Credit Check for Mortgage

BlackEdelweiss

We applied for credit checks with the Central Credit Registry and the Irish Credit Bureau and got a clean sheet on both applications.
We applied for a mortgage and were told we had a bad credit rating on file dating back to 2013 when we sold our house at a slight loss during the recession. We had moved abroad at the time and were in communication with the bank and they accepted the sale and that was the last we heard from them. There was almost a year of very stressful negotiations with them prior to this but no agreement was reached to repay the shortfall and nothing was signed. We just never heard from them again. I have email after email begging them to contact us to try to come to some kind of arrangement so it is not that we just ran and left it.
Now it appears that they have kept this as an unpaid loan on our credit rating.
Is there another database other than the two we applied for? I would like to be able to check this to see how bad things look on it and to see what we can do. I have tried contacting the original lender but they were as helpful this time as they were in 2013 and I have heard nothing from them since.
Do we have any other option for getting a mortgage now?

Trish56

The only way a lender would know if you had a bad credit rating would be if it was on the ICB and/or Central Bank register. Only other way would be if you are now applying to the same lender that you had problems with and that record will always remain on their files this would also include a subsidiary for example Haven Mortgages and EBS would be owned by AIB and they can see your past records.

Is it possible you're not reading the ICB report correctly for example if there is a L after the last 24 payments on your mortgage record this signals that the account was settled for less than the full amount so is bound to raise red flags. Also your record is removed 5 years after loan is concluded. Central Credit Register are only recording details of mortgage from 2017.

BlackEdelweiss

My CCI report just says No Data for each of the 4 categories, there are no mortgage payments listed on it. The ICB report states No accounts for you found on the ICB database. The guy from the bank said he found nothing on these either but he has not said where he found the information despite me requesting it three times now. It is a totally different lender to the original lender. All this happened in 2013. From what I recall we had applied to the bank to sell the house under a Voluntary Sale for Loss scheme that seemed to be going at the time. We were living abroad at the time and it was a very stressful situation so I cant remember all the details.

Trish56

I think you are entitled to the information he has on you under the Data Protection Act so you can request same in writing from that Financial Institution.

You really need more information here as to who was lender and who you are applying to now as they could be connected someway for example ICS was owned by Bank of Ireland - Irish Nationwide was connected someway with permanent tsb after recession.

BlackEdelweiss

They did not seem to be connected. The guy in the new lender was helpful and sympathetic sounding and he did not indicate that there could have been a connection. It is a bit depressing, this day last week we were on the cusp of getting a new mortgage which would enable us to stop paying a huge figure in rent each month and eventually allow us to get back on our feet again. Instead, we still have the huge rent but now we owe over €20,000 due to unpaid interest on the loan we did not know existed and we have a bad credit rating for at least the next five years!

Jim2007

BlackEdelweiss wrote: »

They did not seem to be connected. The guy in the new lender was helpful and sympathetic sounding and he did not indicate that there could have been a connection. It is a bit depressing, this day last week we were on the cusp of getting a new mortgage which would enable us to stop paying a huge figure in rent each month and eventually allow us to get back on our feet again. Instead, we still have the huge rent but now we owe over €20,000 due to unpaid interest on the loan we did not know existed and we have a bad credit rating for at least the next five years!

Your previous residence was sold by the bank because you were unable to meet you obligations and you failed to reach an agreement with them to restructure the loan... how could you not know about it?

Just because something is not on your credit report does not mean it has been forgotten nor that financial institutions can't find out about it. The repossession of a house and it's subsequent sale leaves a legal trail for instance, newspapers report on court, county registrars and sheriff's hearings, institutions may keep old copies of databases etc....

Enquire at a couple of other institutions to see the reaction, with a bit of luck perhaps the information is not widely known.

BlackEdelweiss

We did not know as we had not heard from the bank in 7 years since the sale of the house. This was at the height of the recession and the banks were in turmoil from what I have been told. We applied for a Voluntary sale for loss scheme and thought the bank must have accepted this and just moved on to bigger more important debts. It is not like a bank to not chase you up for money you owe them! We are not financial people, we dont know how the system works. It might be straightforward to you if this is your industry.

Jim2007

BlackEdelweiss wrote: »

We did not know as we had not heard from the bank in 7 years since the sale of the house. This was at the height of the recession and the banks were in turmoil from what I have been told. We applied for a Voluntary sale for loss scheme and thought the bank must have accepted this and just moved on to bigger more important debts. It is not like a bank to not chase you up for money you owe them! We are not financial people, we dont know how the system works. It might be straightforward to you if this is your industry.

I doubt very much that they did... they probably tried your old address since you were out of the country, they may have sold the debt to a third party who has tried to chase it down etc...

At the end of the day, it does not really matter... the information is in the hands of at least the lender you tried. Try a few more and see if it comes up else where, that is all I can suggest.

BlackEdelweiss

Jim2007 wrote: »

I doubt very much that they did... they probably tried your old address since you were out of the country, they may have sold the debt to a third party who has tried to chase it down etc...

At the end of the day, it does not really matter... the information is in the hands of at least the lender you tried. Try a few more and see if it comes up else where, that is all I can suggest.

Why would they try to contact us at the address in Ireland that they agreed we could sell and that they then got the majority of the money for? They had our overseas addrress, they had my email address and my mothers phone number as they were dealing with her due to time difference issues. We lived at the overseas address for a while afterwards and I received mail from the landlord after we moved out as I worked for them for three years after the sale.

Trish56

You should really discuss all this with your Solicitor who I'm presuming represented you when the property was sold. If you have emails with the lender agreeing that you could sell the property and not be responsible for the residual debt then there should not be a bad mark against you.

If you think and have evidence that you should not have a bad credit rating and that the property was sold with the banks agreement and that they agreed to write off the balance well then write to that bank providing the documentation and ask for your credit rating to be amended and if not successful contact the Ombudsman.

BlackEdelweiss

Thats the problem, we dont have any confirmation from the solicitor or the bank. It all just ended, no communication, no demands, no agreements.

Trish56

If your Solicitor acted on your behalf well then he/she acted on your instructions. Under the Data Protection Act you can apply to the previous lender for all the details they hold on you. Your details are very sketchy, I think if I sold a property I would be able to recall the details. No one can sell your property without communication or agreements so I think perhaps you may have to jog your memory a little bit and come up with the full picture.

The most important recall should be did the bank repossess your property or did ye contact the bank, estate agent, Solicitor to sell on your behalf. Did you make repayments on your mortgage when you left the country.

Many people during the recession moved abroad and left debt not thinking of the consequences when they returned to a blemished record.

Jim2007

Trish56 wrote: »

Many people during the recession moved abroad and left debt not thinking of the consequences when they returned to a blemished record.

I think part of the problem is that people do not understand a lot of the processes around debt...

- Just because something no longer appears in a credit report does not mean it has been forgotten, it just means it is no longer a reporting requirement.

- Just because a bank writes off a debt, it does not mean that they will not try to collect it or sell it on. It just means they have decided to take a hit in their P&L for it.

- Just because a debt is statute barred does not mean it is forgotten either, it just means the lender is not able to enforce the debt.

- And while the DPA regulates the information a lender may hold on you, it does not restrict their access to public documents and the repossession of a property etc... generates public documents, which will be available indefinitely.