Cap Quest

scunner

Hi.

I'm having a great deal of difficulty with Cap Quest in relation to entries they've made on my Experian credit file. Although they accept in a letter that there have been no late or missed payments since June 2014 they refuse to correct my Experian file which suggests 12 late or missed payments over the last year, all with them. Is my only recourse to take the matter up with the Financial Ombudsman?

Thanks.

fermi

Would be helpful if you could post up an anonymised screenshot/scan of the credit file entry in question.

May be that the entry should really show a default rather than late payments, given that it has been sold to a debt collector. Could be that it's just showing 1-6 in arrears rather than saying each payment is late.

sourcrates

It will show the original default date, and continue to show that for six years.
It's the same default, not seperate ones, you may be interpreting the information incorrectly.
The DCA, as the new owner, will continue to report the original default, you making payments to them on time is irrelevant to that.

fermi

Not necessarily. Have seen a few sold on recently where there was no actual default from the original lender, and the DCA is showing 1-6 payments late rather than a default. So wanted to check if that was the case, or as you say if it's Ds or 8s being misinterpreted.

sourcrates

fermi wrote: »

Not necessarily. Have seen a few sold on recently where there was no actual default from the original lender, and the DCA is showing 1-6 payments late rather than a default. So wanted to check if that was the case, or as you say if it's Ds or 8s being misinterpreted.

Ah, that's a sneaky, underhand tactic, but nothing short of what you might expect these days.

scunner

Thanks for taking the time to reply and much appreciated. I was going to attach a scanned copy of the entry but it's not at all clear on the printed copy - sorry.

The Account Status Codes 1-12 months are: one x 3 followed by eleven x 2.
13 - 24 months are: four x 2 followed by seven x 1 and 1 x zero.
The account also states that a Debt Management Programme is in place which is incorrect. The Start Date is shown as 1/12/2012. I have never been in a DMP.

I had been paying Marbles directly up until earlier this year not having realised I was supposed to send payments to Cap Quest direct. They have partly accepted this and in that letter also state there have been no late or missed payments since June 2014. However they will no update my account.

Payments to them were suspended at their suggestion while they investigated my complaint and they add in their letter that this is was their last response. I feel I've no recourse but to take it up with the Financial Ombudsman as their incorrect entries are adversely affecting my already poor credit score, which was however steadily improving.

One last thing please: should I renew monthly payments to Cap Quest whilst the FO investigates or wait pending the outcome?

Thanks again.

fermi

Presumably for this to be with Capquest you must have original got behind with the contractually required payments on the card, and are now in a payment arrangement?

I think also you may be misinterpreting what the monthly status codes mean. When they say 1 or 2 or 3 payments late etc, they do not mean you are missing a payment each month in whatever arrangement you have in place. What it means is that cumulatively the arrears on the account compared to what the contractual payments should have been have now reached 1 or 2 or 3 months worth. If that represents the correct state of the account then those markers would be correct. Unfortunately the CRAs explain that point very very poorly in most places they display it.

scunner

Thanks again. The account was originally with Marbles and I defaulted on the credit agreement whilst the account was still with them. In that sense I think Fermi's point above is correct, especially as Cap quest have also now incorrectly stated there is a DMP in place which has never been the case. I might well be misunderstanding the status codes and appreciate this being pointed-out. However none of my other defaulted accounts have account status remotely like these! I think what Sourcrates describes is how the account SHOULD have been marked!

Hope that helps clarify further and thanks for the very welcome contributions. If there's any further guidance that would be great thanks.