Defaulted account and debt sale

[friskydragon]

In normal circumstances a debt is defaulted and a default notice is sent prior to any type of debt sale. This much i know to be true. however I have arrears on an account from 2009 that has been sold to a debt purchaser called Lowell financial and has never been defaulted. I received no default notice, The account is no longer on my credit file at all, and Lowell have confirmed that they have no record of the account having been defaulted. What are my rights in this kind of situation.

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Defaulted account and debt sale

In normal circumstances a debt is defaulted and a default notice is sent prior to any type of debt sale. This much i know to be true. however I have arrears on an account from 2009 that has been sold to a debt purchaser called Lowell financial and has never been defaulted. I received no default notice, The account is no longer on my credit file at all, and Lowell have confirmed that they have no record of the account having been defaulted. What are my rights in this kind of situation.

If it's not on your credit file, there's no need to worry about it, as long as Lowell don't go and record a fresh default. Even if it wasn't officially defaulted in terms of issuing you with a DN, breaking the agreement with your creditor by failing to make contractual payments would meet the criteria set out by the ICO guidance for a default:http://ico.org.uk/~/media/documents/...%20%20doc.ashx

The definition of a default
9 A ‘default’ can be said to occur as soon as a borrower fails to meet the terms 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”².

²Definition of ‘Default Data’ from ‘Information Sharing – Principles of Reciprocity’ available from credit reference agencies or at http://www.experian.co.uk/corporate/...ing/index/html

As for the lack of default notice, that would really only come into play if you were taken to court for this debt.