CCJ/Credit Score Help

Baggio18

Hi all,

Just some advice needed.

Yesterday I ordered a copy of my credit score and was horrified to see the information as below:

1) CCJ - Bannatyne Fitness.

Basically what happened with this was that I had a gym membership in 05 with Livingwell (before the takeover). In 2006 I signed a new contract with Bannatyne which was a price promise to match the old Livingwell prices. I decided to leave the gym at the end of 2006 to join Virgin active, I asked a member of staff what the cancellation period was and he informed me only a month as I had been there since 05 despite signing a new contract in 06. I gave a months notice and cancelled my DD.

I was shocked to see on my credit report that I had a CCJ issued against me for £221 for unpaid fees, this was issued on 20/12/07. I called their head office who said I should have given 3 months notice and this was in my T & C's.

I had moved house in Oct 06 and all of the court correspondance had gone to my old address. As I had left the gym I had no reason to give them a new address. The CCJ was unknown to me until I ordered my credit report last night.

What do I do about this? I feel I have been wronged basically as I have spent the last 6 years repairing my credit file and feel like I am being punished due to their incompetent staff.

2) RBS

I had a 4 missed payments from a 5 year loan I had with the above. Now this is impossible as the standing order was set up 5 years ago and remained unchanged for the whole term. They are looking into this but how to I rectify it on my credit report. What impact will this have?

3) Santander

Same situation as above, 3 missed payments from when Alliance and Leicester cocked up a current account which I had closed.

Regards


Mark.

wine_night

Hi Mark

With regards to the CCJ, do you have a copy of the terms and conditions that relate to your membership, which head office have referenced? Check the paperwork that you signed when you took out the contract with Bannatyne- have you signed to confirm that you have read/understood/agreed to abide by the terms of conditions? If you have signed such a document, and the terms and conditions state that you are required to provide three months notice in writing then this document will stand up in court.

On the other hand if you haven't signed to confirm that you have read/received/understood the terms and conditions etc and if you had perhaps an email from the staff member that stated that you had only had to provide 1 month's notice to cancel the membership then you may have a case. You will need to check the terms of your contract and check what you have signed up for. You could potentially apply to set the judgement aside, but if Bannatyne's have a signed contract from you that ties you to those T&Cs then they would most likely win the case. Obtain a copy of these if you haven't already done so. You should also be able to request a copy of your contract from Bannatyne's if you don't have it.

There may also be a clause in the contract that requires you to keep them updated with your address and contact details. Did you keep them updated with your other contact details, eg telephone numbers and email addresses? If they had these details and they were current then they should have tried to contact you by these means. Although if a County Court Claim form is issued and not returned from the address it is sent to then it is deemed to be served.

If you concluded that you did sign up to the contract and their terms and conditions as they have stated, then could you pay the debt in full? If so you could do this and request that the creditor sends you a letter of satisfaction upon payment clearance which you can forward to the court to record on your record against the CCJ. If you choose to do this ensure that you communicate with them in writing so that you have a record of it in case you need to take it legal.

Hope that helps, I'm afraid I don't know enough about the other credit rating parts to advise.

Best wishes

wine_night

Baggio18 wrote: »

Hi all,

Just some advice needed.

Yesterday I ordered a copy of my credit score and was horrified to see the information as below:

1) CCJ - Bannatyne Fitness.

Basically what happened with this was that I had a gym membership in 05 with Livingwell (before the takeover). In 2006 I signed a new contract with Bannatyne which was a price promise to match the old Livingwell prices. I decided to leave the gym at the end of 2006 to join Virgin active, I asked a member of staff what the cancellation period was and he informed me only a month as I had been there since 05 despite signing a new contract in 06. I gave a months notice and cancelled my DD.

I was shocked to see on my credit report that I had a CCJ issued against me for £221 for unpaid fees, this was issued on 20/12/07. I called their head office who said I should have given 3 months notice and this was in my T & C's.

I had moved house in Oct 06 and all of the court correspondance had gone to my old address. As I had left the gym I had no reason to give them a new address. The CCJ was unknown to me until I ordered my credit report last night.

What do I do about this? I feel I have been wronged basically as I have spent the last 6 years repairing my credit file and feel like I am being punished due to their incompetent staff.

2) RBS

I had a 4 missed payments from a 5 year loan I had with the above. Now this is impossible as the standing order was set up 5 years ago and remained unchanged for the whole term. They are looking into this but how to I rectify it on my credit report. What impact will this have?

3) Santander

Same situation as above, 3 missed payments from when Alliance and Leicester cocked up a current account which I had closed.

Regards


Mark.

Baggio18

Hi there,

Many thanks for your detailed reply.

Its looking likely that they will win as they do hold a signed copy of the T & C's from me. I have asked they forward it in the post to me. I do not have any letter of cancellation although I did write one, as this was 5 years ago I have had numerous computers since then so there is no way of retrieving it.

I can offer to pay the debt in full but the important thing for me is the CCJ that sits on my credit file for 6 years. This is what hurts the most, all because of a silly communication error.

Mark.

wine_night

Glad I could be of help. At least it will come off your file in three years' time and in the meantime you should be able to get the debt satisfied via the court once it has been paid.

Good luck!

Baggio18 wrote: »

Hi there,

Many thanks for your detailed reply.

Its looking likely that they will win as they do hold a signed copy of the T & C's from me. I have asked they forward it in the post to me. I do not have any letter of cancellation although I did write one, as this was 5 years ago I have had numerous computers since then so there is no way of retrieving it.

I can offer to pay the debt in full but the important thing for me is the CCJ that sits on my credit file for 6 years. This is what hurts the most, all because of a silly communication error.

Mark.

Tixy

Hi
You need to get a copy of the judgement - I think if you contact the court they will supply you with this. Then check it over. I don't think you would have any reason to get the judgement set aside but might be worth a read of this factsheet just in case anything seems to apply - http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/factsheet.php?page=12_how_to_set_aside_a_judgment_in_the_county_court
Aside from that pay it and ensure it is marked as satisfied on your report.

2 - you need to look into this. Check the dates etc. I know what sometimes happens when you pay by standing order rather than DD is that when its bank holidays etc it can cause your payments to actually arrive at their account a day late. Maybe this has happened here?
Whilst it won't look good on your report in truth it will be insignificant compared to the CCJ.

3 - depends on the details. If A&L have admitted in the past it was their fault and you have a letter from them to that effect you might have a chance of getting them removed, otherwise you will probably struggle and it certainly won't be simple. Getting anything changed on your report always takes months and a lot of hassle.