Credit File Special Instruction Indicator: Debt Assigned - help needed!!

nothingwitty

Hello folks,

I took out a loan with Citifinancial in May 2006. Since then, I have repaid the required amount every month. I have never missed or had a late payment.

On Saturday I received a letter from a group called MoneyWay stating that they had been assigned the debt by Citifinancial. I recevied a similar letter from Citifinancial. Both said my direct debit would now be taken by MoneyWay and that I did not need to do anything.

On logging into my credit file this morning I discovered that the latest update regarding the status of my Citifinancial loan has been interestingly altered. It now states that the Current Balance is Settled. A good thing. However, it also has a marker - 'Special Instruction Indicator: Debt Assigned'. I do not like the look of this. Will it affect my credit rating, even though I have done nothing wrong? Do I continue to pay these MoneyWay people as I did Citifinancial. Does the debt remain enforceable even though I had no dealings with MoneyWay?

Your comments/thoughts would be much appreciated.

nothingwitty

Anyone who can advise.. Please??

sporedude

Looks pretty bad, Id ask the company you took the loan out with for an explanation.

nothingwitty

Spoke with Experian who say the marker is the equivilant of a default, even though I never missed a payment.

Spoke with Citifinancial who claim they can sell the loan on as they please and I do not have to have defaulted for them to do so. The marker they have placed on my credit file is the 'standard' marker for such procedures. I explained that Experian had said it would most likely have a sever effect on my credit rating. They didn't care. I asked what right they had to give my personal details to another company, including my bank details, without my permission. They claimed its within their rights to do so!!

FSA say they can do nothing to help as it was an unsecured loan. Gave me OFT''s number who say they can do nothing as it's a financial services query and I should contact the FSA....

[Deleted User]

A special instruction indicator is a note appended to the credit record to show a particular arrangement has been applied to the account. It can be negative, so worth checking with your bank.

It may just be that it's their way of noting that the debt has been assigned to another company, but why they're doing this is still worth checking. If only because it may be a clerical error: they may have classified your debt as 'bad' and sold it on, even though it sounds like it's not.

[Deleted User]

Sorry, just posted at the same time as you.

If you have made payments on time, never been late and stuck to the terms of your credit agreement, they have no legal basis to place a marker on your account that damages your credit rating.

Am sure someone else will point to the relevant regulation, but speaking from a legal viewpoint, this is very much true.

If you look at your credit report, when did the 'special instruction start date' occur. Once you have this, work out who to contact: if it's before the debt was sold on, go to Citi Financial, otherwise the new biz.

naijapower

They have acted wrongly. I would start by making a formal complaint to Citi financial

pjhrt

I had the same letter and, same as you, took the loan out in 2006 and have never missed a payment. I had assumed that Citi were just selling the debt on as part of their structural reorganisation...but now I'm worried too. Glad I saw this and would be glad of advice as well.

boogieprice

This is really interesting reading. I have received no communications from either Citi or Moneyway about the transfer of my loan - I only realised when they stopped taking money from me. I can imagine the excuse they'll use will be "lost in the post" due to the current !!!!-up with Royal Mail. What a pain. Can they just sell loans like this?

kellou22_2

i had exactly the same thing happen to me and the have all said they could do nothing since citi had the right to sell my loan on . Again i missed no payments with them and have this marker on my credit file. however (although wish id noticed sooner) citi did not pass on my details correctly as moneyway dont have my new address they didnt have a conatct number and have now told me i owe 765 as ive missed the final 5 payments of my loan. (this was transfered to them in sept 2009) and all the payments went through right up until may 2011 and i only know now because someone from my address of 2 years ago put a letter through my door which was sent by moneyways debt collection agency