Help with phone bill default status on credit file

ssjw1000

Hi

I have a number of debts i am working to pay off and due to a few difficulties this year i ran a free experian credit report to check my status. Luckily everything is showing as satisfactory with all my creditors..except that i have just seen that i have a 'default' status registered by 'O2' on my file i knew nothing about dating back to november 2011...

I had a phone contract ith o2 about 3 years ago which i ended and took a few months to realise i owed them money but settled in full before i thought any problems would arise and then moved phone companies. This was deinately much earier than 2009. However they seem to have registered me on my credit file as having defualted on my agreement..and the ridiculous thing is that it is for a measely £12! I was not aware i owed them any money, otherwise i would have paid it back. This seems HIGHLY unfair that they have registered me as having defaulted and this will obviously seriously affect my credit rating, all over £12, when i have worked so hard to keep my rating ok despite struggling with repayments on other agreements ranging into thousands of pounds...

I feel realy really low about this, and that this is unjust treatment- i was completely oblivious to any £12 'debt' with them. Does anyone have any advice as to whether there is a way to get this removed from my credit file.. the report says it will stay there for another 4 years..it is gutting that a £12 balance i was unaware for will make lenders believe i default on agreements and so refuse/ penalise me on future credit for the next 4 years?

fermi

Why did it take you several months to realise that you still owed money?

Was that your fault or O2's?

Gordon_Hose

I assume you mean November 2010?

FireWyrm

ssjw1000 wrote: »

Hi

I have a number of debts i am working to pay off and due to a few difficulties this year i ran a free experian credit report to check my status. Luckily everything is showing as satisfactory with all my creditors..except that i have just seen that i have a 'default' status registered by 'O2' on my file i knew nothing about dating back to november 2011...

I assume this is an error?

ssjw1000 wrote: »

I had a phone contract ith o2 about 3 years ago which i ended and took a few months to realise i owed them money but settled in full before i thought any problems would arise and then moved phone companies. This was deinately much earier than 2009. However they seem to have registered me on my credit file as having defualted on my agreement..and the ridiculous thing is that it is for a measely £12! I was not aware i owed them any money, otherwise i would have paid it back. This seems HIGHLY unfair that they have registered me as having defaulted and this will obviously seriously affect my credit rating, all over £12, when i have worked so hard to keep my rating ok despite struggling with repayments on other agreements ranging into thousands of pounds...

OK, first port of call is O2. You need to speak to someone in authority there and ask them why the default exists. You may also be able to plead with them and have the default removed since it is such a small amount.

ssjw1000 wrote: »

I feel realy really low about this, and that this is unjust treatment- i was completely oblivious to any £12 'debt' with them. Does anyone have any advice as to whether there is a way to get this removed from my credit file.. the report says it will stay there for another 4 years..it is gutting that a £12 balance i was unaware for will make lenders believe i default on agreements and so refuse/ penalise me on future credit for the next 4 years?

I had a similar issue for a matter of £4.30 would you believe. Speak to someone at O2 as a matter of urgency and perhaps they'll see it as you do. I'd pay it immediately too, no arguments.

ssjw1000

Thanks for the replys all, really appreciated.

Sorry, i meant that the date is registered as NOVEMBER 2009. So it is almost 2 years ago now. I don't know what to do. i was not made aware of this as outstanding- i paid the amount i remember being told was outstanding about 3 years ago and as far as i was aware that was the account settled...

Noone has contacted me to state that i still owed £12 on the agreement, let alone that i was in default of the agreement- had i know i would never have let this happen! Am i unlikely to be able to do anything because it was almost 2 years old? How this could have happened seems really unfair- noone from O2 contacted me about any outstanding amounts- they should consider how seriously they are affecting people's status over a trvial amount that they have failed to inform that person properly about..any further help/ advice greatly appreciated- i would feel really depressed over this if i cannot do anything because it is such an old 'debt' i knew nothing about- my credit score rates as poor now, despite other payments etc on current (known about) agreements being near perfect and i can't believe this that i knew nothing about is letting me down and will do for 4 more years..

MrsTUS

Why have 2 people asked if the OPs made an error when he typed November 2011 - it's quite CLEARLY an error since we're only in July 2011...

Gordon_Hose

MrsTUS wrote: »

Why have 2 people asked if the OPs made an error when he typed November 2011 - it's quite CLEARLY an error since we're only in July 2011...

To clarify the date so we know the facts.

I'm surprised you received nothing from O2 really. What have they said this £12 is for? They can't just go from zero to default, they would have had to send out a letter giving you a last chance to pay off the remaining balance before they placed a default on your credit file.

Did you move house in-between closing your O2 account and noticing the default? O2 may have sent correspondance to an old address.

ssjw1000

No i have not moved hosue in the last 5 years.. and i had the old contract with O2 definately when i moved to this address 5 years ago- and cancelled it about 3.5 years ago. I definately do not remember receiving any notice of default or indeed any notice of outstanding debt from O2, or any debt recovery agencies working on their behalf.

As said, as far as i knew i had paid up the full outstanding amount owed to terminate the contract way back when the mix up happened 3.5+ years ago, which is when i was switching to another network provider- as far as i knew i had settled in full, upon their advice (no records kept to show this though). All i can think is that a letter got lost in the post somewhere- but then again, from experience debt collectors usually send you 4 or 5 letters before they do something as serious as register you as having defaulted don't they? And it doesn't explain why there was at least a year/ year and a half's delay before they put a note on my credit file in november 2009 as having defaulted, once again without having contacted me at my address.

I have at no point received anything to inform me this was outstanding, that i was in danger of defaulting on a contractual obligation (let alone a credit agreement) or even that there was any amount outstanding under the terms of my terminated contract...

My fear is that when i contact them they will claim that they sent me a letter several years ago to inform me, and that it is not their fault that i never received it, and so their actions where justified... But surely a phone company cannot get away with doing something this serious when i definately have not received any notification of outstanding debts to them (the fact that it is for the grand sum of £12 just adds insult to injury).

I have struggled with debts of nearly £10k for almost 2 years now, and have staved off considering bankruptcy etc for debts i am finding difficulty with in the hope that the situation will get better in the not too distant future (there is a very good chance it will) as i don't want my credit file affected for 6 odd years. To now think that my credit file has been ruined for the long term over a £12 phone bill is a massive blow.. once again i really appreciate any advice given by you all. In particular if there is any advice about how i can approach O2 all things considered i would greatly appreciate it (ie what procedure they should have taken to notify me of outstanding debt before registering a default , and how i can prove that this never happened , how best to approach them etc). Many thanks once again to those who have already replied.

Gordon_Hose

I would definitely recommend speaking to O2 about this outstanding amount. Only O2 are going to be able to answer your questions, and ultimately, remove the default if they have made a mistake.

ssjw1000

A bit late but just to say many thanks all.. it was a bit of a headache but managed to get O2 to remove finally - it took a month but they agreed in the end! Thanks to all once again for the advise.