Hi, I have recently been contacted by Lowells on behalf of Vodafone regarding payment for an account that was active from 1997-1999. According to Vodafone collections, the last payment made was on the 30th June 1999, the subsequent payment did not clear due to no funds being available. I have been informed that 13 years later, on 4th September 2012, another attempt was made to take a payment (I'm not sure why there was no activity in the intervening 13 years), at which point a default was served on my account. My issue is this - I have no problem paying a debt that I owe, although dispute the fact that my credit report will be flagged with a non-payment from 2012 (thus affecting my credit score) rather than from 1999 as there has been absolutely no activity on the account in these past 15 years. Lowell inform me that the debt does not classify as statute barred due to the 2012 notice - as mentioned, I have no issue with paying a debt that I owe and do not intend to try to avoid payment, other than the issue with the date of the notice which in my eyes seems unreasonable due to the timescales involved and the account being dormant for 15 years. After such a long time, I have no records or recollection of this account (and have moved house 4 times since), and Vodafone are unable to explain why the default was served after such a long interval. Their only advice is to write a letter to Vodafone QA, which I suspect will take quite a while to resolve and in the meantime Lowells will be attempting to reclaim their debt. Any advice would be greatly appreciated - is there any way that I can have the date of the default modified such that it doesn't affect my credit rating? Thanks!

Hi can anyone help me? I transferred my British Telecom line rental account several years ago when I moved home. The account was transferred to my brother's name after he became the sole occupant of my old house. The transfer was effected over the phone with BT, and it seemed to go smoothly. A few months ago I learnt that BT had sent a bill to my old address, in my name, I emailed them via their website and told them that the bill was erroneous because I ceased to be a BT customer years before. This email went without reply. I then phoned their customer service help line and explained the situation to them. I told them that I wasn't really bothered about the fact that they had billed me, because this was an error which could easily be sorted out. What really concerned me, I explained, was that if the problem wasn't resolved in good time, my credit rating could be affected, owing to any perceived late payment of their erroneous bill. After checking their records, customer services acknowledged BT's mistake and assured me that the problem would be taken care of. They also told me not to worry about my credit rating, because BT had not yet refered my case to a debt collection agency; standard practice on their part after bills are continually ignored by their customers. However, some time later, I received another bill, a final reminder, I contacted BT again. Once more, I went to great lengths to make them understand that my credit rating was very important to me and that I was extremely anxious that it might be affected. I was then given the same answer as before: I was told that the matter would be sorted out and that my credit history would still be unaffected because they had not yet referred me to a debt collection agency. This whole scenario was repeated when I received a final reminder from BT. This time, though, when I called their customer services helpline and was told that they would rectify the problem, I explained that I wasn't prepared to take their word for anything, and insisted that they email me, telling me exactly what steps they had taken to resolve the problem. I gave them several days to reply but, true to form, their email never arrived. Shortly afterwards, I returned home from work to find a letter from a debt collection agency, acting on behalf of BT, and demanding money for my unpaid phone bill! I contacted BT again, this time via their website's Live Chat facility, and asked them what assurances they could give me that my credit history had not been affected. They told me they couldn't give me any assurances and suggested that I contact a company called Equifax and ask them. I'm still in the process of registering with this company, so I'm yet to find out if BT's negligence has impacted my credit rating. If it transpires that it has, then I think I'm in trouble because I've been advised that this is irreversible, even if BT were to formally admit their mistake, and that my credit rating will remain tarnished for several years. If it so happens that my credit rating has been affected, does anyone know if I am able to seek any redress from BT? Could I, for example, sue them in a small claims court? I am livid about this, absolutely livid, not just because my credit score might be seriously undermined, but because this outcome was so avoidable. Any help or advice would be very much appreciated. Thank you Redquasar

Hi, interested to know whats on my credit file but dont want to do anything that might kick up a hornets nest. Had an IVA with DFD appx 6 years which failed in year 2. heard nothing since and we owe appx 60k across around 5 creditors. heard nothing as I say other than some of the creditors send an annual statement? should i get copy of report or leave well alone? Thanks

i have been told that i am allowed to put a statement on the credit agencies details that they hold for me, explaining why i had fallen into debt ( sons illness) And then all new lenders can see this and consider it when making thier decision. If this is the case: How do i do this? I will write the statement myself, but need to know who to wrie to, and what to request of them. Any help or advice much appreciated?

I am currently in arrears with Wonga, £200, simply through procrastinating with payments etc. I cannot take out another Wonga or any other payday loan. However recently strange things have been happening with my credit situation. I have just been accepted by American Express for a Gold preferred rewards card. I have been accepted by T-Mobile for 2 lines with free top range handsets (galaxy s2) I have been accepted by Capital one for a Secured card having to pay a security fee on £49 At the same time. I have been turned down for an Overdraft with my bank RBS. I have also been turned down for a new current account with Barclays Any Short term loan company also rejects me. I'm very confused... Also what will happen to my credit rating once I finally pay off Wonga...

Hi I am after any help or advice anyone can offer. I am so frustrated by this and the lack of effort on the part of vodafone to resolve it that I would like advice on how to take it the highest possible authorities. Hopefully this can prevent other people from being treated so badly by vodafone. I have had a long-running dispute with vodafone for three years now which has caused such a lot of stress and worry. Now it is seriously affecting my credit rating and I am unable to get an overdraft or loan – this is down to a £800 debt that is not mine. I have had years of correspondance with vodafone and at least three debt collection agencies yet this issue is no closer to being resolved as no one is prepared to address the problems. It is a long story, but please bear with me! I sold a phone contract on ebay (there is a specific section for this on ebay, and also Vodafone had a password system to transfer a phone contract). The buyer said she was changing the phone into her name that day, I still have these messages. Having spoken to her again, incredibly stupidly, I sent her the handset (I still have the recorded delivery). A few days later, she called and said that, in fact she would have to establish a 3 month payment record before the account could be transferred into her name. I had spoken to vodafone during this period, but had understood that this process was underway. (I do realise that these actions are far too naïve and trusting – I am truly suffering for it now) From then on things became much, much worse. The buyer contacted me again a couple of months later (I was away at university at the time) and said that she had set up another line on the account and the phone had been sent to my home address. By the time I got home, it was beyond the 14 day cancellation period, and I felt forced to send yet another handset to her, as I was very nervous that she would not pay the bills on the first one (still have recorded delivery slip for this one too). As I had feared, she then stopped paying bills on either handset and I got a letter asking for around £800 for call charges and early termination fees on the two lines. I tried to contact the buyer, but she always hung up on me. I wrote to the buyer but she ignored my letters. I did once speak to a very helpful man at vodafone, known only as Lee, who said (and sent me an email to confirm) that “per the guidelines from the CAB and Offcom, the users of the handset and telephone numbers on your account are liable for any charges that they run up in conjunction with the service, along with any disconnection fees despite the fact that the numbers are in your name” (this is a direct quote, I do not acknowledge the account as being in my name, since vodafone accepted instruction from someone else to set up another line, and I certainly do not acknowldge any debts on the account). Since then, unfortunately vodafone have provided shockingly poor customer service, responding very slowly, if at all, to my emails and letters. The replies also do not address the points I raise. This has now gone on for 3 years and I have had very aggressive calls from at least 3 debt collection agencies, and a huge black mark on my credit rating that is making things extremely difficult for me. I realise that vodafone has sent out 2 handsets and provided for calls that have not been payed for. I fully agree that they should persue payment from this woman. However, this is not seriously adversely affecting me. I need advice on the following things as the situation with vodafone has become awful and I am taking steps to report them Offcom, and any other regulatory bodies, as they should not be allowed to treat people this way. How can they accept instruction from someone else to set up a new line on an account that is still in my name? Vodafone have been incredibly evasive in replying to or even acknowledging letters and emails. I have sent everything by recorded post, but if I receive a reply, the (numbered!) points I ask them to address are not mentioned. The various debt collection agencies the debt has been passed to and from have been much more forthcoming in correspondence, and have returned the debt to vodafone, I assume because they acknowledge it is a bad debt. I am in the process of reporting this evasive approach to the relevant authorities. Is there anything else I can do to get them to address the actual problems? Any help would be really appreciated. If possible, don't focus on my stupidity at sending the phones to her in the first place – I am already well aware of this!! I have posted this in a few place as I want other people to be warned and also to receive responses. I will of course the posts when I have found someone who can help so I don't waste anyone elses time Thanks in advance for any help. H

Firstly my apologies if this has been answered previously - I've done a little bit of searching for similar stories, but not found anything close enough and I'm not clear enough on terminology to be more thorough. Basically a few months back I wrote to cancel a web hosting package and domain names. The company wants an online cancellation and has it in it's terms and conditions, but without internet access I had no way of doing so and I was moving house, so I put it in writing and included my new address. I never heard anything back. In April, I got an invoice via email for ~£60 for the hosting and domain names I wanted cancelled. This invoice had my old address on it, so at this point I knew my letter had been ignored or lost. I tried talking to the company about this, argued that I wasn't liable since I'd told them to cancel, that cooling off periods should apply etc. I've gotten nowhere, they keep saying they have no record of my letter etc. Now, since I've still not paid the invoice (which is still addressed to my old home address) they've passed me on to a DCA called Arvato. So far all I've had is an email from Arvato asking them to contact me. I was a bit cheeky and replied asking who is the person they addressed the email to and why did they want to contact them. At this point I don't really know what happens next. I've had nothing in writing from Arvato, and presumably letters will go to my old address. I don't really want to pay what I feel is an unjust charge, but at the same time I don't want my credit history affected since it should be fairly ok. Is this even considered credit, since it's an unpaid invoice for service upfront? So, what should I do? Just sit and wait? Call the DCA? Pay up? And since this has already gone to a DCA, has it already affected my credit rating? Thanks in advance.

Hi all, About 2 years ago i took out a wonga loan. The loan was repaid on the due date and all was fine. 2 years on i decided that i would use my Wonga account again as sometimes these loans can be very handy even though it is daylight robbery! After contacting Wonga via email to reset my password as some of the questions they where asking i couldnt remember the response i got was to ring them and they could reset my passsword. After speaking to someone @ Wonga they said they would send the issue to Head Office for them to sort out but never had a reply. After several attempts I finally logged into my account using my old login details To my surprise when I logged in my account was showing that i owed £648 and my account was in arrears by 750+ days!!! As you can imagine NOT HAPPY! So after emailing Wonga on several occasions i finally got an email back confirming my loan was repaid on the due date. After a few days i logged back into Wonga to find nothing had changed. This has now been going on for 2 weeks and i am still trying to get a response from Wonga. Them having my account in arrears for the past 2 years has certainly affected my credit rating! I have asked them to provide proof that they have removed any markers they have placed on my credit files with whichever agencies they report to but I am getting no response and my online Wonga account is still showing the same. Can anyone tell me where i stand legally as they have seriously affected not only my credit rating but my life as this is stopping me obtaining credit for other things elsewhere A very ann oid member! Many Thanks