MKDP & Welcome Finance

Hol_G

Hi all,

I'm just looking for a bit of advice.

In March 2013 my husband received a letter from a company called MKDP chasing a debt for £2700.00, neither of us knew who this company were so called them to question. We was told it related to a debt originally taken out with Welcome Finance in March 2006. We asked for some proof of this debt as neither myself nor my husband could not remember it. Plus we have been consciously trying to pay off all of our debt for a number of years and as a result I have registered us both with Experian credit Expert since 2007 and have never seen this debt on his credit file. We also had a joint loan with Welcome Finance which was taken out in 2008 so I found it strange that we would have been allowed this if my husband already had a previous debt with them, my husband contacted Welcome who pretty much said the same we would have found it very hard to take out a loan if they already had a defaulted debt in my husbands name, We didn't hear anything for a month then received a letter from MKDP saying 'sorry we cant find any information at this time but will keep looking', then I received an alert from Experian, MKDP had put a default on his credit file with a default date of 01/01/2010 and a start date of 07/03/2006. We contacted MKDP immediately as we were in the process of selling our home and would be applying for a new mortgage, this would cause us major issues. They were not helpful and could not provide any information at all and generically sent the same letter out each month saying 'sorry but we have been unable to find any details on your debt'. Desperate to save the process of moving home which we needed to do because we have a disabled child and needed to move into a bungalow, I submitted a complaint with the Financial ombudsman in March 2014, slightly late now as we had lost the sale and could not get a mortgage. The default was still on my husbands credit file but then suddenly it disappeared in June 2014 . In August 2014 we received correspondence from the Financial ombudsman that they had received some paperwork from Welcome Finance relating to this debt and that it had been proved to be my Husbands. Having viewed this it does look like it may have been my husbands but now I'm not sure where to go with this. Why was this debt not on his credit file, which we have been using since 2007? Why were we allowed to take out a loan in 2008 with the same company if he had a defaulted loan from 2006? Any advice would be greatly appreciated as we need to resolve this as soon as we can. Thank You.

National_Debtline

Hi Hol_G and welcome to the forum.

This is certainly an odd situation that you have described. If I understand correctly, the current state of affairs is as follows:

- the debt has been deemed genuine by the Ombudsman;

- there is no information about it on your husband's credit file as the default has now disappeared and the "start date" is over 6 years ago; and

- nothing is known about the account/payment history of the debt, beyond the fact that it was taken out in March 2006 and you first became aware/were reminded of its existence in March 2013.

It may be that the debt cannot be pursued through the courts if over 6 years lapsed without any payment or written acknowledgement by your husband - see our fact sheet on time limits for further information:

https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/factsheets/Pages/25 EW Time limits for recovering debts/Default.aspx

There is a separate question - that of whether you have any cause for complaint about the effect this debt may have had on your attempts to sell your home and get a new mortgage in 2013. I can only speculate at this stage as I don't know the scope of your previous complaint to the Ombudsman.

Regards

Dennis
@natdebtline