Credit mark from written off debt, but account stayed open.

[mitty68]

This is a bit of a weird one, which I'm not sure what to do about!

I'm in the process of cleaning/correcting my credit file (and I'm almost there!), but I have an old Alliance & Leicester debt which is still on my file. Like many people I experienced financial difficulties during 2008 and an overdraft of £750 turned into £1400 due to charges and I'm pretty sure that the account was defaulted. However the account is now listed on my credit file as a Santander account and it is not listed as a default. Instead from March 2008 to June 2010, every month is listed as being 3 months late, then for 6 months after that, every month is listed as being 6 months late and then mysteriously in December 2010 the account is shown as settled with zero balance. I presume this is in some way related to the Alliance & Leicester being bought out by Santander in mid 2010.

Obviously I can request info from Santander to establish if there was a default and question them on the accuracy of my credit file, but what I want to know is what are the rules surrounding a delinquent account? If they didn't apply for a default, can a bank just keep an account open, owing money, as this would suggest that they could use this to effectively keep a debt "alive" forever. Having a default on your credit file is never a good thing, but if they had applied a default when the account was delinquent (which they may well have done, but it doesn't show on my credit file), then in a few weeks this account would be removed from my credit file due to the 6 year rule. Instead it is currently going to stay on my file until December 2016.

[ncf355]

Re: Credit mark from written off debt, but account stayed open.

Hi Have you literally paid nothing into the account since 2008?

if not, it would be worth getting in touch with them and stating that you consider the debt statute barred and you require them to remove it from your credit file due to it reaching Default in excess of 6 years ago

You need to be absolutely sure about the SB status first though!

[mitty68]

Re: Credit mark from written off debt, but account stayed open.

Not a penny - and looking at my account again, wtf is it doing showing my credit records from 2007?

Screenshot attached from credit report dated today:

[ncf355]

Re: Credit mark from written off debt, but account stayed open.

I wouldn't worry too much about the 2007 thing, just a weird display

I'd be inclined to write to them clearly stating at the top of the letter you acknowledge no debt to them and stating you believe the account to be statute barred, also that Default was reached at the very latest in July 2008, so they are reporting damaging data beyond the recognised 6 year limit.

I would also be asking for compensation from them for this.

[ncf355]

Re: Credit mark from written off debt, but account stayed open.

Point them to the ICO guidance that states a Default must be reported within 3-6 months of non payment, if it is to be reported at all.


It's worth searching for ICO guidance on Defaults and having a good read so you understand what you're quoting to them

[mitty68]

Re: Credit mark from written off debt, but account stayed open.

As it was an overdraft, what is the position regarding "missed payments"? I can't remember the exact situation because it was so long ago, but I presume the account was delinquent from Mar 2008 because that is when the missed payments start on my record and that tallies with when my financial situation went seriously downhill.

Also as they bought out A&L, does that mean that all credit agreements had to be individually assigned to Santander? I've never signed anything with them and I'm pretty sure I was never informed of my account being transferred (though it is a possibility). I'll fire a letter off to them and see what happens, but if they want to be awkward about it, I doubt very much they have all their paperwork in order.

[ncf355]

Re: Credit mark from written off debt, but account stayed open.

Overdrafts etc tend to be a bit awkward when it comes to agreement paperwork - they don't have to follow the same rules as say a loan or credit card, so any battle regards enforceability is a lot tougher and would likely come down to the discretion of a judge


Although the 'missed payments' thing is a bit different, I still think those are the grounds you need to base a complaint to them on

The fact that you made absolutely no payment, yet they carried on the 3,3,3, rubbish is clear evidence they have misreported your data

I'll try and put up a letter for you to use a bit later

[nemesis45]

Re: Credit mark from written off debt, but account stayed open.

The CRA file show an arrangement to situation I think.
IF such an arrangement is in place then the entry will continue to be displayed.
Did you at any time receive a default notice?
If so did you make an arrangement to pay
Missed payments and Overdrafts this usually means the account holder is not servicing the
account on a regular basis.
What I can tell you is that the [S] marker in 2010 indicates the debt has been settled/satisfied so with the account seriously delinquent my guess is that the account has been sold on to debt purchaser, but as often happened in the past with accounts Satans Bank has inherited through mergers and take overs the credit reporting has failed to be properly completed.

Your approach should be a Formal Complaint to the Data Controller at Santander which must then fully investigate and respond within 56 days after which it the response is unacceptable you can take the matter to FOS.

Have you checked the other CRA's which will likely have the same data, add notices of dispute/correction on each entry.

If a debt becomes statute barred while the default has " time to run" the entry remains on file. The same applies to debts " written off".

[ncf355]

Re: Credit mark from written off debt, but account stayed open.

Nem,

OP states at the start of the thread that he/she has made NO payments since 2008 when the difficulty arose

So, if the start of that tallys with the first (in a series of) '2' markers at March 2008, whether they served a Default notice or not, this data should have been removed by now

If OP was indeed making no payments whatsoever from early 2008, they would have no justification whatsoever in continuing to update this data on CRA files - it should be dead via the accepted 6 year rule, as even if we take the Default date as the latest possible suggested by the ICO (6 months after first non payment) that would put the Default at August (possibly September at a push?) 2008 so it follows that this account should have been removed from all CRA data by August/September last year.

The above assumes that the OP is correct in his/her thoughts that no payments have been made since early 2008, of course.

I dont agree that FOS are the route to take - this is the ICO's area, not FOS

The way to approach this is (as you say) to first approach the creditor asking for the data to be removed with immediate effect (as I stated above, also making sure to state you do not recognise the debt and consider it statute barred) and asking for a response within 14 days.

I wouldn't be anywhere near as generous as 56 days - where do you get this timeline from Nem?

I'm assuming some statutory timeframe related to DPA?

However, from personal experience, Santander have been quite quick to respond to such things - just not always in the manner one might like!

If they come back stating they will not change the data and give reasons, come back on here for further advice or if they state non removal is their final position on the matter, make a formal complaint to the ICO as Santander seem to be ignoring the ICO's own guidelines in this area (whilst the ICO may not be able to enforce their position, if they ruled in your favour it would certainly support any court action you may take)

Though in my personal run ins with Santander around this very same area, they were quite spooked by a complaint to the iCO and ended up offering quite a nice deal to get me to end the complaint.

[nemesis45]

Re: Credit mark from written off debt, but account stayed open.

The account has it appears Not been defaulted and remains live although showing Settled in 2010.
There has it seems been only one CRA check, there is a distinct possibility that this is an " archived " file improperly handled.
56 days is the formally agreed time scale for a Formal Complaint to be investigated and responded to.
The ICO's Guidance on Defaults changed quite considerably in 2014 in respect of recording of " markers" for AP's etc.
The protection allowed to CRA's on the validity of data means effectively that the data subject should make the complaint to the entity providing the data, provision is made for placing notices of dispute/correction on suspect files
I agree the ICO is the way to go once a response to a Formal Complaint has been received as would the regulators expect to have been done.

[Nibbler]

Re: Credit mark from written off debt, but account stayed open.

This is one of those cases where you can refer any eventual complaint to BOTH the FOS and ICO. They will look at the complaint from slightly different perspectives, but the FOS has ironically in some respects more practical 'teeth' as far as a consumer goes.

In any complaint I would say that you will be referring it to both.

With FOS you have to give the company 56 days (8 weeks) to send a final response before you can formal refer to the FOS, whereas the ICO advises you give the company 28 days to respond at which point you send a reminder letter. So allowing additional time for a reply to that it brings the timescales of the two complaint routes more or less in sync.

You can also call the FOS now.

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.u...complaints.htm

We can help by contacting the business for you, and telling them about your complaint.

Sometimes they will do that for you. Sometimes they won't.

You still have to wait out the 8 weeks if the company does not respond sooner, but a letter from the FOS at this early stage can have a big impact and get things sorted sooner rather than later.

If this record is still in Santander's name, then may be worth CCing any complaint to ceo@santander.co.uk

The CEO office at Santander is one that has in the past again got quick results on complaints that otherwise fell on deaf ears.

[mitty68]

Re: Credit mark from written off debt, but account stayed open.

I think I'll cut out the ICO and FOS part for now. I'll write a letter to Santander and expect I'll get a fob off letter. Then I'll send a well written Notice before action. In my experience that usually works? If not then I'll go down the ICO/FOS route. Either way I can't see how they can claim the CRA details are accurate.

In 2008 things went seriously wrong for me and I basically gave up due to the weight of my debts and waited to be made bankrupt by one of my many creditors. I didn't even pay my mortgage for almost a year but fortunately I managed to get that one back on track. Presumably due to the number of other people in my situation, I was never actually chased for any of the other debts until a couple of them resurfaced via Lowells/BC a couple of years ago (which the court recently threw out due to paperwork). Anyway point I'm making is that I was a financial basket case for the whole period 2008 - 2014 so I can say 100% that nothing was paid.

[ncf355]

Re: Credit mark from written off debt, but account stayed open.

The account has it appears Not been defaulted and remains live although showing Settled in 2010.
There has it seems been only one CRA check, there is a distinct possibility that this is an " archived " file improperly handled.
56 days is the formally agreed time scale for a Formal Complaint to be investigated and responded to.
The ICO's Guidance on Defaults changed quite considerably in 2014 in respect of recording of " markers" for AP's etc.
The protection allowed to CRA's on the validity of data means effectively that the data subject should make the complaint to the entity providing the data, provision is made for placing notices of dispute/correction on suspect files
I agree the ICO is the way to go once a response to a Formal Complaint has been received as would the regulators expect to have been done.

Hi,

Yes, archived file would seem to make sense - appalling really!

Thanks for the info re the 56 days, noted!

:tinysmile_grin_t:

[Nibbler]

Re: Credit mark from written off debt, but account stayed open.

Up to you, but I always feel it's best to give them a kick from every direction you legitimately can using as many boots as you can. Santander have a habit of ignoring simple complaint letters at the best of times.

[ncf355]

Re: Credit mark from written off debt, but account stayed open.

Up to you, but I always feel it's best to give them a kick from every direction you legitimately can using as many boots as you can. Santander have a habit of ignoring simple complaint letters at the best of times.

Would agree, Santander could save themselves a LOT of time and money if they just responded correctly to initial complaints