clear bad debt history?

Question

More than 6 years ago debt incurred

Left the UK 6 years ago without settling outstanding bills. Have tried to contact 1 company but told account now closed. Do they automatically close after this time. If so is it possible to have previous history of bad debt wiped?

Answer 1

Been there and going through the process of cleaning up my credit. Don't do dept consoldation if you can help it. It ends up looking like slow pay which can be worse that abandoning the debt - crazy I know- but true! It takes longer for debt to roll off now a days. But you can pull a credit report (you get one free one a year now) to see what still shows. If you have the money offer a paid in full settlement as you see fit by calling the debtor. I had a visa and I owed them 800$ and they allowed me to pay 450 to settle the entire bill. Just don't send payment until you have the agreement in writting via letter or fax. If you want-email me and I can help further. Good luck!

Answer 2

Contrary to public opinion bad debt is never removed from a credit file. The 6 year rule is that most financial insituions will disregard information this old. Check with a credit ref agency to see if you are financially linked to anyone - this person may be affecting your credit score. Also remember that no two financial institutions have the same credit scorecard - so because you have been turned down by one lender does not me you will be turned down by other lenders. As you historically have a bad credit history you will be penalised by APR% but realistically dont accept anything above the 16 - 18% mark. Other factors that are taken into account are:

Married / single
No of Children
How long in job
Tenant / Mortgage payer
Age ( best age is early 30's to mid 40's)
Who pays household bills.

Final thing - every Credit Search you have done negatively impacts on your credit score. Try to limit these to no more than 2 - 3 every 6 months. This is why when you are declined credit they advise you wait 6 months before re-applying.

Answer 3

Wow, there's some pretty good advice in this hidden in a lot of rubbish.

Firstly you need to check what action your creditors took following your departure - the most usual course of action in the UK is for them to pursue a county court judgement against you, which establishes their right to enforce the debt and is logged on your credit file.

To obtain a copy of your credit file try writing to one of the big credit reference agencies and buying a copy for around £10 - experian is one of these agencies.

Once you have established if the debt is on your file, you have two choices - one, do nothing - CCJ's and other bad debts are wiped after a period of 7 years, if there has been no contact between you and the creditor in the interim.

Two - you can contact the creditors arrange a settlement (one of the other respondents suggestion of offering to settle the debt for less than the amount owed is a good one), and then ask them to file a note on your credit file explaining that the debt has been settled - again these will be removed from your file after 7 years since the original judgement was made.

Answer 4

I have been in your shoes, rebuilding credit is hard. At this point I would NOT declare bankruptcy, because you have had the debt for over 6 years. First, you need to get a copy of your credit report from all three credit reporting agencies. you can get this at freecreditreport.com. Then you need to contact the credit reporting agencies and ask them to verify all reported credit delinquencies on your account. This will result in them contacting those you owe debts to, if the debt is still valid it will remain on your account, but if the company cannot verify, it will be removed from your account. If the companies you owe verify, they may contact you and offer you a settlement for 50% of the bad debt (actual amount may vary). Since most bad credit drops off your account after 7 years, you may consider waiting for an additional year, but if you really want to rebuild your credit you may want to consider paying the settlements if you can. You may consider credit consolidation, through a consumer credit company but do not get a loan. Once you have cleared your credit you can start rebuilding with a credit card from someplace like Orchard State Bank. The interest is very high, but keeping it paid on time will help build your credit. Once you get credit again, be careful not to overextend your credit. if your credit to debt ratio is too high, they wont let you borrow any more.

Answer 5

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RE :Clear bad debt history?
More than 6 years ago debt incurred
Update: Left the UK 6 years ago without settling outstanding bills. Have tried to contact 1 company but told account now closed. Do they automatically close after this time. If so is it possible to have previous history of bad debt wiped?
Follow 12 answers

Answer 6

hi there,

you could do two things if your debt is so bad you can never see a way out you could declare yourself bankrobt (although i have to warn you, your not likely to be able to buy a house or get credit easily ever again as it stays with you for a long time)

or

you could see a money advice buru or something like this it is a free service look through the yellow pages, some even have an adive line.

they will be able to advice you on how best to tackle the debt, like going through all the debts and order them of imprortance like rent first, household bill, bank loans ect, they might even be able to get your debt reduced or the account frozen on things like loans as the intreast gets higher and higher, also they might be able to help you with offering all your debters a pay off this is what you can pay off all in one go, also they will draw up a monthly plan for you to stick too.

also what ever you do please do not condsier one off those consladtion loans the intreast is like sky high most off them ask for more then double what the loan is in the first place and you will be in an even bigger mess.

i know how hard it is to get into debt as credit card and loans are poping through the door ever five mins it's a big buissiness nowadays to get people into debt and the only people that benifit are the banks and other companys.

also if you arnt in debt at the min but just want to know why you are getting refused credit you could try getting one of those things that you can cheak your credit history.

take care

Answer 7

Almost sure that you must find every financial solution at= financial-care.info-

RE Clear bad debt history?

More than 6 years ago debt incurred

Answer 8

Consider debt consolidation OR bankruptcy!

Answer 9

think its 5 years then gets cleaned not sure though ,best check with an independant credit checker.

Answer 10

make sure all of your bills are paid all the time