Wrong default date on credit ref file

[smintram]

Hi...Lowell have a default date on a debt which they say I owe, which shows on my credit reference report as 4 years after it actually did default. Are they in breach of any DPA of CCA rules here? ...thanks

[MIKE770]

Thanks to the Debt Camel:_


What should the default date for a debt be?


A default badly damages your credit score, so how long will it be there? In Britain, the credit record rules say:

the debt, including the default, is deleted from your credit record six years later after the first default.

An example: a debt with a default date in May 2014 will drop off your record in May 2020.

There are no exceptions to this rule. A debt which is marked as defaulted will disappear after six years whether you have paid it or not, in all the following situations:

1. you have repaid the debt in full,
2. you have made a partial settlement,
3. you are still making monthly payments to it,
4. you haven’t made any payment to it for years.

The default date is very important!


An older default date is better because it will disappear sooner.

The default date should be the same on all three credit reference agencies but it’s good to make sure, see How to check your credit records which explains how you can check all three credit reference agency record for free.

This article looks at what the default date should be. If you can get a creditor to change a default date from June 2015 to April 2013, the debt will disappear more than two years earlier.


Save When should a default be added to a credit record?


The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) says :

“As a general guide, [a default may be recorded] when you are 3 months in arrears, and normally by the time you are 6 months in arrears.

There are exceptions to this which may result in a default being recorded at a later stage, such as secured or long term loans e.g. mortgages, or if the product operates in a more flexible way e.g. current accounts, student loans, home credit.

So those are the main guidelines, but let’s look at specific situations.

[MIKE770]

the originator default date stays the same , any purchaser such as Lowells can only change the ownership- if you says they have altered the default date report them?

[Amethyst]

Are you checking your credit file online ? Can you see the actual default date or are you taking the date that Lowell started reporting as the default date ?

If you do a screenshot ( redacted if personal info ) it may help

[smintram]

Hi, and thank you for the quick replies. I am 100% sure that I haven't made any payments on the aforementioned account since 2013, nor have I defaulted on anything since that particular year. I attach the redacted screenshot of the entry.

[Amethyst]

Okay, you will need to send a SAR off to the original creditor - do you know who the original creditor is ? or what the original debt was ?

Before the default in 2016 is it a long list of 6's or late payments etc ?

If, for example, it was a 4 year loan, which you stopped paying after 6 months or so (say in 2013), the terms may allow you to make the payments back up at any point before the 4 years - so it may legitimately not default until after the 4 years.... so knowing a bit about the original debt will help figure out what's going on. A SAR will be a good first step to finding that out.


Subject Access Request Letter

[smintram]

Hi...No, its wasn't a loan, but a catalogue...The first default to show was middle of 2016...There is no 6's but big red circles with "D" in the middle of them. That is way out, even if they have to default it after 3 months. what is a SAR, by the way?....thanks

[smintram]

Found out what a subject access request is, and have contacted the original creditor asking for the information.