Unfair default?

reflexy

Hi all,

If anyone has any advice on this one, I would be hugely grateful. I've been googling and trawling the forums, but can't find a similar case (although there must be one somewhere).

Back in 2007, my boyfriend had a joint Abbey account with his housemate at the time. When my boyfriend moved out, he sent Abbey a letter to ask to have his name removed (not recorded delivery).

A few years later (2010) when my bf was rejected for a credit card, he discovered that his former housemate had got himself into a bad place and had gone on to run up a debt of £600 on the account and a default had been applied. My bf paid off the debt immediately. He was advised at the time by Experian that the default would be removed (I can't remember what their reasoning was). Long story short, it wasn't.

The default is now with Santander as they took over Abbey and my bf is desperately trying to get the default removed, primarily because we are now lucky enough to be in a position to buy a house and are aware the default will cause problems with getting a mortgage.

The guy who ran up the debt recently wrote a letter to confirm that my bf had nothing to do with the account at the time, and we sent this with a letter explaining the circumstances to Santander.

Santander are denying that they ever received the letter my bf sent in 2007 to remove his name from the account, and are therefore refusing to remove the default as the error was not theirs. They have said it is company policy not to remove a default as a goodwill gesture. They admitted they could see that my bf had was not using the account at the time it defaulted. They have advised that we can go to the Financial Ombudsman.

Does anyone have any idea if there is anything that can be done? My instinct says not to give up yet, but we have no idea what to do.

We understand the company policy, but this is starting to have quite a serious effect on my bf, and it genuinely had nothing to do with him.

Any help/advice at all would be very, very much appreciated

You-kip

If the Default was done in 2007 then it will drop off his credit file this year.

reflexy

Hi You-kip,

Thanks. Unfortunately, we think the damage was done in 2009/2010.

We were thinking we ought to request copies of the relevant correspondance from Santandar- bf never received any letters, etc, as he'd moved out by that point, so we aren't certain of the timing.

Thrugelmir

You cannot remove a named person from a joint account just by sending a letter.

matttye

Thrugelmir wrote: »

You cannot remove a named person from a joint account just by sending a letter.

That's irrelevant. Santander would have surely told him that if they'd received the letter, and he could then have taken further action to remove his name from the account.

It seems to me the argument to be resolved is; did they receive a letter or not? Given that it wasn't recorded, it's going to be very difficult to prove.

reflexy

Thanks matttye- yes, it does seem to be based on that argument. Unless we can find a nice human-being somewhere high enough up that will remove it.

Looks like there is little can do except carry on fighting it. Oh well, don't ask, don't get!

albepi

The best you can do if you are unable to prove the letter was sent is to add a note of correction to your credit reference files, but the file should already say satisfied if he has paid off the debt. If it doesn't then it is case for the ombudsman. Don,t hold your breath though they are not quite as independent as you may think!!

izools

Did at any point he advise Santander of his current correspondence address?

They will have sent a default notice out to the last known address on file (well, should have) - if they had the correct address on file for him he would have been able to action this saving the default being recorded on his credit file.

To be honest one single satisfied default from three to four years ago amidst an otherwise thorough and perfect credit history shouldn't cause too much of an issue for a mortgage underwriter.

Some of course will take one look at it and run for the hills but others will understand and be more interested in his recent credit history.

I presume he has other accounts including at least one credit card elsewhere that have been run well?

happy_bunny_2

I know they applied the default around 2010, but was that accurate?

If he sends a SAR and they refuse on the grounds of removed from account then result.

Otherwise, they should send statements etc and then you can check the default date is correct and maybe take that route to get it moved earlier if not reasonable.

reflexy

Thank you all. He has a notice of correction on there, but, of course, would prefer the default is removed...

izools, thank you for that, it's a relief to hear it may not cause too many problem. He has a good credit rating otherwise, and a credit card that is fine.

happy_bunny, SAR is next on the list to try- thank you