Hi boxbeau, My husband is in a very similar situation to yours, and we are trying to get a mortgage... I know your posts were a long time ago, so I don't even know if you'll receive this msg, but just in case, how did you get on with the FOS? I have a terrible terrible feeling after reading lots on here today, that we have nothing to go on, because the bank contacted us by phone and didn't admit anything in writing. We sent a letter a couple of weeks ago (before joining CAG ) and apparently they can take up to 8 weeks to reply to a complaint! I'm going mad here - wondering!! Any info you have would be much appreciated - thanks!!

Hi - I'm new to this forum thing so forgive me if I'm hijacking a thread - this was the most relevant one I could find!! My husband and I and our three sons moved into my late grandmother's granny flat a year ago (boys in the only bedroom and us on a sofabed!) and we've started to save for a mortgage after renting for years. We recently checked our credit reports to see if we were likely to be successful in getting one. When we viewed my husband's equifax report, it said that two of his accounts from 5 and a half years ago were Defaulted. They were both from the same bank, one was a current account and the other was a loan account. At the time, the bank said it'd be better for him to take out a loan to clear the overdraft of his current account (about £500) The entry on the credit report stated all these different amounts and none of them seemed to add up. He then rang the Bank, called in to the branch and was told he had to write a letter including details of his credit report to the bank's debt recovery section. When they received the letter, they rang and said they had to wait to receive copies of his bank statements from the time of the “default” so they could investigate further. On receiving the bank statements, the agent was able to see that both the loan and current account my husband had had with the bank had been settled in full in December 2005 when they received a cheque for the full amount (albeit after a couple of missed payments). The agent apologised for this mistake and told us he would get in contact with Equifax straight away to clear the defaults. He did this promptly and when I checked the report on the Monday morning, the report had been updated, showing that the current account had been settled and the loan settled. However, the loan was still showing as in Default before it had been settled which didn’t change the credit score. Is this defamation of character? I have no doubt we have been refused credit because of this. Our current bank won't even give us a small overdraft or debit card! Does anyone know if we have a case here? And, if so, what could we get from it? I don't even care about 'compensation' - all I want is a mortgage - the sofabed is killing my back!! Any info would be brilliant - thanks!

Hi, My husband and I have started to save for a mortgage, and we recently checked our credit reports to see if we were likely to be successful in getting one. When we viewed my husband's Equifax report, it said that two of his accounts from 5 and a half years ago were Defaulted. They were both from the same bank, one was a current account and the other was a loan account. It stated all these different amounts and none of them seemed to add up. He then rang the Bank, called in to the branch and was told he had to write a letter including details of his credit report to the bank's debt recovery section. When they received the letter, they rang and said they had to wait to receive copies of his bank statements from the time of the “default” so they could investigate further. On receiving the bank statements, the agent was able to see that both the loan and current account my husband had had with the bank had been settled in full in December 2005 when they received a cheque for the full amount (albeit after a couple of missed payments). The agent apologised for this mistake and told us he would get in contact with Equifax straight away to clear the defaults. He did this promptly and when I checked the report on the Monday morning, the report had been updated, showing that the current account had been settled and the loan settled. However, the loan was still showing as in Default before it had been settled which didn’t change my credit score. Is this defamation of character? I have no doubt we have been refused credit because of this. Our current bank won't even give us a small overdraft or debit card! Does anyone know if we have a case here? And, if so, what could we get from it? I don't even care about 'compensation' - all I want is a mortgage!! Any info would be brilliant - thanks!