Mail order catalogue ???

[djzian]

Hello

 

Approximately 12 months ago my wife received a default on her credit file from the Littlewoods shop direct group. Admittedly she was behind with her payments and each missed payment incurred a £15.00 charge.

 

I was under the impression that organisations opperating under the consumer credit act had to comply with the law and send out a notice of default rpior to listing it, however noone seems willing to enforce the law in this particular instance. Although this has been brought to the attention of the information commissioners office, consumer direct, trading standards and the office of fair trading no one seems to be interested in helping to rectify the situation.

 

The default was for £280.00 and as soon as I became aware of this (when declined a personal loan due to the default) I settled the account in full. In hindsight I beleive that I should have negotiated with the company first, only making payment if the default was to be removed.

 

Although the late / missed payment charge of £15.00 is a lot lower than some of the banks / credit card companies charges of £30.00 etc I was wondering whether it could be claimed back in the same way as bank charges and credit card charges, hence giving me another bargaining tool to get the default removed.

 

Alternatively any other advise regarding this matter would be most appreciated.

 

Regards Ben

[hagenuk]

Hello and welcome.

 

All penalty charges of this nature are unlawful and can (and should) be claimed back.

 

If you look around the site you will find details of how to get a default removed.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/legalities/11659-how-get-your-default.html

[dw190]

Alternatively any other advise regarding this matter would be most appreciated.

 

You could also ask them to provide a copy of the credit agreement relating to the default. If they cannot produce one they cannot prove any default as there will be no terms.

[djzian]

Hello Hagen190 & dw190

 

Thanks for your response, I started the default removal procedure back in May by sending off letter 1, two months later and no response despite posting via special delivery and enclosing postal order. I also have proof of delivery and the name of the person who signed for it. (interestingly the company had three other special delivery letters on the same day according to the proof of delivery -perhaps others are having to take the same action as I am).

 

Time to send letter number two.

 

I have already been on to trading standards regarding this, unfortunately they were not interested in the least, quoting that this was a civil matter, and they only dealt with criminal matters. Obviously the lack of response to my letters will turn this into a criminal matter, so the ball will be back firmly in their court.....

 

Once again thanks for the advice.

 

Regards

 

Ben

[djzian]

Hello

 

Unfortunately By paying the default immediately I was aware of it, I lost my bargaining tool (ie the payment) for getting the default removed. Not having previously had any defaults I naturally thought that the best remedy was to pay this without delay, I now know otherwise.

 

With this in mind and considering the charges made by the organisation running up to the default, is it worth negotiating the removal of the default in return for dropping the claim against charges - ideally I suppose it would be better to nail them for both the charges and the default removal.

 

Again any ideas or experience regarding this would be most appreciated.

 

Regards

 

Ben

[xoxnitaxox]

djzian - I had problems with the same company. They applied a default over £68 - I didn't query it at the time - I was late paying, fair enough. Anyways... when I started my claim against them to get the charges paid back - I found there was almost £1000 of items on the statements that I'd never even ordered. I'm still in the middle of sorting that out... filed at court a coupla weeks back... if they charged your wife.. you NEED to claim the money back. When you do so, make sure the removal of the default is one of the things they have to do to satisfy you or you'll take them to court. If it goes that far... make sure that's added to the particualrs of claim. They're being gits with me, so be prepaired for a fight - but good luck!