Removing Default Notices from a Credit File

[Coactum]

I have just used CreditExpert.co.uk to view my credit file and note that all the credit cards I have which are in dispute are all marked as being in default or seriously in arrears.

 

I have put in CCA requests to all and SAR to some who had failed to respond to my CCA request. At best all I have been supplied with are application forms none of which are fully compliant for various reasons stated on other threads.

 

I have previously written to all creditors with a statutory notice under section 10 of the Data Protection Act instructing them to cease processing any data in relation to my account with immediate effect on the grounds that the accounts were not valid Consumer Credit Agreements and were in dispute.

 

What can I now do to force them to remove the default notices etc?

[postggj]

just follow the variouse thread for advice

 

ill only say from personel experience is

 

dont take no for an answer and be a complete pain in the a$%e

[Coactum]

just follow the variouse thread for advice

 

ill only say from personel experience is

 

dont take no for an answer and be a complete pain in the a$%e

 

Can you please point me to the appropriate thread because searching returns too many results and many of those threads have hundreds of posts, so, the the info I seek becomes very difficult to find. If you know exactly where to find it that would be very much appreciated.

[postggj]

ill dig out one of mine

 

a bit long winded and confused in places as cag threw a wobler

 

ill dig it out now

[postggj]

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/halifax-if-successes/116741-halifax-default-credit-agreements.html

 

ive never paid a single dca a penny and prob been through the lot twice round the block

[Coactum]

Thanks for pointing me to your thread postggj. Please don’t take what I’m about say wrongly your approach worked in the end but if I understood correctly this was not as a result of your court action but more down to your dogged determination in having the default removed. It looks like you failed to follow some of the advice given such as registering written complaint and I'm wondering if this might have brought a speedier resolution to your case.

 

I have decided to start by writing to the credit reference bureaus as follows:

 

I write to draw your attention to errors recorded in my credit file.

 

On 2nd April 2009 I wrote to ABBEY NATIONAL PLC , FIRST DIRECT BANK , CITIFINANCIAL EUROPE, BARCLAYCARD , HALIFAX BANK OF SCOTLAND and MBNA EUROPE BANK to request a copy of any Credit Agreement I held with them. A follow up request was placed on 21st April and a further reminder sent on 14th May. Most by this time had responded in some way or other but not one had provided satisfactory proof that a valid contract as defined by the Consumer Credit Act existed.

 

In my letter of 14th May I issued all the above companies with statutory notices under section 10 of the Data Protection Act instructing them to cease processing any data in relation to my account with immediate effect.

 

MBNA simply ignored all requests and so on 6th June I submitted a Subject Data Request to them. I received a response on Thursday for only one of the accounts in question. The information provided is wholly inadequate and strengthens my claim that no regulated agreement exists between MBNA and me.

 

All the aforementioned companies have been advised that in the absence of the requested documents my accounts remain in dispute. I consider that a valid dispute exists and as such showing accounts in default is erroneous.

 

I have recently renewed my subscription to your service and am surprised to note that defaults have been registered against me. I request that you remove these pending the outcome of these disputes.

 

If you require copies of letters sent and received together with full details as to why I consider any alleged agreements to be flawed I will be happy to oblige.

 

I will then follow through with a complaint to the Information Commissioners Office if this has not been addressed to my satisfaction within 28 days and I guess I should also write to the data controller for each company.

 

Please give feedback and comments?

[Coactum]

Just missed something. Should I not have recieved some form of Default Notice from these companies. I seem to recall that I default has a set format leading to a bottom line of what is due. To the best of my recolection I've recieved no such thing from any of them!

[dx100uk]

there is a recent post that indicates the regulator considers previous defaults are ok, even if the cca proves unenforceable.

 

the only foolproof way i can see now of getting defaults removed is to reclaim charges and if the default was solely made of those charge & they thus refund, then they must also remove the default.

 

dx

[Coactum]

Surely if an agreement is unenforceable it is also unregulated and as such cannot be defaulted as if it were?

[dx100uk]

an unenforceable CCA has in the past has been wrongly viewed by many as some magic 'get out of jail [debt] free card'.

 

i think the powers that be are now viewing things a bit differently, unless the debt was never the OP's in the first place, i cant see how they can complain a default has been put up if they are not paying their dues.

 

as above, if the OP is in dispute solely because of charges thus giving them a default, then it should get removed after reclaiming.

 

an unenforceable cca does however typically give the OP the chance of a very low F&F.

 

dx

[Coactum]

Thanks for your input DX100UK but if you refer back to my first thread http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general-debt-issues/203269-introduction-background-my-debts.html you would learn that it was an inability to pay that commenced my action. It was through the inflexible attitude of my creditors that I embarked upon the CCA and SAR route. This brought me to learning that there were no valid contracts. Most card companies have already offered very substantial discounts in some cases over 70% has been wiped out, but as I do not have the funds to settle I am unable to enter into such negotiations.

 

That aside if I understand it correctly if the agreement is unenforceable then there may be a case to ask for all interest and late payment charges to be refunded. All of my accounts are at least 10 years old and the interests applied over the years would undoubtedly exceed the current balance. In one card alone more than a thousand pounds has been levied in fees and interest since I stopped paying back in April. This has resulted in the sum being pursued rising from just under £9K to over 10K.

 

Point 1. If the agreement has failed to comply with the prerequisite terms that would make it a valid contract it is therefore unregulated. If so, then how can a default notice be issued as if it had been a regulated agreement?

 

Point 2. I have not had sight of the Default Notice. Surely a Creditor must serve upon a Debtor a valid Default Notice? If none has been server, and in my case we are talking about 7 different accounts here and no such notice for any, then surely that alone is grounds for having the defaults removed?

[dx100uk]

sorry for some reason [unless threads have since merged?] i was seeing post #7 as a first post?

weird - hence my reply.

 

you mention the sar's , did these not throw up atleast a record of defaults being sent? i dont think they must actually produce 'the' default, only that it was sent.

 

seems pretty strange the 7 a/c's have all got this issue? not changed ad have you?

 

if they are offering such large discounts to settle i smell a rat somewhere.

i'll go back to my initial thought though , i'd reclaim charges and interest, then if you can prove it was those that resulted in the defaults, the relevent co's must wipe them if your reclaim is successful.

 

dx

[Coactum]

Thanks again for your input dx100uk. For the avoidance of doubt let me explain what I thought they needed to supply and what I've had.

 

Firstly, I thought that a valid Default Notice must include:-

 

Name and address of the creditor.

Type of agreement

The breach in terms.

An early settlement figure.

Steps to be taken to remedy the situation.

What the creditor intends to do next.

The creditor must allow 7 days to comply with the default notice.

 

However, I've had nothing from any of them that satisfies all the above.

 

What I have had include:

Short Settlement Offers

Notices of Sums in Arrears

Letters advising me that they plan to Default

 

Having checked again I have found a letter from MBNA that contains the words Default Notice. It has my name and address on it, it states that it is being served under Section 87(1) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, It states that I am in breach of paragraph 8f of my agreement, it invites me to settle £9,539.04 and tells me that failure to do so will result in termination of my agreement. However, the sum stated is not the same value as stated in my Credit File nor have they supplied me with a copy of my credit agreement relating to this contract and as such the notice is flawed.

 

One extra thing the letter I refer to was dated by MBNA as 7th July yet the default was recorded on 30th June and the file was last updated on 5th July, and so the 7 days were not granted.

[Coactum]

I also had a letter from Citi which merely terminated my agreement. More about that here http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/citicards/208720-i-need-some-clarity.html

 

The MBNA application for that they sent for my other account (not the one with the Notice referred to in the previous post) is shown here http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/mbna/203820-very-strange-behaviour-mbna-3.html

[Coactum]

Having slept on the matter and given thought as to a viable way ahead for both me and my creditors this is what I am thinking of doing:

 

I am thinking of writing to each company reiterating that they have failed to provide a valid CCA and as such the account remains in dispute. However, in an effort to resolve the issue I have an offer to make.

 

I am going to invite them to reimburse all late payment fees and interest. This will generate a new balance. If in my favour (i.e. the sum of the fees and interest exceeds the current value) I will not pursue them, on the other hand if it leaves a balance in their favour that I will agree to repay as much as I can until the account is negated which I suspect will take no longer that 5 years. In return they must remove all adverse credit information as this should never have been recorded against an unenforceable debt.

 

Has anyone else done anything similar to this in the past?

[exchange]

Subbing with interest.

[Coactum]

I sent letters on Friday to the companies who have most recently contacted me. This included MBNA, Blair Oliver & Scott who represent HBOS and First Direct because I had received a letter from a new company representing them. In all cases I have simply repudiated the debt, reiterated their failure to provide a valid Consumer Credit Agreement and that the debt was therefore still in dispute. I invited them to clean up my file immediately as default cannot be recorded against a disputed debt and that in any event the debt may not be a valid contract under the 1974 Act etc. I ended by making an offer to resume payments but only after a revised sum was agreed post correction of fees and charges and all adverse credit removed. To highlight the extent of this on one account they are claiming £9.5K but will early settle for £2.6K however I have calculated that over £8K of excess charges and fees have been added. Needless to say the letters are lengthy and each one differs to reflect the different circumstances but I await responses with interest.

[Coactum]

I attempted to have equifax remove the defaults on the basis that these were in dispute and this is what they said:

 

Further to our recent correspondence, I have been contacted by First Direct Bank and MBNA Europe Bank Limited regarding entries on your credit report. They have confirmed that the details we hold are accurate and have requested that we retain the information on our database. Unfortunately I am unable to amend this information without the authorisation of the company in question.

 

If you have any further queries or wish to discuss any of this further, may I suggest you contact the companies concerned direct at the following addresses:

 

This was followed by the company addresses that I have previously written to.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions as to my next step?

[Coactum]

I'm beginning to get rome replies to my letters that I sent to the data controllers at various companies who have placed defaults on my file.

 

First Direct ignored all the points I raised and merely stated that they believed they had an enforvceable contract.

 

Citi confirmed that they are still investigation and hope to reply within 8 weeks!

[Coactum]

Here is a strange one! I've just had a letter from Hillesden Securities thanking me for my recent letter to HSBC and confirming that my account is on hold pending a response from their client. The letter is signed by a data controller and so it would appear that they conduct Data Controlling functions for HSBC. Anyway, I wrote to First Direct regarding the defaults they had recorded on my credit file but it appears that they passed this to Hillesden, so why on earth do Hillesden need to report back to their client, surely they would have given instruction to them when they passing on my letter?

[AegHer]

Hi All, I have just joined and i am hoping someone can help.

 

Next Directory have placed a default on my credit file. I have tried all possible ways to get them to remove it to the point, where they will now not correspond with me. Does anyone have any ideas of what can be done?

 

Many Thanks in advance.

[Coactum]

Just had an email from CreditExpert which states "Barclaycard have deleted the entry that you disputed "

 

one down eight still to go!

[BelstarBomb]

Hi Coactum,

 

Can you give me the background to the Barclaycard issue?

Have they removed the default or other information and have Barclaycard written to you about it?

 

Cheers,

Bel

[Coactum]

I had a card with Morgan Stanley that was sold to Barclaycard who later recorded a default. Barclaycard then sold the account to Apex or to be more specific Apex believe that they have purchased a Goldfish account in my name. I deny any knowledge of ever having a Goldfish account and along the way Barclaycard withdrew their default however Apex have now added one.

 

I was advised of the change via CreditExpert.co.uk. Before signing up to their service read my other post.

 

Does that help you Belstarbomb?