After completing, through a Full and Final Payment, my IVA and it being a year since this was done I thought I'd give an update on how the year has gone and also one further question at the end. Firstly managing finances is a lot easier and the relief of being debt free (apart from Mortgage) is immense. There are times when you realise how reliant and expectant on credit the country is now, in my case this has been with car repairs and costs, a scenario I had it seems like if you have a problem with a car, garages will automatically charge £60 an hour and £500+VAT for a part as they expect you to put it on a credit card, I found same part on Ebay with a 3rd party manufacturer (so new part and guarantee) for £95 inc VAT and next day delivery to small local garage that "only" charged £40 an hour for the labour, so lesson learnt in shopping around more and making more phone calls than just accepting have to pay something. Another lesson is that it takes a while for your credit past to heal, I wanted to switch mortgage from Northern Rock to my bank as the 0.5% Interests rates we so nicely have
are actually closer to 5% when we get them
my bank wouldn't touch me with a bargepole even though I explained fully my situation and I have a lot going in each month and have never defaulted on the mortgage. It was at this point that I joined Equifax at a cost of £6.99 a month to have unlimited access to my Credit File. If anything changes then they also send an email so that you can log on, check the change, generate a new report and keep it for info.
I was surprised on first viewing my report that I was still defaulted on all my IVA creditors, they had different dates and a Default / Delinquent Balance in every case.
After a while I got a template letter from this site (thanks) and found out creditors details, addresses and info from credit, harder than it sounds (Eversheds, Max Recovery, MBNL etc). I tailored the letter and sent off 5 copies on 24th July with the 28 day deadline. The letter specified the correct dates and amounts and that they should be marked settled rather than defaulted and the Default / Delinquent Balance should be £0. Eversheds were the first to reply and request more info, seemed like a delaying and hassle tactic to me, so rather than writing I phoned them and eventually got some good assistance, but I did need to be patient and insistent, of course I made notes of date, time, names and discussion
. Well today being day 27 of the 28 the last creditor has made a change to my credit file, coincidence or do they just love being difficult. Now, my thoughts on this are that as soon as the IVA is setup the creditors should do their duties and record this properly on the Credit Files especially the dates, of course this does not happen. Then once the IVA is cleared they then do the same, they are professionals and know what they are doing of course, but yet again this does not get done. I wish Mr Information Commissioner would rectify this without making us go through the extra expense, hassle and time! Best to send all the letters Special Delivery and signed for/traceable too.
Finally I think everything sorted and would advise all others on completion to check their credit file and ensure all is okay. However on checking my Equifax Credit File for what I think is the last time, before I then pay the other agencies to check on their reports of me as just a one off to confirm all is sorted with them too, I find, great, not defaults, but hold on some of them still have the wrong dates, heyho, not massively important, but what the heck, they have all left a Default / Delinquent Balance on the file, they amount to thousands and more than I would have owed/paid back, surely they should be £0 too (or far lower amounts due to the amount I paid back even if they do have to reflect any loss to a creditor)! So my question here is after all this hassle are they still trying to wind me up by leaving figures on there or should they be £0 and I contact them again or the Information Commissioner to get this corrected?
Until I know this information is correct or needs correcting I don't want to pay for reports from the other Credit Reference Agencies to find out the same is true on them. Would really appreciate your assistance.
Thanks, Ian.
