Default with Next PLC - Mail order

groovysuzie

Hi there

I just wondered if anyone had any luck with getting Next to remove a default. I am looking to buy a property and recently obtained a copy of my experian report and i have a default from next entered in August 2005 for £156 which is satisfied. I normally check my equifax report and it is not on there that is why i only recently spotted it.

I have written to next and raised the issue of whether i was served a default notice and they say that although they cant provide a copy of the intention to file the default notice it would have been sent.

I have entered into a polite exchange with the customer care department about this issue and this is the last response i received below:

"Thank you for your email dated 23 March.

I'm sorry to hear you are unhappy with the information we've sent, but I appreciate you giving us another opportunity to look into your concerns.

Next has a robust procedure for contacting customers whose account has fallen behind. There are of course statements (with messages that a customer's credit rating will be affected by arrears), letters, and finally after four months, the default notice.

Just to let you know, there is no statutory requirement to send a default notice before recording a default with the credit reference agencies. But Next always do, and although I'm afraid we don't have a copy of the original document on file, our systems can demonstrate when it was sent. As responsible lenders we have to accurately record the way an account has been conducted. So I'm sorry to advise you that we are unable to remove the default, and this decision is final.

We are grateful you contacted us again and I'm sorry we are unable to give you the response you had hoped for.

With kind regards "


I am aware the the default will come off this august however me and my husband have found a property that is the one and we would really like to go for it. I am aware that with this default it will be difficult to get a mortgage and even if we do it will be on onorous terms.

If anyone has had a good experience getting next to remove a default i would be interested to know what approach you adopted. I was thinking of writing to the company secretary and asking them to remove it as a gesture of goodwill. I have also raised in correspondence the issue of the amount being a low amount and it being on the file for 5.5 years already.

any help will be greatly appreciated.

lvm

Sorry no good experience but I contacted Next for a friend who was defaulted in November 2009 for £39 and she got a much briefer response than you did. Something along the lines of "we provide factual information to Credit References Agencies therefore can't remove this factual information" etc etc.

You never know - you might be ok if it's a joint mortgage and the default was so long ago.