Brighthouse - 4 Defaults - Claim Issued***Resolved***

[stuckinarut11]

Notice of discontiuance?? Would I need to do this the claim has been settled not discontinued.

 

March 2015 visit local store apply for furniture, during the visit was told in no mixed words if you miss a payment we will hound you and break our way into your home as we have a right to repossession.

 

2 weeks later no delivery but demands for payments from local store. 2 weeks payments were wanted yet I had no goods. As I refused payment they cancelled my delivery.

 

I raised this with Brighthouse head office the fact they were demanding money and were in breach of contract.

They decided to give me the furniture as a gesture of goodwill. No agreement nothing to pay I was given the sofa due to issues with store and non delivery.

 

Fastfoward several months become a customer in another store as arranged by head office.

 

December 2015 view my credit file and see 5 accounts registered for Brighthouse I have 4 agreements. They were reporting the March sofa agreement the item I was given as a gesture.

 

I raised this with BH customer service director and was told we marked it as settled so what is the issue, I explained that for 9 months it appeared in had £1500 debt that I did not have and I had gone into difficulty and eventually settled the account.

 

I then issued a letter before action rather basic just along lines of accuracy and principle 4 of data protection act.

 

This was formally responded to with a we are sorry we will remove this and an invitation to take my complaint to the FOS.

 

After receipt of their letter the claim was issued and paid in full 14 days later.

 

Yes the cheque did come with a letter basically saying we wish to settle claim number xxx without prejuidice and attach a cheque for the full amount.

 

From when the claim was issued till the day of payment being received there was no communication whatsoever between either party.

[caro]

You need to discontinue the claim or how do the court know that it's settled. It has been settled after you raised a court claim but without the court doing anything so you have to discontinue it. I'm surprised BH solicitors didn't send you a form to sign to send to the court.

[stuckinarut11]

I,ve had ongoing issues with BH and that's another matter on another thread however I have something I'd like to share and gather opinion on.

 

BH is the weekly payment store, for this example I have an agreement that is £5 per week.

 

The reporting to the CRA by BH will state regular repayment £20, payment frequency weekly. This is inaccurate information and makes it appear your financial commitments are higher than they actually are.

 

The correct information would be regular repayment £5, payment frequency weekly.

 

I have formally raised this issue with BH and recieved this reply:-

 

Your final response letter states that the credit reference agencies upload data on a monthly basis. This is correct. As credit reference agencies only upload data based on monthly payment behaviour we have to convert your weekly payment into monthly terms to allow the data to upload successfully. I can confirm that this process has been adhered to and your records are accurate.

 

How can they do this to each and every account they have admitted they convert the figures but if that's the case then shouldn't the payment frequency state monthly and not weekly.

 

Opinions please....

 

BTW - BH didn't even hand it to solicitors letter has come from customer relations.

 

I'll email bulk centre now to say it's been settled

[brassnecked]

That's one for the CRA to address as if their system will only accept Monthly, frequency for repayments they need sorting, but BH should not inflate a payment to suit a CRA.

[stuckinarut11]

Here I attach my CRA entry this agreement is £14.05 per week.

 

Is it reported legally is what I want to know In your opinion

 

Can someone invite the BH REP to respond please as id like to know.

[stuckinarut11]

Another example. This agreement is £11.52 per week.

[brassnecked]

Another example. This agreement is £11.52 per week.

No that's plain wrong, they should change the template to read Monthly, Jason@brighthouse comment please. Might be worth contacting FCA as it is misrepresentation.

[stuckinarut11]

Draft particulars of claim for second case

 

I need to take action to get this resolved, can someone review and guide on below draft please?

 

This claim is brought under section 4 of the data protection act.

 

The claimant had 4 agreements with the defendant regulated by the consumer credit act.

The repayment teams for each agreement is weekly

however the defendant are reporting a monthly figures as the weekly repayment figure.

 

This is causing a detriment to the claimant

as it appears his credit commitments are 4 times greater than they are

which in turn is making it appear his disposable income is minimal

which is impacting credit applications on affordability criteria.

 

The claimant had exhausted all avenues of the complaint process with the defendant

and now seeks the courts assistance to obtain a resolution.

 

Without good reason the defendant had continued to register this inaccurate information

and as well as judgement in favour the claimant seeks compensation up-to xx at the discretion of the court.

 

I've been arguing this with BH for 5 weeks and they are adamant they are correct as you can see from email extract even issued a final response stating they were confident in their position.

 

It appears my commitments in terms of repayments are 4 times that of what they actually are. I'm confident this is how they report all entries so how many customers nationally are affected??

[citizenB]

Do they show the total amount borrowed and then the reducing figure ?

[stuckinarut11]

Opening balance is recorded however no payments have been again this is not a true reflection of the account.

 

You'll see the opening and default balance differ so payments were made

[citizenB]

I am not quite sure what your issue is, there is an account opening date and the balance at that time - then there is a default balance which shows the balance at that time as well. It does state that the account is a weekly account. Each month on one of the reports it shows the balance reducing, which indicates that you are making payments.

 

Anyone looking at your credit file will be able to work that out for themselves, I dont see that it implies you owe more that is stated !

[fkofilee]

Threads Merged... Keep it to one thread if its BH and your ongoing claim.

 

So have you sent your notice of discontinuance? And also BH are reporting the info incorrectly as far as you . My understanding is that you are paying £5pw and they are reporting it as £20pm, but the actually default states that its still weekly?

Problem is that BH have now defaulted it. so AP markers are less likely to appear. Once defaulted, companies have a tendency to leave the default alone and just report still in default until paid. Being Pernickity about the default in question wont make much difference at all. The default is a default, that wont change no matter how you look at it.

 

The question is right this moment, are you paying anything towards the default?

[citizenB]

Some information for you.

 

 

So the claim will be made under Principle 1 (Fair & Lawful) of the DPA and the claim will be made pursuant to section 4 (4)

 

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998/29/section/4

 

https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/principle-1-fair-and-lawful/

 

Compensation may be difficult to quantify.....as you are asking the court to use their discretion then it would have to be a Part 8 claim...not 7

[stuckinarut11]

Hi

 

I have informed the court the claim has been settled.

 

I am not paying anything as I'm at a stand off as they fail to provide bank details to make payments and insist I visit a store to sign a new agreement something I am not prepared to do.

 

These defaults have only been placed since I logged a complaint

 

My payment is 5 per week so 20 per month yet they are reporting 20 per week payment implying it's an 80 per month agreement

[fkofilee]

Looking at this BH seem to have it correct. They have stated that its weekly and then how much it is per month.

But the lower monthly section shows how many **Months** Its in arrears. My view on this is that it is clear enough.

 

Nearly all companies work on a monthly basis anyway for reporting purposes so I dont feel what you are stating is correct.

[stuckinarut11]

I do have to disagree.

 

There record should state

 

Regular payment ( weekly figure)

Payment frequency (weekly)

 

However they report

Regular payment (monthly figure)

Payment frequency (weekly)

 

They either need to state it's a monthly figure of report the weekly amount.

 

They are passing off the monthly repayment rate as the weekly rate.

 

They state I pay 60 a week so 240 a month when in fact it's 15 a week so only 60 a month.

[fkofilee]

Im afraid we will have to agree to disagree, I believe BH are reporting as they should be to CRA in the correct method. But is the quality of the data correct?

 

Is the balance as it should be? I suspect that if this was dragged before a judge they may disagree with your reasoning.

 

They have

 

- Stated the balance

- Stated its a weekly repayment

- But have shown the monthly repayment in line with the reporting facilities.

 

Once again I point towards that way that lenders assess customers... Its on a monthly basis and is not real time. (Apart from PDL Lenders through Callcredit) (HCSTC)

[stuckinarut11]

Whilst I can see and understand your view point with new affordability checks this greatly affects a view of disposable income.

 

Yes it a monthly payment and I don't see why brighthouse don't report that in the payment frequency.

 

I can't see how them stating the monthly payment amount as a weekly payment frequency is accurate.

 

No the default balance is disputed as they have added 5.50 charge every week a payment has been missed

[fkofilee]

I refer you to here;

 

http://www.scoronline.co.uk/sites/default/files/high_level_prinicples_document_final.pdf

 

Page 3 - Principal 1 - Section about Home Credit;

 

Whilst most credit products are repaid monthly, some are not, such as home credit*.

In these cases, the information will be adapted to meet the monthly reporting standards of the credit reference industry.

 

*Home collected credit etc includes informal flexibility as standard to help debtors cope with unexpected budget

pressures. In effect, the home credit agent can - during the weekly home visit - agree missed or part payments

on the spot (normally at no extra cost). These informal variations are not themselves reported. However, when

the debtor has - in aggregate - missed to the value of 4.33 weekly repayments (equivalent to one month’s

arrears), that is reported (as arrears). Only the larger home credit companies use the reporting agencies.

 

As for the balance, disputing it is fine, you need to get a SAR Request sent off, so you can see in full how many charges have been applied.

[stuckinarut11]

UPDATE

 

communications from BH.

 

We apologize that you felt this matter was unable to be resolved through our complaints process and confirm we have decided to settle your claim in full as advised without prejudice.

I confirm that data regarding the above agreements (old one and current live 4 defaulted ones) have been removed from your credit file and compensation has been paid as full settlement to all points raised

 

So the defaults have been removed eventually.

It appears Brighthouse back down once the courts get involved.

 

I'm not happy how I started a claim on one agreement and they think in resolution they can settle my disputes on all 5 agreements.

Ok it's all well and good them now deciding to remove the defaults, but they will go on and do this to the next customer.

 

Advice please - should I quit when I'm ahead after all the default have been removed or shall I pursue the fact they were registered maliciously on a disputed account?

[citizenB]

UPDATE

 

communications from BH.

 

We apologise that you felt this matter was unable to be resolved through our complaints process and confirm we have decided to settle your claim in full as advised without prejuidice.

 

I confirm that data regarding the above agreements (old one and current live 4 defaulted ones) have been removed from your credit file and compensation has been paid as full settlement to all points raised

 

I think you might have a real hard time in claiming that this was malicious ! If they have removed the reporting and have given you compensation, then I would quit.

[stuckinarut11]

I think you might have a real hard time in claiming that this was malicious ! If they have removed the reporting and have given you compensation, then I would quit.

 

 

I agree the defaults have gone which was my goal. I like the way they classed the defaults under the court claim which was a totally different complaint.

 

All in all a good result. Thanks all for advice and support.

 

I am going to be cheeky and just question on what basics the defaults were removed and question the way they have included these in the claim settlement eventhough they were not mentioned in the particulars of claim.

[fkofilee]

Hi Witsend and a great result.

 

I would say that you do not push any further and leave it. Keep everything for your records should it need to be revisited and that is it at this point.

Any changes to a CRA may take anything up to a Month to be fully reported.

[stuckinarut11]

Hi Fkofilee.

 

BH advised they made direct contact with CRA and requested immediate removal due to it being subject to a legal matter.

 

I can confirm after review of my credit file they have all been removed. There is no trace of brighthouse anywhere on the credit report. I have a paid membership so can generate a new report and and when required

 

The defaults were still there the end of last week

[fkofilee]

Witsend99 - I have unapproved the emails and your comment to Jason. We have had a look at your emails in the Site Team and you have been in contact with me aswell.

I would suggest you continue dealing with this on a private basis without posting all the emails etc that you have dealt with.

 

Could you update us on your current situation now? Have BH finally given in to you?