Vodafone - Default removal + distress claim ***WON***

[ffocus]

Hi all,

Im trying to get my life sorted at the moment. This site has been a great help so far. The problem I have now is Im trying to get a default removed from my file.

I had a mobile phone contract with a company called single point which was bought out by vodafone. I wrote to vodafone telling them I had no recollection of ever receiving such a notice.

They wrote back to me saying:-

1.) We can see that the default placed on your account was regarding number *********** and was placed on your credit file file due to your account been passed to the external collections agency First Credit in OCT 2003 for the balance of £58.91 (including VAT). Payment of this balence was made in full and passed to singlepoint on the 28th NOV 2003. At This time your credit file was updated to show a zero balance and that the default had been satisfied.
2.) "We are unable to remove the default from your credit file as your account had been passed to an external collections agency "First Credit".

1.) Is there anything I can do to get it removed?
2.) Im thinking of writing to First Credit about this but what do I say???


Thanks for listening,
*****

[ffocus]

Just spoke to the woman who wrote the letter back from vodafone. She has confirmed that vodafone are the ones who hold the default against me and not First Credit.

She said that it's only fair if they keep the default on my account so that they can advise others what type of consumer I am "in other words" Although I explained my circumstances to her "Moving house/location, Change of job and break up with the ex." etc and she said she would escalate the matter.

Is there anything I can do to force them to remove this default from my file???

Can you find out if it is covered by the "consumer credit act" before we get into details, the women should be able to tell you.

[ffocus]

Hi Zooman,

She said she would call me again tomorrow since she was trying to escalate the matter for me.

Ill let you know.

cheers

[ffocus]

Originally Posted by Zooman

Can you find out if it is covered by the "consumer credit act" before we get into details, the women should be able to tell you.

Hi Zooman,

Just got off the phone too her again. She told me this was covered under the "consumer credit act".

She raised it and took it to her manager where they both came to the conclusion that they shouldnt remove the default.

I did try to explain my circumstances at the time AGAIN. "Moving house/location, Change of job and break up with the ex. etc" She told me this did not carry any qeight to get this removed.

Any help appreciated.

Thanks

[ffocus]

Just received a letter back from vodafone saying they wont remove it. Its been 21 days. Ive now raised this with the Information Commissioners Office. They will hopefully enforce vodafone to stop processing my data.

Will keep you posted

[ffocus]

I've just worked out what I have been paying in excess interest rate charges due to the 2 defaults vodafone has registered against me.

Total comes up to £1939.45.

This is based on 1 personal loan which I could have got for half the interest rate. Paying 12% should have been 7%.
Credit card balances 20 - 30% apr. This should have been 0% apr since I would had switched cards every 6 months but i couldnt get a new card due to the defaults.

On top of this I have the distriss it has caused me. I dont know how to put a value on this. As well as the opportunity i had 2 years ago to by my own house but decided not to due to the best mortage rate i could get then was based at 8.7%apr. This is when interest rates were like 4-5%. prpoerty prices have since gone up. I think i should be able to claim for this not sure how though...

[ffocus]

Just found this:-

http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documen...mpensation.pdf

[ffocus]

My Address

My Address
My Address
My Address
Vodafone House
The Connection
Newbury
Berkshire
RG14 2FN
England
Date 15/08/06
“Previous” Single point customer
Account No. ********
Defaults dated Oct and Nov 2003 – Defaults x 2

Dear Sir or Madam (the Data Controller)


I don’t believe you understood my first letter (dated 24/07/06 – Your ref *********)
You’re 21 days are now up. Do to the nature of this request I will now grant you with a further 10 days to complete my request before I take this up with court action which will result in yourselves defaulting and I will make sure the public are aware of this case.

People do not deserve this and it is wrong of you to continue doing so.

I am seeking financial compensation due to “increased interest rates” to the effect of £1689.45. This is based on debt I have had and still have which I am paying much higher interest rates on when I shouldn’t be, since you have been supplying credit agencies with my details after our contract ended.

I also require financial compensation due to the distress this has caused me over the past two and a half years. I request that you pay a fair amount on each account:-
Distress for trying to get a mortgage £400
Distress for trying to take out loans £400
Distress for renewing credit cards £400
Time spent investigating this matter 20 hours @ £10 per hour £200
Distress on not buying my own house 2 years ago due to £Priceless
the extortionate interest rates I was being quoted due to
the defaults you have against me.

Therefore I request you pay me the full/fair amount* of £3089.45 within 10 days or will be taking court action followed by a very public announcement.
Interest will be accrued at a rate of 8%. This equates to £0.68 per day.

*Please note – Priceless – I have not added anything here but will if it goes to court.

Yours Faithfully



*****
15th August 2006



Below: Extra notes for your information.

I understand that you continue to supply to third parties data related to accounts to which have been applied by you on the instructions of the relevant companies default markers. By defaulting an account the existing contract for that account is terminated and therefore my permission for the processing of my personal data to be supplied to and processed by you is also terminated.

You, the Data Controller are retaining and processing data (whether or not this is a simple renewal process of the default flags, daily or other timed factor) after the cancellation of the relevant contracts. As those contracts are no longer in situ, then my written permission has also ceased from the date of cancellation of contracts.

The contracts, that I signed, only gave you permission for you to process data during the term of those contracts. They neither included any other permission, nor did they imply that your perceived 'rights' to process my data would be in perpetuity. There was certainly no clause contained within the contracts that stated that you had any arbitrary right to continuing processing data for up to six years after the ending of the contracts.

I also believe it to be unfair for any contract to contain a clause allowing companies to register my payment history as there is no reciprocal mechanism for me to be able to equally record any breaches of contract by you. If one refers to clause (o) of Schedule 2 of the UTCC Regulations it is stated that a term would be considered unfair, if it 'obliges the consumer to fulfil all his obligations where the seller or supplier does not perform his'. Therefore, I contend that your clause demanding my permission to disclose personal data is, in effect, an unfair term, and is therefore null and void.

Furthermore, I believe that the potential argument that it is in the "public interest" to retain such data to assist other companies in deciding whether I am a future risk is unsupportable. It is most evident that I am not a financial risk to the nation, having not accrued a CIFAS or GAIN marker, nor is this credit file of vital public interest to protect the nation's stability. There is enough other data and information about me, e.g. my home-owner status, my marital and dependant status and my employment status for future lenders to ascertain my risk rating. Unless you are prepared to disclose the mechanics of how your risk calculation is composed, you cannot prove that historic default markers on defunct accounts have a considerable bearing, or are a major factor, in the whole calculation.

As such, you had, by statute, twenty-one days in which to either comply with my request, or give written notice stating your reasons and why you consider the notice unjustified. You have already not responded in a non- compliance manure. Any failure on your part to adhere to these timescales will automatically result in your non-compliance with the statutory procedure. In that case, you will be expected to unconditionally comply with my Statutory Notice or I shall refer the matter to the Courts to ask for an Order to that effect. Should it be necessary to refer the matter to the Courts, then I shall also apply for Court fees and costs against you. This will also lead to a complaint to the Information Commissioners Office as to your suitability to hold a Data Protection licence for you are clearly holding data that is no longer relevant to the accounts, the account information provider or the data subject, and is being held after a contract has been terminated, by whatever means, whether by default or cancellation.

Statutory Notice pursuant to Section 10 of
The Data Protection Act 1998.

Data Controller:
Data Subject:
Address:

Whereas I have been the customer of yours and whereas I consented in my contracts with you to the disclosure by you of certain data, at no time did I consent and neither was it within the contemplation of the parties to the contracts that I did consent to the processing by you of that data in any manner which would be unfair or inaccurate or which in any way would breach The Data Protection Act 1998.

All contracts between myself and you have been terminated, indicated by the default status applied by you at your sole discretion. My permission for you to control and process data terminated with the cessation of that contract and you have no longer have my permission in respect of process my personal data related in any way, including but not limited to, supplying my personal data to third parties, updating your own records and or making decisions thereon.

Therefore, take notice that I require that you cease from processing within seven days of the receipt by you of this notice or else that you do not begin to process any personal data related to the former contract of which I am the subject insofar as that processing involves the collation, storage, processing, communication or passing of personal data of which I am the subject to any third party.

This Notice is served on the grounds that the processing, or continued processing,or disclosure by you of the said data will be likely to affect my credit rating and my reputation and cause substantial damage and/or substantial distress to me and my family members in addition to that which has been caused to date. And that as the processing of the said data in the way referred to in this notice would violate the fourth, first and sixth principles of The Data Protection Act 1998 to do so would be unwarranted.

These rights are contained in section 13 of the Act.

If an individual has only suffered distress, compensation is not available unless the processing of the personal data is for the “special purposes” which means processing for artistic, literary or journalistic purposes.

I trust that I have made my position clear, and that you will now make a serious effort to understand its legal obligations and effect the changes requested. Should you be in any doubt as to your obligations as a Data Controller, then I would advise that you consult your corporate counsel or law department.


Have a look here at the letter im about to send to vodafone. Any comments welcome. Will post tomorrow morning.

[SurlyBonds]

Originally Posted by ffocus

Hi Zooman,

Just got off the phone too her again. She told me this was covered under the "consumer credit act".

The mind boggles that so many people working in call centres can have embedded this "industry practice" into some sort of urban myth within their brains....that's if they've got any!?!?

This is THE ENTIRE section of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (As amended) and all that it says about Credit Reference Agencies other than the definition of one is. It contains all mendments added in for all statutory updates to the present day (i.e. where other Acts have amended certain words/phrases or removed words/clauses/etc.).

If you can spot anything about six years markers on defaults (unless ordered so by a County Court judge -which is another Act all together) then fine... let it go and give up your fight.

In fact, if you do a word search on "six years", as he/they see(s) fit" or "in perpetuity", then absolutely NOTHING comes up. So, as I keep on asking them (and they still won't damn well own up)..."Where is the statute for this six years rule?".

If anyone eants a copy, then let me know and I'll email it to you... it's a useful reference anyway.

Tell Vodafone to read it and weep...

Credit reference agencies

157 Duty to disclose name etc of agency

(1) A creditor, owner or negotiator, within the prescribed period after receiving a request in writing to that effect from the debtor or hirer, shall give him notice of the name and address of any credit reference agency from which the creditor, owner or negotiator has, during the antecedent negotiations, applied for information about his financial standing.

(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to a request received more than 28 days after the termination of the antecedent negotiations, whether on the making of the regulated agreement or otherwise.

(3) If the creditor, owner or negotiator fails to comply with subsection (1) he commits an offence.



158 Duty of agency to disclose filed information

(1) A credit reference agency, within the prescribed period after receiving,

(a) a request in writing to that effect from any partnership or other unincorporated body of persons not consisting entirely of bodies corporate (the “consumer”) and


(b) such particulars as the agency may reasonably require to enable them to identify the file, and


(c) a fee of £2,


shall give the consumer a copy of the file relating to it kept by the agency.

(2) When giving a copy of the file under subsection (1), the agency shall also give the consumer a statement in the prescribed form of the consumer’s rights under section 159.

(3) If the agency does not keep a file relating to the consumer it shall give the consumer notice of that fact, but need not return any money paid.

(4) If the agency contravenes any provision of this section it commits an offence.

(5) In this Act “file”, in relation to an individual, means all the information about him kept by a credit reference agency, regardless of how the information is stored and “copy of the file”, as respects information not in plain English, means a transcript reduced into plain English.


159 Correction of wrong information

(1) Any individual (the “objector”) given—

(a) information under section 7 of the Data Protection Act 1998 by a credit reference agency, or

(b) information under section 158,

who considers that an entry in his file is incorrect, and that if it is not corrected he is likely to be prejudiced, may give notice to the agency requiring it either to remove the entry from the file or amend it.

(2) Within 28 days after receiving a notice under subsection (1), the agency shall by notice inform the objector that it has—

(a) removed the entry from the file, or


(b) amended the entry, or


(c) taken no action,


and if the notice states that the agency has amended the entry it shall include a copy of the file so far as it comprises the amended entry.

(3) Within 28 days after receiving a notice under subsection (2) or, where no such notice was given, within 28 days after the expiry of the period mentioned in subsection (2), the objector may, unless he has been informed by the agency that it has removed the entry from his file, serve a further notice on the agency requiring it to add to the file an accompanying notice of correction (not exceeding 200 words) drawn up by the objector and include a copy of it when furnishing information included in or based on that entry.

(4) Within 28 days after receiving a notice under subsection (3), the agency, unless it intends to apply to the the relevant authority under subsection (5), shall by notice inform the objector that it has received the notice under subsection (3) and intends to comply with it.

(5) If—

(a) the objector has not received a notice under subsection (4) within the time required, or


(b) it appears to the agency that it would be improper for it to publish a notice of correction because it is incorrect, or unjustly defames any person, or is frivolous or scandalous, or is for any other reason unsuitable,


the objector or, as the case may be, the agency may, in the prescribed manner and on payment of the specified fee, apply to the relevant authority, who may make such order on the application as he thinks fit.

(6) If a person to whom an order under this section is directed fails to comply with it within the period specified in the order he commits an offence.

(7) The Information Commissioner may vary or revoke any order made by him under this section.

( In this section “the relevant authority” means—

(a) where the objector is a partnership or other unincorporated body of persons, the Director, and


(b) in any other case, the Information Commissioner.

[ffocus]

Letters in the Post. Ill let you know what happens 10 days and counting.

[ffocus]

Well....No Reply from vodafone. I've now sent the moneyclaim form. Requesting they remove the default, pay for damages including distress and the excess interest I have payed on all my credit accounts.

I am optimistic - Glad to be getting rid of the default to be honest - But I do feel that they have caused me to pay excess charges over the years when I havent even had anything to do with them - Ie no contract- therfor they shouldnt have been processing my data.

Will let you know what happens.

[Tinkerbelle]

WOW

You are one BRAVE individual. Good luck with it all as well.

I was pouring through the Consumer Credit Act 1974 and one bit about CRA's kinda jumped out at me from the page.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Part XII
Supplemental

General

174 Restrictions on disclosure of information.

(1) No information obtained under or by virtue of this Act about any individual shall be disclosed without his consent.

It then goes on to list some exceptions none of which is a Credit Reference Agency.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The full list of exceptions can be found in the Consumer Credit Act 1974 which is now in the library.