Historic debt on credit report - How to resolve?

grossepointblank

Hi all,
Hoping that the well-informed individuals on this forum may be able to help me with a debt-related issue.

I am in the process of house hunting currently, my credit rating has historically been poor based on my personal circumstances when I was younger, however it's improved immeasurably over the last couple of years and I'm now in a position to look at purchasing my first home, in conjunction with my partner.

My credit report shows a single outstanding debt of around £80ish on an old Lloyds TSB student credit card that I'd long since forgotten about. I initially called Lloyds TSB and was told that the account is dormant and that I would need to go into the branch. I've subsequently been into branch to try and rectify this and was met with a similar response, advised that that the account was dormant and thus they could not access it, and advised to contact card services. Called them again, told they can't access the account and that I need to return to branch again. The problem seems to be that the debt was sold on, however there is no clear idea of who to as the credit report indicates that the debt is with Lloyds TSB and staff don't appear to be able to access the account to advise me of who it might have been sold off to.

I literally just want to pay this debt ultimately so that it will show as settled on my credit report. It's not a major issue in relation to our potential mortgage agreement but our adviser thinks he might be able to find more favourable lenders if I can achieve this so it would clearly be beneficial to do so.

Can anyone suggest as to how I may go about rectifying this?

DCFC79

Do remember your credit rating is only seen by yourself, lenders see your credit history.

grossepointblank

Understood. It's on the report, a copy of which I forwarded to the mortgage advisor. I'm no expert but presume that's why he's suggesting I get it settled.

sourcrates

Does it show as defaulted on your credit file ?

If its a dormant account, you cannot pay it, if its been sold, they won`t know who too, or even when, only a subject access request will get you this information, and then only if it was in the last 6 years.

If it has a date of default on it, it will vanish regardless of what you do on the 6th anniversary.

grossepointblank

Yeah it shows as defaulted. 
It's two years away from vanishing I think so keen to get it sorted sooner rather than later. You think it would be worth while to do a subject access request to obtain the information?
Suppose I could phone around some debt collection agencies to try and find out if they hold it as well.

sourcrates

Personally i wouldn`t bother doing anything, but if its important to you, then a SAR should tell you who it was sold to, or if they still own it.

grossepointblank

Bump. Our mortgage advisor is really pushing this for some reason. Have submitted a complaint to Lloyds TSB (as they cannot find the debt or any details of who it was sold to). Any one got any other suggestions?

sourcrates

As above, send a SAR.