Default registered from Lowells / Three mobile

[BigIan]

Hi All,

 

I am looking for a little advice:

 

I was recently declined a mortgage and as a result I ran a credit check against myself with the three major Credit Reference Agencies. When I received the results I found that I had a default registered against me by Lowells, unaware of who the company was and what the default was for I sent them off a request for for further details including a copy of the credit agreement this default referred to and a signed copy of the default notice.

 

I have finally received a response from them and it turns out that this was in relation to a Mobile phone contract from Three several years ago. Now I did have a phone from Three and did run into some "issues" with them, however the phone contract was cancelled by mutual agreement, phone returned etc. (but I don't have any documented proof of that due to the time that has passed). However that's not what I am posting about, what I need some help with is the response I received from Lowells wherein they said (summarised):

 

The phone contract was a Service Agreement and not a Credit Agreement as defined by the CCA.

They stated that insertion of the SIM was acceptance of the Service Agreement and a signature was not required.

They have not mentioned the Default notice

 

So my questions are:

 

1. Are they correct in saying that this is a service agreement and is therefore not covered by the CCA?

2. Same about the signature bit, is this correct?

3. Are they still obliged to supply a copy of the default notice?

 

They have put my account on hold while they investigate and I'm also just about to send them a SAR to see exactly what data they hold about the account, however at the moment I'm unsure how to proceed.

 

Thanks for looking

[MARTIN3030]

Hello welcome to the site,Lowells do deal with distress phone accounts as well as Barclaycard.

They are correct about the CCA not being applicable to Mobile phone contracts.

They do not have to supply a copy of any default notice under CCA since it does not apply,but there are other means to obtain a copy.

Your SAR should really be going off to 3 since Lowell are not the original creditor and unlikely to be holding much data in any case.

I will move your thread to the appropriate forum,where there are others who have been through the same experiences.

[BigIan]

Thanks for reply and moving me into the right forum.

 

I haven't sent of the SAR yet, so I will make sure that I send it the Three.

 

So this default isn't covered by the CCA? Is there similar legislation that covers mobile phone contracts? I am concerned that a default was registered against me apparently without my knowledge or notification. In this case the default was registered in Feb 2007 so I believe it will disappear from my CRA reported early next year but I still want to know how / why is was registered in the first place.

[locutus]

I would personally write to Lowells and say that although you had a contract with three, it was mutually agreed that it should be canceled. As such you require all negative entries removing from your credit file within 14 days. If the negative info remains, I would write a LBA (good example here) and requesting a default notice. (although I would say don't threaten court action if you do not intend to follow it through). A typical claim for a wrongly placed default is £1000 per entry, although if you have been declined a mortgage, you are probably able to prove that you are more out of pocket than this, and that figure should be what you claim for.