Hi all,
I hope this is of some use to someone - I thought I'd share my experiences...
Background
I entered an IVA back in Feb 2006 with 81k of credit card debt (no loans - purely and simply cc debt) spread over 18 credit cards - lunacy looking back now but what's done is done.
I used DFD for my IVA and to be fair they did take me through the process fairly painlessly - I know they get bashed a lot on forums like this but I honestly found them ok to deal with.
My IVA was completed successfully in early February 2011 and after a bit of soft nudging by me, DFD sent me my completion certificate by early April 2011.
There began my efforts to have my Defaults marked Satisfied. I had no CCJs just defaults as a result of the IVA.
8 of my debts were bought my Max/Eversheds. I have to say they have been very easy to deal with. In fact since I first wrote to my creditors on 13 May, within one week they had updated my files with all three main CRAs.
Of those creditors who did not sell my debts on, I found dealing with the likes of Natwest and Lloyds to be easy if a bit slow.
By far the worst organisation to deal with was Cabot and I've had to now refer that case to the ICO. In essence they bought a CitiFinance debt back in 2008 (some 2.5 years into my IVA and like all my debts was in the original proposal back in 2006) and marked by credit file at the time Default but set the default date to mid-2008. I've communicated with them on no fewer than ten occasions and still the default date remains incorrect - although has been modified to show Satisfied.
I found Egg to be very slow as have Capital One been. Egg just this week went Satisfied but Capital One state it'll be August before my files update to Satisfied.
In terms of dealing with the CRAs, my basic advice is forget it. They are no use whatsoever especially Callcredit - I'm sure their data is regarded as up to date if it's five years old. I wrote to them about this and they wrote back just saying "cant help, wont help, write to your creditors blah blah blah".
So, where are we now:
Well Callcredit is showing four incorrect defaults, Experian and Equifax only show the outstanding Cap One debt as Default which I have been assured will be resolved in the next month.
I applied for a credit card (just one, not 18!) and was politely told "thanks, but no" by Cap One, Barclaycard and Aqua. Vanquis approved me with a £500 limit which I am now using to get more green zeros on my file.
Finally, it's also worthwhile writing to the Insolvency Service to prompt them regarding the end of your IVA. Within a week of doing this they marked my IVA as satisfied with all three CRAs and removed my name from the public register.
Needless to say my debts remain on file until six years, so it'll be next February 2012 before I have no trace remaining on my file - assuming the ICO acts against Cabot.
Hope this helps and feel free to ask me any questions.