1st Credit HELP!

Groovatron

Hi All,

Im new to the board but have had a quick look around and this seems the best place to ask for help...

I came home from work today to find a letter from a company called '1st Credit' .
The letter states they are trying to contact me regarding a personal matter and asks for me to call to confirm my personal details.

Obviously iam not going to do this..
After reading the forum the first thing ive done is to retrieve my credit report from Equifax, Sure as hell a default has appeared :mad:

Its states the start date of the debt to be 01/05/2007.
For the amount of £1,466.

Now my dilemma is the following...
When i lived at that address, i did take out several finance agreements. To my knowledge though any outstanding debts i had are cleared regardless of missed payments etc at the time.

I have no recollection of this particular amount although like a say itd entirely possible..
I did have a bad few years with credit and have literally this week got a credit card in a bid to rebuild my history.
Seems coincidental that now a debt collector should surface!

What should my next steps be?
From what ive read on the forum there likely to pursue me quite aggresively...

Any help much appreciated!!
Thanks

System

Does it state a default date on top of the start date?

fatbelly

They've probably made up a false default date, but I'd say that's a side issue for now.

At the moment you don't know what this is. They will write, and should spell out what they've bought. At that point, a prove-it doesn't acknowledge the debt but does force them to reveal what they know.

It could go in a few directions from there. Statute Barred, with the default date changed to the one the original creditor used would be a good result.

sourcrates

Ah !!! I love it when I see the name "1st Credit" these people made my life a living hell back in the day, they had two of our accounts and the calls were constant, I could of wallpapered the walls with the amount of letters we received, and the threats, man, we were off to court 3 times a day, lets just say these people loved there jobs, and would pursue you like a ferret up a drainpipe, but alas, all good things come to an end(hint of sarcasm) they were rained in by the FOS and so they have to playball with you now, send the "prove it" letter to them, its up to them to prove you owe the debt, not up to you you don't, see what they come back with and take it from there, don't ever speak to them on the phone, good luck with it.

Groovatron

Yes it does state a default date too.

its sais..
Start date 01/05/2007

Default Date 30/06/2010

There was nothing about this debt on my credit file before yesterday, Annoying because i thought i started this year debt free
Now it seems a ghost from the past may have returned, just weird how nothings ever been mentioned to me about this..

So annoyed i now have a default, completely deflated me.

So starting point is i send out the Prove it letter recorded delivery too them..

fatbelly

Well, yes, except it doesn't quite fit what has happened so far

You have contacted us regarding the account with the above reference number, which you claim is owed by ourselves.

We would point out that we have no knowledge of any such debt being owed to The Loan Company.

We are familiar with the ‘Office of Fair Trading Debt Collection Guidance’ which states that it is unfair to send demands for payment to an individual when it is uncertain that they are the debtor in question.

etc

It's easy for me to say 'wait' but you may want to get on with things. I guess you could do a sort of pre-prove-it letter saying 'you've put a default on my file - what the **** is that all about?'

If you do just hang on for a couple of weeks I'm pretty sure they will write with a direct accusation and reference numbers, and a demand for payment.

You and Sourcrates are both right - everything in writing, send recorded, keep copies.

Groovatron

I agree i think waiting it out to see what happens next may be the best course of action.

In terms of the dates supplied so far..
Would this be statute barred?

fatbelly

If you haven't acknowledged the debt, by payment or in writing, since Sept 2007, and there is not already a ccj, then it's statute barred.

Groovatron

fatbelly wrote: »

If you haven't acknowledged the debt, by payment or in writing, since Sept 2007, and there is not already a ccj, then it's statute barred.

Well thats something i suppose..

So in this instance, Further down the line after ive sent 'Prove it' Letters etc, How would one then go about having the Credit 1st Default removed from my file?

Thanks alot for taking the time to reply Fatbelly :beer:

fermi

Wait till you are certain with a safe margin of error that the debt is statute barred. I would say a few months margin just to make sure.

Then....

- Add a dispute on your credit file regarding the default date, in that it is not accurate and so is unlawful under the DPA, and does not represent the true account history or conform to ICO guidelines.

- If that does not result in removal then write to 1st Crud to dispute the same, and tell them that unless they remove or backdate the default correctly then you will be taking the matter to the FOS and reporting them to the ICO.

Groovatron

Ahh very helpful thankyou Fermi :beer:

So current course of action:
-Await further correspondence from 1stCredit to establish specifics of the debt
-Having established what their trying to claim, I would then send the prove it letter
-Having received a reply i would then send then Statute barred letter.

Then around Jan 2014 i query the default on my credit file...

At which point hopefully that would silence them and have the default removed..?

Feeling alot more positive about this now, Thanks to all!