Credit Report - Late payments advice

LondonChris15

Hi all,

I've been a long time reader of the forums, but currently hoping for your views on my issue. The below is a bit of a brain dump, so apologies if it doesn't read well!

My issue relates to my credit report, it contains one blemish which relates to Creation Consumer Finance Ltd and multiple months of late payments in 2013.

To set the scene, my wife and I bought our current flat in 2010 and bought some furniture from DFS, after our initial order we opted for a change in sofas and signed a second agreement.

We happily paid our monthly payments for over two years until realising that we were being overcharged. Specifically we were paying PPI that we didn't want, so the monthly amount was £67 rather than £64. Checking our records, we can see that the second agreement had the PPI box ticked (The X almost looks printed rather than the remainder of the agreement which is handwritten).

After months of email/calls/letters between ourselves and Creation in an attempt to get someone to listen about being charged incorrectly I took the (foolish) decision to stop their monthly payments until they resolved this. This didn't help anything and there was never a resolution to the monthly amounts, so in a final act of desperation we paid the remainder in full and closed the account with Creation.

Now in 2015 (due to a pre-credit check for a mortgage) that we've noticed my credit report shows "late payments" for Creation and this would stop me being approved for a mortgage.

Reading online, my best bet would be to write a letter to Creation pleading to remove the late payments from my account, however I have still fully paid for PPI on this account that I didn't want.

Ideally, I want them to know that this whole thing is their fault but I'm assuming I don't have a leg to stand on and should try the grovelling angle.

Thoughts welcome!

Thanks,

Chris

GingerBob_3

Yes, when low life companies such as Creation put you on a CRA blacklist there's not a lot you can do about it other than grovel to them. These companies use credit referencing as a blackmailing tool. There's generally no scope for negotiation. You either do exactly what they say or they shaft your chances of getting credit for six years. To me, stopping monthly payments on the basis of your situation is an entirely reasonable thing to do, but in the world of legalised CRA blackmail it's not a thing anyone can afford to do.

JimmyTheWig

GingerBob wrote: »

To me, stopping monthly payments on the basis of your situation is an entirely reasonable thing to do

Yes it's reasonable. But it's not what the credit companies want you to do. So the CRA reporting, unfortunately, is doing its job.

JimmyTheWig

LondonChris15 wrote: »

We happily paid our monthly payments for over two years until realising that we were being overcharged. Specifically we were paying PPI that we didn't want, so the monthly amount was £67 rather than £64.
...
After months of email/calls/letters between ourselves and Creation in an attempt to get someone to listen about being charged incorrectly I took the (foolish) decision to stop their monthly payments until they resolved this.

From the sounds of it, the amount that you got in arrears by is more than the PPI that you had paid. If that's the case then I agree all you can do is appeal to their better nature.

LondonChris15

Thanks all, I'll send them a letter and let you know how I get on.

Ben8282

GingerBob wrote: »

low life companies such as Creation .

You are very judgemental of Creation. I have had dealings with this company and have been quite impressed with them.

Ben8282

Your action in stopping payments was a big mistake and all for £3 per-month.
Even if there was some validity to the dispute over the £3, there was no possible reason to stop the repayments on the loan.
I am very sceptical that they just ignored several written requests from yourself for a period of months asking to cancel the PPI which you claim was applied to the loan in error. They must have given you some sort of answer and explanation of why it could not be cancelled.

takman

GingerBob wrote: »

Yes, when low life companies such as Creation put you on a CRA blacklist there's not a lot you can do about it other than grovel to them. These companies use credit referencing as a blackmailing tool. There's generally no scope for negotiation. You either do exactly what they say or they shaft your chances of getting credit for six years. To me, stopping monthly payments on the basis of your situation is an entirely reasonable thing to do, but in the world of legalised CRA blackmail it's not a thing anyone can afford to do.

How is stopping a payment of £67 a month that they agreed to reasonable because they disagree with £3 of it?. Which was then correctly recorded as missed payments (not a blacklist). He even said that the PPI charge was included on his copy of the paperwork so it's not like it was hidden.

GingerBob_3

takman wrote: »

How is stopping a payment of £67 a month that they agreed to reasonable because they disagree with £3 of it?. Which was then correctly recorded as missed payments (not a blacklist). He even said that the PPI charge was included on his copy of the paperwork so it's not like it was hidden.

The critical statement made by the OP is:


"After months of email/calls/letters between ourselves and Creation in an attempt to get someone to listen about being charged incorrectly ....."



As I said, these companies have it all ways. They fail to respond to enquiries, leaving the complainant with nothing else to do but stop paying. Then they blacklisted him. To me, this yet again shows that the CRA industry is not fit for purpose.

takman

GingerBob wrote: »

The critical statement made by the OP is:


"After months of email/calls/letters between ourselves and Creation in an attempt to get someone to listen about being charged incorrectly ....."



As I said, these companies have it all ways. They fail to respond to enquiries, leaving the complainant with nothing else to do but stop paying. Then they blacklisted him. To me, this yet again shows that the CRA industry is not fit for purpose.

There is no such thing as a "blacklist". There was plenty to do other than stop paying. He could have made an official complaint and then complained to the relevant financial obudsmans.
But at the end of the day he agreed to pay an amount of £67 a month so to stop paying over a disagreement of £3 a month is just being petty and trying to blackmail the finance company.

GingerBob_3

takman wrote: »

There is no such thing as a "blacklist". There was plenty to do other than stop paying. He could have made an official complaint and then complained to the relevant financial obudsmans.
But at the end of the day he agreed to pay an amount of £67 a month so to stop paying over a disagreement of £3 a month is just being petty and trying to blackmail the finance company.

Yes there is. It's euphemistically referred to as "your" credit report by the CRAs, who've had great success in convincing most people that it really does belong to them. In fact it is very far from being yours, it belongs to the CRAs. "Your" credit report containing one recent late payment marker is a blacklist, and if it's got more than one it's as black as a black hole. If you think such a document is not a blacklist try obtaining a mortgage with one.