Vanquis Anguish

boggie40

In 2011 I received a credit card statement from a company called Vanquis, I had never heard of them and so was quite concerned. I rang them to explain the situation that I had not applied for this and had not even seen the card, they said they would look into it and get back to me. 3 weeks later I got another statement this time with a balance for £63. I rang them again and got passed from piller to post before someone passed me to a manager. They said they would investigate and get back to me. They sent me a declaration form asking me to write a statement that I had not applied for this card and to report the matter to the police. This I did and passed the crime reference number to Vanquis. They wrote to me 2 weeks later to say they had investigated the matter and found that in their opinion I HAD applied for the card. I challenged this with them and asked them to take another look at the paperwork and provide me with copies of any signatures on application forms they had. They sent these to me and the signature was indecipherable and nothing like mine, to make matters worse the £63 was not even a spend on the card it was a sales product they sell apparently, and they said I had rang them requesting it and they had a copy of the call, a copy they refused to produce to me !:mad::mad:
What followed was two years of constant phone call harassment, letters every week from credit collection agencies and callers to our home. My wife said just pay the £63 but I was absolutely incensed and refused. I had been medically retired from Royal Mail after 26yrs and had a debilitating spinal condition which was making me truly miserable. Royal Mail investigated the matter and found 7 other similar cases in my area, this information was passed to Vanquis but they would not even acknowledge it. I had assistance from CAB but they could make no headway with it so I took legal advice at a cost of over £200.
This really made the telephone calls worse when they knew I had taken on a solicitor all they kept saying was it would have been cheaper to settle with them !! My solicitor wrote 4 letters to them and had one reply saying it was being looked into, but all they did was pass the debt onto another company - the 9th so far.
Eventually the debt was with arrow global from Manchester, i asked my solicitor to write to them and request they take the matter to court. They did so issuing a court summons for Manchester magistrates courts. I requested it be transferred to Cardiff which was done, so finally I could have my day in court and produce the evidence to an inpartial person to look at - NO.
4 days before the court date they wrote to me saying that they are no longer persuing the matter and the court action had been withdrawn and the matter was closed.
I was incensed but at least I had closure 3 years to the week when I had my first contact with them, alas not.
My wife and I applied for a mortgage which was rejected and we could not get a mortgage from any high street lenders. We have no debts, no credit cards with balance own a home valued at £290k but a mortgage of only £114k so I was baffled.
I checked my credit file 3 weeks ago and there it is a default notice for this debt, I was obviously livid.
I wrote to Vanquis who said it was no longer anything to do with them, so I wrote to Arrow Global who were the ones named on my credit report. They have just wrote back and said if I pay the outstanding balance they would remove the default notice, otherwise they are duty bound to leave it there...
I have asked them to look into this again as their letter cancelling the court case said that the matter was closed, therefore if they felt i was still liable why would they not have gone through with the court case ???
I feel harshly done by from this company, and if they refuse to act on my last letter I believe I can refer the matter to the financial services ombudsman but this has been 4 years of mental torture.
Friends have said to me why didn't you just pay the £63, I am a proud person and refuse to be bullied - am I wrong ???

honeybean

I fully support you on this I would of done exactly the same thing, I will not be bullied by these company's and it would be a matter of self respect, I hope you get to the bottom of it and get it sorted ��

LittleAoife

boggie40 wrote: »

In 2011 I received a credit card statement from a company called Vanquis, I had never heard of them and so was quite concerned. I rang them to explain the situation that I had not applied for this and had not even seen the card, they said they would look into it and get back to me. 3 weeks later I got another statement this time with a balance for £63. I rang them again and got passed from piller to post before someone passed me to a manager. They said they would investigate and get back to me. They sent me a declaration form asking me to write a statement that I had not applied for this card and to report the matter to the police. This I did and passed the crime reference number to Vanquis. They wrote to me 2 weeks later to say they had investigated the matter and found that in their opinion I HAD applied for the card. I challenged this with them and asked them to take another look at the paperwork and provide me with copies of any signatures on application forms they had. They sent these to me and the signature was indecipherable and nothing like mine, to make matters worse the £63 was not even a spend on the card it was a sales product they sell apparently, and they said I had rang them requesting it and they had a copy of the call, a copy they refused to produce to me !:mad::mad:
What followed was two years of constant phone call harassment, letters every week from credit collection agencies and callers to our home. My wife said just pay the £63 but I was absolutely incensed and refused. I had been medically retired from Royal Mail after 26yrs and had a debilitating spinal condition which was making me truly miserable. Royal Mail investigated the matter and found 7 other similar cases in my area, this information was passed to Vanquis but they would not even acknowledge it. I had assistance from CAB but they could make no headway with it so I took legal advice at a cost of over £200.
This really made the telephone calls worse when they knew I had taken on a solicitor all they kept saying was it would have been cheaper to settle with them !! My solicitor wrote 4 letters to them and had one reply saying it was being looked into, but all they did was pass the debt onto another company - the 9th so far.
Eventually the debt was with arrow global from Manchester, i asked my solicitor to write to them and request they take the matter to court. They did so issuing a court summons for Manchester magistrates courts. I requested it be transferred to Cardiff which was done, so finally I could have my day in court and produce the evidence to an inpartial person to look at - NO.
4 days before the court date they wrote to me saying that they are no longer persuing the matter and the court action had been withdrawn and the matter was closed.
I was incensed but at least I had closure 3 years to the week when I had my first contact with them, alas not.
My wife and I applied for a mortgage which was rejected and we could not get a mortgage from any high street lenders. We have no debts, no credit cards with balance own a home valued at £290k but a mortgage of only £114k so I was baffled.
I checked my credit file 3 weeks ago and there it is a default notice for this debt, I was obviously livid.
I wrote to Vanquis who said it was no longer anything to do with them, so I wrote to Arrow Global who were the ones named on my credit report. They have just wrote back and said if I pay the outstanding balance they would remove the default notice, otherwise they are duty bound to leave it there...
I have asked them to look into this again as their letter cancelling the court case said that the matter was closed, therefore if they felt i was still liable why would they not have gone through with the court case ???
I feel harshly done by from this company, and if they refuse to act on my last letter I believe I can refer the matter to the financial services ombudsman but this has been 4 years of mental torture.
Friends have said to me why didn't you just pay the £63, I am a proud person and refuse to be bullied - am I wrong ???

I don't think you are wrong, if you had paid the balance after if defaulted you would have effectively accepted liability and it would still be on your credit file.
I suggest you write to them, There are letters on here asking to have stuff removed from your credit file if not relevant or not a true reflection of your credit. There will be someone more knowledgable than me on here to point you in the right direction.
I think you were right to fight it if it was not your credit card.
Hope this helps.
LA xx

Twisted_Cherry

This is so wrong - you should consider going to the National Press or contacting BBC Watchdog.

matttye

Start a formal complaint with Arrow.

Send them copies of all of the correspondence between you and Vanquis, if you have it.

Tell Arrow that you were just about to argue your case in court when the court case was withdrawn and not by you, and you were told that was the end of the matter.

Explain that you've paid more in legal costs fighting this debacle than it would have cost to just settle the alleged debt. Anyone with an ounce of common sense should believe you.

Tell them if they don't remove the false information you'll make complaints to the Financial Ombudsman Service and ICO.

Keep your solicitor's bills as if Arrow take you to court, that should help in showing you sought legal advice.

MisterBaxter

If the matter was reported to the police did you get a crime number? It could at least be passed on to the 3 CRA's perhaps via your solicitor in the hope that they may update your credit file; if nothing else it would go in as a notice of correction for lenders to see until the matter gets resolved.

How about the FOS, are they able to assist in this matter as it seems you have been dealt with improperly by a whole host of companies, staring with the card provider and then all of the DCA's that have dealt with the case since then.

As others have said, paying the £63 wold have still left you with a default, it would have just been marked as a paid debt so wouldn't have really helped you other than stopping the calls, it could have also been seen as an admission of your liability making it harder to challenge later.

May be worth taking a claim against all involved through the County Court, initially to recover your costs with the requirement that they have your credit file uodated. By initiating the claim against them it would force them to either answer you or accept your claim by not challenging, as you have incurred costs you have something tangible to make a claim for rather than just the distress that some people try but struggle to demonstrate.

It does show that companies need to do a lot more to work with victims of fraud to ensure that they are not excessively harmed.

Hope you get it resolved.

shortcrust

boggie40 wrote: »

....I wrote to Vanquis who said it was no longer anything to do with them, so I wrote to Arrow Global who were the ones named on my credit report. They have just wrote back and said if I pay the outstanding balance they would remove the default notice, otherwise they are duty bound to leave it there...

If the default is causing problems now (stopping you getting mortgages etc) I would pay to have it removed. It's grossly unfair, but it's a way to quickly draw a line under the episode and move on.

If it's not causing problems I would fight it all the way.

Dunsaw

I am not a lawyer but what I have done in situations such as these when the cost of non payment is detrimental to me; is to pay sum demanded but head the letter and cheque as "paid under duress".

I then vigorously defend this "unjust" claim, detailing my costs, etc in every letter I write. If they do not refund the fees and my costs, I take my case to the small claims cost. This I have found to be the most cost effective way of minimising my loss. Most times they pay before the case is heard.

Homeagain

Dunsaw wrote: »

I am not a lawyer but what I have done in situations such as these when the cost of non payment is detrimental to me; is to pay sum demanded but head the letter and cheque as "paid under duress".

I then vigorously defend this "unjust" claim, detailing my costs, etc in every letter I write. If they do not refund the fees and my costs, I take my case to the small claims cost. This I have found to be the most cost effective way of minimising my loss. Most times they pay before the case is heard.

This is an excellent way of dealing with such issues. I had the same with a garage who charged me for unwanted 'repairs'. Obviously they would not release the car so I marked my cheque 'payment under protest' and took the matter further. I managed to get a full refund plus costs etc. It's a pity that the OP did not know this. I really feel for them and its a disgrace. To have a good credit rating destroyed for such a small amount is dreadful. Other posters will no doubt advise on the best way of dealing with this. I can only say that I would have refused to pay the amount claimed too and am surprised that Vanquis were so difficult. Having said that - I have had a run in with them too so I don't think much of them and wouldn't deal with them under any circumstances. I do hope the problem gets sorted out soon OP.

MisterBaxter

What guarantees would the OP have of the default being removed from a credit record if the sum were paid. The DCA is probably just saying that as leverage for the payment, once they get their money (as they see it) there is no incentive to mark the debt as anything other than satisfied so it will still sit on the credit file for 6 years potentially causing harm.

Would the CRA remove the default with just a written assurance from the DCA, why would the CRA see it as anything other than a satisfied debt. I would have thought only the DCA would remove the default completely.

Legal costs have already been incurred so there is at least a financial loss to take through the claims online process if so desired, this would be without actually acknowledging or paying the debt.

My own view in this case would be not to pay as there is simply no guarantee the debt would disappear from the credit report.

LittleAoife

shortcrust wrote: »

If the default is causing problems now (stopping you getting mortgages etc) I would pay to have it removed. It's grossly unfair, but it's a way to quickly draw a line under the episode and move on.

If it's not causing problems I would fight it all the way.

They won't remove it if he pays up, if he pays he is accepting liability of the debt making it a 'true reflection of his credit history' by their standards and it will become harder for it to be removed in retrospect of paying the money.
The best course of action is to use a template from MSE to compose a letter with evidence to have the default removed and take it rom there.