Minicredit - discredited!

[Tee4Tim]

Hi there,

 

I will try and be as brief as possible with this. Here's the deal:

 

Originally applied for a loan with Minicredit 04/03/11 and was declined.

 

Re-applied and was granted loan on 04/07/11. Sent notice of cancellation within 14 days, as per CCA 1974 on 12/07/11. At the same time informing Minicredit, as per rights under that act, repayments would be made within 30 days by Faster Payments, and could they please supply bank details. I also informed them that I no longer authorised them to use my card details.

 

Here's the breakdown of events:

04/07/11 Received £130.50 (£150 less £19.50 deducted without an explicit acceptance of that)

12/07/11 Notice of cancellation given

05/08/11 Minicredit takes £85 from my debit card having still not forwarded bank details

10/08/11 Minicredit takes a further £50 by debit card

 

It was at this point, having repaid £135 which was in excess of the £130.50 I had received that I refused to pay them any more until they agreed that the total payable (as calculated via their website) was £189. Thus I believed I actually owed them £54, but they had received more money than they had paid out (as well as a random £2.50 fee for something).

 

Minicredit claim that my cancellation was incorrect as it was after 14 days from 4th March 2011 when I originally applied and was rejected as that agreement was in force. Well, if that agreement was in force, how come I couldn't borrow against it? AND, why did I have to signed another pre-contract agreement and Minicredit perform another credit search before being allowed the funds on 4th July 2011?

 

They continued to bombard me with calls telling me how many hundreds of pounds I owed them ... Anyway, wind forward 600+ days and I checked my credit file with Noddle and discovered a Default from Minicredit for £547!

 

I didn't even bother writing to them as I'd got nowhere chasing them for months long before. So, instead I wrote to Callcredit with a Notice of Dispute. Minicredit didn't reply within 28 days (there's a surprise) so then entry was suppressed. However, when they did reply, they sai they thought it was valid and thus Callcredit unsuppressed it.

 

I have outlined by grievance about the default to the ICO following their complaints procedure, and included that with my letter back to Minicredit, but suffice to say Minicredit are sticking to their guns, although I now supposedly owe them in excess of £800.

 

My question is how do I resolve this? They say they will not remove the detault without full payment, which is ludicrous. I assume I need to take them to court, and I have no issues with doing that, it's the how I am not sure of. What exactly do I claim for and even then, would that get the default removed?

 

As far as I can see, of OTF664, they have flouted at least 2.2, 3.3j, 3.3k, 3.3l (your number is still listed as an 0871 number), 3.5g, 3.7a, 3.7o, 3.11a and 3.11d yet still think their action is valid.

 

Please help!

 

Thanks,

Tim.

[postggj]

first thing you need to do is send a letter by recorded delivery to THE DATA CONTROLLER at mini credit

 

inform them of past reference to this dispute

 

give them 14 days from receipt to remove and default/adverse information or civil action will commence for the unlawful recording of negative data

 

the case law to back this up i believe is Durkin V Dixons store group and HFC bank for you to quote

 

you must put at the top of your letter 14 day letter before action

[Tee4Tim]

Thanks squaddie,

 

I have already completed that when I sent them the letter in which I copied in the ICO complaint form. It sounds like they will not be changing their stance in what is now the next 10 days, so how do I go about that Civil claim? If there are any links to the case law that you or anyone knows of, I would be very interested.

 

Tim.

[postggj]

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=7&cad=rja&ved=0CHAQFjAG&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.consumeractiongroup.co.uk%2Fforum%2Fshowthread.php%3F199584-Civil-action-for-damaging-my-credit-file&ei=8F1cUb7VKKPy0gXEk4GADg&usg=AFQjCNFkhggGQVQcd4DqiM-KxHKw89upow&sig2=SrG2pQkqgYRaRfYIllw37w&bvm=bv.44697112,d.d2k

 

Durkin v DSG & HFC, ratified by the Court of Session and based on Kpohraror v Woolwich

Edited April 3, 2013 by squaddie

[Tee4Tim]

Brilliant - thanks again. That's a healthy round of ammo there. Although whether it's enough to get through to these people, who knows?

[postggj]

After the letter before action has expired, issue the claim

[pat1421]

You should also report this to OFT. They are collecting witness statements against minicredit so the more people complain, the better.

[Tee4Tim]

I've, unsurprisingly, not heard anything back yet, not even an acknowledgement of my letter. In order to prepare for court, what exactly is it I should be taking them to court over and which court/how? I am assuming (and we know what that can do) that I should just use MCOL? If so, what do I claim for? They don't actually owe my anything financial, just a correction to my credit file, which if they'd have done so, I would have left it at that. Do I claim for the current value of the default? If I do, does that mean given the cost of making the claim relates to a specific financial range, am I jeopardising the level of damages if it ever got that far? As you can see, I am really not very sure about the way forward. It may still be it doesn't need to come to this, but it's looking more and more likely ... TIA!

[renegadeimp]

Have you complained to their data controller and given them 14 days to sort it? Have you issued a dispute with the cra`s and the ico.

[Tee4Tim]

Hi renegadeimp. First I disputed with CRA (Minicredit only report to CallCredit) with a Notice of Dispute. Minicredit didn't reply within 28 days (there's a surprise) so then entry was suppressed. However, when they did reply, they said they thought it was valid and thus Callcredit unsuppressed it.

 

I have outlined by grievance about the default to the ICO following their complaints procedure, and included that with my letter back to Minicredit, but suffice to say Minicredit are sticking to their guns. So, finally, for now sent an LBA to Minicredit (both hard and soft copy) with 14 days to comply:

 

LBA was thus:

 

"Dear Sir/Madam,

 

Thank you for your response, as a result of which it appears obvious that I will need to take court action to resolve this matter. This is not something I take lightly as it will involve cost, but it will once and for all substantiate the validity of your claims. Please be aware that when the court assesses this matter, it will have the power to grant costs and award damages, however, if you were to settle this matter via the ICO and remove the default, that would be the end of the matter.

 

Please note, no loan was forthcoming on 4th March 2011 and therefore, the agreement could NOT have legally been in force. If the loan agreement was in effect, I should have been able to borrow against it and I was not. Additionally, if the agreement was valid, then why did Minicredit, as I can see in my credit reports, take out further searches on the date the loan was taken out and ask me to sign another pre-contract agreement? Your view of the validity of the "loan agreement" dated 4th March 2011 is perverse.

 

If your organisation is prepared to stand up in court and attempt to prove that charges of £778.50 on an amount of £130.50 received are "fair and reasonable" and meet all of the statements detailed in OFT664Rev, including, but not limited to clauses, 2.2, 3.3j, 3.3k, 3.3l (your number is still listed as an 0871 number), 3.5g, 3.7a, 3.7o, 3.11a, 3.11d then that it what shall happen.

 

Therefore, I can confirm that I will initiate court action as defined in my previous communication within 14 days unless you confirm you have instructed Callcredit to remove the default from my account."

[t1ger10]

i have taken a default issue to the FOS before and I think they do have the power to remove it? Although the outcome did not rule in my favour (probably correctly), atleast it was looked into and the company I was complaining about got slapped with, I believe, a £500 bill for me taking the complaint to the FOS!

[denmark786]

Have you complained to their data controller and given them 14 days to sort it? Have you issued a dispute with the cra`s and the ico.

 

Hi

I am in similar position with Mini credit, they dont do a great job of providing methods of contacting them - How would i send a letter to the Data Controller and what is their responsibility ?