Information Commissioner

Clifford_Evans

To anybody that is interested.
I have just reported Lowell portfolio and Experian to the Information Commissioner.
I challenged Lowell on a debt that they were chasing me for as it was statute barred, They came back and Agreed and confirmed that this was the case and that they had closed the account and stated that I owed £0.00. I then asked that they remove the default from my credit reference as the debt was over 6 years old, the have refused. I sent a copy of the letter stating that the balance was £0.00, to be told that they could not change the default without the owners permission. This I am challenging as they are bound by the data protection act to hold correct information. The OFT have told me that if the debt is statute barred then it is over 6 years old and there for should not show on the credit reference. The outcome of this challenge could affect quite a lot of people on this forum. It may take some time, but I will keep you informed of the result.:T

Tixy

What is the date of the default?

Its possible for a debt to be statute barred but for the default to remain on file for a few months more (if the default was filed say 6months after the last payment). If this is the case then it would be correct to still show on your file for a few more months.

Clifford_Evans

The debt defaults from the last payment on an account or last contact with lender, both of which were in 2004. They are saying that the default date is when the lender defaults it which according to OFT and National Debt Helpline is wrong! They are defaulting the account 3 or 4 years later !!

Tixy

Clifford_Evans wrote: »

The debt defaults from the last payment on an account or last contact with lender, both of which were in 2004.

The default is not the date of last payment on account or the last contact with the lender - that would be the relevant date for a debt becoming statute barred but not the default date that should be recorded on your credit file.

Clifford_Evans wrote: »

They are saying that the default date is when the lender defaults it which according to OFT and National Debt Helpline is wrong!

A default is recorded after they have sent out a default notice and given you chance to rectify the account.

Clifford_Evans wrote: »

They are saying that the default date is when the lender defaults it which according to OFT and National Debt Helpline is wrong! They are defaulting the account 3 or 4 years later !!

A default would usually be registered 3-4months after you missed a payment, or fell into arrears (or if its something like an overdraft the default date would usually be a month or so after they recalled an overdraft.)

Your argument needs to be that they did not default your account in a timely manner. The ICO guidance on recording a default suggests that it should usually be after 3 months of arrears and before 6months of arrears. I would read up on the ICO guidance so you know which clauses to quote in your argument about the default being entered so late.

StrangelyBrown

Clifford_Evans wrote: »

They are defaulting the account 3 or 4 years later !!

They have done this to me as well!

I recently checked my report and whilst I was expecting a default, it was only logged towards the end of last year - but I haven't made a payment or any contact regarding the account since at least 2007/08.

Now I'm not sure what to do:

a) Wait another year or so until the original debt is statute-barred, but put up with the default being on there for another 5 years
or
b) Challenge the default date so that it only stays on my report for another year or so, but in doing so acknowledge the debt and reset the clock.

Am I right in thinking that the statute-barred clock starts ticking after the last acknowledgement / contact / payment and importantly doesn't get reset if the debt is sold on?