Very old debt

rbritish

Checked my Experian report and there is an old current account debt with IF.com from 2001. It defaulted over ten years ago. I was paying £10.00 a week until I changed my own bank account. Rang IF.com and said to ring their collections dept. Did that and I was put through to the Phillipines who said they have no record of the £1,141 debt. Rang IF.com and they said it is on their file and they will continue reporting it as delinquent basically forever. I asked how I pay and they said I must contact collections. No one will tell me what to do, how to pay or indeed if I have to pay. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

HappyMJ

rbritish wrote: »

Checked my Experian report and there is an old current account debt with IF.com from 2001. It defaulted over ten years ago. I was paying £10.00 a week until I changed my own bank account. Rang IF.com and said to ring their collections dept. Did that and I was put through to the Phillipines who said they have no record of the £1,141 debt. Rang IF.com and they said it is on their file and they will continue reporting it as delinquent basically forever. I asked how I pay and they said I must contact collections. No one will tell me what to do, how to pay or indeed if I have to pay. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

When is the default date? I'd just wait the 6 years out.

They obviously don't want the money so don't give it to them.

Even if you did pay the default will still be on your credit report so not paying makes no difference whatsoever.

fermi

rbritish wrote: »

It defaulted over ten years ago.

Yes, but have they recorded a default on your credit file, or are they just reporting it without one as delinquent and/or x months in arrears?

rbritish

Thanks Happy MJ. Experien have said although the default was in 2001 the fact they are keeping the debt open and in a delinquent status means it will stay on file forever if not sorted out.

rbritish

Hi Fermi. It has no default on file. Delinquent status with missed payments.

HappyMJ

rbritish wrote: »

Thanks Happy MJ. Experien have said although the default was in 2001 the fact they are keeping the debt open and in a delinquent status means it will stay on file forever if not sorted out.

It still comes off 6 years after you made the last communication or payment on the debt whether it ever went into default or not.

Have you spoken with Experian about removing it? They know the rules and shouldn't have debts that have been ignored for 6 years still showing to potential creditors.

fermi

HappyMJ wrote: »

It still comes off 6 years after you made the last communication or payment on the debt whether it ever went into default or not.

No it doesn't. It drops 6 years from the recorded default date, or 6 years from the settlement date if not defaulted.

In this case as neither of those apply it stays indefinitely, if it stays the way it is.

fermi

rbritish wrote: »

Hi Fermi. It has no default on file. Delinquent status with missed payments.

In that case, you need to complain stating that:

- it should have been defaulted by at least dd/mm/yyyy as appropriate.
- that by not recording a default the record is inaccurate and a breach of the Data Protection Act.
- that recording a delinquent/arrears status withou recording a default as they should, they are treating you unfairly, and breaching the DPA by having this displayed longer than is justifiable and processed for longer than it should be.
- That unless they correct or remove it, you will be taking them to the FOS and reporting them to the ICO.

Please consult the ICO guidance that applied at the time.

See --> http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100428141142/http://ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/library/data_protection/detailed_specialist_guides/default_tgn_version_v3%20%20doc.pdf

for help and details that may help you formulate the argument in more detail.

Basically most likely should have a default backdated to more than 6 years ago, which would in effect remove it.

HappyMJ

fermi wrote: »

No it doesn't. It drops 6 years from the recorded default date, or 6 years from the settlement date if not defaulted.

In this case as neither of those apply it stays indefinitely, if it stays the way it is.

That doesn't sound right. I have a very old debt that I am not paying, it can not be defaulted as the agreement is unenforceable and has not been settled either, the debt is still outstanding. The creditor was permanently reporting it as in arrears. It dropped off the credit report 6 years after the last payment was made. It's still outstanding today. it's not in default and it's not been settled and I don't make any payments towards it.

fermi

It is correct.

May have been some other reason why it was removed by the creditor, but unless it was defaulted or settled/satisfied the CRAs will not drop the record themselves. Many creditors/DCAs have in the last few years been going back over old accounts that should have defaulted and removed but weren't, and then correcting them. Could be what they have done there.

In other cases like this one, they haven't.

Experian_company_representative

Hi Rbritish,

It understand your concern having such an old debt on your credit report.

When an account is recorded as delinquent, it is still considered an active account, and so would not drop off your report after six years.

We keep active accounts definitely so it could stay on the report until the account is cleared and then closed.

Lenders will record accounts as delinquent rather than defaulted to give the account holder time to bring the account back up to date, so it can then continue as an active account.

As Fermi has said with the account being delinquent for so long, we would expect the company to have recorded it as a default.

We can contact them on your behalf to query the accuracy of the information that they have recorded.

If you [EMAIL="uksocialsupport@experian.com"]email[/EMAIL] us with your full name, date of birth and address or report reference number they we will be happy to help with this.

Kind regards
Neil