Is an Affordability Complaint an effective way to get a default amended (or removed)?

np1v08

I've been in a PayPlan-managed DMP since August 2019, and until recently, I believed I would have to slog it out for a few more years (based on projections) to pay the whole thing down.  However, circumstances have changed, and I will have enough money to pay off all my debts next year. Despite being in my DMP for this long, I was woefully uninformed about the state of my credit files. 

I've done a deep dive into my files now, and it's mostly good news, with all of the defaulted accounts due to drop off by March 2026 at the latest. There are a few accounts that aren't in default, but I think I have a good chance of getting a default applied within a window of between Aug 2019 and Jan 2020.  I've been given some great advice about self-managing my DMP, formally requesting the CCAs to determine whether I can stop making payments to any of them (without risk of a CCJ further down the line), and also negotiating favourable F&F settlements with the others. 

I'm happy about all of the above, but there's a fly in the ointment; when I set up my DMP with PayPlan, I left out one account. This was very stupid in hindsight, but up until the point I contacted PayPlan, I'd been paying all my creditors in full, which is contrary to all the advice I now see here.  I had no emergency fund whatsoever, and I was fearful about how I would manage over the next few months. I kept open a VERY account purely because they offered a BNPL option, so I could order goods and not pay for them for 1 or 2 years afterwards!

Obviously, I was storing up huge problems, and in 2020 all of my previous BNPLs started to become due.  In June of 2020, I came clean to PayPlan, and they added VERY to my list of creditors (I think it was my biggest at £6.6k). The account has been sold and passed on several times, and it's possible they don't have the CCA. However, the credit files are a mess; there are several separate entries, and they are all contradictory, but Experian and Equifax are showing the account in default from March 2024. 

So, I'm not sure what the best approach is to minimise the impact of this account record.  I think my 2 options are:
- Contact VERY (Littlewoods Group) and make a case for the default date to be changed to 2020. I was 6 months in arrears by June 2020.  In which case, the file will drop off in July 2026, which isn't awful. I can also look into the CCA etc. etc. 
- Make an affordability complaint because VERY clearly weren't conducting affordability checks between 2019 and 2020; if they had, they would have seen several defaults and DMP markers on other accounts. 

If an affordability complaint is upheld, will the lender remove any adverse data /expunge the account as well, or do they often just call it a 'goodwill' payment and leave the records as they are?  Presumably I can ask for the default date to be amended, but they may not concede that as well. 

Any refund from the affordability complaint would be useful, but my main goal is to get the default date changed because I would very much like to apply for a mortgage next year, and a default that's only 2 years old is going to cause me some issues, possibly. 

NB. I didn't consider making affordability complaints for the other accounts because of them dropping off at the 6-year mark – or am I missing a trick for the sake of writing an email/completing a templated form? I don't have any paperwork or bank statements from that period to support a complaint. 

Thank you to anyone who has got this far in my post (!).... all your advice/insights are most welcome and appreciated! 

fatbelly

A successful complaint often requires the lender to remove adverse data AND reduces the balance.

I don't see why you wouldn't try it for all your debts as there seems to be no downside.

np1v08

fatbelly said:

A successful complaint often requires the lender to remove adverse data AND reduces the balance.

I don't see why you wouldn't try it for all your debts as there seems to be no downside.

Thank you. I will take the affordability complaint route first then