Why is everything so darn complicated??! Any insight?

[doll989]

Hello, Six years ago today I defaulted on an account according to Nationwide. What actually happened was I had been away travelling for a few months, and while I was away at some point a direct debit was returned on my account. (Just previously to going travelling I had switched to another high street bank for a student account but I never closed the Nationwide account stupidly). Anyway a couple of months after I returned I recieved a letter from Nationwide saying I owed them £567 for unauthorised overdraft charges that had accumulated due to this returned direct debit. I was outraged and refused to pay the £567, and after arguing with them about the debt they refused to revoke the charges and defaulted me. I took my case to the financial ombudsman and after their involvement the charges were revoked 'as a gesture of goodwill'. I asked them to remove the default from my credit report as I felt this was false information, but they refused. Having recently rejoined experian I noticed there are 2 Nationwide current accounts listed on my credit report, when Im only aware of ever having one. One says 'defaulted' in red and the default date is given as 16/02/2007 (which technically if what experian says is accurate should be removed after today), under balance it has 'satisfied'. In the other one it says 'satisfactory' in green and has under balance 'settled' and the settled date is given as 11/12/2010. The last time I dealt with Nationwide was sometime in 2008 so I don't know where this 'settled' date came from. My questions are: Can there be 2 entries for one account? And technically if the defaulted one is removed shouldn't the settled one be removed as well if they are the same thing? I really don't understand what these mean, and any information on what I can do to rectify this situation would be appreciated. From what I've read a 'settled' account is just as bad as a defaulted one and if that's the case it won't be removed until 2016 which seems wholly unfair given these charges are deemed illegal. What can I do?.... Thank you.

[Rico]

Re: Why is everything so darn complicated??! Any insight?

Hi Doll,

If the settled account has no mention of a default and in green it should be OK. It just means that it is closed.

Yes, the defaulted one should disappear very soon. Lucky you!

That's all I know. Hopefully enough. Yes, its complicated. It's because they don't want anyone, other than the financiers, to understand their credit files!

They have won. Be careful. Best wishes.

Rico.