clarification of default notice and default on credit file

[BARFLY]

is it correct that a default notice and a default on a credit file are un related? that a creditor can default an account with the cras without issuing a default notice? that a default notice is basically a first step toward enforcement and nothing more? and in an attempt to remove a default from a credit file it would not matter that a debtor had not received a default notice?

Edited November 23, 2009 by BARFLY

[reallymadwoman]

Correct.

 

A default may be recorded with the CRAs when you have missed a number of payments (it varies according to the creditor).

 

A default notice is issued under consumer credit legislation and is a legally required precursor to enforcement.

 

They are not the same thing.

[BARFLY]

thanks madwoman.

 

so it would be fruitless asking either the OC or the CRAs to remove a default from a credit file on the basis that you hadn't received a default notice? my situation is that the OC recorded a default on my credit file six weeks before they actually sent me a DN. When i discovered this i thought there might be a chance that i could have the default removed but this doesn't seem to be the case.

[reallymadwoman]

Apart from CRA entries being notoriously difficult to remove, I think you're on a loser on this one. Presumably the default was entered on your credit reference file when you got a certain number of payments in arrears - and it doesn't have to be whole payments either. The creditor then issued a default notice some time later whenever the terms of the agreement permitted it, or alternatively when they decided they'd waited long enough for you to pay up.

It's not unknown for creditors to deliberately hold off issuing a default notice if they think the customer will sort themselves out fairly quickly, or alternatively to forget to issue it, and then do it later when they start getting really stroppy.