Next & CRA reporting

[LePip]

Bit of a long shot.

Got into some arrears with Next and they defaulted me 2 years ago in November. I have been trying to clean up my file and all my other defaults will be gone by year end so this is a bit of a pain.

The debt has now been completely cleared however I tried challenging next about the CRA reporting as I have never signed an agreement. Their response is that by using the account I have agreed to their T&Cs which includes the reporting of my account to the CRA.


I doubt I have a leg to stand on but can they do this if we've never signed an agreement. As mentioned the debt is paid and this is not about trying to get away without paying.

Thanks

LePip

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Next & CRA reporting

Hi and welcome aboard

Sadly they are entitled to record a default to show your conduct with the account, even if you didn't sign an agreement. You may have got away with not paying it back as it wouldn't have been easy for them to win in court without paperwork, however, they are still allowed to report to the CRAs. There was a recent case whereby a default for an unenforceable debt could be removed from the CRA files but it referred to an agreement ruled irredeemably unenforceable in court. As you have paid it off, they won't be taking you to court so this case wouldn't apply here.

They should have marked the default as satisfied but that's probably as good as it's going to get.

On the plus side, some lenders only search the past three years so you may be OK for some credit applications in a year's time.