Debt consolidation provides both short term and long term benefits. In the short term it offers the borrower breathing space, as they now only have one manageable loan repayment to make each month. In the long term it offers savings, since paying off all existing debt now has eliminated the borrower incurring and interest or late fees in the future.

How to Check Your Credit File

First, if you have never checked your credit files do it now!

There are two companies that supply 99% of all credit reference requests:

Experian and Equifax

Write to both companies with all of your addresses in the past 6 years (provide postcodes, go to www.royalmail.co.uk if you need them). If there are two of you, married or not, you will need two separate applications. Send each application with a £2.00 cheque, payable to the name of that company.

The information will be sent to you in about 14 days. A useful booklet that explains what to look for and what to do if you see any problems will accompany the information you receive. Some credit repair companies charge an outrageous amount of money to get to this stage. Whether you use a credit repair, or not, you should get your own file from the credit reference companies and scrutinize the information. The two things you are looking for are:

1. County Court Judgment

Judgment, CCJ or however it is described The information will provide the date of the CCJ, case no., court name, value, defendant, and whether satisfied.

2. Default

A Default is a formal demand for payment of some form of Agreement, say, a Hire Purchase Agreement that you have missed three payments of. A Default must contain a number of regulatory requirements. That it is served under the Consumer Credit Act, the demand must say who you are, delivered to where you live (or work), who the creditor is, their address, how to contact them, what is owed, what it is owed for, when you must pay the amount by and what will happen if you do not pay i.e. “if you do not pay £100 by 12/11/99 we will take legal action”, and finally that you should seek advice… A CCJ and a Default are both regarded as serious information by lenders etc. You cannot pay or satisfy a Default: it is just there! (Very, very unfair). An inexperienced clerk at a finance company can send a Default to you without any supervision or serious default.

On receipt of a Default Notice contact the creditor and talk to a supervisor. Tell them that their Default Notice is unfair, extremely damaging and may well jeopardize your current financial standing to the extent that you can foresee one creditor in particular who will get 'extremely nervous' if you are seen to be unable to maintain payments to another creditor: this is not a big lie, nor a little one, its the truth! Ask them to cancel he Default Notice (and yes they can, quite easily) and that you will make the required payment: I suggest you find what they need if at all possible.

Wrong Information and Fraud

A recent question asked of us explains some of the grey areas of credit files

Question
I have been told I have a CIAFS Criminal Investigation Fraud thing on my credit file! Can you tell me what this is and why?? As I can't get credit.

Answer
The Credit Industry Fraud Avoidance System (CIFAS) acts as a warning system to lenders that:

a) an address has an association with attempted finance fraud

b) an individual has attempted financial fraud

The nature of 'fraud' ranges from incorrect application forms (as with Peter Mandelson MP who falsified a mortgage application saying he had no existing loans when Geoffrey Robertson had loaned him £375,000), to using aliases for minor credit transactions.

But, it is entirely possible (some say probable) that the information held under the CIFAS tag is as detrimental to the victims of fraud (say a stolen card that has been used without being reported - for any number of genuine reasons) as it is to the perpetrator of a fraud.

You need to get your credit file and discover which lender has provided details to CIFAS. You can then demand their response, and if that response is basically unfair and causing you necessary grief, ask them to remove it or you will ask the Office of Fair Trading to investigate your complaint. Many credit records have poor and out of date information with the credit reference companies lacking severe penalties for sloppy administration.

Note of Correction

If you want to have a note attached explaining the circumstances of the debt you can request (by legislation) a 'note of correction'. The note should not be more than 200 words and must not be incorrect, defamatory, frivolous, scandalous or unsuitable. Loosing a steady job or suffering illness/injury are good reasons for sending a note - going 'off the rails' would not get much of a hearing.

If you feel that the information on file is wrong or unfair you can write to the credit agency and ask them to rectify the entry. The agency must reply within 28 days. If you feel that you are still not getting a fair hearing you can write to The Director General of Fair Trading

Add in your letter that you are "sending the letter under Section 159 (5) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974" and include:

a) Your full name and address

b) Name and address of credit reference agency

c) Your reference number given by the credit reference agency

d) The nature of your complaint: what you see as being wrong, and how it affects your credit status and applications.