If it's listed as an unpaid debt, then no, no chance. But if it's listed as a paid debt, then you'll probably find you won't have to wait the five years. We got one from a phone company and we got our mortgage three years after it was listed. (default wasn't our fault either which made it especially annoying - company kept sending bill to an address we'd moved from even though we'd remained customers of theirs and they ended up removing it).