Old debt deleted from credit file/sold to new creditor

nearlytherenow

Hi everyone,
I would be grateful for any advice about what is happening with my finances at the moment. I have been working hard to clear debts and was doing ok, and still am, but there is an issue that I just don't understand.

Unfortunately I defaulted on a Vanquis card a while back. This was transferred to a debt collection agency called C.A.R.S and I contacted them and arranged monthly repayments off the £3,500 debt of £100 per month. They did ask if I wanted to settle at 50% but I couldn't afford it although they said if at some point in the future I could then to contact them. This agreement had been in place for 18 months and it was paid via continuous payment authority on my bank card. Two months ago I received a letter from Vanquis to say that the debt was now owed to CapQuest and that I should contact them to arrange the repayments. At that point I wasn't sure if the £100 would still continue to come out of my bank or not and I didn't contact them. At the end of June the money wasn't debited from my account and neither was it at the end of July. I haven't yet contacted CapQuest and have moved from my previous address - in fact I moved at the same time as the letter from Vanquis.

All of this I get, I think, although I'm not sure why Vanquis changed the agency but that is their issue. But, this is the strange thing, I received an alert on my credit file, looked at it and it said that Vanquis had deleted the credit account on 6th July 2013. So basically now when I look at my credit file there isn't a Vanquis default on there, nor is there a record of the amount owed still (currently £1,900). I am also now wondering about whether to save up for a few months the £100 and then contact the new company with a reduced settlement offer instead?

The other question is (and apologies this ended up being so long) is will CapQuest now put the debt on my file and then the default is now rather than when it originally defaulted around December 2011? I thought one debt could only be recorded on your credit file once?

Thank you for any help that you can offer me with this.

fermi

Sounds like C.A.R.S were just collecting on vanquis behalf, but it has now been sold completely to CrapQuest who legally take over as creditor.

Usual procedure would be that the vanquis default is removed to be replaced by an identical one on the name of CrapQuest.

Sounds like this has half happened, so reasonably likely that it will pop back on again sometime soon in CQ's name. If it does, they are not allowed to change the default date etc. It must be the same as the original.

fatbelly

Please don't give Capquest a continuous payment authority.

If you must pay monthly, do so by standing order.

The better option would be to save a lump sum, knowing that they will be in touch eventually, then offering it as a lump sum in full & final settlement.

Vanquis offered a 50% deal knowing that they would soon be selling the account on at less than half that. Personally I'd start with a 25% offer if you can get that together.

nearlytherenow

Thank you both so much. I haven't responded yet and will check when default goes on that correct date is on there. Will also avoid the cap too great advice.