Provident and Credit Reference agency

[shrimper1]

Hi,

 

I wonder if any one can help meplease, i have been a provident customer for years, never had any problems until lately.

 

Lasy year my husband was made redundant and my agent agreed for us to pay half our weekly agreed rate until January , i agreed this and i also gave her a letter to put into her head office for their records. All was well until the area manager called at my home in January and asked why i was paying ever other week, i advised her that i was not and paid my agent regular ech friday. |My book and payment address was at a friends as i work fulltime, it come to light that my agent was not marking the payments correctly on my book and marking one week on mine and one week on my husbands rather then splitting the one payment and paying half on each to which was agreed, The area manager said that the agent was now told that she had to mark the payments correctly i had already started making ful payments again by this time, to cut a long story short while checking my yearly credit file, i noted that provident now not only mark my payments but have marked me down as 3 late payments i have already sent in 2 letters of complaints to provident about this and what they have said is the fact that i was on half payments for a short period of time that this amounted to arrears and this is why my account shows in this manner, they are refusing to remove these late markings , how can i be late when i pay each week regular, how can they mark me down as late even now, for the past 9 weeks my payments have been full payments and yet they are still marking me with the credit refence agengy and said no matter how my agent marked my payments in my book it would still make no difference.

 

I explained to them they are marking false and inaccurate information against my credit file andthis is illegal now they say that they think they have treated me fairly and i can make a complaint to the ombudsman, i have started to compose bits and pieces together also photocopying my payments in my payment book showing how the agent marked down one week mine and one week my husbands , my agents said she did this because it would make her wages more! as provident had changed the way in which they paid their staff, at whos expense mine?

Please can someone help me now on writing a letter and how to send this off to the ombudsman, my credit file is great and always has been i only stayed with provident for all these years as it was the first loan i ever got through canvessing , i need to get these wrongly marked late fees removed from my credit file, i cannot believe they have treated me in this manner

[maroondevo52]

Hello and Welcome, shrimper.

 

I'll move this thread to the appropriate Forum, hopefully you'll get help in there.

 

Regards.

 

Scott.

Edited March 8, 2009 by maroondevo52

[shrimper1]

anyone any help please

[vjohn82]

Write a formal complaint explaining the discussion with the agent. Make sure it goes to head office. As a port of call also make a CCA request to check the enforceability of the agreement to make sure all of the prescribed terms are in it; if it doesn't then you have a certain amount of leverage in bargaining for the information to be amended on your credit files.

[amdmlivingstone]

Hi Shrimper1

 

Welcome to CAG - I am currently going through a similar situation with Provident. I have 6 missed payments on my CR file and all this because the agent was not calling to my address.

 

I wrote a letter to my local office (which was ignored) I sent a copy of my letter and a CCA request and eventually after calling them, my area manager called to my home with a faxed copy of my agreement.

 

My agreement is unenforceable as they have not put in the APR or the interest rate.

 

It will be a waste of your time trying to get them to update your CR file (so sorry to sound negative) but I have been trying since October last year. Provident is now the only blemish on my record.

 

I went for a mortgage 2 weeks ago and because of prov I need to find a 20% deposit

 

You can contact their customer complaints department direct on 01274 769299. They don't give out this number, but because I screamed at them from the bottom of my lungs, I eventually got it.

 

good luck and don't give up the faith - I will continue my battle

[vjohn82]

amdmlivingstone -

 

How have you got on with the CRA? Have they not done anything about the dodgy information? You should be able to get them via the DPA surely?

[shrimper1]

Hi,

 

Thank you both for your replies, i have written 2 letters of complaint already to the head office and they are not budging at all and sticking by their guns. I am a bit confused i have a copy of my agreement which i asked for, what should i be checking for?

 

I have contacted the cra and they have marked a note on my file that i am in dispute with provident because of the incorrect information that they are reporting against me, the cra told me to goto the commision office and take my complaint there and let them make a decision on if they will remove this information or not, i have also photo copied my books where my agen has marked down one week on my account and then left my husbands and i cannot see why they are still marking me as late when i pay regular each friday,i am so frustrated with all of this and just need some help on what really to do and how i do a letter to the commiosn office really. I too have a good credit report apart from provident reflecting badly against my name.

 

 

I did think that too about the data protection act but do not know if i am correct

Thank you for your replies again

[vjohn82]

shrimper...

 

...what might be a good idea is if you post the details of the letters they have sent back to you regarding this... it might help direct us to exactly where they feel they stand on the issue?

 

In any case, inaccurate recording of data is nothing new for creditors at the best of times but it shouldn't be something you have to live with. I have drafted a letter for you below... sometimes a good idea is to start getting quite forceful i.e. prospective court action for defamation

 

Data Protection Act 1998 Complaint

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

I am writing in connection with inaccurate data held on my credit file which was recorded by [insert name of company]. Please treat this as a formal complaint; I request a copy of your complaints procedure which you are obliged to provide.

 

[Provide clear details of your complaint]

 

Under part II section 10 3 (a) of the Data Protection Act 1998 ch. 29 it states:

 

 

“The data controller must within twenty-one days of receiving a notice under subsection (1) (“the data subject notice”) give the individual who gave it a written notice —

(a) stating that he has complied or intends to comply with the data subject notice, or

(b) stating his reasons for regarding the data subject notice as to any extent unjustified and the extent (if any) to which he has complied or intends to comply with it.”

 

 

This means that within 21 days you must give me your reasoning for continuing to process data which is contrary to the written data I have in my possession regarding my payment history with [insert company name]. The data you have recorded is incorrect and damaging to my credit profile which may prohibit my ability to obtain further credit services.

 

 

I trust you have the information at hand to respond to this letter. Please note failure to respond within 21 days will trigger an official complaint to the Information Commissioner with a claim for damages for the distress and inconvenience of bringing this matter to your attention. Should further action be required the Data Protection Act section (10.4) allows for a court to enforce your company to comply with this notice and should this action be deemed necessary I shall seek recompense as per section 13 (1) in which:

 

 

“An individual who suffers damage by reason of any contravention by a data controller of any of the requirements of this Act is entitled to compensation from the data controller for that damage.”

 

 

I look forward to receiving your response to this matter within 21 days.

 

 

Yours faithfully

 

 

 

Hope this helps.