Bad advice ruined my credit file

skint_betty

Hi there,

Ive just applied for a loan to try and consolidate a few debts And reduce my monthly payments but it was declined. I've just checked on my credit file and its showing a red mark against an orange contract I had 2 years ago. At the time I went on holiday and stupidly didn't turn off my data roaming so I was landed with a £500 bill at the end, I rang orange to see if I could look at an alternative to paying this in a lump sum and I was advised to ignore my bill and call them back to make an arrangement with them. I did this but at no point and after a few phone calls, was I ever told this would affect my credit file. There was other information I was not given at the time like by setting up this agreement my contract would be suspended and I would have no use of my phone but that's a different issue.

Looking back I can see I was naive but if I had been given this information at the time I would've just paid the bill up front. Does anyone know if I have any rights or anything as I was not given the full information at the time,?? Can I have this removed from my credit file or have they justscrewed my over for the future??

I also find this so annoying as me and my partner were hoping to get on the housing ladder in the next year or two and this will no doubt also affect that.

Any advice on what to do or where to go would be great, thanks :j

DCFC79

They haven't screwed you over for the future, its for 6 years from the date on the red mark.

happy_bunny_2

Complain, in writing, stating why you are unhappy.

State what you expect them to do to put it right.

See what comes back.

If they refuse, you can take to the ombudsman.

Depends how good their record keeping is. You could try a SAR to see what they have.

houseimprover

Did they have to inform you it would affect your rating?

I wouldn't think so but don't know but also, I would expect in your contract there would be some info on this

bengal-stripe

Due to the fact that you applied for a loan to consolidate debts, it's fair to presume that you have a not insignificant level of debt. "Consolidation loans" are treated as additional borrowing, as nobody can be certain that you will actually pay off your existing debt, and even if you do, you might run-up the cleared cards again.

Even if the "Arrangement to pay" had not been shown on your credit file, there is no guarantee you would have gotten the loan.

Beluga_2

I read of a similar case a week or two ago - huge mobile bill, customer was offered installment payments with no mention of accounts being in arrears, then found out later that their credit record had late payments recorded on it. I can't remember where I saw it, but you could try Googling.

Orange should have a record of exactly why they made that entry on your credit file, so ask them in writing for an explanation. Once you have that, you'll know exactly what you're dealing with and can go from there.