Default Settling with Wonga - July 2020

hannahelawrence

Hi All
This is my first time posting so please bare with me. 
i was wondering if someone could help me.
Me and my partner are trying to get a mortgage for a Shared Ownership house, but my partner has a default on his credit file that needs paying off before a lender will consider us. The default is with Wonga that came on (start date) 08/10/2016 and went into default on 25/02/2017. We have tried to ring Wonga in the last 2 weeks to try and settle the debt fully but the lines just going dead and there customer care team are now gone. I have then contacted the administrators who have taken over Wonga since  and they are saying they are not taking any payments now and there is nothing more i can do for the default, it will have to sit as unsettled on his credit file. Grant Thorton seem to be the people who are looking after everything now, and are reporting the unsettled debt to Equifax, but surely if they can report the debt there must be a way to settle it right? i have challenged them on this and are saying that's how it is and they are closing end of the month so there wont be anyone to talk to. Now my partner has paid some of the debt off before Wonga went into administration anyway, we were making monthly payments from £900 down to £535, we have a letter confirming this, but they are still reporting the debt as £900 so this is also wrong. I have an email confirming i have tried to settle the debt but they are not accepting payment, lenders still wont consider us. My mortgage advisor is saying that they are not allowed to report the default unless there is a way to settle it.
So next step we contacted Equifax directly,  who are currently in the process of contacting Wonga/Grant Thorton on our behalf to see if we can get it partially settled or change the debt amount but they didn't seem to really know what to do either, they have said it takes up to 21 days to get a decision, but i was wondering if anyone else knew anything. We can't surely be the only ones in this position. I really don't want to have to wait another 2.5 years t for it to come of the credit file to buy a house when i want to pay the debt in full. I can't be accepted alone, and have been accepted as affordable for the house we want, we just cant get the lender.
HELP!

 

richardadc

I has a similar issue in that I had a default on my account from then that was marked as having an outstanding balance that I had actually paid.  I reported that the default should be removed to Equifax and as they got no reply from Wonga they hid the entry from my report.  That was about 4 months ago now and it hasn't come back.

sourcrates

Paying a defaulted account does not remove the default, so no real benefit in chasing this.
Try a mortgage broker.

richardadc

sourcrates said:

Paying a defaulted account does not remove the default, so no real benefit in chasing this.
Try a mortgage broker.

It does make sense if the company doesn't reply to CRA request within 28 days which will result in the entry being hidden.  The entry will then only ever be put back if they start reporting again which I would have thought was extremely unlikely when the company doesn't exist anymore.

sourcrates

richardadc said:

sourcrates said:

Paying a defaulted account does not remove the default, so no real benefit in chasing this.
Try a mortgage broker.

It does make sense if the company doesn't reply to CRA request within 28 days which will result in the entry being hidden.  The entry will then only ever be put back if they start reporting again which I would have thought was extremely unlikely when the company doesn't exist anymore.

In order for it to be hidden,the company must inform the CRA that a dispute exists, if they are not reporting to the CRA, then that cannot happen, the CRA`s are not psychic.

richardadc

sourcrates said:

richardadc said:

sourcrates said:

Paying a defaulted account does not remove the default, so no real benefit in chasing this.
Try a mortgage broker.

It does make sense if the company doesn't reply to CRA request within 28 days which will result in the entry being hidden.  The entry will then only ever be put back if they start reporting again which I would have thought was extremely unlikely when the company doesn't exist anymore.

In order for it to be hidden,the company must inform the CRA that a dispute exists, if they are not reporting to the CRA, then that cannot happen, the CRA`s are not psychic.

The company/lender isn't involved in starting the dispute if you go directly to the CRA.  As an individual you complain directly to the CRA that data on your report isn't accurate.  The CRA will put a Notice of Dispute on your file and then give the lender 28 days to reply.  If the CRA doesn't receive a reply within that time frame then you can request the entry will be hidden from your report. 

I know this because as I said I had to do the same with Wonga.  I spent months trying to get Wonga to sort the issue out and this was when the call centre was still open.  I then went directly to the CRA but as they failed to respond to them the entire entry was removed until they actually do, which is not going to happen as they dont exist anymore.

Below I quote what Equifax sent to me:

..."They have not yet responded to this dispute so the information you were disputing has been temporarily removed from your credit report. This record will be put back on your report when the company responds to your dispute."

hannahelawrence

Thank you all really appreciate your help. Hopefully this will be the same case for us then. Without sounding really stupid, are the CRA the same as Equifax, do i need to contact someone else? 

richardadc

hannahelawrence said:

Thank you all really appreciate your help. Hopefully this will be the same case for us then. Without sounding really stupid, are the CRA the same as Equifax, do i need to contact someone else? 

It just stands for Credit Reference Agency.  Equifax is one of them but it's possible that Wonga have recorded on it other CRA's including Experian and Transunion.

hannahelawrence

richardadc said:

It just stands for Credit Reference Agency.  Equifax is one of them but it's possible that Wonga have recorded on it other CRA's including Experian and Transunion.

So do i need to contact experian and Transunion as well? or will Equifax sort for all credit files?

richardadc

You'll need to contact them individually.  You can view your Transunion report at http://www.creditkarma.co.uk and your Experian report at https://clubs.moneysavingexpert.com/creditclub/login.

jaygatz

I’m having the exact same issue too! My account was also defaulted - if CRAs hide it from the report but Wonga gets back to them eventually, does anyone know what happens when they add it back to your report? I’m assuming it won’t affect the date of the original default even if they make it visible on your report again?

(Sorry for the rambly comment!)