Hi Lesley.

The situation is pretty simply. The Information Commissioner's Office told us that default notices should be dated at the point you enter into a trust deed, not months or years later.

Creditors should also update your file once you're discharged to show that no debt remains owing.

If you've tried to resolve this with the creditors directly and they will not act, I'd suggest making a formal complaint to each of them.

If that doesn't work, you could escalate this to the Information Commissioner's Office and/or the Financial Ombudsman.

Hi Lesley, I have recently contacted Experian about similar default dates and they have sent them formal notice to update it - they have 28 days to respond. I would keep on at people as it has taken me a year and a half to get my trustee to pay out what I contributed so being nice hasn't got me very far.

I was wondering about what happens to my credit score once all the defaults are no longer there does anyone know if it automatically jump from very poor to good or what happens? It has been improving since I got a credit card by oh so slowly

Thanks
Elle

Don't worry about your credit score elle28 - lenders don't use them. They use their own scoring systems based upon events recorded on your credit record and the content of any application you make.

Credit scores are just provided to give you an indication, and experience here suggests they give people pretty high scores soon after trust deeds which aren't reflected in people's actual ability to access mainstream credit.

Also (for background) a delay in your trustee paying your creditors should make no difference. They should set balances to zero and mark default notices as being satisfied (or partially satisfied) when you're discharged, not when your trustee pays them. If they haven't, it's their fault not that of your ex-trustee.

The three best things I think you can do to improve your future access to mainstream credit are:

1 - Ensure the content of your credit report is accurate and up to date.

2 - Make some responsible use of credit.

3 - Do not allow a significant balance of debt to build up.

Elle 28. Thank you for your comments. I did dispute, through Noodle, the notices on my credit report that I did not agree with as they did not show correct default dates or updates to show I was now discharged from my PTD. I got a reply back from Noodle to say that one of the companies replied to them saying they were unable to change the data on my file as I had requested giving no reasons. Since then I have written formal letters of complaint to both companies concerned enclosing copies of my Form 5 and Excerpt from the Register of Insolvencies showing my discharge from Trust Deed and asking them, nicely, to update their records accordingly. I have heard nothing since but will give them a couple of more weeks before taking things further, which through the advice I have received from the Forum would be to take it to the Obmudsman, if I have understood this correctly.
But you're right, you think you have made it over the finishing line by getting the discharge notice. But then it becomes another battle to get informtation corrected. I hope it won't take a year and a half though.

A bit off topic, but Barclaycard have told me they will keep defaults on my account for the full 6 years from the start of the Trust Deed as this was their policy. My default start date is correct however.

It's normal for default notices to stay on your credit file for six years Dave1966.

They should be marked "satisfied" or "partially satisfied" once you're discharged though.

Equifax, etc still have my account as defaulted, so i am assuming that is information passed on from Barclaycard. Nothing is showing as settled / satisfied. I was discharged in March/April 2016 and Trustee discharged in July 2016.

Dave1966 the information posted on you file by Barclaycard is incorrect it should show as "satisfied" or at least "partially satisfied". I would write to them to make sure they correct this (there are templates on this forum). What I would say though is that it might not really make too much difference for a mortgage. Most lenders will not entertain anyone who is still within 6 years of starting a PTD and obviously you should be discharged or must be more than 3 years discharged with no defaults in the last 12/24/36 months.

The public record entry will stay on your file for 6 years too (which will impact your attractiveness to lenders) so everything should fall off at the same time. If you search on the interweb for "lending Criteria for [enter the lenders name]" it will give you results for most high street lenders.

It could however, make a difference for things like car loan (PCP, HP) and credit cards. By getting the dates right and the status right it will get your account as good as it can be. Some lenders may only give you a car loan for example if you're discharged and there are no defaults in the last 12/24 months for example so this inaccurate information could affect you in that instance.

Thanks pingpong. I wrote to Barclaycard in April asking them to update their records, and they changed the default date but didn't mark the account as settled/satisfied/partially satisfied.

I phoned them at the weekend, and was advised that they wouldn't do this, as it was company policy not to if the debt hadn't been settled in full by the trustee (or something like that).

I will try phoning and possibly writing to them again.

You just need to keep pushing them its not factually correct information, you can find the requirements here https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/credit/. If you have already requested twice and given them sufficient evidence I would be inclined to make a complaint to the ICO. Regardless of the trustee it should be marked as satisfied/partially satisfied once YOU have been discharged