Lowell Portfolio - defaults

dawnie1972

I am currently looking for rental accommodation as my landlord has sold my house so last night I obtained my credit files from equifax and experian. Was somewhat upset to find that there are 4 defaults on my file, all logged by Lowell Portfolio. The debts are about 5yrs old, but there is no historic information on any of them - ie normally there are green boxes where you've paid, yellow where you havent, red where its defaulted etc, but on each one there is just the read default box. I am sure that at least two of these would be statute barred but without that information I cannot prove it. What is the best way to check these out - do I request the information from Lowells? Also can Lowells default a debt when the last contact was 12-24 months previous? I am aware they are buying peoples debts etc but this is going to stop me getting a rental property.
Also there is a Capital One credit card debt - and one one file its a default but on the other file its marked as Settled? Can i query this?

Thank you

Strummer22

dawnie1972 wrote: »

Also there is a Capital One credit card debt - and one one file its a default but on the other file its marked as Settled? Can i query this?

I'm unsure what you can do about the Lowell defaults, but those on here with more knowledge will hopefully help you.

I do know for sure that an account in default that you pay off to make it says 'settled' still counts as a default!

fermi

Letting agencies/landlords etc cannot see defaults when they do a credit check for renting, so these should not affect you. They can only see more serious things on public record such as County Court Judgements, bankruptcies etc.

Regarding them being sold on, they must comply with....

CRA Defaults - Recording of defaults relating to debts that have been sold.

The practice of selling/buying debts is widely used. As long as the information is correctly recorded on a credit file by the lender selling the debt and the lender buying the debt, then two entries relating to one account would not be considered to be a breach of the Data Protection Act provided that:-

• both recorded entries are shown as being in relation to the same account/debt;
• the original debt entry should be shown on the credit file as being either ‘settled' or ‘zero' balance and should show that the debt has been ‘re-assigned’;
• the new DC who shows the debt in their name should maintain the original default date and the correct balances;
• the retention period for maintaining the information on a credit file should be based on the original default date regardless of who is responsible for the entry/debt.

kgw1009

These clowns have registered two of my defaults as me being "Deceased"! Idiots.

National_Debtline

With regard to the Capital One card - if you paid this in full but only one credit file shows it as settled then you can send a copy of the payment and the correct credit file entry to Experian and they should update everyone else. If it shows as settled because Capital One sold it on and then it appears as a balance under a debt collector (and it hasn't been paid) then I am afraid, that is ok.


With regard to the defaults, you can complain to Lowell and ask them to be amended to a more appropriate date (from when the accounts were no longer being paid) but please be careful. If they are close to being statute barred then this sort of letter could be classed as a written acknowledgement of the debt and restart the 6 year limitation period. It may be worth getting more specific advice from one of the free advice services.


Laura
@natdebtline