How to get a default removed

premiumz

Hi all,

So I'll just start by saying, I'm not one that has had bad credit history etc. I've done pretty well over the years, however I in 2020 I had received a letter from a company called Lowell regarding a payment they were collecting.

This payment was for an old mobile sim card I had from 2013 which I had cancelled some years after that.

The letter from Lowell said that I owe £30+. I was so confused because I hadn't heard from the mobile company in years. I haven't used the sim card as I can canceled it years ago. So this baffled me.

I rang the mobile company up and explained everything and they simply apologized and said it was not closed but that they could close it now... I said I did close it and shouldn't even be having this conversation but for the sake of £30 I wasn't going to have an all out war on the phone. I politely asked them to MAKE SURE it's closed this time.

I then phoned Lowell as the debt had been moved to them and so I paid it.

This was in 2020. I hadn't taken on any finance etc so It never occurred to me that they stuck a default on my account being that they apologized for the error.

Fast forward to now and I was looking into my credit score and have noticed this default on there and it's significantly impacting my score. My mortgage is due for renewal towards the end of the year but the default doesn't come off on it's own till 2026.

Is there a way to remove this?

They acknowledged they were wrong and could see that the sim card had not been turned on/used for years. That along with the fact I had no knowledge of them trying to get the £30 because I had moved in that time. It was only £30, I had no problem paying it but it was an error on their side and so I feel this is so unjust to have this marking my account when I am now in need of renewing my mortgage soon.

sourcrates

Defaults cannot normally be removed, it signifies a credit agreement was not adhered too, and payments were missed to the point the account was defaulted, the reasons why do not matter, its basically a statement of fact.

The amount involved is irrelevant, although it does seem harsh to affect someone`s credit for £30.

Paying the debt does not remove the default, it will be removed automatically after 6 years.

You can complain to the company that registered the default, go through their complaints process, but success is never guaranteed, however they may offer to remove it as a gesture of goodwill.

Nasqueron

Your credit score is never seen by any lender, it has no bearing on any credit application

premiumz

sourcrates said:

Defaults cannot normally be removed, it signifies a credit agreement was not adhered too, and payments were missed to the point the account was defaulted, the reasons why do not matter, its basically a statement of fact.

The amount involved is irrelevant, although it does seem harsh to affect someone`s credit for £30.

Paying the debt does not remove the default, it will be removed automatically after 6 years.

You can complain to the company that registered the default, go through their complaints process, but success is never guaranteed, however they may offer to remove it as a gesture of goodwill.

So I spoke to the company that left the default but they said there was nothing they could do in terms of removing it. They said I should speak to a credit agency like transuninion etc and see if there's something they could do. It's frustrating because in this instance I have clearly been wronged by the mobile company. They did not contact me for over 7 years and then suddenly I get a letter from Lowell asking for £30. I paid straight away as I was totally unaware but that's enough for you to have bad credit and worse rates for 6 years. That £30 is going to cost me thousands in the long run as I am worse off interest wise with certain products.

premiumz

Nasqueron said:

Your credit score is never seen by any lender, it has no bearing on any credit application

That is correct. Hence why I want to remove the default as that is something that IS taken into account by a lender.

Nasqueron

premiumz said:

sourcrates said:

Defaults cannot normally be removed, it signifies a credit agreement was not adhered too, and payments were missed to the point the account was defaulted, the reasons why do not matter, its basically a statement of fact.

The amount involved is irrelevant, although it does seem harsh to affect someone`s credit for £30.

Paying the debt does not remove the default, it will be removed automatically after 6 years.

You can complain to the company that registered the default, go through their complaints process, but success is never guaranteed, however they may offer to remove it as a gesture of goodwill.

So I spoke to the company that left the default but they said there was nothing they could do in terms of removing it. They said I should speak to a credit agency like transuninion etc and see if there's something they could do. It's frustrating because in this instance I have clearly been wronged by the mobile company. They did not contact me for over 7 years and then suddenly I get a letter from Lowell asking for £30. I paid straight away as I was totally unaware but that's enough for you to have bad credit and worse rates for 6 years. That £30 is going to cost me thousands in the long run as I am worse off interest wise with certain products.

The credit agencies will not remove this as they can't, they only act on info given to them by the debt owner - they fobbed you off. The problem will be the fact you acknowledged the debt though you could argue that under ICO guidelines, the default should be per guidelines, within 2-3 missed contractual payments. I would also argue that after 7 years, the debt is statute barred if you never acknowledged it so should be removed, you might be able to adapt the SB template letter. 

Check with the phone operator when you actually defaulted as it's probably before 2020 given you said they haven't contacted you since I guess before 2017?

premiumz

Nasqueron said:

premiumz said:

sourcrates said:

Defaults cannot normally be removed, it signifies a credit agreement was not adhered too, and payments were missed to the point the account was defaulted, the reasons why do not matter, its basically a statement of fact.

The amount involved is irrelevant, although it does seem harsh to affect someone`s credit for £30.

Paying the debt does not remove the default, it will be removed automatically after 6 years.

You can complain to the company that registered the default, go through their complaints process, but success is never guaranteed, however they may offer to remove it as a gesture of goodwill.

So I spoke to the company that left the default but they said there was nothing they could do in terms of removing it. They said I should speak to a credit agency like transuninion etc and see if there's something they could do. It's frustrating because in this instance I have clearly been wronged by the mobile company. They did not contact me for over 7 years and then suddenly I get a letter from Lowell asking for £30. I paid straight away as I was totally unaware but that's enough for you to have bad credit and worse rates for 6 years. That £30 is going to cost me thousands in the long run as I am worse off interest wise with certain products.

The credit agencies will not remove this as they can't, they only act on info given to them by the debt owner - they fobbed you off. The problem will be the fact you acknowledged the debt though you could argue that under ICO guidelines, the default should be per guidelines, within 2-3 missed contractual payments. I would also argue that after 7 years, the debt is statute barred if you never acknowledged it so should be removed, you might be able to adapt the SB template letter. 

Check with the phone operator when you actually defaulted as it's probably before 2020 given you said they haven't contacted you since I guess before 2017?

I'll see if I can dig up some more details, but I'm not holding my breath as it seems like a no win situation at this point unfortunately...

I'm thinking perhaps there are other things I can do that will look good to a lender.
The end of my fixed rate mortgage is coming up towards the end of the year and I need to try to do whatever I can now to help get a better deal.

I don't have any credit cards or loans. I'm considering getting these and regularly making payments through them to show I'm good with money. Do you think this may help with better interest rate deals etc? Or is the default on the account just going to shadow everything completely until it's gone?

sparks_2023

If you defaulted over 7 years ago then the date of the default needs to be corrected to reflect the true history. Call the mobile company again - they may have a script which tells you that they can't remove a default.... but correcting the date is a different question. And with the correct date it drops off your file anyway...

Nasqueron

premiumz said:

Nasqueron said:

premiumz said:

sourcrates said:

Defaults cannot normally be removed, it signifies a credit agreement was not adhered too, and payments were missed to the point the account was defaulted, the reasons why do not matter, its basically a statement of fact.

The amount involved is irrelevant, although it does seem harsh to affect someone`s credit for £30.

Paying the debt does not remove the default, it will be removed automatically after 6 years.

You can complain to the company that registered the default, go through their complaints process, but success is never guaranteed, however they may offer to remove it as a gesture of goodwill.

So I spoke to the company that left the default but they said there was nothing they could do in terms of removing it. They said I should speak to a credit agency like transuninion etc and see if there's something they could do. It's frustrating because in this instance I have clearly been wronged by the mobile company. They did not contact me for over 7 years and then suddenly I get a letter from Lowell asking for £30. I paid straight away as I was totally unaware but that's enough for you to have bad credit and worse rates for 6 years. That £30 is going to cost me thousands in the long run as I am worse off interest wise with certain products.

The credit agencies will not remove this as they can't, they only act on info given to them by the debt owner - they fobbed you off. The problem will be the fact you acknowledged the debt though you could argue that under ICO guidelines, the default should be per guidelines, within 2-3 missed contractual payments. I would also argue that after 7 years, the debt is statute barred if you never acknowledged it so should be removed, you might be able to adapt the SB template letter. 

Check with the phone operator when you actually defaulted as it's probably before 2020 given you said they haven't contacted you since I guess before 2017?

I'll see if I can dig up some more details, but I'm not holding my breath as it seems like a no win situation at this point unfortunately...

I'm thinking perhaps there are other things I can do that will look good to a lender.
The end of my fixed rate mortgage is coming up towards the end of the year and I need to try to do whatever I can now to help get a better deal.

I don't have any credit cards or loans. I'm considering getting these and regularly making payments through them to show I'm good with money. Do you think this may help with better interest rate deals etc? Or is the default on the account just going to shadow everything completely until it's gone?

Don't use a loan for this purpose, CC is fine and means you pay no interest if you just buy normal stuff and pay off in full every month