Lloyds TSB - Credit References

[Sol]

HiMy friend had an account with Lloyds a year or so ago. He was the victim of fraud and this badly affected his credit rating. Lloyds accepted the evidence of this and wrote off any debt. However, he carried out a credit check with Experian and Equifax last week and found that Lloyds still have this data on his credit files. The account is showing as 'settled' rather than defaulted. I told him to contact the bank today regarding this as, in my view, this should have been deleted. He contacted me earlier to say the bank have stated that as it is settled, they can't remove it from his files. The woman also said that as it wasn't a default, any job he goes for that involves a credit check wouldn't be affected. Now I am pretty sure that is a load of rubbish, to put it politely, but I wanted to find out what the next steps are. I was thinking the ICO, but then I wondered if the fos or the FSA should be involved first. Any help appreciated.

[silverfox1961]

Hi. I'll base my reply on what I think you mean

 

If there is no default showing then Lloyds are correct in that the entry showing settled will have no effect when applying for credit however, if the account is showing a default as settled that is another matter and should be addressed

[Sol]

Thanks. I'll find out for sure from him, although it sounds as though he didn't have a default.

 

So does that mean that although Experian and Equifax show a poor credit rating, it won't matter?

[silverfox1961]

Now I am confused. If an account is showing settled with nothing owing, that should have no effect on his rating. Does it show missed payments? If so, that needs addressing. If not, it could be some other factor

[Sol]

What happened was that someone fraudulently took a loan out in his name, and a credit card (I think) and used all the money without paying back.

 

This obviously was tracked by the CRAs and it's showing months of no payment. The bank did, however, accept that these were opened fraudulently and wrote off any payments owed by him. The accounts are showing as settled, but they still show all the months of no payment on his credit files.

 

Surely this will affect him, regardless of it being settled?

[silverfox1961]

Yes you are right. To any creditor, this would show as a very poor credit history and that the debt has been 'charged off' ( getting ready to sell the debt)

Your mate will have to write back to Llods to get this additional info removed.

 

Do it in writing

[Sol]

Thanks. I'll get him onto it asap