Hi all, I'm hoping someone can please advise as to whether my logic is correct. Essentially I took out a Northern rock together mortgage over 10 years ago just before the recession, this included an unsecured loan of £30k. Shortly after I was out of work for a year and built up mortgage arrears on both the secured element and unsecured element of the loan. Despite 5 attempts of NRAM trying to repossess I managed to fight them off and eventually paid of the secured mortgage arrears however because I was prioritising the secured payments the unsecured loan arrears were not being paid and eventually NRAM applied for a CCJ. However at the time they did not default the unsecured loan account so it is still showing on my credit file with just many late payments. The CCJ dropped of my account about a year ago and during the 6 years prior NRAM didn't take and forceful action to recover the debt. My understanding is that prior to making an application for a CCJ to the courts they should have set my unsecured account to default and hence it should have also dropped of my account when the CCJ did and the unsecured debt should In theory now be written off. I did contact Experian and raised this issue, they replied stating that they contacted NRAM however NRAM stated they would not be making any amendments regarding this unsecured account on my credit file. I would really appreciate any advise on this matter and if my logic is incorrect. Many thanks in advance!!!

Many questions have been raised about Credit Files. A lot of confusion exists about how to interpret elements of a CR (Credit Report) However, don't fear, the wonderful people at Experian have helpfully explained when you should see "Settled" or "Satisfied" on your CRA Report. This includes accounts that have been subject to arrears but not defaulted. So if you default on an account, once paid off this will change to "Satisfied" Please remember that when negotiating a Payment Plan at a discounted rate, the Creditor has the legal right to change this status to "Partially Satisfied" Settled Vs Satisfied.pdf

I requested my credit file from Experian and it states I am not on the electoral roll: "No Electoral Roll Information available from the addresses provided". I registered to be on the Electoral Roll a few months ago. This was confirmed to me by my local authority and I also received a voting card for the last general election. Therefore this has shocked me. I have been applying for bank current accounts over the last few weeks and, disappointingly, been rejected by all of them. I am already in a weaker position than most people as I have a non UK passport, not even an EU one, and mine is from a country which many financial institutions classify as a 'high risk' one. And then to also mark me as not being on the electoral roll would be another negative when banks check my credit record. I had some questions please: - if Experian say I'm not on the electoral roll, is it likely the two other credit reference agencies will state the same thing as well? - what could have gone wrong? - how long does it normally take for the records of the credit reference agencies to be updated about somebody being on a local authority's database? - how may I get this rectified please? How long does it take for the credit records to be corrected? - last, but not least, is it worth me applying to more banks? Or should I wait until the records are updated, even if it takes many weeks? How fussy are banks about somebody being on the electoral roll please? Thanks a lot in advance for the advice.

THE CO-OPERATIVE BANK PLC ran an "Identification: Generic Check" on Experian. Do they do this for all transferred Britannia accounts or should I be concerned? I have not applied for any products from them. The only Co-op product I have is an old Britannia Building Society savings account with a very small balance that was transferred to them during the merger and I haven't even updated the passbook for a couple of years as it's only a few pence interest.

Just a little anecdote from a few months ago. Meant to share it here sooner but got a little waylaid with other things. I was an Experian customer last year and had subscribed to their £14.99 a month product to be able to view my credit report and credit score. At the time, I was not aware that I was also being sold an insurance policy for identity theft protection. I decided to cancel my Experian subscription after a while; I didn't really feel it represented good value for money as I rarely apply for credit products. However fortunately I stumbled across this article when I was looking into cancellation, which I believe was prompted by CAG in the first place: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cardsloans/article-2627599/Experians-6-month-cover-dont-admit-DONT-need.html When I spoke to Experian to cancel my account, I challenged them about the mis-selling of their ID theft product and demanded a refund of each £6.40 monthly premium I had paid. The customer service adviser refused at first, stating something along the lines of the £14.99 was a non-negotiable fee. However, when I disagreed with this position and quoted the advice in the article, particularly the part about getting in touch with the Financial Ombudsman Service, Experian finally relented. The customer service adviser returned after speaking with her manager and promptly refunded the premiums I had paid to date - about £50. I was also offered their £2 per month "monitor" service. Of course, I politely refused

Hi all, Just a bit confused on my credit report that I tend to check minimum weekly so I know exactly what to expect. While I've been pretty much going up monthly where most debts are now cleared - there was a sudden jump from 8 something to 964 which puts me into the green nicely. Looking further down, I have noticed an active credit card with a balance of around 5k has vanished. Yes it was taken out in 2008 so 6 years but my understand was it would only vanish if the debt was not being paid off/touched/increasing. This card has been used/paid off/used/paid off countless times since 2008 so a bit puzzled. Great if its staying off as I need to start looking at mortgages soon but still confused ... any idea?

I've instigated a complaint with Experian because my credit report shows that I have one delinquent account, but doesn't tell me which account it refers to. Information I believe I am entitled to have access to. That's the background. I wondered whether I'd be able to challenge Experian on whether their holding information that regards an account as 'delinquent', is legal? As I've unable to find anything under the Consumer Credit Act that allows an account to be marked as such, and Experian have advised that their computer systems calculate the 'delinquent' status rather than have it provided by the lenders, I wondered what right in Law they have to use my data in this way? Many thanks

Hi This is not a trick question. Around Nov 2007 (or it could have been Nov 2008) four defaults were registered against my name. They all hit my account around the same time as I had gone through a Debt Management Company. Last year, I settled all four defaults and they are registered on my Experian report as "satisfied". During the last few months, I have been trying to obtain a mortgage and it was then that I realised that the default dates have been changed and instead of coming off my file on or around the same time, there is a difference of one or two years so effectively I will have defaults registered until 2016!! I contacted Experian who said that although at the time the defaults were registered by the same lender, as two of the accounts were passed to collectors they can effectively "restart the clock" on my defaults - so regardless of how many years the default had been on my name, they would have re-registered it when the company took over the debt. Is this correct? If so, doesn't this mean that I could have the same default registered for over 6 years?? How can this be right? According to Experian this is legal!!! Please tell me their wrong

Virgin Media. They are the only people who have put late payments on it, I have tried to set up direct debts several times and each time its not gone though, so i have paid late? all my other contacts, loans etc are paid spot on, so i spoke to Virgin on the phone and i got the following email after an investigation. __________________________________________________________________________________________ Dear Mr ****** , Thanks for getting in touch with the Virgin Media team about the entry we added to your credit file. This might have appeared on your file as a Virgin Media or ntl: Telewest entry. We’ve taken a look at your account and made a full investigation and we will not be making any amendments to your credit file as it shows a true reflection of your payment history. If there is any more questions in regards to the above decision then just write to me at address above. _________________________________________________________________________________________________ Is there anything i can do about this, I did not note dates or times and she has said there is nothing in virgins files to say that i even tried. BUT I 100% Did. any help on this matter would be fantastic

I have a tendency to get too involved in problems until they're solved. With that in mind, please tell me I'm being anal and to ignore it if you think I'm reading too much into this. Long story short: I received my credit report from Experian and was shocked to see 84 linked addresses. Had a closer look, then tabulated the data (enclosed picture)and found I had 13 links to 7 addresses, but duplicated up to 7 times (so 8 copies of 1 link) and at least 3 times (so 4 copies). So I had a closer look. Take a look at the table enclosed. - Each row has exactly the same date, but I've shortened it for privacy/ease of reading. - A through G are 9 years worth of addresses (Mature student at the time). - ? = no linked address, just an entry with one address. - RED squares are my anomalies of primary concern. - AMBER squares are a secondary anomaly that I think I can explain. Does anyone know why there are so many duplications? Second thing I noticed was that in almost every row, there is one link that has been ALTERED to include address D. How do I know they've been altered and weren't created like that? I began using Address D in July 2008. 5 of the links were created before that. Can anyone explain? I've obviously asked Experian, but the more I correspond with them, the less I believe them. I'm waiting for their response (My letter posted today). Lastly, the AMBER results, they appear to have been changed also. I have written in the last month to all of the companies responsible for those links and asked them to delete the links. Is it possible these are the result od this? i.e. They've been altered, but only 1 out of the duplicates has been altered? Thanks in advance of any explanation at all!

I am after some advice. Really stressing me out now!! Basically I entered a DMP on 09/2009. I have currently paid £5,527 to date with a further £8,488 to pay but I am increasing payments to £510 per month so this will be clear by mid 2014. I have been looking at me credit file with experian and noticed the following default dates.... Lloyds TSB (17.02.2012) Also says Arrangement start date was 01/12/2009 and end date was 01/06/2012. Surely I should have defaulted before this date as technically, when I entered the DMP I broke my original agreement. Lloyds TSB (10.02.2011) Also says Arrangement start date was 01/12/2009 and end date was 01/02/2011. Surely I should have defaulted before this date as technically, when I entered the DMP I broke my original agreement. HFC Bank (28/06/2010) No arrangement to pay details on credit file however, this default looks fair enough to me as it was 6 months after my DMP started. HFC Bank (31/08/2010) Also says Arrangement start date was 01/03/2010 and end date was 01/08/2010. Surely I should have defaulted before this date as technically, when I entered the DMP I broke my original agreement. HFC Bank (31/08/2010) Also says Partial Settlement was 01/07/2011. This was actually paid in full as I rang them and they advised me that the ammount I paid is the ammount I actually owed them. Halifax (07/05/2010) This default looks fair enough to me again as it was within 6 months of my DMP starting. No queries for this one. However, I would say that as this was an overdraft this would have been made up purely of late peymant charges? Anything I can do? Halifax (22/08/2011) Also says Arrangement start date was 01/12/2009 and end date was 01/02/2011. Surely I should have defaulted before this date as technically, when I entered the DMP I broke my original agreement. Lloyds TSB (29/03/2012) Also says Arrangement start date was 01/10/2011 and end date was 01/01/2012. Surely I should have defaulted before this date as technically, when I entered the DMP I broke my original agreement. This is the one thats peeing me off the most!! Any advice as to what I can do and do I have a case on any of the above? Also, Seeing as though a few of them will be dropping off in 2-4 years, is is actually worth paying these debts off by mid 2014? Wouldn't I be better dragging it out over the next 4 years or so? If I claimed back PPI would they come off my Lloyds TSB balances as they would be the company I would be claiming against? Thanks in advance for any help that is given to me, I am pulling my hair out!!

Hello, I have just joined this forum after reading some posts that were very interestting and so decided to post my own little question. Here is the story. When i was a little younger I was a huge fan of credit cards and loans and naive enough to spend it all and bury my head. I have not been in touch with any of the lenders or Debt collectors etc However i still get some letters from debt collectors which I still ignore due to financial difficulties. about 4 or 5 years have gone past since and today I have checked my Credit file to find that I have only ONE default showing on my account??? I should have a list of several defaults or CCJ, etc but only one showing a small amount for a parking ticket i think in 2007. My question is where have ALL my other debts go? It hasnt been 6 years yet?? Any help on this matter would be much appreciated. Thank v much in Advace.

I am sure they are running from the old offices of one or the other credit reference agencies. Anybody confirm this for me ?

I have just checked my credit file after a rejection for one of my business bank accounts. It is showing a default on the account. The default was for some car finance a few years ago from Lex Autolease, although i did miss a few payments towards the end of the lease, the Lease finished in April 2011 i withheld paying them as there was a dispute in the final fee which they adding additional costs onto. The default went onto my file in March 2012 11 months after the lease had finished. I had another dispute with them as well when they took the car back 2 days before it went to auction i managed to halt the auction as they had not returned my personalised plate worth £3500!! i eventually got that back. As soon as they agreed to take off the additional costs they applied to the account i paid it all off and as such the debt was satisfied. Unfortunately i no longer have any paperwork from them as i assumed it was all old stuff. Would i have any chance of disputing this default as it is causing me major problems on an otherwise clean credit file.

Hullo Caggers I'm ex BR and have been for a couple of years now. I'm very careful with my credit score and how its affected. However, I do need some advice. Every so often I check my credit score - Experian loves me - Equifax seems to hate me (Any reason for that?? ) The last time I checked my credit score on Equifax - it was 337. 3 Months later and It's dropped to 279 and there are a few strange things... I shall post a few screen shots in hope that one of you amazing folks can shed some light!! I have no extra credit taken out Same bank account No searches No OD No Bank charges I was BR 11/11/09 and Discharged 1 year later. My BR payments also stopped early. A loan from Lloyds TSB is making a massive impact on my score. It says I've defaulted by £3.5k and the wording in the warnings - seems to suggest that I still owe it - or at least thats what it seems to suggest to me and other lenders. The loan from Welcome was included in my bankruptcy - but shows as settled?? Can anyone offer some advice on this?? Thanks in Advance

As more and more firms such as Utilility and phone companies are using CRAs to record customers account statuses,I thought it would be an idea to create a list of these to assist members when trying to decide which CRA they should use for data of interest to them. Ideally the list will include; Mobile and Home phone providers Broadband suppliers Electricity suppliers Gas suppliers Water Companies. Insurance companies High Street retail stores ( Finance agreements.) Any others aside from Banks/Credit Card Issuers and Mortgage Companies.

Ref Account: xxxxx (Now Closed) Please can you help me? I wrote to Vodafone about 10 months ago regarding a default on my account but had a letter return saying the default can not be removed. In closing the account in 2010 I had a final payment to make of £106.21 the bill being sent on 17th Sept 2010. I then received a notice of default on 21st Sept 2010 stating I had 14 days to pay the full amount or the matter would be taken further. This payment was made by myself to Vodafone on 28th Sept 2010 (within the 14 day period) but unfortunately I used a Vodafone account number that was already listed in my Internet Banking Payments page through HSBC from previous payments, listed as Vodafone Corp. I found out after that the account numbers had changed in which to make payment but HSBC had not updated them. At the time I did not know that this was incorrect and this payment left my account but was never recognised by yourselves, it must be still there somewhere in the system. As a result the correct department never received the payment and passed the matter onto a debt collection agency. As soon as I received notification that the payment had gone to the wrong account I phoned Vodafone and explained what had happened and the lady on the other end told me not to worry as she would look into where the payment had gone and move it accordingly. After 2 months of further letters from the debt collection agency and numerous phone calls between myself and Vodafone I was told I would have to pay the amount again and reclaim the extra payment back at a later date, and that would resolve the issue, so I made a second payment of £106.21 on the 23rd Nov 2010 to Fredrickson International but have never claimed the 1st payment back. I have since tried to take out a new mortgage and been refused due to my credit score so looked into it and noticed on my credit report that I now have a default payment against the account for this misunderstanding and in the current climate is really harming my chances of getting credit for the next 6 years. I was told that I can apply to have this overturned as I did originally make the payment on time and in full and have since paid the full amount again and so have paid twice. Is it possible for someone to look into overturning the default mark on my credit score please and get back to me as soon as possible so I may resurrect my mortgage application. I hope to come back to Vodafone in the future and hope that this matter can be resolved as quickly as possible. If there is any further information you would like me to provide please don’t hesitate to ask, I have all letters from Vodafone and Fredrickson Int. plus bank statements showing payment in full and within the 14 day period.Thankyou for any help

Hi, I have been keeping an eye on my credit report using Equifax since I got a Capital One credit card to try and start to repair my credit. My score with Equifax back in April when I got the card was 305 (Poor!) and it hasn't changed yet. I just signed up for the free trial at Experian (Credit Expert) and my score there is showing as being 845 (Good!) which I was surprised to see. I guess these are both scored out of 1000 and if so, why such a huge difference? Thanks !!

Hi, been a long time since I last posted in CAG... I have a coupe of quick question about my credit file I'm hoping someone can answer. I have a default marked on my CR from December 2006, which was settled in May 2011. I understand the default period ends 6 years after the date of registration, in my case, December 2012 but I wondered how it would show on my credit report, as Equifax states: "The information will stay on your Credit Report for 6 years from the date the account was ended." - does this mean the date of default or the date of settlement? I really don't want this hovering on my CR for another 5 years. Second, I have a settled account from June 2011 that was never defaulted, but was operated 4 months in arrears for several months prior to the settlement. I know this has a bad affect on my Credit Score (which is gubbed atm anyway, thanks to the default!) but how do lenders view this as time passes and the arrears age? Do they still take them into consideration, even though they're over 12 months old and the account has settled, or do they lose potency over time until they are a non-issue? Thanks.

i'd love any advice if anyone can help, I'm fed up now as it seems this wont ever get sorted- companies arent interested in helping and Experian wont remove it without authorisation from creditors.... In 2007 I had several credit accounts opened in my name. I was unaware of this until 2011 when I began getting persistent calls and letters from a debt collection agency (lowell portfolio, Arrow Global). I contacted the credit reference agencies and found about £5000 worth of debt falsly taken out in my names- my personal details were all wrong so it was very easy to spot the fraud ones a mile off- that and my own credit has always been very well kept- I have no 'genuine' debts. On the advice of experian I contacted the agencies involved to let them know, forwarded proof of tenancy at the time credit was taken out, filled in forms that were sent and provided proof of ID. Some companies were helpful and removed the false info but still, over a year later I am struggling with Vodafone, Lowell and Arrow Global. I've sent documents back to arrow and Vodafone as requested but I have not had any correspondence from Lowell at all and despite numerous telephone calls nothing still looks to be getting sorted. After sending back the info to Arrow and vodafone, i have then heard nothing back again months later- but still nothing is changed on my credit file. Apparently it is with their 'investigations' team. Is there any more I can do? I've always had extremely good credit aside from this, I dont take on credit often- which seems to have been my downfall as they got credit in my name with no difficulty despite info being very wrong. I am hoping to get a mortgage in the near future and also expand my business, but none of this can be a possibility with my credit file in this state- its beginning to cause difficulty in my life now, but I dont know what more to do?? Thanks K

Hi I wonder if you can help me out a little. I found a website showing which credit reference agencies are used by bank lenders. Is there any such listing of which CRA's motor insurance companies use? I have different info with all 3 CRA's, one being alot better than the other 2. I would like to find out which insurers use which CRA's before i go ahead and make an application. ALSO - if using comparison sites, if they are giving me multiple quotes from serveral companies, will this mean several credit searches? I have heard that credit ratings COULD be damaged if this is done wrong. thanks for you help here, yet again cheers

Hello, Onmy credit file I have late payments against my mortgage (lost my job but now inemployment:whoo:) showing: 1(month late) 1(month Late) 2(months late) 3(months late) 3(months late) 3(months late) Doesthis reflect as 6 months late? because on the front page of my Credit File thisis adding 6 late payments to “Number of late payments in past 12 months”. The6 late payments for my credit card show as months 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. Thismakes more sense to me. Anyinsight appreciated. Pearl123

Hi people,I've been looking through the threads but not been able to find anything to answer my question fully so sorry if i've missed something.I had a loan with london scottish back in 2003 which I paid on a regular basis. I was then made redundant in 2006 and because I was with the company for less than a year I didnt get any kind of pay out from them. I had payment protection from LS but they told me I wasnt covered for redundancy, only death. I argued with them and they did nothing to help so I refused to pay them the final £358.I recently checked my credit file with experian and it shows that the London Scottish section was last updated on 09/07/2006 with 5 missed payments. It never defaulted or got to 8 missed payments and it's just sitting there in limbo with a balance of £358.My concern is that because the account was never settled, never defaulted and hasnt been updated since July 2006, it will stay on my report and affect my credit rating for more than 6 years?LS went into administration in 2008 so I cant contact them and to be honest I dont know if I want to contact them in case they update my account with a default.The other thing I noticed is that I have an entry from a company called EVERYTHINGEVERYWHERE which I believe to be the company that owns t-mobile and orange. The account was opened in 2002 has a balance of £104 and shows every payment for the last 10 years being up to date. It says the account is satisfactory and I know that when I left them everything was paid. I dont understand why they're still updating my credit file when i left them about 8 years ago.Really hope you guys can give me some advice on this!Thanks in advance

I am hoping someone can shed some light on this.I recently checked my credit report and my score is 999 even though I have two defaults against my file, 10k and 4k.The report states 'A defaulted account is removed from your report after six years whether or not you have paid the debt in full. If you have paid some of the debt off, the balance should show how much you still owe.'They were taken out over 6 years ago and I haven't made any payments in the last 1 year.Is the above correct? Should I really have a score of 999? And if this IS correct does this mean that I will be eligible for a credit card or even a mortgage?Would really like to know if the 999 actually means anything.Many thanks for all your help.

Im really confused. Both myself and hubby have debts with LTSB. These comprise of 2 x loans for hubs and a cc and loan for me. We hit hard times about 3 years ago - not had a great time of it trying to keep everything going. We had been paying token payments to LTSB until late last year. Im trying to get things straight and find a way forward with both LTSB debts and all our others and started by checking our CRA files for outstanding debts. All of above LTSB debts show as settled. EH!!!!! Why would they be showing as settled when clearly they arent. Any ideas anyone please. Madge