BT have destroyed my excellent Credit Rating. Advice please!

[andyb53]

Hello to all. Your advice will,be much appreciated.

On Thursday of last week. I received a notification from Equifax Credit Reference Agency that my credit rating had gone from 810 (which I am told is excellent) to 200! (very poor) This, 3 days before I was due to a meeting to finance my business expansion. At the meeting I was told that the finance that had already been agreed in principle was now off the table due to “information received” Upon checking it seems that BT placed a Default Notice against me at my address, (with a linked address in Gillingham), a place I have never been, for a fraudulently obtained Mobile Phone and account. Apparently it was taken out last November and has never been paid. BT placed the Default Notices with all 3 Credit reference agencies on the 1st August, all at my address not the Gillingham one! I knew nothing at all about this account and BT have since acknowledged in writing that it was opened fraudulently and I was / am blameless They have told me they will notify the Credit Reference Agencies and have the information removed but this takes over four weeks to do. In the meantime, the “Genie is out of the bottle”, my credit rating is trashed and I have lost the business finance I was to have had. I have also already had a letter from one of my Credit Cards informing me that my interest rate is rising by 5% because of new information obtained from the CRA’s. I cannot balance transfer because I now have a poor Credit Rating
It transpires that BT only require a name, proof of address D.O.B. and mothers maiden name to open an account. This is crazy as anyone can obtain that info in a matter of seconds via the internet! To top it all BT are now saying it is MY FAULT because someone obtained this information!! As you can imagine, I am very angry and very very upset.

I believe BT have acted negligently and libellously in giving the CRA’s false information. I have and am suffering financially as a direct result. I believe BT are incompetent in not having more secure and robust checks before issuing credit / phone facilities to a stranger. As I am the only person in the UK with my name and D.O.B. and I have been a BT customer for over 20 years at my current address, they are also negligent in not contacting me at this address until they applied a default notice at my BT registered address.

My question is.... Do I have a case against BT for the Libel they have committed and for my financial loss and credit rating as a result of their negligence? Also do I have any redress with the CRA’s as they are selling and distributing
for profit, false information about me surely they too have a “duty of care” to ensure information accuracy?

Any advice will be much appreciated. Thank you

[R0b]

Re: BT have destroyed my excellent Credit Rating. Advice please!

Hello,

Whilst I can see you are frustrated with the matter, I can't particularly see how BT are to blame here. The problem is that at the time the account was set up, BT believed that the person on the other end of the phone was really you, not someone else, so you can't blame them for that.

It transpires that BT only require a name, proof of address D.O.B. and mothers maiden name to open an account. This is crazy as anyone can obtain that info in a matter of seconds via the internet!

We live in a digital world these days and the above is the type of information used to open an account, but also to carry out a credit check. If the check came back as suspicious in anyway (for example the address used by the fraudster was blacklisted as a fraudulent address) then BT and any other company would require further checks to be done such as sending in proof of identity or they might just reject it. People can only obtain that sort of information only if its published and accessible to others.

In relation to the four weeks, I suspect that is BT referring to the fact that credit agencies generally update on a monthly basis so your unlikely to see it on any credit report until the next update. That doesn't however prevent BT from notifying the credit agencies early than this, so you should get confirmation from them (preferably in writing) that the agencies have already been notified that the default should be removed. If they refuse, then you may have a claim against them.

As for your claim against BT for libel, I think its highly ambitious but if any claim to be made it would more than likely be breach of data protection for inaccurate information. The problem with bringing a claim against BT for losses is that you need to prove they were aware of the fraud prior to your business meeting. Their defence is that they honestly believed it was you they were contracting with rather than someone else and secondly, it would be in the interest of sharing such information with reference agencies to enable other companies to have an accurate idea of how you fair albeit in this case it wasn't your fault.

For future reference, you might wish to check what your social media profiles are currently showing to the public as that can be a wealth of information to fraudsters. Also consider shredding mail if you have moved home recently, making sure your accounts have been updated or redirected to your new address for a period of time.

You should raise the issue with the reference agencies and notify them that BT have accepted the account was fraudulent and so adverse entries should be removed. They will usually liaise with BT to confirm this and if this is the case, they should remove it. Again if they refuse to do so, then you might have a claim against them too.

Finally, if I recall, defamation claims can only be brought within the High Court unless otherwise agreed that it should be heard in the County Court. Therefore if you were to issue a defamation claim and lose, you could be left with hefty legal costs to pay.

[pt2537]

Re: BT have destroyed my excellent Credit Rating. Advice please!

Agree with Rob, defamation isnt going anywhere here, but a claim under the Data Protection Act 1998 and / or under the tort of negligence ala Durkin would be a better option.

Im not sure however that you actually need to show loss to claim damages for injury to your credit reputation. There is a lot of case law that suggests you dont need to prove loss to succeed with a claim for injury to your credit reputation

[R0b]

Re: BT have destroyed my excellent Credit Rating. Advice please!

Yes there wouldn't be a need to prove losses for damage to credit reputation (just distress / inconvenience / frustration) as it would more than likely be accepted that a default or any adverse entry would more likely than not affect a person in obtaining credit and/or that even if they were offered credit, they would not be on favourable rates because of the default.

However it is unlikely that a court is going to find against BT where they reasonably believed the fraudster was the OP and, if they acted promptly in notifying the credit agencies upon realising that the account was fraudulent. Sure, there are direct losses flowing from the default but i can't see how it would be reasonably foreseeable here.

Of course if BT refuse or acknowledge to do anything, then you should be putting them on notice. about a potential claim.

[charitynjw]

Re: BT have destroyed my excellent Credit Rating. Advice please!

But it should not have intimated the default without a reasonable basis for the belief that it had occurred.

Durkin v DSG
Lord Hodge
At 34
https://www.supremecourt.uk/decided-...5_Judgment.pdf

[andyb53]

Re: BT have destroyed my excellent Credit Rating. Advice please!

Durkin v DSG
Lord Hodge
At 34
https://www.supremecourt.uk/decided-...5_Judgment.pdf

I agree that there are similarities between the above case and mine however the principle questions are substantially different....
1) BT have admitted in writing that the account in question was opened fraudulently and I was totally innocent.
2) I an the Only Andrew Backhouse with the D.O.B. given in the UK and an existing BT customer of 20 years plus at my address.
3) Knowing "2" above BT still opened a credit account on the flimsiest of information and ID and are negligent in doing so.
4) Knowing my correct address and contact information, at no time have BT attempted to contact me before issuing a Default.
5) When libellously issuing a Default notice, they applied it to my adress not the address given on the fraudulent application.
6) BT are 100% to blame for this debacle and have acted irresponsibly and libellously against me I have lost in every way.

So do member think I have a reasonable case against BT / Equifax please?

[charitynjw]

Re: BT have destroyed my excellent Credit Rating. Advice please!

BT have admitted in writing that the account in question was opened fraudulently

and BT have since acknowledged in writing that it was opened fraudulently

Have you reported this to the police?

[R0b]

Re: BT have destroyed my excellent Credit Rating. Advice please!

2) I an the Only Andrew Backhouse with the D.O.B. given in the UK and an existing BT customer of 20 years plus at my address.

If you can prove that BT knew all along that there is only one Andrew Backhouse and that you only lived at your current address for 20 years then I think you will have a claim, but being realistic I think you would struggle to argue that point. It seems to me that you expect BT (or any other company) to go above and beyond what would be reasonable and carry out extensive due diligence prior to offering a service. BT does not know every bit of information about a customer or prospective customer, it could be that you are a property developer on the side and own several houses in your name but you are on the electoral register somewhere else, but BT wouldn't know any of this and that is what a credit check is for i.e. to verify someone and assess the potential risk.

At the same time you appear to be blaming BT for all of this when in fact both parties are probably innocent, yet you need to acknowledge that someone has obtained your details fraudulently and I would be taking all the necessary precautions to ensure it doesn't happen again. As I said in my previous post, your social media profiles (if you have any) should be your starting point in making sure you protect yourself.

You say that BT are 100% to blame for this but I have to disagree - the fraudster couldn't have obtained your information out of the blue and in any event, BT are more than likely going to have several defences that they can rely upon. If you honestly think that they are the only one to blame in this situation then go ahead and issue a claim but be warned, you could be facing serious costs if you lose.