@equifaxuk Debt cleared to Zinc Group LTD in 2009 however still shows as outstanding on my credit report

[csouter1012]

Hi there, im new to this site but im hoping someone out there can help.

 

A good number of years ago i took a loan out through Capital Bank for a car purchase. Months into the agreement the car was involved in an accident and was written off. Due to the fact i needed a car for my work i took out a second loan after being advised that the insurance payout would be prompt. However it took alot longer than expected and as i was then forced to make payments for two loans i defaulted on the original. A creditor was then issued to my account, ZINC Group LTD. I set up an agreed payment plan with them, i made the first two payments and then i received my insurance payout and cleared the remaining balance. This was in October 2009.

 

In Januray 2010 i received a letter from a different creditor stating i still owed an outstanding balance to Capital Bank, a balance which matched the total figure that i had paid to Zinc. So i contacted Zinc and after many emails back and forth i then received a confirmation email from a Mr D Mcmanus, a director at Zinc, saying the debt had been cleared. I then contacted Capital Bank and forwarded the email to them. They told me they had still not received a penny from Zinc however this email cleared me of any liability for the debt. So i though that was that.....how wrong could i have been.

 

This week i applied for a loan with my bank only to be turned down immediately. They could not give me an explanation for the refusal so advised me to look at my credit file. So i opened up an account with Equifax and i thought all looked fine, until alarmingly i noticed that there is a debt showing as outstanding with a creditor called Hillesden Securities for the same figure that i thought was cleared over two years ago with Zinc. I have tried to contact Hillesden to get an explanation of the debt but there is no answer on the phone, i have emailed Equifax asking for help but have had no responce. So i have come to this forum to seek help and advice as to what i can do. I have bank statements showing the payments and i still have the email from Zinc stating that the debt was clear so surely that is enough to prove the payments were made? What can i do to clear my name and clear this debt from my file? Shall i contact my bank and put it down as fraud? I really dont know what to do.

 

This is deeply upsetting and im running out of options so any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you.

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Hi Welcome to CAG.

Is there a default date showing on the entry??

 

There are a couple of things to do straight away,

1. Place a notice of dispute with the CRA.

2. Collate all your paper work in chronological order.

Formulate A FORMAL COMPLAINT,

Set out all the events leading up to the present

and supply copies of all relevent documents.

Wxplain fully what problems have been caused by this.

then tell them exactly what you demand is done to rectify

the fault.

 

Send the letter by recorded delivery addressed to

the compliance manager at Hillesden.

ou could copy all this to Macmanus at Zinc if he is

still there, or address it to the job ''title'' he held.

[Chel89]

The exact same thing happened to me with a payday loan - and is sadly still going on even though I have it in writing from the company i had fully paid it all off..it's a joke these companies should be burned down!

[csouter1012]

Thank you for the advise, it is much appreciated.

 

This morning i have finally managed to speak to the people at Hillesden and there records show that it was issed to them in 2011 and then withdrawn shortly afterwards as they believe that Capital have noticed they made an error issuing it in the first place. Hillesden have acknowledged how urgent the case it of getting the marker removed from my credit file and have said that it will be removed within the next 24 to 48 hours. If this is the case then all is well but i cant help but feel that this sounds too easy, in this case though i hope they prove me wrong.

 

I shall update this thread when i have more information about how successful this has been.

 

Thank you again.

[alexft]

Yes keep thread updated It might be easy

[csouter1012]

Ok so update time.

 

Going back to last week, i contacted Capital Bank last Monday (12/3/12) after i spoke to Hillsden. I figured that if i contact both parties i had a better chance of getting things cleared. I was asked on that day by an advisor at Capital to send in the confirmation email i received from Zinc and any other correspondence that would help prove that the payments were made. After explaining that in October 2010 i was issued with a letter by the Bank Of Scotland, who i believe own Capital Bank, stating that i was no longer liable for the debt, surely all this should still be on file....apparently not. So i passed them the email and all other emails that were sent to and received by Zinc. I was then given a reference number and told that i would be contacted back by the relevant department either later that day or Tuesday (13/3/12) at the latest. I already had the understanding that Hillsden would be removing things from their side anyway so that was fine.

 

The rest of Monday passed, then Tuesday, then Wednesday and so on until yesterday (19/3/12) i had had enough of waiting. I checked my credit report and Hillsden had not removed the marker and i had still not received a call back from Capital. So getting ****ed off with this i contacted back Capital. I spoke to an advisor and was told that the email i sent on 12/3/12 had not been sent to the relevant department until saturday (17/3/12) and was just being looked into now. They could not explain the delay in it reaching them however the advisor guaranteed that corrective action would be done immediately and that the file will no longer show on my credit report as of 24 hours from then. So i grudgingly accepted.

 

So this morning i re-checked my credit report and guess what, its still there!!!!!

 

I contacted Capital yet again and was told that the case had been passed off to a manager to deal with and that she was in a managers meeting and unavailable to talk to regards to the progress. I was told that as soon as she was available she would contact me back. This time they actually kept their word and i received a callback within the hour. The manager explained to me that as it is a Hillsden marker on my credit file and she could not remove it (convenient) however she had been in contact with Hillsden on the 19th and was assured that the case would be removed within 24-48 hours (hmm sounds familiar). I told her that that was exactly what they told me a week ago and that im more than fed up with being mucked about with this. I asked why it was passed to Hillsden after i received a letter from BOS saying that i was no longer liable for the debt.....her reply to that was "It was sent to Hillsden in error. We subsequently realised this and retracted the case almost immediately. Upon retracting the case it should have been removed from your credit file but that doesnt seem to have happened. All i can really do is chase up Hillsden until it has been removed completely from your file." Great i thought, so im being fobbed off yet again.

 

After this conversation i phoned Hillsden again, explained to them that over a week ago i was assured this would be rectified within 24-48 hours yet it is still there. This time though the advisor seemed really helpful. He read all the notes on the account, said he would go to the relevant department, get it removed immediately and then call me back and within 30 mins of ending the call thats exactly what he did.

 

Ive been assured that everything relating to Hillsden has now been removed and that no record of this will show on my credit file as of 24 hours from now. So all i can do now is wait and see wether that is the case or not. If it is then fine, i can start looking to the future with a decent credit score. However even if it is cleared i cant help but feel that i should be compensated in some way. How or where this would come from im not sure, i dont even know how to go about it but from my point of view, this was paid in October 2009 so there is noway that i should be still proving that this was paid over 2 years later.

 

Am i entitled to any sort of compensation at all or is it just a case of i should be happy that this is resolved? If it is resolved that is.

 

Any advise would be appreciated.

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

As to ''compensation'' you will need to calculate any provable

disadvantage this has caused you, instances of credit declined

etc., also any instances that this has caused embarassment.

The most I would anticipate would be a small gesture of ''goodwill''

towards the effort of getting the situation sorted out.

[csouter1012]

And it's still there..............

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Have you given the a reminder yet?

As I remember it's still less than a month

since the ''investigation'' started.