HI im new, and need advice on a faulty defualt !

[warrlo]

Hello all.
I have came across your forum as we are trying to gain advice on weather 2 defaults added where right or wrong.
From the very beggining - i was a self employed builder . Life was good and we where finally achieving our dream of building our own home. However - recession came and money stopped coming in etc etc .
So we looked at options iva , bankruptcy etc - But wanted to reduce outgoings , but making sure banks etc got every penny back.

We opted for a debt management plan and all seemed well. All debters agreed and within 4 years all paid off.
However in this time we spent a year in Australia............ only to return to find we had 2 defaults. One was from next for £200 debt ! We found out that they sent a letter for us to sign to say taht we where still paying monthly via stepchange......... However letter went to previous address and we where in OZ so meant 1 payment was missed untill step change dealt with it. So for one missed payment they slapped a default on us.

The next was santander , and again no default at the start yet 12 months in they put a default on ???

It seems odd taht all that where owed agrred to be payed monthley - they where all paid in full and earlier than agreed timescale . Yet they slap defaults on account.

We have spoken with next and they said they can move default back - so 1 year remaining on account and theve offered us £50 ???
Santander , we are still waiting on responce.

But during this time - I cannot get finance for a new van at a decent rate .... We cannot get a mortgage also ?

But , yes hello to you all , just advice really .....

Cheers

[Amethyst]

When you're in a debt management plan you aren't making the full contractual payments so they are at liberty to default your account. Well done on getting Next to move the default date back to when you ceased full payments ( I assume ). Santander - is that a credit card / loan / overdraft ? It will depend on the terms of what the account was when they could have defaulted you - so an overdraft could sit for a couple years with no payments being made, just gathering charges …. a credit card really should default if minimum payments haven't been made for a few months … etc.

Well done for getting things sorted out and repaying the debts though to end up with just two defaults after going into a DMP is pretty good really.

So the Santander one still has 2 years left to go before falling off your credit file ? and you believe it should be one ? Has it been paid off and marked as closed and settled on the credit file ?

[warrlo]

Hi thankyou for responce , Santander was originally an overdraft ......... So we agreed to pay of with the debt management plan - but then bizzarly , with no late payments etc 1 year in agreement a default was added !
But yes default on santander is just under 2 years left.

on credit file both defaults where marked as paid / satisfied .... but problem is they are there !

[warrlo]

Sooo , just like to update - NEXT have removed default .... Could not believe it - fantastic!!! after 2 letters and 3 phonecalls , they agreed that the default should not have been issued!

So, defaults can be removed just like that ! Santander , however - still state its company policy to default. ..... but we will keep on at em !

[Amethyst]

Wow, that's brilliant - well done. Could you post a copy of your letters ( sans personal details ) as it might help others in a similar situation.

[Amethyst]

On Santander - what kind of account was it ? An overdraft generally doesn't have specific dates or amounts for payment but some accounts do have a term that say £1500 is paid in in each statement period and 2 direct debits go out, however one would imagine when entering a DMP you'd ask to downgrade your account to a basic account to allow repayment of the overdraft without incurring further charges/breaching any such terms. SO you need the terms of the account to see what you defaulted on. HAving an overdraft frozen so repayments can be made shouldn't constitute a default - which is presumably your argument.

[warrlo]

On Santander - what kind of account was it ? An overdraft generally doesn't have specific dates or amounts for payment but some accounts do have a term that say £1500 is paid in in each statement period and 2 direct debits go out, however one would imagine when entering a DMP you'd ask to downgrade your account to a basic account to allow repayment of the overdraft without incurring further charges/breaching any such terms. SO you need the terms of the account to see what you defaulted on. HAving an overdraft frozen so repayments can be made shouldn't constitute a default - which is presumably your argument.

Hi, yes it was an overdraft .... but weve just found out that apparantly Santander where not happy with the amount per month to be paid from debt managment plan. they wanted more ? yet we where not told this from step change - the dmp ?
So they plonked a default on .... but after 12 months of regular payments to them ?
they state it is not company policy to remove defaults

[MIKE770]

Defaults have to a TRUE record of events so if defaulted then they record as such regardless of agreements to lower repayments, very very rare a company will not default as there are guidelines to follow from regulators?