Experian - do accounts stay on file for 6 years from date of default or upate?

[AriGold]

Probably been asked a million times & I know the answer is 6 years - but is it from the default date, update date or what ?

 

Any help appreciated.

 

Thanks

[Paul76]

Default date

[cadencealex]

Default date, as said above

[Justhadenough]

Well thats not accurate,

 

If you default on a payment, say with a mortgage, and you bring it up todate and the account is still open not settled that information will remain on file untill six years after you close the account and it will have an impact on your credit score..I have copied an answer to that question from Experian

 

 

Hi xxxxxx

 

Thanks for your message.

 

The account history of an account does go back 6 years, so for example information for an account closed in 2005 would go back to 1999. However a settled account remains on a report for 6 years so feasibly there could be information going back up to 11 years on your file. Whether a lender takes information this old this into account is entirely at their discretion but it will be picked up on any automated search.

 

The reason it is 6 years is because this is what lenders agreed the time limit should be when they first came together to share information with the credit reporting agencies.

 

Regards

 

xxxx

xxxxxxxx

[mfpa]

from Experian:

The account history of an account does go back 6 years...

However a settled account remains on a report for 6 years so feasibly there could be information going back up to 11 years on your file.

 

6+6=11? Presumably you don't need O-level maths to work for Experian!

[Justhadenough]

Ha, I never noticed that,

O level Maths. .showing yer age with that one!

So what they are saying is that 6year rule means nothing if the account is active

[mfpa]

O level Maths. .showing yer age with that one!

OK, so they "dumbed down" by introducing GCSEs not long after I did my O levels (-;

 

So what they are saying is that 6year rule means nothing if the account is active

I thought they were saying info stays six years if account is active but record of that account (inc final six years of data) stays six years after account closes.

[2Grumpy]

So if you have a default on a credit card, clear the balance in 5 years, the default will stay visible for 11 years

 

But if you clear the balance over 7 years the default will have dropped off & will not be visible.

 

If you don't pay anything at all the default would also drop off after 6 years

 

The Information Commissioner's Technical Guidance says that companies should be careful to ensure that people who pay something towards a debt are not treated worse than those who do. This appears to be an example of them doing what they want, not sticking to the guidance.

 

Don't Experian understand that nothing to report = information

So after 5 years of nothing reported, they should show the last year of info plus 5 years of nothing reported.

[Paul76]

Seems to be a few confused people here...

 

My understanding is that the default date means the date the account is terminated due to non-payment, not the date you missed one payment. Need to be careful to distinguish between the two as they are not the same.

 

A record of a late/non-payment will remain on the account for three years if the account continues to be in use, as the CRA's only detail the previous 36 months payment history.

 

If the account is settled within the 36 month period after a late/non-payment was made then a record of the late/non-payment will be displayed for six years from date of settlement. However, a record of a solitary late payment, to my mind, is much more preferable than defaulting on an account altogether.

 

As you know, once an account is defaulted/terminated the chances of being accepted for anything else are pretty slim.

[2Grumpy]

So if you pay up quickly you are penalised in comparison to a slow payer!

[Justhadenough]

If you don’t pay a thing, or even go bankrupt. In six years it is not shown on your file..

 

If you miss or are late with payments, but catch up, it stays on your file until the account is closed + the six years. And it shows up as “account in serious arrears” even when it’s settled

[Justhadenough]

Payment Performance

 

You have an account in serious arrears on your credit report

You have 2 accounts reported on your Callcredit credit report. Of these, 1 is reported as being currently active.

You have 1 account in serious arrears on your credit report.

 

The missed payments were 6 years ago and was up todate 5 years ago.

 

All my other indicators are at good apart from this.. Do you think this is correct as it drags my rating down and means i have higher charge when going for credit

 

 

 

 

 

This account is 7 years ago when it was in ser

[bobbyh99]

What are the serious arrears? Are these for the account where there were missed payments 6 years ago?

[Justhadenough]

2003

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2002

7 years ago!!!!!!!!

[UK26]

subs

[Justhadenough]

got this from CCA

 

Thanks for your message.

 

I`m sorry to hear you are not happy.

 

As xxx has previously mentioned we are merely explaining to you how the credit industry works. It is certainly not up to us as to when information drops off your file.

 

I fully understand your frustrations but we can only explain how the removal of such information takes place. As explained by xxxx Experian, your account with adverse information will automatically drop off your credit file once 6 years have elapsed from the date of account closure, i.e. when it was settled.

 

Whilst it has subsequently been settled you do have an account on your credit file with serious arrears on it - this will only cease to exist on your file once the six years has elapsed from the date of account settlement, as explained above.

 

When lenders assess your credit application they will normally condense your credit file into a score, which will determine whether they lend to you or not. Such late payment information will have a significant adverse effect on your credit score whether it has been subsequently settled or not, which is why we highlight it for your attention.

 

I hope this clarifies the situation but should you have any further queries please get in contact.

 

Regards,

[megatronman]

Hi

 

I know this is an old thread but thought I would reply for people who might be searching for an answer to this.

A default will drop off from your Experian credit report 6 years after the original default date, not 6 years after the settlement date. It does appear the person Justhadenough was dealing with at Experian gave out incorrect information about this.

 

http://help.creditexpert.co.uk/help/CreditExpert_OOS/Credit_report/howlong_default

 

Thanks

Edited June 15, 2013 by megatronman

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Accounts are removed after 6 years paid or not.

 

CRAs statement is correct.

[megatronman]

Hi BRIGADIER2JCS. Thanks for replying. I was referring to this sentence in the Experian statement:

Whilst it has subsequently been settled you do have an account on your credit file with serious arrears on it - this will only cease to exist on your file once the six years has elapsed from the date of account settlement, as explained above.

 

I was assuming the settlement date would always be after the original default date. Could the settlement date ever be before the default date?

 

Thanks

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

The 'rule' relating to defaulted accounts is that they are removed from CRA files Paid Or Not, original default dates cannot be amended, this because it is considered unfair to a debtor to have detrimental data on file having made a payment whereas a debtor who has made no effort to pay their debt has the entry remove after 6 years.

No.

[technician483]

How about if the default notice is only issued 4 and a half years after last payment on the account? Does that mean the records would stay on credit file for 10 and a half years?

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

The simple answer is that any account that has been defaulted is removed from credit files after 6 years paid OR NOT it cannot be reported again for any reason nor can the history of that account be visible to any prospective lender.

 

The purpose of this rule is so as to NOT disadvantage a debtor who tries to clear his debt compared to someone who pays nothing, but still gets the entry removed after 6 years.

As to the question above to place a default 4.5 years after the last payment or written acknowledgment of the debt is a breach of the ICO Technical Guidance on Defaults, which states that a default should be placed within 6 months of the cause of action i.e. the date that a payment was due and not made after which no further payment is ever made.

Therefore in the case above it can be challenged as manifestly unfair, and it must be corrected to the correct date or removed completely .

 

The answers above are definitive.

Much of the conjecture in earlier posts is misleading/inaccurate.

[bhoy1976]

I'm still a bit confused with the default drop off dates. I had about 5 different accounts in default as of 2009. Having checked my credit files, initial defaults were recorded at varying points of the same year. So would the drop off date take place six years after the intial date? If you are in a DMP because of these defaults, does the drop off date happen six years after each account is settled? If the account you defaulted with is later sold on to an agency, do you have another account with a default and another default dopt off date years later? Its all so confusing

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

As said ALL PAID OR NOT it matters not how or who by any payment was made, the entry will be removed.

THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE DEFAULT ON ANY DEBT THAT DEFAULT DATE CANNOT BE CHANGED AT ANY TIME, NO NEW DEFAULT CAN EVER BE PLACED, SOLD ON OR NOT.

[bhoy1976]

As said ALL PAID OR NOT it matters not how or who by any payment was made, the entry will be removed.

THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE DEFAULT ON ANY DEBT THAT DEFAULT DATE CANNOT BE CHANGED AT ANY TIME, NO NEW DEFAULT CAN EVER BE PLACED, SOLD ON OR NOT.

 

Thanks for that. Much appreciated