Hard search appeared on my file from Debt collector

stowelly

Hi. im currently in the process of getting a mortgage, as far as i understand it, when the valuation is done in 2 weeks time, they will perform another hard search on my credit file

this debt collector search appears today!

I called up the debt collector to find out why, and all they could say is that I would be receiving a letter..... as far as im aware i have paid every debt I owe so I have no idea what it could be.

I need to do absolutely anything I can to stop any thing else bad appearing on my report or risk being declined my mortgage.

does anyone have any idea how this all works? will they automatically register the debt? as it was registered on trans union, is it possible it wont appear on equifax in the time it takes to get the mortgage approved?

actually feeling physically sick with worry from this now

thanks

ThisnotThat

What was the hard search actually for?

stowelly

ThisnotThat said:

What was the hard search actually for?

the purpose was listed as Debt Collection

[Deleted User]

If you have a debt and it's not 6 years since default then it would be on your credit file already. If it's more than 6 years then it cannot reappear as the original debt. You can't stop a lender legitimately reporting a debt to any of the CRAs they wish to, but if they are playing silly people and try it on you should initiate a complaint. Wait for the letter, it could be statute barred and a try it on or even a mistaken identity which you can dispute. Have a "prove it" letter on standby if they try and claim you owe the debt

stowelly

Deleted_User said:

If you have a debt and it's not 6 years since default then it would be on your credit file already. If it's more than 6 years then it cannot reappear as the original debt. You can't stop a lender legitimately reporting a debt to any of the CRAs they wish to, but if they are playing silly people and try it on you should initiate a complaint. Wait for the letter, it could be statute barred and a try it on or even a mistaken identity which you can dispute. Have a "prove it" letter on standby if they try and claim you owe the debt

Ok thank you..... there are a couple of defaults within the last 6 years but they are all marked as satisfied, so it makes little sense.
Can they report a debt to any of the CRA if it is in dispute?
if I immediately rang and paid them as soon as the letter arrives (assuming its actually something I owe) will this avoid any further damage to my credit file?

sorry for all the questions, this is quite worrying

ThisnotThat

stowelly said:

Deleted_User said:

If you have a debt and it's not 6 years since default then it would be on your credit file already. If it's more than 6 years then it cannot reappear as the original debt. You can't stop a lender legitimately reporting a debt to any of the CRAs they wish to, but if they are playing silly people and try it on you should initiate a complaint. Wait for the letter, it could be statute barred and a try it on or even a mistaken identity which you can dispute. Have a "prove it" letter on standby if they try and claim you owe the debt

Ok thank you..... there are a couple of defaults within the last 6 years but they are all marked as satisfied, so it makes little sense.
Can they report a debt to any of the CRA if it is in dispute?
if I immediately rang and paid them as soon as the letter arrives (assuming its actually something I owe) will this avoid any further damage to my credit file?

sorry for all the questions, this is quite worrying

Yes, they can report it if it's in dispute.  You could dispute it with the CRA's but not all of them remove it when it's in dispute and Equifax as one example will throw a NOC on there if you dispute an entry, which you definitely do not want.

Paying it will likely have no effect on whether it is reported or not.  They're not really reporting it to punish you so appeasing them by paying it won't change anything.

[Deleted User]

stowelly said:

Deleted_User said:

If you have a debt and it's not 6 years since default then it would be on your credit file already. If it's more than 6 years then it cannot reappear as the original debt. You can't stop a lender legitimately reporting a debt to any of the CRAs they wish to, but if they are playing silly people and try it on you should initiate a complaint. Wait for the letter, it could be statute barred and a try it on or even a mistaken identity which you can dispute. Have a "prove it" letter on standby if they try and claim you owe the debt

Ok thank you..... there are a couple of defaults within the last 6 years but they are all marked as satisfied, so it makes little sense.
Can they report a debt to any of the CRA if it is in dispute?
if I immediately rang and paid them as soon as the letter arrives (assuming its actually something I owe) will this avoid any further damage to my credit file?

sorry for all the questions, this is quite worrying

Question - did you have a debt and not pay it off in full?
It's not impossible that if the debt was marked as settled it's because it's been sold to a debt agency who want to come after you before the 6 year point, hence the hard search

stowelly

Deleted_User said:

stowelly said:

Deleted_User said:

If you have a debt and it's not 6 years since default then it would be on your credit file already. If it's more than 6 years then it cannot reappear as the original debt. You can't stop a lender legitimately reporting a debt to any of the CRAs they wish to, but if they are playing silly people and try it on you should initiate a complaint. Wait for the letter, it could be statute barred and a try it on or even a mistaken identity which you can dispute. Have a "prove it" letter on standby if they try and claim you owe the debt

Ok thank you..... there are a couple of defaults within the last 6 years but they are all marked as satisfied, so it makes little sense.
Can they report a debt to any of the CRA if it is in dispute?
if I immediately rang and paid them as soon as the letter arrives (assuming its actually something I owe) will this avoid any further damage to my credit file?

sorry for all the questions, this is quite worrying

Question - did you have a debt and not pay it off in full?
It's not impossible that if the debt was marked as settled it's because it's been sold to a debt agency who want to come after you before the 6 year point, hence the hard search

I paid everything in full as I thought having them all marked as fully satisfied would help me

all I can think of its something silly like a parking ticket gone to an old address or something like that

Guess ill just have to wait for the letter to come through..... 

slightly less worried about it now. as at least its just a search at the moment, I think it would be a bit of a stretch for anything extra to propagate through to the other credit agencies in the next two weeks...

pogofish

Which debt collector is it?
Also, are your vehicle keeper details up to date?  Over on the parking board, we see a lot of people surprised by debt collectors chasing old parking tickets because the original paperwork went to the address on the V5, which they had not updated.
And mistaken identity is indeed a possibility - I've been on the receiving end of one of those and it took a very long time to get those vultures disabused of the idea of getting any money out of me!

stowelly

pogofish said:

Which debt collector is it?
Also, are your vehicle keeper details up to date?  Over on the parking board, we see a lot of people surprised by debt collectors chasing old parking tickets because the original paperwork went to the address on the V5, which they had not updated.
And mistaken identity is indeed a possibility - I've been on the receiving end of one of those and it took a very long time to get those vultures disabused of the idea of getting any money out of me!

Intrum. they arent currently up to date. we sold our house 8 weeks ago and are living somewhere temporary while we buy somewhere. But we should have got any mail about such things due to having a Royal Mail redirect set up.
Guess its pointless to speculate at this stage though

Oni0nMan

@stowelly sorry to dig up an old thread, how did this work out for you?