provident...my new enemy...help??!!

big_jeffstar

Hi guys!!
i'm at my wits end with a lovely company i'm sure you've all heard of called "provident financial services" basically the story goes, i applied for a loan a few years ago and kept up payment for around 6 months, we moved address and they refused to send a collector out as they said "the hill is too dangerous to climb" (the hill that we managed to drive up and down every single day) .. during this time, provident never rang me, never returned my calls to the local office and never knocked on my door. (it was bliss) this continued until i realised it was probably too good to be true and finally spoke to the branch manager who "sent me out a payment card" this never arrived, i assumed they didn't want my money anymore and decided to forget about them, (at this point provident were not showing on my credit report)
I moved house again earlier this year and checked my credit report for an update, alas.. Provident had decided to make an appearance (after 2 and a half years) and they now said i was 8 payments behind.. (very true, although i would argue that they were 8 collections behind, but still..) I rang provident and decided to sort this out before it went any further, i offered to pay the full amount, they advised the that the debt was now with a collections agency but they weren't sure which one. They gave me two numbers to try, one was wescott finance (i have reason to believe this is providents own collections department) i rang them straight away to clear the balance, but they told me they could not find any amount owed from me on their system, so it couldn't possibly be held with them,
I tried the second number who seemed equally as confused and again had no idea which debt i was talking about. exasperated i rang provident again, they advised me that "someone would write to me within 10 working days" (this seems to be the generic response to any question aimed at the customer service team) around 10 days later i received a letter from wescott saying they were very sorry to hear i couldn't pay?? but were willing to offer me a settlement figure at 50% of the total amount of the loan. i rang them up straight away and paid in full, they said it would be registered with provident within the next 14 days and would be marked as settled on my credit file,
I checked my credit file the following day to find out provident had now place a default notice on my account, i assumed once the payment cleared with provident, this would be removed, but now they are refusing to do so, i paid wescott over a month ago and my credit file hasn't changed at all, it still says i have the full amount outstanding.. i've spoken to the relations team who have told me there's nothing that can be done, it has to stay on for the next 6 years regardless of the situation,
where do i stannd?/ do i have enough ground to request this to be remeoved, and if so, whats the quickest/most effective way of doing so.. i also never received a default letter informing me of the change to my credit report, i hear i should have been sent this via recorded delivery by law?
any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

Tixy

Hi
You should certainly be able to get the default marked as satisfied - ie that no money is owed.

They don't have to send out a notice of default recorded delivery, regular post is fine. Depending on the actual agreement not all creditors have to send out a default notice prior to issuing a default on a credit file, though I would expect that they would need to for a Provident loan.

What default date has been put on your file? how does that compare to the date you stopped paying & the date you paid the debt off?

Just as a thought - on your original loan agreement / application form with provident do they actually mention reporting to the credit reference agencies? presumably the do ask permission to do so? (I don't know if provident do or not).

big_jeffstar

well on my experian report, it doesn't actually state the default date, it only tells me the date my report was last updated, the last update day is the 11/9/11 i tried to ring and pay this amount on the 3rd of september, and actually paid wescott on the 15/9/11

Tixy

If there is a default registered there must be a default date?
Does it definitely say the account is in default (not just a missed payment marker)?

big_jeffstar

ah, i just foundn the default date, apparently it defaulted on the 18/7/11.. i fail to see how that can be possible as it wasn't showing on my credit fil until the update on the 11/9/11??
If they mark the default as "satisfied" will it look better to potential lenders?

Tixy

Some lenders only report adverse data, ie once there is an issue.
So the default would happen before the account was added.

A satisfied default will look a bit better than an unsatisfied one.