Consumer Debt Help 5 – Check Your Credit File

Consumer Help Service

Experian Equifax Write to both companies with all of your addresses in the past 6 years (provide postcodes, go to Royal Mail). If there are two of you, married or not, you will need two separate applications. Send each application with a £2.00 cheque, payable to the name of that company. The information will be sent to you in about 14 days. A useful booklet that explains what to look for and what to do if you see any problems will accompany the information you receive. Some credit repair companies charge an outrageous amount of money to get to this stage. Whether you use a credit repair, or not, you should get your own file from the credit reference companies and scrutinize the information. The two things you are looking for are: 1. County Court Judgment Judgment, CCJ or however it is described The information will provide the date of the CCJ, case no., court name, value, defendant, and whether satisfied. 2. Default A Default is a formal demand for payment of some form of Agreement, say, a Hire Purchase Agreement that you have missed three payments of. A Default must contain a number of regulatory requirements. That it is served under the Consumer Credit Act, the demand must say who you are, delivered to where you live (or work), who the creditor is, their address, how to contact them, what is owed, what it is owed for, when you must pay the amount by and what will happen if you do not pay i.e. “if you do not pay £100 by 12/11/99 we will take legal action”, and finally that you should seek advice… A CCJ and a Default are both regarded as serious information by lenders etc. You cannot pay or satisfy a Default: it is just there! (Very, very unfair). An inexperienced clerk at a finance company can send a Default to you without any supervision or serious default. On receipt of a Default Notice contact the creditor and talk to a supervisor. Tell them that their Default Notice is unfair, extremely damaging and may well jeopardize your current financial standing to the extent that you can foresee one creditor in particular who will get ‘extremely nervous’ if you are seen to be unable to maintain payments to another creditor: this is not a big lie, nor a little one, its the truth! Ask them to cancel he Default Notice (and yes they can, quite easily) and that you will make the required payment: I suggest you find what they need if at all possible.

Wrong Information and Fraud

A recent question asked of us explains some of the grey areas of credit files

Question

I have been told I have a CIAFS Criminal Investigation Fraud thing on my credit file! Can you tell me what this is and why?? As I can’t get credit.

Answer

The Credit Industry Fraud Avoidance System (CIFAS) acts as a warning system to lenders that: a) an address has an association with attempted finance fraud b) an individual has attempted financial fraud The nature of ‘fraud’ ranges from incorrect application forms (as with Peter Mandelson MP who falsified a mortgage application saying he had no existing loans when Geoffrey Robertson had loaned him £375,000), to using aliases for minor credit transactions.
But, it is entirely possible (some say probable) that the information held under the CIFAS tag is as detrimental to the victims of fraud (say a stolen card that has been used without being reported – for any number of genuine reasons) as it is to the perpetrator of a fraud. You need to get your credit file: www.bizhelp24.com/consumer_2.htm ’8.12 How to Check Your Credit File’ and discover which lender has provided details to CIFAS. You can then demand their response, and if that response is basically unfair and causing you necessary grief, ask them to remove it or you will ask the Office of Fair Trading to investigate your complaint. Many credit records have poor and out of date information with the credit reference companies lacking severe penalties for sloppy administration.

Note of Correction

If you want to have a note attached explaining the circumstances of the debt you can request (by legislation) a ‘note of correction’. The note should not be more than 200 words and must not be incorrect, defamatory, frivolous, scandalous or unsuitable. Loosing a steady job or suffering illness/injury are good reasons for sending a note – going ‘off the rails’ would not get much of a hearing. If you feel that the information on file is wrong or unfair you can write to the credit agency and ask them to rectify the entry. The agency must reply within 28 days. If you feel that you are still not getting a fair hearing you can write to: The Director General of Fair Trading The Office of Fair Trading Field House Breams Building LONDON EC4A 1PR Add in your letter that you are “sending the letter under Section 159 (5) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974″ and include: a) Your full name and address b) Name and address of credit reference agency c) Your reference number given by the credit reference agency d) The nature of your complaint: what you see as being wrong, and how it affects your credit status and applications Debt has always had a high degree of shame attached to it (real or perceived). Admitting to having debt problems is like saying that you’re not experienced or knowledgeable enough to handle the real world. To make matters worse, you find out that unless you get immediate financial help you will loose your family home, the car you need for work, your business etc. You have been offered a loan at a very high interest rate and you are desperate. Do you take the expensive loan or ask your family for help? Firstly, (and I make no excuses at repeating this in these articles) are you serious about getting out of debt ? If you are, you can consider your family as an option. If you are not serious about getting out of debt and you just want some ‘breathing space’, you risk loosing your family’s support and their money! Asking relatives or friends for financial help is a tough decision, but can be the best option (at least for you). In most circumstances, a loan from such sources would be interest free, although I have known of cases where a token interest is paid if only to impress upon the borrower the gravity of the situation. It should be remembered that the money loaned to you was probably earning interest, and in some cases part of the yearly income of our parents.
If your debts are that highs that a second mortgage would have to be taken out by say, your parents, you need to have a ‘cast iron’ repayment plan. If you have any doubts about your future ability to meet the payments you must not put your problems before the possible problem you may drop on others (life-long homes have been lost, a more common scenario than you may think). The amount of repayment is an important factor. If you have the opportunity to take an interest free loan, you should also take the opportunity to repay the loan at a rate you can maintain at 101% (this is crucial as falling behind with this type of loan can affect all of your family, and can cause wide and irreparable damage). Repayment of loans from people close to you is normally enough to regain your position in your family, and life. Take your friends or family out for a meal when you finally pay off the loan. This will be enough repayment to those that care about you but do not pay by credit card!