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I have a few questions I'd really appreciate advice on: I've put the background (my tale of woe, i guess) underneath.
I should start by saying I am not looking to get out of repaying this debt but I would *really* like to do something about a default that relates to stuff from 8 years ago but which will be messing up my credit report for the next 2-3 years, as I'm now in a position to get a mortgage (and I'm not far off 50 so I really would like not to wait). This is the only spot on my credit record now.
Questions:
1. Do pleas for mercy from big lenders (Halifax) in relation to small-ISH debts (£1000) ever work?
2. Is there any risk that making a SAR could count against my pleas for mercy?
3. Would I successfully be able to argue that by making a 'lost account request' via a lost account service - which did get a response from Halifax to my current address - that they had my correct current address from that point? (I ask, because I didn't ever receive a default notice / notification of breach of contract or anything like that, but they put my account into default AFTER they had my correct address via this service).
4. Would I have any (greater?) chance of arguing successfully that even if they won't remove this default, they should push it back to the point at which I breached the contract - seeing as I was supposed to be paying student finance in, that would have been back in 2014 when I stopped paying anything in. It just sat at £985 for years. Then in summer 2017 they started applying monthly charges which quickly pushed it over £1000 (within a few months). I knew nothing about this - though as I say above, they had my address at this point.
5. The default was applied by Halifax in Nov 2017 (confirmed by them on phone just now) but sold to Hoist in 2020. Hoist have applied a new default date and I understand this is an error that - at least - I can get them to correct. But if I'm trying to get the original default removed or at least pushed back, due to failure to follow process / it being unfair / as a goodwill gesture, am I right in understanding that the original lender (and only the original lender) can do that? Or does this depend on which of these strategies I try?
Here's the background:
In 2011 I took out a student acccount with Halifax with an authorised overdraft of £1k.
In 2013 I dropped out of the course and moved house, i had a lot of problems going on at the time (don't really want to go into them here but basically addiction and other health issues, long in the past now). At the time I was £985 overdrawn. I didn't notify the bank of my new address (I had other accounts, some also in a mess at the time).
Over the next few years I got myself together and gradually dealt with letters from debt collection agencies and cleared most debts. I was genuinely confused about all the different collection agency letters and what they related to, but what I now realise from my CRA and going through all the paperwork (I kept *everything*, and have now got it in order) is that:
In November 2017 Halifax put my account into default and passed it to a collection agency, Moorcroft, who wrote to me - but as I say I was confused by lots of other letters at the time from similar
I didn't get any notice from them.
I'm a lot more grown up now, this is the only blemish on my record, and I'd really like to get this sorted. It was a nasty surprise when I realised that the collection agency letters related to this default, as I say, I had been in a total muddle and not reading them properly (useless I know).
I should start by saying I am not looking to get out of repaying this debt but I would *really* like to do something about a default that relates to stuff from 8 years ago but which will be messing up my credit report for the next 2-3 years, as I'm now in a position to get a mortgage (and I'm not far off 50 so I really would like not to wait). This is the only spot on my credit record now.
Questions:
1. Do pleas for mercy from big lenders (Halifax) in relation to small-ISH debts (£1000) ever work?
2. Is there any risk that making a SAR could count against my pleas for mercy?
3. Would I successfully be able to argue that by making a 'lost account request' via a lost account service - which did get a response from Halifax to my current address - that they had my correct current address from that point? (I ask, because I didn't ever receive a default notice / notification of breach of contract or anything like that, but they put my account into default AFTER they had my correct address via this service).
4. Would I have any (greater?) chance of arguing successfully that even if they won't remove this default, they should push it back to the point at which I breached the contract - seeing as I was supposed to be paying student finance in, that would have been back in 2014 when I stopped paying anything in. It just sat at £985 for years. Then in summer 2017 they started applying monthly charges which quickly pushed it over £1000 (within a few months). I knew nothing about this - though as I say above, they had my address at this point.
5. The default was applied by Halifax in Nov 2017 (confirmed by them on phone just now) but sold to Hoist in 2020. Hoist have applied a new default date and I understand this is an error that - at least - I can get them to correct. But if I'm trying to get the original default removed or at least pushed back, due to failure to follow process / it being unfair / as a goodwill gesture, am I right in understanding that the original lender (and only the original lender) can do that? Or does this depend on which of these strategies I try?
Here's the background:
In 2011 I took out a student acccount with Halifax with an authorised overdraft of £1k.
In 2013 I dropped out of the course and moved house, i had a lot of problems going on at the time (don't really want to go into them here but basically addiction and other health issues, long in the past now). At the time I was £985 overdrawn. I didn't notify the bank of my new address (I had other accounts, some also in a mess at the time).
Over the next few years I got myself together and gradually dealt with letters from debt collection agencies and cleared most debts. I was genuinely confused about all the different collection agency letters and what they related to, but what I now realise from my CRA and going through all the paperwork (I kept *everything*, and have now got it in order) is that:
In November 2017 Halifax put my account into default and passed it to a collection agency, Moorcroft, who wrote to me - but as I say I was confused by lots of other letters at the time from similar
I didn't get any notice from them.
I'm a lot more grown up now, this is the only blemish on my record, and I'd really like to get this sorted. It was a nasty surprise when I realised that the collection agency letters related to this default, as I say, I had been in a total muddle and not reading them properly (useless I know).
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