Rebuilding and Correcting

As part of the whole finances-rebuilding process, I’ve recently been paying more attention to my credit score and so on, including getting reports on it via Noddle , Equifax, and Experian.  (It’s worth doing all three when you’re checking these things, as some companies report to one or two of the credit scoring agencies, but not necessarily all three – which is insanely frustrating, and most people don’t know it)

Within those reports, I found that three companies were mis-reporting things – primarily that debts that had been included in the bankruptcy were still being reported every month as “Default” (i.e. late) payments, rather than acknowledging that they’d been dealt with by the bankruptcy.  I have no way of knowing (although I have some suspicions) if this is ‘just’ a mistake, standard incompetence, or a tactic to keep credit-scores low for people who’ve been through bankruptcy.

We’ll find out soon enough, though. I’ve written to all three companies, giving them the necessary information and copies of certification, and requesting that they update their records.  In all three cases, I’ve given them three options for declaring the debt ‘satisfied’ (which is a different status to ‘paid’, but still closes the account) :

1. Update it as of this month
2. Update it for this year’s records
3. Update it, backdating to when the bankruptcy was discharged.

Obviously the final option is the best one – and the one generally recommended by the FCA and Insolvency Service – because once the bankruptcy is declared, all debts are nullified, and all the credit recording should reflect that with immediate effect. So I’m still trying to be reasonable and find a middle-ground by letting it be marked as ‘default’ for a further twelve months.

One company has already come back to me, taking that third option.  The other two, well, they’re more ‘traditional’, so letters have had to be posted (recorded delivery, naturally) and will take time to process.  In both cases, the recorded delivery gives them a finite timescale to work with – if nothing has been done in eight weeks from proven delivery, I can start to involve the Financial Ombudsman and FCA.  That’s a while off yet though (obviously) and I hope things will be sorted well before then.

The thing is, none of this is essential to the rebuilding of my finances and credit-score – although it will definitely help to have these three records sorted. But the rebuilding will continue to happen, with other positive credit-score reports and transaction reports helping over time.

There’s no valid reason for the various companies to not make the changes, though. It’s a matter of correcting the information, of setting the record straight. That shouldn’t cause anyone any problems.

But I bet it does.