Asking for a backdated Default

andr222

Hi 

I'm looking for a bit of a advice.

Just over 6 years ago, after getting myself into a tough spot financially, I was approved a repayment plan under Scotland's Debt Arrangement Scheme (DAS). I still have about 14 months to go but I'll be getting a small windfall next month, that should allow me to complete the plan.

The problem is that while most of my creditors applied a default around the time the plan was approved, Barclays have been recording missed payments on two loans, every month since. As such, these missed payments will continue to show on my credit file for some time (6 more years for the last one).  I wrote to Barclays previously, asking for them to back date the default but never heard back (This was early in the pandemic and the letter was not sent Recorded Delivery). I'm going to write to the again and politely asking if they can do this, but I had a couple of questions?

1) Would it be better to wait for the final payment to go through next month before making the request, to show that I've been serious about completing it, or get it in now while it's still an active debt with them?

2) Does anyone have advice on how best to make the request? StepChange have told me that Barclays are not obligated to do this, but the current situation feels unfair, in that one of the selling points of repayment plan was that it will be recorded on my credit file for 6 years but that after that it would be clear. With the missed payments though, I'm facing having my credit file impacted for up to 12 years since I took out the DAS plan. I'm not sure if I should be driving that point home in the letter or not.

Any advice would be very welcome.

gd55

There's a template letter in one of the stickies about tidying credit reports after IVA etc with how to ask for backdated defaults. Not sure if same for Scotland but worth a look.

sourcrates

A DAS is not insolvency, it`s a statutory debt management plan, which means the rules on defaults that apply to insolvency, don`t apply here unfortunately.

So yes, basically you are at the mercy and goodwill of the creditor, you should try and appeal to their sense of fair play, I`d crack on with it, as waiting times for complaints can be over 12 weeks.

Thaisparrow

Having done this with Barclays last year they can be difficult, mine was through a complaint and they put the default 13 months after my first missed payment. I got them to move it to 3 months after missed payment after a few conversations. You basically just need to stress that from when you were not making your contractual payments you were in default so they should default between 3-6 months of missed payments and hope you get a good complaint handler on the day, good luck!