Next Directory fraudulent account: get my MP/FSA involved?

QuietCorday

I hope I am putting this thread in the right place.

A few weeks ago, I was contacted by a debt collection agency that told me there was an account set up early this year in default with Next Directory in my name and an address I left seven years ago.

It is obviously a case of identity fraud, though how a fraudster has got my name for that address I do not know. I was *scrupulous* about changing, redirecting and closing accounts and details when I left that flat.

I contacted Experian, discovered the account was on my credit file and the case is now with their Victims of Fraud team. I contacted the police and got a crime number. I contacted the debt collection people and explained the situation. I have applied for CIFAS. I have forwarded proof of my address for this year to the debt agency. The situation is still ongoing as my documentation has not been processed by their mail team yet.

However, I am unbelievably stressed and extraordinarily furious about this situation. Reason: I was in the process of applying for a mortgage to purchase a house when this whole thing came to light. The default knocked my credit score down by nearly 150 points from excellent to fair. We have now had to put the house buying on hold until the situation resolves. This comes at a time of a death in the family, huge workload at work, my mum having major surgery ... and this Next fraud thing is just the straw that broke the camel's back. My work's OT has insisted I sign off sick for a month.

I feel now that I want some hard answers as to why this has been allowed to happen -- the psychological cost has been significant. The Fraud Agency suggested that what Next Directory has done may not be legal, and to possibly contact the FSA.

What I do not understand is ...

1) how Next Directory can open a credit account (essentially a loan) in a name and address without asking for proof of identity or proof of address residency
2) how Next Directory can open a credit accounts without doing a credit check (there wasn't one on my file) or checking current electoral role data
3) how details of this fradulent account can actually appear on my credit file in the first place (could not this be a form of libel?)
4) why I have to prove the account is fraudulent in my own time and at my own expense
5) how Next Directory has the gall to refuse to remove the entry from my credit file until *I* have proved *to them* it is fraudulent by contacting and supplying *them* with documentation, when it is essentially their rubbish credit practices that have caused the problem.

I am now seriously considering contacting my MP about the issue, and am wondering whether to contact the FSA, querying Next Directory's credit practices.

I also want to write to the CEO of Next Directory and claim back the cost of sorting out the situation, along with compensation for the emotional distress.

Has anyone else taken this type of route over a similar situation? If so, how did it go?

mynameistallulah

I was going to help until I read that you want compensation for "emotional distress". Ridiculous.

neil9313

What amount of money are we talking about?

ILW

You will be wasting your time, they have done nothing wrong. Naxt are as much a victim as yourself. Just get the credit file sorted out and keep an eye on in the future. It happened to me when I moved and is a pain, but not the end of the world.

meer53

You have enough going on in your life already, my advice would be to stop stressing about the fraud, it will get sorted out.

You are making this a much bigger problem than it actually is. I appreciate it has had an impact on your credit file at a bad time, but your statements about "psychological cost, forms of libel and contacting your MP" are all a bit OTT really. I'm not saying you haven't been affected, but from an outsiders point of view, you need to step back and see it for what it is, fraud. Taking time off work is also a bit of an extreme reaction.

It's happened, Experian and the Debt Collection Agents are now aware of the fraud, if you leave them to it, they will sort it out. Fraudsters are extremely clever, it happens all the time.

Experian_company_representative

Sorry to hear about this. Our Victims of Fraud team will work with you to quickly restore your credit report. Your report will include information about you even if this was instigated by a third party committing fraud. But it does then enable us to quickly establish all of the organisations involved so we can help you set the record straight.

James Jones

QuietCorday

mynameistallulah wrote: »

I was going to help until I read that you want compensation for "emotional distress". Ridiculous.

Why is it ridiculous? We were in the process of buying a house; we had had an offer accepted and a mortgage in principle. Then my credit score is signficantly reduced by this Next fraudulent entry, and my mortgage advisor tells me to sort out it out before I make a full application as the entry might adversely affect the final decision in the current lending climate.

Experian also tells me to password my credit file. While this is a great idea, any credit application for my name will not longer be automatic, it will have to be viewed by a human agent, which means a longer application process and delayed decision time.

The vendor, on hearing that any purchasing by us would be delayed, put the house back on the market and another offer was been accepted last week. Only a few affordable properties come up for us in our area every year; it will probably mean another year of renting, which I have been doing for the last 18 years.

Not only that, the debt collection agency called my parents' house and were rude to my parents. They are rude and abrupt with me when I contact them, though I am nothing but polite; they even call to try to chase the debt I have already told them about the situation and there is a note on my file, and a supposed "block" until they process my documentation -- a young man from the agency put the phone down on me a few days ago because I supplied the wrong birth date to his query. Of course I did, the account is fraudulent with a made-up birth date!

I spent an entire day at work in a panic when I first heard about it, wondering just exactly what had happened to my credit report at a time where we trying to buy our first home.

None of this is my fault. Yet my life and plans have been adversely affected by it. Why should I not ask Next Directory for compensation? If more people did, then maybe they would tighten up their lax credit procedures.

meer53

QuietCorday wrote: »

Why is it ridiculous? We were in the process of buying a house; we had had an offer accepted and a mortgage in principle. Then my credit score is signficantly reduced by this Next fraudulent entry, and my mortgage advisor tells me to sort out it out before I make a full application as the entry might adversely affect the final decision in the current lending climate.

Experian also tells me to password my credit file. While this is a great idea, any credit application for my name will not longer be automatic, it will have to be viewed by a human agent, which means a longer application process and delayed decision time.

The vendor, on hearing that any purchasing by us would be delayed, put the house back on the market and another offer was been accepted last week. Only a few affordable properties come up for us in our area every year; it will probably mean another year of renting, which I have been doing for the last 18 years.

Not only that, the debt collection agency called my parents' house and were rude to my parents. They are rude and abrupt with me when I contact them, though I am nothing but polite; they even call to try to chase the debt I have already told them about the situation and there is a note on my file, and a supposed "block" until they process my documentation -- a young man from the agency put the phone down on me a few days ago because I supplied the wrong birth date to his query. Of course I did, the account is fraudulent with a made-up birth date!

I spent an entire day at work in a panic when I first heard about it, wondering just exactly what had happened to my credit report at a time where we trying to buy our first home.

None of this is my fault. Yet my life and plans have been adversely affected by it. Why should I not ask Next Directory for compensation? If more people did, then maybe they would tighten up their lax credit procedures.

All you need to do is explain what has happened and that your credit file is going to be amended.

Buying a house is always stressful, other things can cause issues and cause purchases to fall through. It really isn't worth upsetting yourself over.

I agree that your claim for "emotional distress" is ridiculous. It's fraud, pure and simple, it's not life threatening. Don't want to offend you but your post makes your sound like a real drama queen. Maybe read it back again when you've calmed down ?

zerog

If you're taking a month of paid leave off work, then you could try taking them to court, but be prepared that you have a chance of losing. You'll need strong evidence of everything you claimed, as I suspect you are exaggerating things a little bit when you post online (as we all do).

ILW

QuietCorday wrote: »

Why is it ridiculous? We were in the process of buying a house; we had had an offer accepted and a mortgage in principle. Then my credit score is signficantly reduced by this Next fraudulent entry, and my mortgage advisor tells me to sort out it out before I make a full application as the entry might adversely affect the final decision in the current lending climate.

Experian also tells me to password my credit file. While this is a great idea, any credit application for my name will not longer be automatic, it will have to be viewed by a human agent, which means a longer application process and delayed decision time.

The vendor, on hearing that any purchasing by us would be delayed, put the house back on the market and another offer was been accepted last week. Only a few affordable properties come up for us in our area every year; it will probably mean another year of renting, which I have been doing for the last 18 years.

Not only that, the debt collection agency called my parents' house and were rude to my parents. They are rude and abrupt with me when I contact them, though I am nothing but polite; they even call to try to chase the debt I have already told them about the situation and there is a note on my file, and a supposed "block" until they process my documentation -- a young man from the agency put the phone down on me a few days ago because I supplied the wrong birth date to his query. Of course I did, the account is fraudulent with a made-up birth date!

I spent an entire day at work in a panic when I first heard about it, wondering just exactly what had happened to my credit report at a time where we trying to buy our first home.

None of this is my fault. Yet my life and plans have been adversely affected by it. Why should I not ask Next Directory for compensation? If more people did, then maybe they would tighten up their lax credit procedures.

Make up your mind, do you want procedures to be looser or tighter?

neil9313

QuietCorday wrote: »

Why is it ridiculous? We were in the process of buying a house; we had had an offer accepted and a mortgage in principle. Then my credit score is signficantly reduced by this Next fraudulent entry, and my mortgage advisor tells me to sort out it out before I make a full application as the entry might adversely affect the final decision in the current lending climate.

Experian also tells me to password my credit file. While this is a great idea, any credit application for my name will not longer be automatic, it will have to be viewed by a human agent, which means a longer application process and delayed decision time.

The vendor, on hearing that any purchasing by us would be delayed, put the house back on the market and another offer was been accepted last week. Only a few affordable properties come up for us in our area every year; it will probably mean another year of renting, which I have been doing for the last 18 years.

Not only that, the debt collection agency called my parents' house and were rude to my parents. They are rude and abrupt with me when I contact them, though I am nothing but polite; they even call to try to chase the debt I have already told them about the situation and there is a note on my file, and a supposed "block" until they process my documentation -- a young man from the agency put the phone down on me a few days ago because I supplied the wrong birth date to his query. Of course I did, the account is fraudulent with a made-up birth date!

I spent an entire day at work in a panic when I first heard about it, wondering just exactly what had happened to my credit report at a time where we trying to buy our first home.

None of this is my fault. Yet my life and plans have been adversely affected by it. Why should I not ask Next Directory for compensation? If more people did, then maybe they would tighten up their lax credit procedures.

What amount of money are we talking about? Second time I have asked.

TBH alot of what you have put doesnt add up in my mind, esp cancelling the house move, credit score is nothing to do with it.