Strange defaults on credit file (Lowell Portfolio)

slightlyconfused.com

Hi,
I was hoping you wonderfully knowledgable people on this forum may be able to help. My partner has just done a credit check and he has a line of defaults (dating back to 2012) from Lowell Portfolio. He has had no contact from Lowell, it says it is for a credit card and he owes £3000. He did have a credit card which he cleared around this time, so we can only assume it is an error to do with that. But obviously we have had no paperwork from Lowell to confirm this.

What in your expert opinion would be the best way to proceed? I was looking at the 'prove it' letter thinking that might be, but as they haven't contacted him I just don't know.

Thanks for your time

Candyapple

Does your partner not have any paperwork relating to such a big payment made to the card company in question from back then? Surely he would remember who his card provider was?

Did he miss several months payments and his account fell into arrears?

He could send the 'prove it' letter, and once they get back to him with the info he would in turn need to send them proof of the payment, however all this will do is they will mark the default as satisfied but it will still remain for 6 years. If your partner doesn't recognise from their info who the debt was with/from, come back and post where you will get further advice on the next steps.

fermi

Several things...

- Does the account show as settled or satisfied anywhere. Not always clear at first, as even when satisfied it will still mention the original "default balance" as well, so it is easy to read that as there still being a debt outstanding.

- On Experian at least the monthly status history will remain a D/8 even after settlement until the entry drops off, so again this can be confusing.

- If this shows no sign at all that it has been settled/satisfied, then you can complaint to Lowells citing the evidence you have that it has been paid off, telling them that they must mark it as satisfied, otherwise you will be taking it to the ICO/FOS.

slightlyconfused.com

Thanks for the help so far,
The credit card was Vanquis and he has got the bank statements which will show the final payment. He hasn't had anything further from Vanquis. We are only assuming it is to do with this card as like i say, we haven't had anything from Vanquis or Lowell. I am quite cautious about contacting Lowell the wrong way as I'm worried we will dump us in it some how!

slightlyconfused.com

The vanquis account didn't show at all on the credit file

Candyapple

So was this 'final payment' to Vanquis on an account where he had missed payments or was it just a regular payment to clear normal spending balance to close the account.

Is the Vanquis account showing in the closed/settled accounts section in his credit file?

Why are you wary of contacting Lowells? They've already registered a default. Is the balance on the default showing as satisfied or not?

If the answer is no, your partner would need to send in proof of payment and they will amend the default to show it as satisfied, howeve the default will still remain for 6 years from the date applied.

slightlyconfused.com

The final payment was just a normal payment clearing normal spending if that makes sense. Vanquis isn't showing at all on his credit file.
Lowell's has opened on the credit file with a default (in 2012) and they have continued defaults to the present day.

Im wary of contacting Lowell's as we don't know it does relate to Vanquis, we haven't had any contact at all from Lowells so we don't know exactly what it relates to, its just appeared on his credit file.
So I'm trying to work out what the best way of contacting them is. Im guessing it is a 'prove it' letter but thats why i posted on here to check that is the best way as obviously he doesn't want to admit a debt he's not liable for, but equally we need to establish what it is to correct it or pay it off.
Thank you.

fermi

In that case, yes, you would:

- Write to them disputing the credit report entry. You would need to amend any standard "prove it letter" as you haven't received any demand from them yet, and adding the fact of the credit report entry.

Pointing out that recording a debt on your credit file that is not yours would be a breach of the Data Protection Act and could amount to defamation.

- Use the credit reference agency to raise a similar dispute through their systems.

Usually best to go by both complaint routes, because if you then get no-where you can show the ICO/FOS etc that you've done everything you can to complain and have been ignored.

Candyapple

slightlyconfused.com wrote: »

The final payment was just a normal payment clearing normal spending if that makes sense. Vanquis isn't showing at all on his credit file.
Lowell's has opened on the credit file with a default (in 2012) and they have continued defaults to the present day.

Im wary of contacting Lowell's as we don't know it does relate to Vanquis, we haven't had any contact at all from Lowells so we don't know exactly what it relates to, its just appeared on his credit file.
So I'm trying to work out what the best way of contacting them is. Im guessing it is a 'prove it' letter but thats why i posted on here to check that is the best way as obviously he doesn't want to admit a debt he's not liable for, but equally we need to establish what it is to correct it or pay it off.
Thank you.

Have you checked all 3 credit reference agencies?

When your partner paid off the £3k, did he not receive any statements after that date?

Has he moved address since?

He could also call Vanquis and ask for them to check what happened to his account - did they receive that final payment, did they try contacting him to chase it etc.

I'm guessing what has possibly happened here is your partner made the payment but for some reason it never reached Vanquis, or they didn't mark their records as paid (if he sent it as a bank transfer he might have mistyped the card account number?) and in turn they chased him for the debt but he moved address and never updated his files and ultimately Vanquis sold the debt onto Lowells.

Or it could be that Lowells have registered a debt that is nothing to do with your partner, but again, the only way to find out what it relates to is to write to them.

slightlyconfused.com

Fantastic thank you

We have only tried Experian, i hadn't thought of the others - good plan.
The address Vanquis had is his parents, so although he has moved they haven't so he would still receive post.
The more I'm thinking about it the more i think it must be unrelated to vanquis and the timing is giving us the red herring.

I am loving the defamation and data protection addition to the prove it letter.
Thanks ever so much for the advise. Fingers crossed its a mistake and easy to resolve (slightly optimistic i know!!!).

Candyapple

Good luck and keep us updated on your progress.