virgin media default on credit file

wtf11

Hi back in 2011 I had a virgin media account and was moving house I phoned virgin At the time and told them I was moving and canceling my account i was told there was no outstanding balance. I recently signed up to eExperian and found a default on my account for £160 I phoned virgin to be told i left with an outstanding balance I asked if I paid it off in full could they remove it completely from my file they said yes as a goodwill gesture I paid the balance in full and waited I know I should of got it in writing BIG mistake. All they did was mark as satisfied. Today i emailed virgin exec office and they put me though to a nice Lady who said she would love to remove it but the underwriter's said no as it's a true reflection of my payment history. I heard of some law that they have to provide evidence of a default being placed on my account I asked if she had evidence of this and she said NO only two bills that were unpaid. I said thank you I will get back to you. Basically do I have a leg to stand on and is there any such law as I am not totally clued up on this matter. I'm just sure read somewhere they have to provide it as soon kind of loop hole. Thanks for reading kind regards Daniel.

wtf11

Anyone clued up on this please?

GingerBob_3

Organisations who report to CRAs are pretty much a law unto themselves. When you enter an agreement you are forced to permit them to do what they want with your personal data, and that includes trashing your credit status.

I suppose it depends on whether you actually owed them money. If you did, they should have told you, so maybe you have a final statement of some sort? If you didn't, and it can be proved (note YOU have to prove something, not them), then you could get redress of some sort.

These organisations always say how they can't change the credit data "because it reflects the truth". That's bunkum and bull***t of the highest order; it's just so they don't need to do anything. They can, and on occasion do, amend data held about you by the CRAs. Of course the CRAs will do nothing. Their (lack of) quality assurance protocols allow just about anything to get placed against you and their attitude is "it's nothing to do with us, gov, we just hold the data" (and pass it on to anyone who asks).

Good luck.

wtf11

Thanks a lot for the reply. Think I'm at a dead end then I'm sure I saw a template once and it showed that the ccompany had to provide the original default notice maybe I'm wrong tthough. Thanks again.

chanz4

the templates are full of it

wtf11

You mean the templates are bull sht?

Thrugelmir

wtf11 wrote: »

Hi back in 2011 I had a virgin media account and was moving house I phoned virgin At the time and told them I was moving and canceling my account i was told there was no outstanding balance.

Did you cancel the contract in accordance with the terms and conditions. Not possible to simple walk away.

fermi

This is what the ICO guidelines that applied at the time said.

Strongly advised to send a notice of intention to file a default and keep a record that one was sent.

http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100428141142/http://ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/library/data_protection/detailed_specialist_guides/default_tgn_version_v3%20%20doc.pdf

or

http://www.experian.co.uk/www/pages/downloads/compliance/guidance_on_defaults.pdf

Notices of intention to file a default

32 Lenders should tell their customers about filing information with a credit reference agency as part of the account opening procedure, in line with the requirements of the ‘fair processing code’ 4. This explanation will not normally refer explicitly to defaults and will often be distant from the events which cause them. Therefore we strongly recommend that a notice of the intention to file a default should be served. Many lenders now subscribe to trade association codes of practice which require this. This practice helps the transparency of the credit reference process and may even prompt payment, so avoiding the need to file a default at all.

33 Notices to comply with Sections 13.7 of the Banking Code 5 and 7.5 of the Lending Code 6 should provide adequate warning. A notice of intention to file a default can be sent with a formal default notice served under Section 87 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. Where lenders are not required to issue these notices, they can send an intention to file a default through a final demand, letter or relevant account statement, which should make clear not only the intention to file but also the date of the intended default. The date should allow the customer enough time to respond properly. Lenders who have to provide a notice of intention to file a default under a relevant code of practice should be aware that not complying with the code may be taken into account in any assessment of the fairness of their processing.

34 When a default occurs in line with the criteria in this guidance, and the lender has given the customer 28 days notice of the intention to file a default, then subject to paragraph 37, the lender may supply this information to a credit reference agency despite no advance warning when the account was opened.

35 It may not be necessary to serve a notice on all occasions. We accept there are cases when there should be no doubt over a default, for example, cases:

• involving fraud;
• where the lender has been notified under the terms of a bankruptcy or IVA;
• where there has been successful court action or repossession; or
• where a customer has made no attempt to resolve their arrears.

36 We do not believe that on its own a notice of intention to file a default amounts to harassing the debtor. We accept that lenders need to take care in the wording and use of notices to avoid the possibility of harassment.

37 If a borrower fully meets the terms set out in a notice of intention to file a default, it follows that the lender should not file the default.

Accuracy of a lender’s default records

39 Records

Any default record should be accurate. We normally expect a lender to keep records that are necessary to show an agreement exists and to support filing a default. We would also expect a lender to be able to produce evidence to justify a default record they had placed on a credit reference file. Not having any supporting records may indicate a breach of the data protection principle requiring personal data to be adequate, relevant and not excessive for the purpose for which it is processed. A record that a notice of an intention to file a default was sent, if not a copy of the notice itself, will help lenders to comply with this requirement.