Link Financial - help needed

[donjon32]

Not sure if I am posting this in the correct forum but need help and advice and any given will be greatly appreciated.

 

We received a letter from the above, whom I can only describe as deceitful cowboys stating that someone was trying to obtain credit in my husbands name. This was in September 2010.

 

Obviously not thinking anything of it we phoned the company and was advised they were chasing us for a debt going back to 2004

when according to our banking records a payment was made by us.

 

We have since moved address a couple of times and have heard nothing regarding this debt until September.

 

We have done our research on here and put it to them that we believe the debt to be statute barred due to the time scale involved.

 

They advised us not the case.

 

We said fine take us to court, more phone calls from them to which we said not dealing with you over the phone,

put it in writing blah blah, more phone calls a couple of letters later and have heard nothing from them since November 2010.

 

Was remortgaging our property with our current mortgage provider only to be told that they would have to decline our mortgage application due to our credit file.

I then looked at our credit file and the only thing on it that would be any detriment to our application

is a default notice that has been put on by this company saying we defaulted in 2009.

 

We have had no written correspondence from those who the original debt was taken out with,

despite being on the electrol roll for all our addresses we have lived in.

 

I guess my main question is how can the default only be 2009 when in reality it should be 2004.

And also what can I do regarding our credit file as it is this is stopping us remortgaging.

 

We have had no problem obtaining credit or remortgaging in the past 6 years so I am furious that this is happening now.

 

I now have a letter in from the cowboys last week stating they are seeking a county court judgement in respect to the debt.

I live in Scotland and I am led to believe that statute barred is 5 years

which questions why it can have a default showing on our credit file.

 

Any help or clarity will be greatly appreciated.

 

Kind regards

[dx100uk]

i assume these fleecers have brought the debt

thus the defaults that were there and the creditors name, are now theirs as they inherit the file

 

have you a previous CRA file, that proves the default WAS put on there by them? or was it in a diff name as i suggest?

 

mortgages are now very hard to get, it might just be that last time you applied, it was not looked at as a problem

 

give us any history you have, inc the org debt details

 

dx

[DonkeyB]

Subbing cos Link deserve a kicking every day.

[donjon32]

The CRA file shows that default went on same around same time Link financial supposidly accquired the debt from First National now GE Consumer Lending. Link accquired debt in 30th July 2009 but took them until September 2010 to write and advise that someone was obtaining credit blah blah.

 

The issues I have with this is that last payment made by us was in Sept 2004 and according to CRA file account went into default in 21st July 2009 under the name Asset Link/FNB. Which is another trading name of Link Financial that purchase debts from GE and formerly FNB. Surely GE money would have allowed more than one week from default to getting the cowboys in to chase debt. We have received no letter notifying us of the default from the original lender, just from Link in their letter titled Sale of your Debt dated 2nd October 2010. I am wondering how it can take 5 years for the account to go into default?

 

Next on 26/10/2010 received a statement of account on Link headed paper saying statement period 24/10/2009 - 23/10/2010 statement No 2 - would like to know what happened to statement No 1. Amount of credit, date of first movement being 04/08/2000 duration 120 opening balance and closing balance the same and then a small excel generated box stating balance brought forward then balance carried forward.

 

Next correspondance was from them on 11/11/2010 YOU HAVE BEEN SERVED (served what i ask myself) saying that i received letter from them and the letter was legal requirement under then this part is in bold on letter Section 136 of the Law of Property Act 1925 and that they are disappointed we have not contacted them at their office, yeah we did contact them but obviously they chose to ignore the fact we had because we didnt roll over for them. And finally on 15th April 2011 we received a letter titled LETTER BEFORE ACTION.

 

I feel that Link are conveniently making up dates to justify their intended hounding and legal action.

Edited April 26, 2011 by donjon32

[donjon32]

I have sent off a SAR to GE consumer lending but is it worth sending one to Link too?

 

I have also sent a statute barred letter to Link.

 

And final question for this morning is, is it worth getting a note put on credit file regarding this matter or send the CRA a copy of the statute barred letter that has been sent to link??

 

 

Thanks again for any help

[Jasper1965]

Quick question did you send off the template SB letter citing "Limitation Act 1980" or have you averred the time barring under "The Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973"?

 

I would write to the CRA's and put them on notice that they are publishing false and inaccurate information about yourself and that this information has caused you to be declined for a mortgage you would otherwise have expected to obtain.

You could put a notice of correction on the CRA file word it yourself along the lines of "the data subject believes this account to have been settled in full in 2004 with the original creditor, any claim by Link Financial that this debt exists is subject to query and currently remains unproven. Further any claim by Link that a debt exists would be defeated in law by section 6 of The Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973"

 

A notice of correction would then mean any bank must manually process your application for a mortgage, the CRA's have to contact Link who in turn must reply within a month.

Link will probably say that the debt exists and is registered correctly, anticipate this by serving them a formal notice under sec 10 DPA 1998 to cease/not to start processing your data but be sure to mention the actual damage caused.

When they fail to stop registering the default you will then have the option of seeking enforcement of the sec 10 notice and/or entering a claim for damages.

 

Start complaining to the OFT too,it's a flagrant breach of guidelines to ignore a "debtors" claim that an alleged debt is statute barred.

[donjon32]

I sent them the scottish version.

 

Jasper what do you mean to be sure and mention the damage caused ?

[dx100uk]

against your credit worthy ness

 

about £1000 per entry

 

dx

[Bazooka Boo]

If you were refused a Mortgage because of the incorrect adverse data on your file (CRF) at the time, then you WILL have substantial grounds on which to sue them in court for defamation, the damages payout will be in the tens of thousands IMO as this info put the kibosh on getting a mortgage!

 

Complain to the OFT&TS via http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Dl1/Directories/UsefulContactsByCategory/Governmentcitizensandrightscontacts/DG_195948

 

Lodge a formal complaint with the credit agency (CRA) and exhaust it.

 

The FOS http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumer/complaints.htm

 

The ICO http://www.ico.gov.uk/complaints/data_protection.aspx

 

Your MP http://www.writetothem.com/

 

The next few links outline when a default should be registered on a CRF. NOT when the pathetic puerile DCA chooses!

http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/library/data_protection/detailed_specialist_guides/default_tgn_version_v3%20%20doc.pdf

[donjon32]

Thanks for all your replies and advice.

 

I am peed off beyond words at the moment. Since 2004 we have had 2 mortgages no problem, earning less money than we do now, and all of a sudden once these sharks gets their hands on a debt that hasnt been acknowledged or any monies paid to since 2004 they think they can come along and whack a default on our file. The other thing is it is only showing on my husbands credit file, not mine and it is a joint debt.

[Bazooka Boo]

Start complaining!