@vodafoneuk Vodafone Default - **RESOLVED**

[nickyb2010]

I recently got hold of a copy of my credit file and there is something that I had not noticed before was affecting my score

I have a "4" (You have an account regarded as defaulted or delinquent notice) against an account in my name from around march 2007

 

I am currently a customer of Vodafone and have been for a number of year with no issue’s

but the problem is in reference to a previous account dating back to 2005.

 

At the time I was having some real issues with my service and spoke to customer services on multiple occasions.

 

As the account is from so long ago I cannot find the account number or bill as you can imagine

I have had a nightmare trying to speak to Vodafone about this

as they claim to have no record of the account.

 

all I know of the late payments was that I deemed my account to be settled to the best of my knowledge.

 

I did not receive any letters from Vodafone for a long period of time until the outstanding amount was passed on to a collection agency. When I learnt that this had not been paid I updated my details and settled the account straight away.

 

I am currently looking to apply for a mortgage as My partner and Myself have found a house that we love.

I have a really good record apart from this and have worked hard to save up a good deposit.

 

I am now terrified that I will get knocked back on the credit check because of this "4"

and it is seriously damaging to my credit rating and finances for such a small amount

and the penalty lasts for a full 6 years when I assumed late payments only lasted for 3 years?

 

any advice on getting this removed would be a god send.

 

Regards

 

Nick BM

[freakyleaky]

Hi Nicky.

I have sent a message to Lee the Vodaphone rep asking him to take a look at this and see if he can help.

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/member.php?260000-Lee-Vodafone-Company-Rep

[nickyb2010]

Thank you @freakyleaky I will cross my fingers and toes that Lee will be able to help

[2Grumpy]

Do you remember how much this was for, when the default was registered and whether you had an invoice for the amount and a warning that there would be a default registered?

There's a lot of this going around at the moment, it would be good to find any common factors in what is happening

[dx100uk]

its the stupid late payment markers again

 

a/c was from 2005, so whe are these markers from?

 

and you have 2 accounts showing?

 

dx

[nickyb2010]

Hi the ammount is recorded as £137

but says 4 under it so it must be a couple of months worth of continus missed payment?

 

I really had no idea this was on there

and it was settled on the 27th of march 2007

but this will have been when I paid it off when I had a debt collection letter.

 

It also has 4 green markers of 0 after it.

My current Vodafone account is on there also and it is fine and dates from 2010.

 

I 100% never had a default notice as I would have been onto it at the time

Edited August 20, 2012 by nickyb2010
adding another reply.

[dx100uk]

you dont get any notices on late payment markers - other than the fee showing on your statement

they just do it.

 

dx

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Has the actually been defaulted? or just late payment markers?

 

Is this the only derogatory entry on your files?

[nickyb2010]

Hi I am a little confused it says "4" as in 4 missed payments in a row but at the top of my credit file there is a big red warning icon which reads You have an account regarded as defaulted or delinquent.

 

Brig there are 2 other instances of 1 late payments from a store account from 2006

 

The overall score on experian is 850 (Fair) which I assume is being mainly affected by the "4" marker

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

This one is ''delinquent'' not defaulted I think, the removal of these old markers will not drastically improve

your ''rating'' which plays but a small part in a lenders decision making all financial institution have their own

unique inhouse systems for ''rating'' the risks of lending.]

 

I would suggest that these days a ''score'' at the high end of fair is no bad thing.

[dx100uk]

i'd say you'll be ok

 

have you checked another cra ?

 

noddle is free

 

dx

[Lee Vodafone Company Rep]

Hi I am a little confused it says "4" as in 4 missed payments in a row but at the top of my credit file there is a big red warning icon which reads You have an account regarded as defaulted or delinquent.

 

Brig there are 2 other instances of 1 late payments from a store account from 2006

 

The overall score on experian is 850 (Fair) which I assume is being mainly affected by the "4" marker

 

Hi Nick BM,

 

Thanks for making me aware of this.

 

Having checked our emails I can confirm that I've received yours and so please be assured that I'll get back to you as soon as possible.

 

On a general note a late payment status code 4 would be recorded in the event that part of your account balance had been overdue by 120 days or more.

 

Kind regards,

 

Lee

 

Web Relations Team

 

Vodafone UK

[nickyb2010]

Update to this Lee called earlier to discuss and clear up what the history of this was. They are looking into it further to see if there is anything they can do with it. so will keep fingers crossed for a good outcome

[freakyleaky]

Fingers and all crossed for you Nicky.

I'm sure Lee will do what he can to help.

[Lee Vodafone Company Rep]

Update to this Lee called earlier to discuss and clear up what the history of this was. They are looking into it further to see if there is anything they can do with it. so will keep fingers crossed for a good outcome

 

Hi Nick BM,

 

Thanks for updating your thread following our conversation yesterday.

 

As promised, either me or a colleague will get back in touch with you as soon as we have some news.

 

Best wishes,

 

Lee

 

Web Relations Team

 

Vodafone UK

[2Grumpy]

Any default should be dated whenever it occurred. Also you shouldn't be any worse off by paying as compared with someone who left this & let it drop off their record

 

If this was settled in March 2007, maybe the default was updated incorrectly at that date

 

It would have taken a few months before a DCA was involved. The missed payment / default would have been before that and probably quite close to dropping off. If the 2005 refers to when the account was closed, the record should be off by now.

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Default Dtae: can be defined as the date when a payment was due and not made, after which no further payment was ever made (ie the cause of action)

the ICO technical guidance states that defaults should be placed ''timely'' usually within 6 months of the ''cause of action'', a default date must not be altered.

[nickyb2010]

Hi guys, Appreciate the advice on that but it transpires that it is not a default on my account its a "4" delinquent account but as far as my credit rating and the mortgage broker is concerned it still looks pretty bad.

[2Grumpy]

OK - but can you give the dates that I asked for? They shouldn't be there for more than 6 years from when it was incurred.

 

If you didn't pay invoices in 2005 until 2007 then this should have dropped off your record in 2011. Anything else is contrary to the ICO guidance

[nickyb2010]

Hi Grumpy the account was started on 07/07/2005 the settlment date is 27/04/2007 the late payment are from up to december 2006. Lee stated above that he or one of his team will get back to me once they have an update so still hoping for a good outcome from that as we are meeting with the mortgage advisor again this saturday.

 

When I questioned experian about the dates they said "We keep settled accounts on your credit report for six years from the date of settlement. The payment history shown on the account at this time will show on your report until the entire entry is removed."

[dx100uk]

correct

the 'markers' do not vanish on their 6th birthday

 

any payment history

will show for 6yrs from settlement/closure

then the account drops off

 

or the whole account will vanish on a 'defaults' 6th birthday.

 

dx

[2Grumpy]

Vodaphone update credit records, not because they have to but because they can and they do want to.

 

If you don't pay an invoice for 3 or 4 months, that shows on your credit report for the next 6 years

 

Because they provide information to the credit reference agencies, vodaphone should have contacted you to warn you of the consequences of not paying. (That after all is the real reason why they update your credit file, it's not out of altruism to credit providers, it's to make you pay on time).

 

There have been many instances here of these letters not being received, especially at the end of the contract.

 

Presumably that is the case here. Had you ended the contract? Had vodaphone acted correctly on your instructions? Was the £137 really due? Did you ever get an invoice and/or a full explanation?

 

In any case, the CRA should not be maintaining the record for more than 6 years after the date that the invoice was recorded, not 6 years from the date it was settled. If that was the case and you paid 5 years, 364 days late, they would keep the information there for 12 years. The ICO makes it clear that you should not be penalised for paying a debt. Clearly in this case you have been

 

I would be asking vodaphone for full details of the £137 alleged debt and to justify it as well justifying why they are continuing to display it in your credit reference. I would say that if they can't justify the debt, they can't justify reporting its payment either.

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

If you don't pay for 3-4 months the account will de defaulted fail to rectify the default within the time frame given results in a default entry on credit files which remains on file for 6 years from the default date, after the expiry of the 6 years the default entry is paid or not, and no new entry can be made for that debt.

The invoice date is not relevant I think as some companies do not begin recordind until after the first payment has been made.

 

Reports to CRAs must be an accurate and uo to date reflection of the conduct of the account.

 

The CRAs state data remains on file for 6 years after the account was ended, it cannot be restarted.

[2Grumpy]

Hi Grumpy the account was started on 07/07/2005 the settlment date is 27/04/2007 the late payment are from up to december 2006. Lee stated above that he or one of his team will get back to me once they have an update so still hoping for a good outcome from that as we are meeting with the mortgage advisor again this saturday.

 

When I questioned experian about the dates they said "We keep settled accounts on your credit report for six years from the date of settlement. The payment history shown on the account at this time will show on your report until the entire entry is removed."

 

That is what needs challenging

 

They try to keep adverse information on the file for as long as possible. In reality the event that they are recording is the late payment of the 2005 invoices. If they claim to be able to keep for 6 years from some other event, why stick at settlement? Why not extend it by another 6 years because you contacted Experian and Vodaphone about this - those are also events related to this account.

 

Sounds like a complaint to the ICO is in order, naming Vodaphone & Experian. That will take too long for you, so you might have to consider taking them to court - also not quick, but they might back down.

 

An alternative approach might be to question the legitimacy of the invoices from 2005.

 

If Vodaphone can't help then you could write to Experian demanding that either they provide the information that vodaphone can't or remove the account from your record.

 

They will huff and puff but if they see that you are determined to get them, question their right to publish for 6 years from the settlement date and that you are contesting the validity of the 2005 charges, they might realise that they are not going to win this one, particularly if you inform them that you will be claiming damages for loss of mortgage & house.

 

Having said all this, I have a feeling that they might charge vodaphone with any costs, so you should continue getting vodaphone to remove what should have been removed already as well

[nickyb2010]

Hey guys just an update on this. I had a call from Lee the other week and Vodafone Customer Care team were not prepared to do anything because they believe the late payments to be correct. This is not such good news for me as it is the only thins really affecting my score. They are looking to review it again on the grounds that there late payment filing is the only thing on there that is causing an issue at the moment. and I have forwarded over a copy of my file to Lee to confirm this information, I think he was away last week so hopefully I will hear something this week.