Orange have destroyed my Credit Rating!

[concorde001]

This might be the wrong Forum Room to post this on, but here goes.

Last year (May/June 2011) I cancelled my Orange Mobile account. I didn't owe them anything - I made a point of asking when I closed the account. And then promptly forgot about Orange.

Over the last few months I have been trying to sort out a small extra mortgage, but kept getting declined. Today (16th Jan 2012) myself and my wife went to Nationwide to open a new Current Account - only to be told that we couldn't have a full account because of our Credit Rating. This surprised me - we have lived at the same house for over 30 years, our combined income in about £70K, and we have never defaulted on any payment or agreement.

So I obtained my Credit Rating from Equifax - and there was 5 missed payments to Orange dating from June 2011, and in December 2011 they placed a Default on my credit report. The total sum they say is owed on the Credit Report is ..... £10!

My Credit Rating is now rubbish, which is why we've been rejected for the extra mortgage and a normal bank account.

Orange have NEVER contacted me about this £10.

I have written to them by Registered Letter but how do I ensure that the debt is not written off or settled but removed totally? If they just say it has been 'settled' it still stays on my file for 6 years?

Anybody any ideas?

Thanks in advance for any help.:tinysmile_cry_t:

[Celestine]

Re: Orange have destroyed my Credit Rating!

Hiya

Welcome to Legal Beagles :beagle:

I'm afraid you're going to have to get letter writing to sort this out

Clearly there are no grounds for this default and you need to ensure Orange are VERY aware of this.

Start with a written letter asking them to absolutely remove all trace of this default, state the facts, state the negative impact this default is causing, do not plead....insist.

If they ignore or refuse, you may need to go further. i.e. legal action.

I have recently fought a similar case against Lloyds in far less clear cut circumstances than yours, both defaults were removed totally (as if they'd never existed) from the credit file. Now we have a court date coming up where we are seeking £20,000 compensation for the consequential losses directly caused by the defaults.

Relevant case law regarding incorrectly applied defaults:

Durkin v DSG Retail and HFC Bank

Kapohraror v Woolwich Building Society

[concorde001]

Re: Orange have destroyed my Credit Rating!

Hi everyone;

further to my original post in January, I had an account with Orange for a mobile phone which was well past it's contract date. Last year, in May 2011, I cancelled the account with Orange and transferred the phone number to O2. I was told by Orange at the time that my account was closed and I did not owe Orange anything. I have not received ANY correspondence from Orange since that date about any final or overdue payments.

Over the last eight months since June 2011 we have been trying to restructure our outstanding debt. We have also tried to arrange a new mortgage on our property. All such attempts were met with refusal which destroyed our financial plans and caused us great hardship.

In January 2012 I checked my Equifax, Experian and CallCredit credit ratings and discovered that after I had left Orange in May they raised an invoice for £10 that they did did not tell me about or send an invoice for. I also discovered that for every month from June 2011 Orange informed all the credit agencies I had not paid that invoice right up until December 2011, at which time they then placed my account into Default and notified all the credit agencies. My previously held 'Excellent' rating that I had for many years dropped to 'Poor' with all three agencies.

Orange's actions have had an extremely serious effect on our finances - we could not even open a new bank current account.

I have requested from Orange copies of the letters that they 'allegedly' sent out to me over this £10 charge, as well as the letters informing us that we would be in default if we did not pay. To date they have not produced those letters, and every one of Orange's representatives spoken to cannot tell me WHEN these letters were supposed to have been sent out because there is no record on their system.

I believe that Orange's actions since May 2011 are tantamount to libel by stating something to the Credit Agencies that had no basis in fact i.e. that we were in default when they hadn't even told us that they had raised a £10 charge on my Orange
account AFTER it was closed.

We have suffered 8 months of distress, humiliation and financial hardship because of these actions by Orange.

Orange have now informed the three Credit Reference Agencies and have removed the Default and all Late Payment notices to them, backdated to May 2011, and my credit rating has now been restored with all three agencies.

I have tried to complain to Orange about how unhappy I am over their actions and the amount of distress and financial difficulty they have caused by me being unable to restructure my finances and being turned down for credit over the last 8 months or so, but I just get shunted from one call-centre bod to another.

My question is this: should I pursue Orange for any compensation and apology, and if so, how should I go about it?

Thanks in advance for ANY advice or assistance.

[teaboy2]

Re: Orange have destroyed my Credit Rating!

Yes you should, but only if your willing to go through the stress of a litigation, though their removing the defaults suggests they are guilty and would likely settle out of court. It is certainly a libel claim you have and could result in thousands if not tens of thousands of pounds compensation for you. Also report them to the ICO so they can be fined for inaccurately processing your data.

I would suggest you speak to a solicitor before you decide what to do.

[bluebottle]

Re: Orange have destroyed my Credit Rating!

Hi everyone;

further to my original post in January, I had an account with Orange for a mobile phone which was well past it's contract date. Last year, in May 2011, I cancelled the account with Orange and transferred the phone number to O2. I was told by Orange at the time that my account was closed and I did not owe Orange anything. I have not received ANY correspondence from Orange since that date about any final or overdue payments.

Over the last eight months since June 2011 we have been trying to restructure our outstanding debt. We have also tried to arrange a new mortgage on our property. All such attempts were met with refusal which destroyed our financial plans and caused us great hardship.

In January 2012 I checked my Equifax, Experian and CallCredit credit ratings and discovered that after I had left Orange in May they raised an invoice for £10 that they did did not tell me about or send an invoice for. I also discovered that for every month from June 2011 Orange informed all the credit agencies I had not paid that invoice right up until December 2011, at which time they then placed my account into Default and notified all the credit agencies. My previously held 'Excellent' rating that I had for many years dropped to 'Poor' with all three agencies.

Orange's actions have had an extremely serious effect on our finances - we could not even open a new bank current account.

I have requested from Orange copies of the letters that they 'allegedly' sent out to me over this £10 charge, as well as the letters informing us that we would be in default if we did not pay. To date they have not produced those letters, and every one of Orange's representatives spoken to cannot tell me WHEN these letters were supposed to have been sent out because there is no record on their system.

I believe that Orange's actions since May 2011 are tantamount to libel by stating something to the Credit Agencies that had no basis in fact i.e. that we were in default when they hadn't even told us that they had raised a £10 charge on my Orange
account AFTER it was closed.

We have suffered 8 months of distress, humiliation and financial hardship because of these actions by Orange.

Orange have now informed the three Credit Reference Agencies and have removed the Default and all Late Payment notices to them, backdated to May 2011, and my credit rating has now been restored with all three agencies.

I have tried to complain to Orange about how unhappy I am over their actions and the amount of distress and financial difficulty they have caused by me being unable to restructure my finances and being turned down for credit over the last 8 months or so, but I just get shunted from one call-centre bod to another.

My question is this: should I pursue Orange for any compensation and apology, and if so, how should I go about it?

Thanks in advance for ANY advice or assistance.

Teaboy's advice to report Orange to the ICO is the same advice I am going to give you. ICO has the power to fine firms like Orange up to £500K and, I believe, award compensation, too. Go to Data Protection and Freedom of Information advice - ICO and download a complaint form.

[labman]

Re: Orange have destroyed my Credit Rating!

As above, but very well done for getting the default removed without legal action. That is no mean feat!

[sharrison13]

Re: Orange have destroyed my Credit Rating!

This might be the wrong Forum Room to post this on, but here goes.

Last year (May/June 2011) I cancelled my Orange Mobile account. I didn't owe them anything - I made a point of asking when I closed the account. And then promptly forgot about Orange.

Over the last few months I have been trying to sort out a small extra mortgage, but kept getting declined. Today (16th Jan 2012) myself and my wife went to Nationwide to open a new Current Account - only to be told that we couldn't have a full account because of our Credit Rating. This surprised me - we have lived at the same house for over 30 years, our combined income in about £70K, and we have never defaulted on any payment or agreement.

So I obtained my Credit Rating from Equifax - and there was 5 missed payments to Orange dating from June 2011, and in December 2011 they placed a Default on my credit report. The total sum they say is owed on the Credit Report is ..... £10!

My Credit Rating is now rubbish, which is why we've been rejected for the extra mortgage and a normal bank account.

Orange have NEVER contacted me about this £10.

I have written to them by Registered Letter but how do I ensure that the debt is not written off or settled but removed totally? If they just say it has been 'settled' it still stays on my file for 6 years?

Anybody any ideas?

Thanks in advance for any help.:tinysmile_cry_t:

I know this is a really old thread, but I have had the exact same problem with Orange (although the amount has now gone up to £11, must be inflation!)
I'm really struggling to get them to remove the default, can you please let me know how you managed to???

Thank you.

[concorde001]

Re: Orange have destroyed my Credit Rating!

Hi there

I know this is a really old thread, but I have had the exact same problem with Orange (although the amount has now gone up to £11, must be inflation!)
I'm really struggling to get them to remove the default, can you please let me know how you managed to???

Thank you.

Sorry for the late reply - I've been abroad.
There was no magic method used. I wrote to their Credit department, their customer care department, even to their registered head office. Phoning them was pretty useless. In the letters you have to be factual and lay out what has happened very logically. Half the time I was convinced that the people reading the letters had barely finished High School, such was their lack of understanding.

Quote in your letters every peice of legislation on your side - I included stuff like:

1. I believe you have a ‘duty of care’ to ensure correct and accurate contracts and billing arrangements with your clients. I also believe you are in breach of this ‘duty of care’ in entering a debt against my good name and causing a defamation of my good character.
2. I also believe under the Data Protection act your Data Controller has issued incorrect data in reference to the debt outstanding in my name and therefore is in breach of the Data Protection Act.
3. Orange’s action in notifying the credit reference agencies that we were overdue and eventually in Default over the alleged £10 debt from May 2011 onwards were all carried out without notifying me at any point. I believe that this may be contrary to the Consumer Credit Act of 2006.

Insist that they produce to you the letters that they have allegedly sent telling you of their debt - they probably won't be able to. Tell them that if they cannot produce any evidence of the alleged debt you will take them to the Small Claims Court if they do not correct what has happened. Sorry I can't be more helpful. As I say, there was no magic method, just perserverance. Get every address you can for Orange and write to them.

Orange Customer Services, PO Box 10, Patchway, Bristol, BS32 4BQ
Credit Referral Department, Orange PCS Limited, Senhouse Road, Darlington, Co Durham, DL1 4YQ

Good luck.