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8 months of Loan Hell!

moneymad45
Posts: 4 Newbie
in Loans
Hello everyone,
I have had quite an experience with my loan over the last 8 months. I am hoping that it is nearly sorted out now. I am interested to find out it if the Loan company have broken any laws because they were very keen to offer me £300 "as a gesture of good will" to resolve my complaint. If anyone knows the law on this or has had a similar experience, please let me know.
I had a loan in 2009 which was sold on to a debt recovery company. I shall refer to this company as ABCXYZ. So, after defaulting on the loan and moving to a reduced payment scheme for a period of months I was in a position to offer an amount of money to partially pay off the debt with a settlement figure. On 15th December 2011 I called ABCXYZ and completed the payment over the phone and they were happy that the account was settled. Three days later I received a confirmation letter to say the account was now closed, happy days! BUT......the following day, 19th December, I got a letter from the loan company to say that the debt had been sold to different debt collection company effective from 2nd December.
After a lot of going back and forth between some very unhelpful call centre staff who couldn’t help for various reasons I finally contacted the original loan company who wanted to pass me onto ABCXYZ, the collection company. I had to insist that I needed to speak to them because I had tried all that before. 45 minutes later, the very helpful Karen agreed that they had received the payment on 15th Dec and that they would contact the debt collection companies and solicitors to advise the account is settled. An offer of £300 as compensation was offered for my troubles.
What I want to know is has there been any foul play because ABCXYZ should not have accepted my payment on 15th Dec because they did not own the debt at that time because it had been passed to another company which I would be informed of 4 days later.
To top it off I now have a bad mark on my previously exemplary credit report (Experian) to show the account has not been paid for 8 months. This, of course is through no fault of my own and now I am worried I could find it difficult to get credit because of it.
Sorry to waffle on but hopefully someone found it a good read!
Any advice or guidance is greatly received
Many Thanks
I have had quite an experience with my loan over the last 8 months. I am hoping that it is nearly sorted out now. I am interested to find out it if the Loan company have broken any laws because they were very keen to offer me £300 "as a gesture of good will" to resolve my complaint. If anyone knows the law on this or has had a similar experience, please let me know.
I had a loan in 2009 which was sold on to a debt recovery company. I shall refer to this company as ABCXYZ. So, after defaulting on the loan and moving to a reduced payment scheme for a period of months I was in a position to offer an amount of money to partially pay off the debt with a settlement figure. On 15th December 2011 I called ABCXYZ and completed the payment over the phone and they were happy that the account was settled. Three days later I received a confirmation letter to say the account was now closed, happy days! BUT......the following day, 19th December, I got a letter from the loan company to say that the debt had been sold to different debt collection company effective from 2nd December.
After a lot of going back and forth between some very unhelpful call centre staff who couldn’t help for various reasons I finally contacted the original loan company who wanted to pass me onto ABCXYZ, the collection company. I had to insist that I needed to speak to them because I had tried all that before. 45 minutes later, the very helpful Karen agreed that they had received the payment on 15th Dec and that they would contact the debt collection companies and solicitors to advise the account is settled. An offer of £300 as compensation was offered for my troubles.
What I want to know is has there been any foul play because ABCXYZ should not have accepted my payment on 15th Dec because they did not own the debt at that time because it had been passed to another company which I would be informed of 4 days later.
To top it off I now have a bad mark on my previously exemplary credit report (Experian) to show the account has not been paid for 8 months. This, of course is through no fault of my own and now I am worried I could find it difficult to get credit because of it.
Sorry to waffle on but hopefully someone found it a good read!
Any advice or guidance is greatly received
Many Thanks
0
Comments
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Sorry, but I don't see anything that's out of the ordinary as you've explained it.
This is one of those occasions when you should have done everything via letter.. I forget the exact terminology but you should have gotten the ABCXYZ collection company to agree that they accepted your full & final offer in full payment and that your debt would not be sold on. See template letter and information here: http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/factsheet.php?page=24_full_and_final_settlement_offers
Surely your credit file was already trashed by:I had a loan in 2009 which was sold on to a debt recovery company. I shall refer to this company as ABCXYZ. So, after defaulting on the loan and moving to a reduced payment scheme for a period of months
Research is key on things like this. I'd take the £300 and run!I was a DFW, now I'm a MFW :T0 -
It is advised when making partial settlements to get written confirmation that the payment will be accepted in full & final settlement and that you will not be chased by anyone further for this debt.
Whether the creditor had given permission for the first debt collector to accept a reduced settlement would depend on what agreement they had between them - and I doubt that is something you would be able to find out.
Debts are sometimes passed by the creditor from 1 debt collector to another and I guess its possible that there was a cross over between the first DCA being informed that the creditor wanted them to cease collection activities by post etc.
I suspect they could argue that it was just a timing issue or error. That said the fact that they have offered you £300 is good news, and would tend to suggest something on the paper trail was incorrect.
As well as the £300 offer, have they agreed that the debt is fully paid? Or are they still expecting you to pay the remainder of the debt?
In terms of your credit file - you say it was previously exemplary - was there not already a default or at least missed payments from when you first missed payments in 2009 and it was passed to the first DCA?
£300 seems like a pretty good offer over all. If there was nothing previously negative on your credit file before Dec 11 then you could certainly try pushing for them to remove the late payment markers as well.A smile enriches those who receive without making poorer those who giveor "It costs nowt to be nice"0 -
moneymad45 wrote: ».....has there been any foul play because ABCXYZ should not have accepted my payment on 15th Dec
No foul play, just a c***-up, for which you have been compensated quite generously.moneymad45 wrote: »To top it off I now have a bad mark on my previously exemplary credit report (Experian) to show the account has not been paid for 8 months. This, of course is through no fault of my own and now I am worried I could find it difficult to get credit because of it.
You can get the entry of those 8 months late payments removed. But not the entry for your default and the "Arrangement to pay". That took care of your "exemplary credit record" for quite a few years to come.moneymad45 wrote: »So, after defaulting on the loan and moving to a reduced payment scheme for a period of months0 -
Thanks to everyone who posted on this. Maybe I am thinking too much but initially, they only offered £100 and then upped it to £300 in the space of about 5 minutes. It makes me think they are using the £300 as hush money so I don't take it any further, ombudsman etc....
Thanks again0 -
moneymad45 wrote: »Thanks to everyone who posted on this. Maybe I am thinking too much but initially, they only offered £100 and then upped it to £300 in the space of about 5 minutes. It makes me think they are using the £300 as hush money so I don't take it any further, ombudsman etc....
Thanks again
Hush money for what? Mistake that has been rectified. You defaulted on the loan so your credit file cannot be exemplary with this on it. The 8 late markers should perhaps be removed if you had been making the payments as required, but if you had missed any, they should also show as this AP is deemed to be a different contract and obligation.0 -
£300 does seem very generous considering it is quite a minor error and perhaps does want to head off any temptation you have to take it further. I don't think you'd get anything more if you did take it further.
You'd already trashed your own credit rating by defaulting and then not paying back the full amount you had contractually agreed to. I doubt any additional damage was done.
Another vote for take the money and run, especially since this is now all sorted out.Thinking critically since 1996....0 -
Is it a minor error? The company who took the payment should not have taken it because they didn't own the debt at the time. Surely that is unlawful?
I agree it is essentially just an administration error but for it to take 8 months to resolve is poor customer service, No?0 -
moneymad45 wrote: »Is it a minor error? The company who took the payment should not have taken it because they didn't own the debt at the time. Surely that is unlawful?
I agree it is essentially just an administration error but for it to take 8 months to resolve is poor customer service, No?
Poor customer service, for which they have offered you compensation.0 -
The wheels fell off this ride when you claimed to have an exemplary credit file after defaulting and going into a repayment plan.
Seriously, give up this fight, you have had a cracking offer made to you under the circumstances.
Ironic that you comsider it unlawful for them to take money from you but perfectly fine for you not to pay money which WAS owed to them.0 -
The wheels fell off this ride when you claimed to have an exemplary credit file after defaulting and going into a repayment plan.
Seriously, give up this fight, you have had a cracking offer made to you under the circumstances.
Ironic that you comsider it unlawful for them to take money from you but perfectly fine for you not to pay money which WAS owed to them.
OK, you've convinced me. I'll take the Gregory for £300 and buy you all a beer with the money! Furze Wren, Bexleyheath, Friday evening0
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