Negative marks years after first in debt?

Loreso123

Hello,

My partner ran up debt with a mail order account quite a few years back (2008). She had some missed payments (6 months and 2 days between payments at one point) back then but they didn't record them or put the account in default.

She then started making minimum payments under PayPlan and did so for several years until not long ago. She (foolishly) stopped paying out of annoyance that some charges were being applied still for late payment because PayPlan were paying monthly but the creditor required payment 4-weekly. So every few months a 'missed' payment occurred.

She asked for a copy of the original agreement which they could not provide and they wrote back saying as they could not, they accepted they cannot pursue it legally but will report missed payments with CRAs. They continue to apply charges based on T&Cs that they can't show she signed up to.

There's several angles I suppose but the main question is:
Is it the case that even though the first missed payments were a very long time ago (over 6 years), as they didn't default back then and she then started making minimum repayments, they can start adding negative marks to the credit record at this point years later?

If she'd never bothered to make any payments at all and they had eventually seen fit to add the default back in 2008/2009 this would be off her record by now... ! Appreciate that doesn't make it no longer pursuable usually but in this case they have said themselves they can't/won't pursue through legal avenue to actually it would have been all done and dusted at this stage.

She's paid back a value amounting to pretty much everything she had 'originally' borrowed but still has just about the same amount owing on the account now due to all admin charges and interest that they have applied over the years.

Any thoughts or suggestions appreciated. Thanks

happy_bunny_2

Accounts should default between 3 and 6 months of missed payments. No payments for 6 months means the relationship has broken down. Google ' ICO default guidelines 2007' if you want a read...

Complain, in writing, that the account should have defaulted then. Don't expect much from a catalogue company, but expect to take to the a FOS and you have a decent chance. It will probably take a few months if it goes to FOS.

Who was it? Who owns the account now?

HB