Credit Report

[danchip]

I had an account with a large catalogue firm, i contacted them to clear the account and close it, i had a outstanding return so was advised to leave the amount of the return on the account so that the return cleared it rather than me having to wait for a refund off them. Anyway i did this and in the time it took for the return to be refunded onto the account and clear the outstanding balance there were other charges put onto the account.

I was not informed of this and thought that the account had zero balance, the first i knew of it was when they sent me a letter saying i had missed 2 payments and they were referring it to a debt collection agency. I rang them and explained what had happened and they said they would look into it, more phone calls followed and again they said they would look into it, i finally spoke to someone with a brain and they admitted they had made a mistake and cleared the disputed amount on my account and closed it.

I didn't think anything more of it until i came to try and take out finance on a car at the weekend and there is a default on my credit file because i missed 4 payments to the catalogue, all of which i wasn't aware i should be making.

Is there anyway you can get things like this taken off your credit report?

[Buenchico]

See "Credit report mistakes - how to make a correction" here:
http://www.which.co.uk/money/credit-cards-and-loans/guides/your-credit-report-explained/checking-your-credit-report/

BTW, your post reminds me of a problem that occurred when I paid off the mortgage on my house. The lender managed to lose my payment of over £35,000,resulting in them trying to repossess it! When I got them to admit their error they apologised but then tried to charge me over £200 for the interest that had built up during the period between me giving them the money and them actually applying it to my account!!!!

[boxtops]

Yes, you certainly can, as chris says. Send for your report on someone like Expedia - it'll cost you about £3 - then you can ask them to correct anything which isn't right or doesn't relate to you.

[Buenchico]

>>>it'll cost you about £3

There's a statutory maximum charge of £2 but you can sign up for a free trial period of Experian's CreditExpert service and then cancel within 30 days, thus paying nothing:
http://www.experian.co.uk/

You can do the same with Equifax:
http://www.equifax.co.uk/Products/credit/credit-report.html

CallCredit has a lifetime free service:
http://www.callcredit.co.uk/consumer-solutions/your-credit-report/free-credit-report