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Hi all,
After never having missed a credit repayment in over 6 years and due to the recent cost of living crisis, I found myself starting to feel the squeeze on my household bills.
I wrote to all of my creditors in November 2022 and asked if they would consider a reduced payment plan on my accounts for 7 months, until I was in a position to then clear all of my arrears or clear my accounts in full.
All was going well and each of the companies were updating my credit report with 'Arrangement to Pay' marker as agreed.
One of my creditors then out of the blue, marked my account as 'defaulted' despite the fact that I was making the agreement monthly payment arrangement, I didn't notice this until after the arrangement had ended, and my account had been brought up to date. My normal monthly payments resumed as normal and at this point I re-checked my credit report and discovered that they had marked my account in default 2 months earlier. (the amount of arrears on the account at default date was just over £300, considering that my contractual monthly payment was £167, this default amounted to less than 2 FULL monthly payments)
I received no notice of default via post as I would have expected, the only communication I received during the payment arrangement was confirmation that my payment had been made, and a reminder as to when the next payment was due.
I also received a final settlement figure with an interest rebate to be paid by the middle of June, however I was unable to pay this as the original lender had decided to sell the account onto a Debt Management company despite my account NOT being in arrears at the point of sale.
The default is negatively affecting my credit report as I feel that it should not have been registered in the first instance.
I raised a complaint with the original lender advising them that I was unhappy that the default was raised in the first instance considering that I had an arrangement to pay in place, and secondly I could no longer take advantage of the reduced settlement figure as they had sold the debt off BEFORE the settlement figure had expired.
After almost 8 weeks I received a reply to advise that they were declining my complaint and that the default should stand.
Reading between the lines / guidelines, this appears to be wrong, and that a default should not have been registered in the first instance.
I have also complained to the Debt Management company, and they say that they have done nothing wrong and will continue to report my account as in default until the debt is repaid in full.
Question is, if i take the case to the FOS, do i take the original lender, or do i take the Debt Management company, or both?
If i were to be successful with the original lender and the default gets removed, does that mean that the Debt management company will also remove the default?
Sorry for the long winded post, but just looking to find out what's the best path to go down.
Celestine any chance you can perhaps advise? Thank you.
After never having missed a credit repayment in over 6 years and due to the recent cost of living crisis, I found myself starting to feel the squeeze on my household bills.
I wrote to all of my creditors in November 2022 and asked if they would consider a reduced payment plan on my accounts for 7 months, until I was in a position to then clear all of my arrears or clear my accounts in full.
All was going well and each of the companies were updating my credit report with 'Arrangement to Pay' marker as agreed.
One of my creditors then out of the blue, marked my account as 'defaulted' despite the fact that I was making the agreement monthly payment arrangement, I didn't notice this until after the arrangement had ended, and my account had been brought up to date. My normal monthly payments resumed as normal and at this point I re-checked my credit report and discovered that they had marked my account in default 2 months earlier. (the amount of arrears on the account at default date was just over £300, considering that my contractual monthly payment was £167, this default amounted to less than 2 FULL monthly payments)
I received no notice of default via post as I would have expected, the only communication I received during the payment arrangement was confirmation that my payment had been made, and a reminder as to when the next payment was due.
I also received a final settlement figure with an interest rebate to be paid by the middle of June, however I was unable to pay this as the original lender had decided to sell the account onto a Debt Management company despite my account NOT being in arrears at the point of sale.
The default is negatively affecting my credit report as I feel that it should not have been registered in the first instance.
I raised a complaint with the original lender advising them that I was unhappy that the default was raised in the first instance considering that I had an arrangement to pay in place, and secondly I could no longer take advantage of the reduced settlement figure as they had sold the debt off BEFORE the settlement figure had expired.
After almost 8 weeks I received a reply to advise that they were declining my complaint and that the default should stand.
Reading between the lines / guidelines, this appears to be wrong, and that a default should not have been registered in the first instance.
I have also complained to the Debt Management company, and they say that they have done nothing wrong and will continue to report my account as in default until the debt is repaid in full.
Question is, if i take the case to the FOS, do i take the original lender, or do i take the Debt Management company, or both?
If i were to be successful with the original lender and the default gets removed, does that mean that the Debt management company will also remove the default?
Sorry for the long winded post, but just looking to find out what's the best path to go down.
Celestine any chance you can perhaps advise? Thank you.
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