Help with Defaults - in desperate need

stapeley

It could be that there is a unwritten agreement between OC and a DCA,s that if a partial settlement is accepted, credit files will still show that there has been a problem with the account . A credit supplier wants to know how the person applying for new credit has conducted his credit over the last six years . Right or wrong there has to be something in place for them to judge if you are credit worthy. Unfortunately there is a problem with proof of delivery with catalogue companies , deliveries are often easily handed over to third parties with only a scribble and often to neighbours. Not surprising it throws up problems.

Hippocampus

stapeley wrote: »

It could be that there is a unwritten agreement between OC and a DCA,s that if a partial settlement is accepted, credit files will still show that there has been a problem with the account

Which is why it is so important to ensure that there is a written agreement to remove ALL adverse markers. Cabot isn't a DCA as such in any case, and buys debts rather than chase on behalf of the OC. So it is they who continue the reporting of defaults once a debt is in their hands. The original creditor has b*gger all to do with it from that point on, as the assignment is absolute.

I don't expect Cabot to do as requested. But miracles HAVE been known to happen. And if it's either/or for them, they might just come through. But I'm not going to hold my breath. In which case, I imagine that'll be £250 they can kiss goodbye to. Again.

pinkerton_angel

Ok, so I wrote to them saying my agreement was only if they took off my default(s) they appear to have registered 2 for the same debt!
They wrote numerous times confirming the 'agreement' we'd made and that £250 was in full and final settlement and then sent letters of how to pay, reminders etc. I wrote to them again re-iterating that this was not what I agreed and that full and final settlement was not what I asked for (ie no mention of defaults) I then get another letter confirming the agreement and that £250 would be for full and final settlement and that the defaults would be marked as satisfied. The time limit for the payment ends this Friday so I phoned them up last night and told them that this wasn't what I agreed and that I wouldn't be paying anything until this happened. They informed me that the only way defaults could ever be removed was if they were fraudulent accounts, I said this was rubbish as they could (and had) been removed if they had been placed on accounts incorrectly, lots or 'arguing' she asked where I intended to go next and I said it would have to be court to get it removed. She said if I had paperwork to back it all up they could look at it, I said I'd sent it all but it appeared that no-one had bothered to look at it. She said she was just going to see what correspondence they'd received from Next - which didn't take long as they had no paperwork to provide! She then went off for about 20 minutes whilst she discussed it with someone else. When she came back she said they'd looked at my paperwork and would be referring it to one of their legal team and were going to put a case to them to see if it could be removed. She is phoning me back on Friday to let me know. So, maybe a step forward, we'll see...
Watch this space...

Fire_Fox

Were you on hold for 20 minutes?? Be careful, what she says on the phone can be a twisted version of the truth. Good or bad, ask her to put EVERYTHING she says to you into writing. And make sure you don't say on the phone that you accept any part of the debt just in case they are recording the conversation. Have your letter in front of you and read from it if you forget what to say!

pinkerton_angel

Thanks Firefox, I won't be paying anything until it's in black and white. I wasn't overly confident of what I was saying on the phone but I made sure I said I disputed the whole debt.
Will see what they come back with tomorrow.

pinkerton_angel

Well they've finally got back to me having spoken to the legal team and said that they've confirmed the debt is unenforceable as Next couldn't provide the paperwork but that they have to mark the account as defaulted as there is money owed. I challenged this and said Next had put it on incorrectly as the account was in dispute and weren't able to provide evidence of what I owed them. We argued this.
She then said I have 2 options, I can pay the settlement figure and they will mark the account as satisfied or they will put the account as unrecoverable and won't chase me for the debt. I told her there was little advantage from it being marked as satisfied to which we argued some more.
I've told her to put it all in writing to me and I'll make my decision from that.
What should I do????

pinkerton_angel

Well I wrote back to them clarifying that I would not be paying them anything and standing by the fact that the default should not be on there and given them one more chance to remove it or I will be proceeding with court action, only thing is I now have no idea how to do that - can someone help please??!!

pinkerton_angel

Anyone? please??

RAS

bump this up

GeorgeUK

I'm afraid i don't have any experience with trying to get defaults removed other than my letter attempt posted above. As you are now possibly moving in to the legal area to get this resolved, i suggest you put a post on the consumeractiongroup board under legal issues. Hopefully they will be able to advise on what can be done especially as you were disputing the debt at the time of default due to not receiving goods.

Where they have stated that they cannot remove a default, they are either mistaken or don't know what they are talking about. It may take some time to get a reply on the CAG board, but it is definately worth trying.