YB Have Put a Default on my Credit File! ***WON***

[pjdudley69]

Hi guys,

 

I'm back again with YB misery! lol Anyone who knows me will know that I've successfully claimed against YB twice. However, I've just registered for the free trial with Experian and checked my credit report - YB have actually put a default on my file for the sum of £56.

 

YB decided to close my account when I had the 'cheek' to ask for a second round of charges refunding [amounting to £75, which were incurred towards the end of my first claim]. I moved all my DD's over to my parachute account and transferred the rest of my account balance, including my £300 overdraft. YB passed this amount over to their collections department, which I expected, but because it was in dispute due to the £75 they agreed to cease action until it was resolved. When it was resolved they phoned my and said that if I paid within 14 days they would let me settle the account for £170 [£300 o/d less £75 charges which were refunded to the account], and would write off the remaining £56. I duly paid within 14 days, feeling I'd got a 'bargain' so to speak, and expected that to be the end of it - should have known better with this lot really!!

 

Anyway, how do I go about getting these muppets to remove it? I could really do without this extra default as I already have 2 on my file, which are due to come off in about 18 months, then it would have been clear again, and I'm due to change my mortgage in a couple of months and I don't want this fresh default ruining my chances of a decent interest rate etc.

 

Any help muchly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

PJ xx

[pjdudley69]

Anyone?

 

PJ x

[Bigmac versus]

Hi pjdudley69 these lot are tricky to deal with, i always say to get anything you rely on in writing however on this occasion i would phone the bank and tell them what you have shared with us and ask them to remove the said default as it has been unfairly put on your credit file, Pay the balance and contact the CRA involved and ask them to add a notice of dispute on the entry in the meantime, depending on what you reply from the bank is will depend on what your next move would be.

Did you receive a default notice from them?

[pjdudley69]

Hi Bigmac, thanks for your reply.

 

Pay the balance

- Is there a reason I should pay this? Surely because they discounted it by this amount, I shouldn't have to pay it now to remove it from my file?

 

As for the default notice - I've never received one of these from YB. The only correspondence I've had since my account closure is a letter from the bank advising that they'd passed the remaining balance to their collections department in Leeds, then another letter from Leeds collections department thanking me for my payment of £170 and confirming that they will not take any further steps to collect the outstanding balance and that the account will now be closed - this was dated 3 Feb and came from the Collections Manager.

 

PJ x

[Guest ian cognito]

If you have that letter saying it is satisfied PJ you should first ask them to remove it and if they refuse, copy the letter to the ICO in the form of a complaint, they will investigate it and charge the bank for the priviledge.

do you think this some sort of premeditated action to get their own back ?

[pjdudley69]

Quick update - just rang Collections dept in Leeds. I explained the situation and told her that I'd never had a Default Notice but she said that because it was a full and final reduced settlement it would show on my report as unsatisfied, not as a default, and they don't have to send me a Default Notice for that- I told her it was definately a default on my report and that surely I should have been informed when they made the offer that the remainder would show on my file.

 

She spoke to one of her managers who has advised that, because I wasn't informed that it would show on my credit file by only paying the reduced offer, I should write to their Query Resolution department explaining that I wasn't informed, and they may remove the default for me.

 

Any ideas for a good letter I can whizz off to them on Monday? I want to make it sound like I know what I'm talking about and cover all the bases [is their any legal jargon I should put in??]

 

Cheers

 

PJ x

[Guest ian cognito]

PJ perhaps you should look at this http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/announcement.php?f=&a=74

[Bigmac versus]

Hi again have alook in here pj.

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/5078-10-data-protection-act.html

 

This is the letter you require and should resolve the situation.

[BankFodder]

Of course as it was done on the phone you have no evidence of the agreement. Why do people do this kind of thing on the phone and why don't people by a phone recorder for about £20 from Maplins?

I'm trying to understand if the defaulted sum was comprised of charges.

You don't make this clear.

Did you start a court claim against them for your money? Did they defend?

Do you have anything from them which claims that their charges were intended to cover your administrative costs?

 

I think that you should contact the FOS over the account closure and that you should contact the Sunday Mirror over the default - see the announcement in the head to this forum.

[pjdudley69]

I'm trying to understand if the defaulted sum was comprised of charges.

The defaulted sum of £56 didn't comprise of charges, as the charges were deducted from the outstanding balance before the reduced settlement figure was offered to me.

Did you start a court claim against them for your money? Did they defend?

I didn't actually need to start a court claim for the £75 of charges as they settled [deducting it from my outstanding balance] after I sent my LBA.

 

Do you have anything from them which claims that their charges were intended to cover your administrative costs?

No I didn't - all I received was a letter saying that they would not take any further steps for the remaining £56 and considered my account now closed.

 

PJ x

[Bigmac versus]

Hi pjdudley69, i take it you still have that letter?

 

all I received was a letter saying that they would not take any further steps for the remaining £56 and considered my account now closed.

[pjdudley69]

Yes I do still have that letter Bigmac - unfortunately, it's not in it's original state, as I've made notes from my last telephone call convo with them on it, but yes, I definately still have it.

[Bigmac versus]

As long as they didnt send that letter in response to no reply from you in regards to an earlier one that could have asked for that balance to be paid. Copy it and send this to them with an LBA of 14 days explaining the circumstances.

[pjdudley69]

LBA? This might sound a bit thick, but why do I need to send an LBA - that is the prelude to a court claim right?

[pjdudley69]

another quick update - I checked my account to see when I made the payment [it was 19 Jan, a couple of days after they made the reduced offer to me], but I vaguely remember that the default showed as the 12/12/07 - before any offer was made to me - so what she told me about it being on due to it only being a partial settlement was twaddle, because it was put on before the partial settlement!

 

Anyway, i've just gone back into Experian, to confirm the date, and I was correct in that it was defaulted on 12/12/06 - BUT it is now showing the default balance as £301, and overdraft balance as Settled [the outstanding balance was my overdraft, and £75 of that was charges, so it's still wrong!]. However, the big red number 8 is still there, and according to the key [The account is defaulted. You have failed to keep to your credit agreement and have not responded satisfactorily to requests to put your account in order. As a result the credit agreement has ended ] means I didn't respond satisfactorily! now what??

[Bigmac versus]

hi pj

[The account is defaulted. You have failed to keep to your credit agreement and have not responded satisfactorily to requests to put your account in order. As a result the credit agreement has ended ] means I didn't respond satisfactorily! now what??

 

Proofs in the reading: you have failed to keep to your credit agreement? and did you have requests to put your account in order?

"

[pjdudley69]

Hi Bigmac,

 

I didn't receive a request to put my account in order - just a letter from my branch when the account was closed saying that they had passed the remaining balance to the Collections Dept [i don't still have this letter though].

 

Surely this doesn't warrant a Default though? and even if it did, surely I should have had a default notice?

 

Even if this is the case, and the Default should be there, because the account shows as settled now on my credit file, would this still look bad to lenders, or would they take into account that it is now settled?

 

PJ

[pjdudley69]

I've just come across my closing statement while doing some filing, and noticed that the default was put on my account on the same day as my account was actually closed [12 Dec 06] - Can they do this, especially as it was in dispute and they knew it was as they'd had at least a prelim letter at this stage?

 

I still haven't sent anything to Query Resolutions yet as i've been sidetracked, so I'd like to get all the basics covered before I draft a letter.

 

Cheers

 

PJ x

[trundlecat]

Hi Flower,

 

Lets get this sorted. It's exactly what was done to DH & I & ours was removed within 2 weeks. I think the defaults originate from our good friend Lesley ;-) One last attempt to turn the knife.

 

1st, don't deal with collections, they are an entity all to themselves & don't have a clue what to do with regard to anything other than taking debit card details, means statements etc. so cut them out of the loop completely.

 

Phone cutomer services, just the normal YB call centre number & ask to be put through to Clydesdale Customer Services in Glasgow. Carefully note down who you're speaking to up there & state your case. At the end of the call tell them you'll be emailing a summary of your conversation & re0iterating your expectations. The email addy is [email protected]

 

Here's the email I sent which summarises what was said:

 

"Dear Ms Ferguson,

 

Thank you for dealing with my request via telephone this morning for a default to be investigated on account number ******** (now closed, in the names of *****).

 

Just to confirm our telecon:

 

1. I explained that I discovered this week a default had been registered against myself & my husband regarding the overdraft remaining on the above account.

 

2. I explained that on numerous occasions I had spoken & written to your collections department regarding these monies owed.

 

3. Letters sent (5 in total) regarding the outstanding sum always stated that I was not refusing to pay but I expected you to adhere to the banking code by not instigating collections activities whilst the funds were in dispute.

 

4. County Court Claim Number ******** is the dispute regarding the claim which was settled out of court.

 

5. The sum owed on the overdraft should have been settled by now as this was due to be deducted from our settlement payment.

 

6. I strongly believe that I always behaved in an open, up-front manner with your collections department & they have been aware from the very start about the dispute over the money.

 

I am aware that I can take legal action to ensure this default is removed & will not hesitate to do so should my initial attempt not be successful as I believe you have sent information to 3rd parties that is inaccurate & unfair (a serious breach of the data protection act 1988 ). However, I am hoping we are able to settle this quickly & in a friendly, professional & mutually co-operative manner making such action unnecessary.

 

My desired outcome of this complaint is to have the default removed from both my own & my husbands credit files. I am aware that you are able to make real-time updates to information sent to 3rd parties & so request the removal of this default be completed no later than Wed 8 Nov 06. If the default is not removed with expedience I will suffer the financial penalty of having to take out a car loan at a much higher than normal interest rate & I will seek to be compensated for monies lost, expenses incurred & the distress caused by having this serious derogatory information put on my credit file.

 

Best regards,

TC

Then.... NAG THEM, do it by phone or email but insist on having an update at least every 2nd day. Here are my nag emails:

 

1:

 

Hi,

 

Could you please let me know of any developments on this issue?

 

Feel free to contact me by telephone (***** ******) if it is more convenient than email (please be aware telephone conversations are automatically recorded for business purposes & I am unable to disable the software).

 

Regards,

TC

Response was:

 

Good Morning,

 

I am currently awaiting confirmation of the removal of the entry from the relevant department and will contact by email or phone to confirm when completed.

 

I trust this is acceptable to you.

 

Regards

 

Carol Ferguson

 

2:

 

Thanks very much Carol, I'm very grateful for the speed you've dealt with this.

 

The other departments actions will be acceptable as long as it's done VERY quickly & the default is removed, not just marked as settled. Could you please let me know the department name that is responsible for the removal for my records?

 

Regards,

TC

 

No response recieved in 2 days so I emailed again.

 

3:

 

Any news yet? I am standing by my Wednesday deadline (tomorrow) & will formally issue a letter before action requesting the immediate removal & compensation if the default has not been removed (not marked as settled) by then.

 

Regards,

TC

 

Recieved a telephone call 30 minutes later confirming the default had been removed.

 

Hope this helps hun but you've got all my contact details so just give me a bell or drop me a line if they start to mess you about.

 

TCx

[pjdudley69]

Trunny, you're a little gem you are!!

 

I've just spoken to Customer Relations, who in turn passed it to collections to deal with - received a phone call from collections within 10 minutes of my initial call and they've informed me that they will remove the default by the end of the month. I've still sent an email confirming all points, and I'll confirm for definate once I've seen that it's actually been removed.

 

PJ xx

[trundlecat]

Brill news chick Well done!

 

Mind & keep chasing them for proof that they're doing it.

 

I think it's about a year now I've been harping on about it's not what you say to this lot it's how you say it. They prove time & time again that they're not interested in nit picking with individuals, they're bullies & all it takes is a brass neck to make em realise it'd be quicker to let the wasp out of the window than spend time chasing it with a newspaper. What chance do they stand against "Tarn" girls lol?

 

TCx

[caro]

Well done Trunny and thanks for helping our mutual friend out. You must be due some more good news yourself any day I should think.

[pjdudley69]

I received a letter from Query Resolutions on 29/3 confirming that the default on my credit file would be removed completely, and that a request would be sent to Experian on 1st April to update the details on my file.

 

I've checked today, but the default is still there so I've sent a reminder via e-mail to customer relations [i tried emailing the address on the letter from Query Resolutions at YB collections, but it bounced back twice [could this be a duff email addy they give out I wonder??]. I'll check Experian again over the next day or two, but my free trial runs out friday so I hope it's done by then!

 

Anyway, at least I've got it in writing now to say that it's going to be removed, so I've always got that to throw at them.

[pjdudley69]

Well, it looks like this issue is finally resolved!! I received a hard copy of my credit report on 11th April, which the default was still showing on, so I called YB Collections on the 16th [the emails were a waste of time as they weren't being responded to at all!] and spoke to a really nice girl [i will admit that there are some nice ones, if I really must! ] Anyway, she said the tape had definately been sent to Experian for the default to be removed, but could be delayed due to bank holidays. She told me to, rather than pay another £2 for my credit report, to phone back later in the month and they would do a check there for me.

 

I've phoned today, spoke to the same girl funnily enough, and she's done a search of my file [without leaving a footprint she said] and she can't find any trace of the default. Of course, I will be requesting another copy of my report fairly soon [have another default issue that I'm trying to resolve first] to check this for myself, but I consider this a third success with YB!

 

You really can get the defaults removed if you push them hard enough, and they realise you actually know what you're talking about, so don't be put off if they've defaulted you!

 

PJ x

[caro]

Well done PJ. I'm sure you know it's notoriously difficult to get defaults removed, and against such a bank is the icing on the cake. Let's hope that's the last time you have to deal with YB, although I hope you'll keep popping in from time to time with your ever helpful advice and support.

 

You deserve this hun.