Cleaning an erroneous credit report

Russinating · 14 Oct 2017 at 19:28

I got declined for a mortgage this week and so checked my credit report which is otherwise pretty perfect. Noddle was a-ok so I signed up to another and it showed as "Poor" with an arrears and repossession this month from Virgin Media. I've not been a customer of them for a year so called them up and to be fair they were quite helpful, and basically although the account showed I owed £70, after they double checked I'm actually owed £275 back from them as my account wasn't closed properly (13 months ago!) and I continued to pay the DD for way after I should have.

I'm getting a refund and I was told to email [email protected] with an explanation and my account details etc.

Obviously very annoying, especially as it's for a mortgage. Has anyone else had something like this before and is there anything else I should do to ensure this is totally correct with all the agencies or will whatever Virgin do be enough? And how long until it's back to the level it was before?

Thanks in advance.

Uther · 14 Oct 2017 at 19:35

I think you will need to check every credit agency to make sure it is corrected. IIRC it can take some time.

Em3bbs · 14 Oct 2017 at 19:45

This exact thing happened to me with Virgin Media, I moved out and moved broadband providers because Virgin aren't down my road, then wanted a loan for something nearly a year later and it was declined. When I checked my credit report on Equifax and Experian there was a default for a month of Virgin Media long after I had moved out, it wasn't on Noddle. I emailed that same address and I ended up paying the difference to speed things up with regards to my credit rating rather than argue it.

It's interesting this seems to be a pattern with Virgin Media though, I really think the whole credit agency/process needs regulating because you could potentially lose a house based on a £40 debt. Now we also find out that Equifax have been hacked and customer details compromised.

Russinating · 14 Oct 2017 at 19:48

Interesting! What did you do to get things back to normal @Em3bbs and how long did it take?

llamadal · 14 Oct 2017 at 19:50

Tbh before applying for the mortgage the advisor should have told you to run some checks just as a precaution.

The whole system is a joke, Volkswagen finance added a default to my account 5 years after I had paid it off and sold it, took nearly 18 months to fix..... They gave me £250 for the hassle lol

Once all agencies have been written to, it took a few months for all of them to be updated.

BDEE · 14 Oct 2017 at 19:50

Corrections, if done correctly, should take place reasonably quickly - Depending on VM's reporting cycle, up to 60 days and it should be corrected.

Is the mortgage for a purchase or a remortgage?

Russinating · 14 Oct 2017 at 19:53

BDEE said:
Corrections, if done correctly, should take place reasonably quickly - Depending on VM's reporting cycle, up to 60 days and it should be corrected.

Is the mortgage for a purchase or a remortgage?

Hmm ok. Is it worth me also emailing all the various agencies with whatever Virgin send me as well? And it's for a BTL AIP so no immediate rush like a remortgage or property-based purchase.

Em3bbs · 14 Oct 2017 at 19:56

Russinating said:
Interesting! What did you do to get things back to normal @Em3bbs and how long did it take?

I phoned and paid, mailed the address in your post on Jan 30th, no reply so I mailed again on Feb 13th (it said to wait 2 weeks), I still didn't hear anything back so sent a more angry email on Feb 17th. Still nothing until I got a mail on Feb 24th to say they had cleared the default. I had to wait a couple of weeks and then my credit files were clear (I think you could end up potentially waiting a month though). Luckily it wasn't for a mortgage or something and I managed to find the money elsewhere in the meantime otherwise I'd have been a lot more impatient.

Russinating · 14 Oct 2017 at 20:20

Ok thanks. Am I correct in thinking that yours @Em3bbs wasn't an error though? Or did your email to them state that it was an error (but you paid it anywhere to avoid phone faff)?

mr tommo · 14 Oct 2017 at 20:48

Their correction will update the central database that the 3 main agencies pull their info from.

I had similar recently and had to get a mistake rectified, nearly missed out on my house because of it.

Your best bet is to contact virgin and get them to send an emergency update (as opposed to their usual 4-6 week upload to the central database). You can also find out which credit agency your mortgage provider uses (they generally use one for mortgages) and then contact them who can also kick off communications with Virgin also.

Worst case is to find out from the credit agency when they expect the next Virgin media - they usually give you a date which tends to be spot on, then worst case you'd just wait for the update.

Em3bbs · 14 Oct 2017 at 20:50

Russinating said:
Ok thanks. Am I correct in thinking that yours @Em3bbs wasn't an error though? Or did your email to them state that it was an error (but you paid it anywhere to avoid phone faff)?

It was an error, I could have proved I had moved out months before but I thought I'd end up fighting it for ages and have a default on my credit file.

BDEE · 14 Oct 2017 at 23:44

There is no need to contact the credit agencies at this point if VM are getting on with correcting things.

As already pointed out, run a check on them all, but 30 days after confirmation they have made the update (as updates go in monthly reporting cycles). This should confirm the corrections.

If you contact them now and look at adding a notice of correction to them all (which is what they may suggest to you), this can actually have an adverse affect once the corrections are in place, as the NOC will usually trigger a review from a mortgage lender who may otherwise offer some degree of automation in their checking.

413x · 14 Oct 2017 at 23:44

I think..

There are 3 credit agencies,
Experian
Equifax
Call credit

Noddle = call credit
Credit club = experian
Clearscore = equifax

Those 3 free sites will give you access to all the credit agencies
I had to use it because I didn't know why o kept getting rejected for an electric meter. It's because my old supplier hadn't closed the account properly!

Call credit is the one that is used least. Ie I have accounts that don't even appear on that as it's used by so few businesses