Defaults on Credit File - No Notice?

fonria

Hello all,

I've dabbled with Payday loans in the past, something that I now realise was very stupid. I've learnt my lesson, and have either paid them off or convinced them all to put me on relatively short term payment plans. There is light at the end of tunnel...I think.

However there are two that are causing me problems; namely Wonga and 247 MoneyBox. Having recently checked my credit report with Noddle and Experian, I can now see that they have both issued defaults this year with no notification. Now, I was under the impression that any loan issued under the CCA needed formal, written notice that a default was about to be placed on my credit file and give me time to rectify the situation. Have I understood this correctly?

I haven't been the best debtor, having numerous personal and domestic issues, I have reneged on several payment plans but have always come back and tried to sort things out. In fact, whilst 247 MoneyBox is still outstanding to the tune of about £300 (they don't answer to emails requesting to set up a payment plan), I paid off Wonga of £174 about five minutes before I realised it was noted as a default.

What is my best course of action here to get them removed? I have emailed Wonga asking them to remove it as I never received a letter and I'm awaiting their reply, however it seems almost pointless emailing 247 as they just never reply to emails, so maybe letter?

Thanks a lot for any help.

rizla_king

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/109/109-payday-lending.html

109/3
consumer complains that lender registered a default without giving him notice

Mr N was having some building work done on his house. The costs had been mounting and as the builders were finishing off the work, Mr N was getting anxious about the final bill.

He took out a 30-day loan to cover the building work - and to make sure he could meet his regular outgoings. But the invoice from the builder was a lot higher than Mr N had been expecting. He realised that he wouldn't be able to pay the builder, cover his regular outgoings and pay off the loan by its due date. So he contacted the lender to let them know he wouldn't be able to pay off the loan.

Over the next few months, Mr N managed to reduce his outgoings and put money aside to pay off his loan. He kept in regular contact with his lender to let them know what he was doing.

Six months later Mr N had saved enough money to pay off his loan. The lender accepted his payment and closed the account. It also said that it had updated Mr N's credit file to show that he had settled the account.

But when Mr N checked his credit file a month later he found that the lender had registered a default against his name two months after he had taken out the loan. The default was now showing as "satisfied".

Mr N was worried. He hadn't realised that there was a default against his name - and he was concerned about the impact it was having on his credit rating.

Mr N phoned the lender to find out what had happened. They said that they had sent him a letter telling him that it was going to register a default on his credit file. Mr N didn't remember receiving a letter about this - and he knew that he was normally very good with his correspondence. Unhappy with the lender's response, he brought his complaint to us.

complaint resolved
We asked the lender to send us the all the correspondence that was relevant to the case. But they told us that they couldn't send us a copy of the default notice - or an extract from their records to show it had been sent - because their records system had recently been "updated". This meant they didn't have a copy of the original notice or any records to show us that it had been sent.

However, the lender was able to send us a copy of the terms and conditions for the loan. It pointed out that if Mr N had read them, he should have been aware that it could register a default against his name if he didn't pay off his outstanding balance in time.

Although we accepted this, we explained to the lender that it was required to send out a notice of default to the consumer 28 days before the default was registered. We pointed out that because they couldn't show us a copy of the default notice - or any evidence that showed that the notice had in fact been sent - we couldn't be sure exactly what had happened.

When we explained to the lender that Mr N felt certain he hadn't received a notice, it agreed to remove the default - and to amend his credit file. Mr N was happy with this outcome.

sourcrates

Yes you are correct, you should receive written notice of an impending default, giving you 28 days in which to rectify your account.
As per the above post, you should follow the lenders complaints procedure, send a letter of complaint, make sure its a letter, not an email, mark it "COMPLAINT".


If they fail to respond, or your not happy with there response, take the complaint to the FOS.


Following through with the correct procedure, can take time, but should yield results in the end.


Lenders, especially payday lenders, tend to ignore emails and calls, where a complaint is concerned, but if you put it in writing, and you have to go the FOS route, then you have a paper trail that backs up your case.