Problem with Orange Mobile phone company.

[bexatex]

Hello all,
I have a somewhat complicated issue with orange, the mobile phone company. Which has ended up in two defaults of my credit report when there should be none.

I took out a contract with orange in 2007, and ended it, by phone in July 2012. By August I had a new phone and was abroad for a month or so. I heard nothing from Orange for a long time, as one would assume. Until November 2012. When I got a letter to say I had defaulted on payments of £255 - For calls and contractual payments made since July - Baring in mind I had been abroad during this time, these alleged calls were made from the UK.

I explained I had cancelled my contract, and had been abroad when these calls were apparently made from my number in the UK. I even offered to send a scan of my stamp in my passport to prove I was not in the country. They said they would look into it and I did not hear anything again. Until December 2012. When I got a letter stating that I had defaulted on my payments. I then got a letter from their own debt collection agency, Moorcroft, which stated I had to pay these charges. I spent a long time talking to Moorcroft and had believed the issue to be resolved when they agreed to talk to Orange about the debt.

I again, heard nothing, for a year, until I got a letter from another company stating that Orange had sold my debt on and they demanded I pay charges. This was about a month or two ago. I spoke to this company on the phone, who could not tell me what the charges were, how much I was supposed to pay monthly or any information about the debt, instead she just kept demanding I pay the debt, offering to take a part payment. I explained as far as I was concerned this was not my debt and Orange had been in the wrong to charge me for something I cancelled, and she eventually said she would contact Orange. I have, you guessed it, HEARD NOTHING so far (this was over a month ago, if not two)

The problem for me is that this is, at the moment, appearing on my credit report as two separate defaults, one for orange and one for the new company, Lewells. Neither are showing up as disputed at this time. Does anyone have any idea what I can do about this? No one seems to have any information about anything. And whilst my other credit is all very good, this one problem is showing as more than one and has left my overall credit rating wrecked. I am highly unlikely to be able to get credit anywhere now.

Really hoping someone can help me.
Thank you!

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Problem with Orange Mobile phone company.

Hi and welcome to LB

There are two issues here. One is the duplicate default, which should be easy to sort out because only ONE default can be recorded per account, if Lowell have purchased the account, then the records should show them as the account owner. Contacting the credit reference agencies directly about this should do the trick. Attach the letter you got from Lowell, which I assume would be a notice of assignment, to prove it's the same debt.

The other, more complicated issue is whether there should be a default in the first place, something you may want to dispute with Orange given what you say above, because even if you sort out the duplicate default, having the one from Orange is likely to impact your credit-worthiness for the next 6 years.

These are the Guidance notes for filing defaults, a bit long but you may find something useful with regards to Orange's conduct: http://www.ico.org.uk/~/media/docume...%20%20doc.ashx

9 The definition of a default

A ‘default’ can be said to occur as soon as a borrower fails to meet theterms of their credit arrangement. However, adopting this definition for credit referencing purposes would create difficulties since it is accepted that not all these defaults should be reported, for example, where weekly payments are late but are quickly remedied.The term ‘default’, when recorded on a credit reference file should be used to refer to a situation when “the lender in a standard business relationship with the individual decides the relationship has broken down”.

Where there is an unresolved dispute about whether a default exists, lenders should refer to paragraphs 42 -45.

10 Indicators of a default

The following indicate that a breakdown has occurred in most types of product (excluding those in the section on Exceptions at paragraphs 12-15). This list is not necessarily exhaustive.

• The account has been referred to a collection agency or in-house debt collection department.
• The account has been referred for legal action.
• The account has been included in a bankruptcy, IVA, or similar.
• The asset financed has been repossessed or instructions for repossession have been given.
• The lender takes or has taken steps to cut off the service provided (or would do so if they were not prevented on social rather than commercial grounds or by other regulations, codes of practice or statute).
• The customer has not made satisfactory proposals in response to a demand for repayment.

42 Unresolved disputes

Lenders are faced with difficult decisions when considering recording defaults which are disputed by the customer. It is not our role to arbitrate in disputes between borrowers and lenders. However, when we consider complaints, we will conclude, where there is clear and sufficient evidence that a default has not occurred, that it is likely that the lender has not complied with the data protection principle which requires that personal data are accurate.

43 If we conclude that there is a genuine, reasonable and unresolved dispute between the borrower and lender, then we are likely to find that personal data have been processed unfairly if a default has been filed.

Defaults filed in these circumstances may also be inadequate for the purpose of credit referencing in that they do not provide meaningful information about the creditworthiness of the customer.

44 These are difficult judgements to make. Although none of the following will necessarily be conclusive, we will take into account these factors.

• Is the customer able to produce evidence that they disputed that a default occurred?
• Did the customer dispute the default before the lender announced their intention to file a default or after?
• What is the nature of the dispute? For instance, does the customer allege that the agreement has been breached, for example, because the goods supplied were faulty, or does the customer simply dispute the amount of the default?
• What evidence has the customer produced to support their side of the dispute?
• Has the lender simply ignored this evidence or have they produced evidence to support their version of events?
• If the goods financed were supplied by a third party, has the lender taken reasonable steps to check the accuracy of the information supplied about the dispute?