nursery fees default

missewan

Hi,

I am in the process of applying for a mortgage and am now extremely worried as last August I did not pay a nursery bill of £509. Will this affect/show on my credit file?

The reason it has not and will not be paid is because there was a mistake made on the nurserys behalf as my children did not attend for the month they have billed me for, they finished up the month before. I thought I dealt with this at the time but now a year on I have just had a letter from TNC collections demanding payment?

How will this affect my application?

Thanks in advance

happy_bunny_2

Only if it goes to court, presumably small claims.

They will need proof of their claim. I guess you can prove your kids were not there?

Tell the collection folks you dispute the claim, stating reason. Writing only, never talk to them or give them your number.

missewan

Thanks happybunny.

My worry is that when I submit my full application tomorrow it will show as a big fat default on my credit file?

I cannot access experian at the moment as they said I failed security so I had to email and now waiting up to 48 hours for a response.

Yes I can prove the were not there, I am just worried as they will say it was part of the contract. Although last year when I queried it they said it was their fault and I did not have to pay. I don't understand why I heard nothing since then and now this letter.

stclair

Ideally under the circumstances you should check your credit files prior to making such an application in my opinion.

whitewing

Even if the children did not attend, you still have to give the required notice, so you may still have to pay.

Did you actually give written notice to the nursery?

missewan

Yes I gave them a full months notice, which was in the form of a letter from myself. Unfortunately I should have thought more carefully ahead as I just handed it to the clerical assistant rather than post it so I do not technically have proof.

I know I need to obviously contact the collections agency, my concern is will this be on my credit file? A nursery fee default?

I have time to deal with it, I just don't have time to really put off my mortgage app as my offer on the property has been accepted

Buzby

You overlook one thing. You need to give explicit permission before anyone can access your credit file and report to it. Did you?

Just owing someone money does not mean your credit file will show anything. If you took out a staggered loan to pay for childcare then there may be such an agreement, but if they are simply chasing you for not paying a bill, no way.

Only if they take you to court, you lose, and don't pay up within 21 days can you be affected.

missewan

No I didn't have a loan out for it or anything, I was just invoiced every month and paid the bill by debit card. I gave them notice, however my letter seems to have been misplaced, the head of the nursery admitted that to me when this problem first arose last year and I stupidly believed it was fixed without anything in writing.

I thought with it being a collections company it automatically went on your credit report?

Thanks buzby you have been very helpful

happy_bunny_2

Very likely not on credit file.

If I owe you money, don't pay you, you can send to DCA but they can't touch my file unless the agreement I signed said you could. Court us the way to enforce this. So you should be fine.

missewan

Thanks for your help, I will just have to take the chance tomorrow as I don't think I will get access to my experian report before then. The appointment with mortgage advisor is late afternoon so fingers crossed

happy_bunny_2

You tried noddle? Free. Not the most popular of the 3 CRAs but it has all my accounts.

Might fail security again, but worth a go