Please Help, Welcome finance default date problem

[austinphillips]

Hello,

Thank you for reading, apologies if I’ve posted in wrong forum section.

Experian have been reporting since 04/10/07 a Welcome finance loan amount £2500.

with a balance of £8332 for the first 4.5 years up until a year ago when it changed to £3990 its current balance.

I've never paid any payments towards this loan ever or made contact and thought is was in fact taken out much earlier in the year 2007?

The account has been reported asdelinquenti.e. 6 markers for the last 5.5 years.

Since 30/04/13 the account has been updated as in default, this would mean being reported to Experian for 11.5 years without any contact.

The default was placed using my previous address according to Experian.

Any help how to deal with this mess would be appreciated.

I'm aware I should have paid at the time but I’ve only recently been able to deal with it.

Regards

Austin

Last edited

[seduraed]

Re: Please Help, Welcome finance default date problem

It should have been defaulted when the cause for action first occurred . the most likely reason for the NOd is that the account has been bundled up for sale and this has been issued as part ofthe process . Certainally when 'I worked for Welcome when accounts were teransferrred from the hidden files to active collection then a new nod was issued at that point . We were not tole that theree was not point isssuing a second or in some instances a third 'NOD

[charitynjw]

Re: Please Help, Welcome finance default date problem

Post deleted

[charitynjw]

Re: Please Help, Welcome finance default date problem

Hello,

Thank you for reading, apologies if I’ve posted in wrong forum section.

Experian have been reporting since 04/10/07 a Welcome finance loan amount £2500.

with a balance of £8332 for the first 4.5 years up until a year ago when it changed to £3990 its current balance.

I've never paid any payments towards this loan ever or made contact and thought is was in fact taken out much earlier in the year 2007?

The account has been reported asdelinquenti.e. 6 markers for the last 5.5 years.

Since 30/04/13 the account has been updated as in default, this would mean being reported to Experian for 11.5 years without any contact.

The default was placed using my previous address according to Experian.

Any help how to deal with this mess would be appreciated.

I'm aware I should have paid at the time but I’ve only recently been able to deal with it.

Regards

Austin

Last edited

Hi Austin,

So in about 3 months time it will be 6 years old?

[Nibbler]

Re: Please Help, Welcome finance default date problem

The account has been reported asdelinquenti.e. 6 markers for the last 5.5 years

That is fairly common for Welcome. Completely out of order, but seems to be their MO.

[charitynjw]

Re: Please Help, Welcome finance default date problem

http://www.squiresanders.com/files/P...ents-are-T.pdf

On 10 October 2012, the Court of Appeal handed down an extempore judgment in BMW Financial Services (GB) Limited v Hart (2012) on an issue which will be of considerable interest to consumer and asset finance providers: when does the limitation period for bringing a claim for the unpaid balance expire? In a pragmatic and sensible decision, the Court of Appeal decided that the cause of action to recover the unpaid balance did not start until the lender had served a termination letter or accepted the debtor’s repudiation of the agreement.

If the Court of Appeal had come to any other conclusion it would have been contrary to the wording of the CCA. This
envisages that the balance does not become due (and cannot be demanded as being due) until after the expiry of the notice
period. The Court of Appeal’s decision can also be used in appropriate circumstances by lenders wanting to stop the
limitation period running. It seems clear that, subject to an argument that the lender has affirmed the agreement by not
taking steps to accept a debtor’s repudiation, termination could be delayed until the end of the term of the agreement. This
would allow lenders to delay (most obviously where the debtor is in a difficult financial position or cannot be located) issuing
proceedings until the last moment, like BMWFS did, and avoid being time-barred.

[Nibbler]

Re: Please Help, Welcome finance default date problem

Have a careful read through: http://www.ico.gov.uk/~/media/docume...%20%20doc.ashx

Indicates the conditions and time-scales in which a creditor should record a default on your Credit Reference Files if they are going to record one at all.

Interesting parts might include.

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”

However, the CRA record must accurately reflect the payment history on the account, and as such.

A record showing a series of payments as six months in arrears when this does not reflect the real payment history should not be used as an equivalent of a default.

Which is clearly what they have been doing for about 5 years, prior to recording the default.

Also never making a payment from the outset is a clear "breakdown", so that:

• Accounts should not be routinely filed as being in default where full payments or those due under a rescheduled agreement are fewer than three consecutive months in arrears.
• Accounts should normally be filed as being in default where those payments due have not been received for six months.

I would also note that recording a default on your credit file is a separate issue to default/termination under the CCA, and not contingent upon it. Also a separate issue to whether the debt may technically be statute barred. Instead it is a matter of accurately reflecting the account conduct/payment record in accordance with the DPA.

[charitynjw]

Re: Please Help, Welcome finance default date problem

The Default Notice should indicate a time period, or an actual date, by which the debtor has the opportunity to regularise the account. (Normally 14 days, but could be longer, it's the creditor's choice)

Following this time, the creditor may accept the breach, & terminate the contract, so this will be the date when the SB clock starts ticking.

If the creditor doesn't issue a DN (again, their choice, as they are the 'injured party' to the breach), the contract will remain 'live' & so SB will not be applicable.

(See #6 above)

[Nibbler]

Re: Please Help, Welcome finance default date problem

The Default Notice should indicate a time period, or an actual date, by which the debtor has the opportunity to regularise the account. (Normally 14 days, but could be longer, it's the creditor's choice)

Yes, but that is a default notice under s87 of the CCA74. Not the same thing as a default on your credit file, and not subject to the same criteria, which is what the OP was asking about.

The statute barred status is another issue....

[charitynjw]

Re: Please Help, Welcome finance default date problem

Yes, but that is a default notice under s87 of the CCA74. Not the same thing as a default on your credit file, and not subject to the same criteria, which is what the OP was asking about.

The statute barred status is another issue....

.........but in this case, pretty important, as by my reckoning there is only about 3 months to go until it is SB - mind you, maths has never been my strong suit! :tinysmile_hmm_t2:

[Nibbler]

Re: Please Help, Welcome finance default date problem

.........but in this case, pretty important, as by my reckoning there is only about 3 months to go until it is SB - mind you, maths has never been my strong suit! :tinysmile_hmm_t2:

For 6 years since the account started and was never paid, yes. We don't know when Welcome sent any default/t notices, so if the principles in the BMW case apply (not that I'm 100% convinced they do), then the SB date could be some significant time later than October.

I agree with what you are implying though. That if the OP can work out from paperwork the latest point that it would be safely SB, AND they are not critically bothered about the default in the meantime, then they can afford to wait out the maximum time period for it to be SB before they argue the toss over the recent default date on the CRAs.