual problem is. Other replies have speculated that this may be a late payment showing for the mobile phone account which is a reasonable assumption to make. Nevertheless, you need to check that this is in fact the case. In the event that the account is not showing a late payment or is not reported at all to that CRA, then the cause of the credit score drop must be something else. Due to credit scores being quite meaningless they might just have felt like showing you a lower score this week to sell you some sort of credit building product! Who knows but what counts is the information contained in your credit files and absolutely not the score.
Check this and let us know what you find.
A word of reassurance. A single incident of a late payment on a single account will only have a very short term effect on your ability to obtain credit and the effect will quickly diminish over time. It is not something to loose sleep over.
Concerning the debt collectors, double check with the telephone company that you currently owe nothing and ignore the debt collectors. If you do speak to them, refuse to confirm any personal details and simply inform them that the debt is paid and refer them back to their instructing client, the mobile phone company.

macman

If you have late payments showing on your history, then they will remain there for 6 years. Settling the debt does not wipe the historical record, which is an accurate reflection of your past activity.
You need to check your history with all 3 CRA's and establish what is shown. If there is a default, as seems likely, rather than just a series of late payments, then that is more serious, as it will certainly reduce your credit-worthiness.
Forget the made-up score, as lenders do not see it.
PS: the negative factors showing on your report are not due to a 'mistake', they are a consequence of you failing to pay, and then ignoring all communication with your provider for several months.

sourcrates

lkelly23 wrote: »

sorry, not sure if either of us are misunderstanding but there is no debt to be paid, all owed payments were paid at the start of September a few days before any of this went down. I've even confirmed with my phone company that I do not currently owe anything and that this was a mistake on their behalf. I'm not looking to 'get out of debt' I'm simply wondering if my credit score has dropped so much because of this mistake and if so, is there anything I can do about it?

Dont take what your phone company say as been anywere near the truth, the call handlers only know what their screen tells them, one explanation is that its likley there is a debt to be paid, as this senario has been played out many times on these forums in the past, remember, your billed in arrears, people tend to forget that.


The other theory is that your provider has failed to recall the debt from the DCA, to be certain of your position, send a written complaint to EE or whoever it is, and ask them to explain the current situation in regard to your account and confirm any outstanding balance.

lkelly23

macman wrote: »

If you have late payments showing on your history, then they will remain there for 6 years. Settling the debt does not wipe the historical record, which is an accurate reflection of your past activity.
You need to check your history with all 3 CRA's and establish what is shown. If there is a default, as seems likely, rather than just a series of late payments, then that is more serious, as it will certainly reduce your credit-worthiness.
Forget the made-up score, as lenders do not see it.
PS: the negative factors showing on your report are not due to a 'mistake', they are a consequence of you failing to pay, and then ignoring all communication with your provider for several months.

man everyone on this site is so desperate to be rude that they forget how to read huh