old debt advice

shamen

Hello all.

bit of an odd situation here. In early 2005 i left the UK to work abroad. I had two personal loans and there were monthly payments on those. When i left the country, i left enough money in my current account to cover the fulfilment of the loans based on the repayment plan via direct debit. I expected to return to the UK after 5 years (which i now have) and have discovered some issues. Firstly, my current account was drained in 2005 by debit card, presumably one that was sent to my previous Uk address by the bank after I left (eg, the new tennants getting free money at my expense).

This led to my current account going into overdraft, then closed and default. Knock on effect was my loans were not paid. My own silly fault, i should have closed the account and paid everything in full but I was hoping for benefit of having my uk credit file showing good payments during the first few years of me being away, instead of no activity or accounts for many years.

Ive now returned and im living at a new address. I havent yet signed on the electoral roll, but i managed to gain access to creditexpert.co.uk to check my file based on my old address - and yep theres only two entries, defaults from june 2005 and June 2006 now owned by Lowell Portfolio I, totalling 755 and 900 respectively. A search for any CCJs or bankruptcy via trustonline showed no entries under my name at my previous address(es).

Now I have a predicament and where im looking for advice.

Firstly, if i call up these guys, give them my new address and settle the amounts owed, does that mean that the debt can report on my credit file for a further 6 years? Or will it disappear after 6 years of the original default? If i negotiate settlement for removal of the default from the account, will it still report, but just as "satisfied"?

Second issue, the default dates were june 2005 and june 2006 - how is it possible that one account (june 2006) took near 17 months of non payment to go into default or is this the action of an unscrupulous collection agency trying to hold on to the debt, and my credit file, longer? June 2005 sounds more like the "real" default date. Is lowel portfolio just reporting the date that i defaulted with them, after they bought this debt from the bank?

Third issue, if i go to other credit reporting agencies (eg checkmyfile) and put my current address and old addresses in order to gain access to the other bureaus, will this then automatically link my new address with the old one on my credit file, or can that only happen for such things as electoral role or new credit applications? I only ask this as i dont really want my current partner to have the stress of people turning up on the doorstep or writing to use chasing something.

Id like to stress here that im not shying away from the debt. I thought in good faith ihad covered it, only to find that years later thats not the case. I could try to go to the police over the actions of the tennant after me in the old house, but frankly for 1600 pounds its not worth my time, im more than happy to pay the debts off but what I dont want is something on my credit file for another 6 years, so im seriously considering waiting for the statute limit, i can financially live without credit for another 4 years or so but id really like a mortgage after that. Im also very concerned that checks on the other 2 bureaus may report credit taken out in my name and not paid for after i had left the country. If thats the case then i will go down the identity theft route, but i cant check for that until I get into my credit file with those companies (see third issue for my concern here), so

issue 4 - would credit taken out in my name and not paid/defaulted on report on all credit agencies or just one/two?

thanks for your valued advice. Id like to re-iterate that i know the original debt was mine and im not trying to get out of paying. Im just trying to get this done in a way that limits the damage to my current credit file in the best way possible - once my current address is linked to the old (likely when i sign the electoral roll soon).

Thanks again

MrsTinks

The date the 6 year drop off relates to is the date they were applied to your account not when or if you settle them.

You could try to hide for another couple of years but they may find you regardless... do you want to live in that fear till then?

£1600 - hello!!!! I'd be after them for £160 let alone 10 times that. It was YOUR money, and they stole it! More to the point... are you sure this is the only thing they did? You mention 2 debts or defaults - is it possible one was actually one taken out without your knowledge? There could be others out there you don't know about yet if they applied for credit in your name...

1 - 6 years from default date - it will be marked as settled if you pay it and therefor have a smaller impact on any credit applications.

2 - who knows... until you get the details of the accounts and debts it's very difficult to tell. Some creditors take awhile to register a default eventhough they are supposed to do so within 6 months of you defaulting the debt. I don't believe they HAVE to do it in 6 months but that they SHOULD... IYSWIM

3 - updating your credit files etc won't mean they'll turn up on your doorstep suddenly - more to the point you can infact retract permission for them to do so. Meaning people will only turn up if it goes to court and a CCJ is issued and you fail to pay the CCJ and bailiffs get involved...

4 - could show up on 1, 2 or all 3 - they are getting better at sharing information but it was only 3-4 years ago that none of my Lloyds accounts or loans were shown on Experian. I know that banks and loan companies often only use one of the agencies however...


Pay the debt, report the fraud and get it over and done with...

DarkConvict

Firstly i would goto the police as it is either theft/fraud/obtaining money by deception. It may be the tenants didn't do it but someone in the post office. You should notify the police and the bank over this situation. if they can chase the person they must be held accountable for their actions or they will do it again.

I assume when you left, you did not notify the bank that you were moving and would have no UK address?

1 - Anything on your credit file will last for 6 years from the date it was added. defaults drop off when the original default place date is 6 years old. Your accounts will drop off when they are closed, and as such they may have been closed on roughly the same day as a default.
The default once paid should within 30 days be marked as settled, but it honestly makes little impact so i read between still been owed and settled.

2 - Creditors can place defaults at any point, although they must place within 6 months (guideline no law) of notifying you they were placing a default on the account. One account may well have let it run a whole year before defaulting, another might have waited 4 weeks from first missed payment.
Do note the default placed date is not allowed to change, as such i would ask the original creditors (not lowell) but say the bank when the default was placed as these DCAs have a habit of breaking OFT rules by changing the date. Also you could do a SAR request on both creditors, if they failed to send default paperwork it is invalid and should be removed.

3 - When you do credit checks on yourself they will want your address for the last 6 years, as you have been away you will most likely need to ring up as it wouldn't be a straight forward application to see your file. It should link up your previous address to your new one. Many people who have applied for the report then find weeks later debt letter appear as it has linked them from an odd address to their new address. You can request that debt collectors only right not phone or visit, some will ignore you but as it is under DPA law and OFT guidelines they will comply and just write eventually. Only if they have a CCJ from a court can they turn up against your permission.

4 - Credit is reported to your file, which is held independently with all 3 providers, experian, equilifax and callcredit. They don't always hold all the information so if you want to chase or update things, you must notify all 3 agencies.

If you have any further trouble just ask.

Pay the debt, report the fraud and get it over and done with...

Yep, if you have the money get it sorted. You could offer to pay in full if you can afford it on the condition the defaults are removed. They care more about getting money than your file so do sometimes comply with that request.

m_13

As the offences with the tenant took place before the new Fraud Act 2006 then the theft of your money will be treated as theft, plain and simple. No fraud took place. Prior to Renault UK Limited v. FleetPro Technical Services Limited, Russell Thoms (High Court of Justice Queen’s Bench Division) (November 23, 2007), [2007] EWHC 2541 it was considered impossible to defraud a machine and fraud could only take place between two human beings so if somebody used your card in a cash machine, the machine could not be defrauded as it was not a person. However, if the card is not theirs the act of taking the money from the account is still theft.

Presumably the letter with the card arrived through the door and they used it.

I'd pursue it. As others have said, you don't know what else they have done or are still doing!