Clear unfair defaults

stelord131

Hi All,
I have a couple of defaults that have appeared on my credit files which I believe are there unfairly.
In 2014, I had an account for Gas and another for Electricity, both with British Gas. They sent a letter with the quarterly bill and it was too high for me to pay in a lump sum.

They suggested I have pre-payment meters fitted, and they would arrange to take an overpayment on a weekly basis from the credits to the meters.

After a while, I had to move house so informed them, and asked for the arrangement to be transferred to the new property.

I then had to move again a short while later due to a change in circumstances. At this point, I called British Gas and asked where the debts were up to and found that they had not been taking any extra ("The Arrangement") from the weekly meter payments I had been making.

I asked to setup a payment plan and was advised to wait for the debt collectors letters and to setup a plan with them.
I waited, and when the letters came, I emailed the DCA offering a payment of £15 per month on each account. The only response I got each time was a request to fill in an income / expenditure which I refused to do.

After a while, I got fed up of the merry-go round, and started making the payments as I had offered, even though the DCA had not accepted my offer.

I then got a copy of my credit file and noticed that British Gas had placed default markers on both my gas and electric accounts.

I had NOT received any notifications of these defaults - and STILL have not.

What can I do about this?

I have written some letters which I will upload to this thread below with a copy of the replies.

Many Thanks in advance for your help!

stelord131

Well I would upload if I could.... If anyone wants to look, I have uploaded to my Flickr account and will give details if anyone asks.

The short of it is, I sent this letter:

" This letter is a formal request pursuant to s.77/78 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. I require you to provide me with a true copy of the Credit Agreement relating to the above account, together with any other documentation the Act requires you to provide.
I expect you to comply fully and properly with this request, within the statutory time limit. You are reminded that should you fail to comply with my request, the provisions of s.77(6) will apply.
If it is your view that you are not the creditor, s.175 of the CCA 1974 applies in the case of a simple assignment, and places a duty upon you to pass this request to the creditor. In the case of an absolute assignment, you are a creditor as defined by s.189. If you contend that you purchased the rights but not the duties of any agreement, you are reminded that s.189 of the Act is clear that an assignment is of both rights and duties.
Your attention is drawn to ss.5(2), 3(b),6 and 7 of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPUTR).
I enclose a postal order for each account in the sum of £1.00, which is the statutory fee. Note that these funds are not to be used for any other purpose.
If you are unable to comply fully and properly with this request, you should confirm this in writing at the earliest opportunity, and certainly within the statutory time limit for compliance, and return the fee.
Yours Faithfully"


And the first reply basically said send us the Postal Orders back with the words "British Gas" added to them (worded differently) and the second reply was along the lines of we have added the £1 onto your account.


I did send 2 x £1.00 postal orders; first time I did not make them payable, second time they were.

sourcrates

Hi,
I was going to suggest You complain in writing to the original companies concerned, but it appears you have done this already with no positive outcome ?

If that's the case then as you are complaining about a default you think was incorrectly registered, you should get the financial ombudsman involved :

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/faq/answers/complaints_a2.html

This would fall within there remit !!

sourcrates

stelord131 wrote: »

Well I would upload if I could.... If anyone wants to look, I have uploaded to my Flickr account and will give details if anyone asks.

The short of it is, I sent this letter:

" This letter is a formal request pursuant to s.77/78 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. I require you to provide me with a true copy of the Credit Agreement relating to the above account, together with any other documentation the Act requires you to provide.
I expect you to comply fully and properly with this request, within the statutory time limit. You are reminded that should you fail to comply with my request, the provisions of s.77(6) will apply.
If it is your view that you are not the creditor, s.175 of the CCA 1974 applies in the case of a simple assignment, and places a duty upon you to pass this request to the creditor. In the case of an absolute assignment, you are a creditor as defined by s.189. If you contend that you purchased the rights but not the duties of any agreement, you are reminded that s.189 of the Act is clear that an assignment is of both rights and duties.
Your attention is drawn to ss.5(2), 3(b),6 and 7 of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPUTR).
I enclose a postal order for each account in the sum of £1.00, which is the statutory fee. Note that these funds are not to be used for any other purpose.
If you are unable to comply fully and properly with this request, you should confirm this in writing at the earliest opportunity, and certainly within the statutory time limit for compliance, and return the fee.
Yours Faithfully"


And the first reply basically said send us the Postal Orders back with the words "British Gas" added to them (worded differently) and the second reply was along the lines of we have added the £1 onto your account.


I did send 2 x £1.00 postal orders; first time I did not make them payable, second time they were.

Hi,

Err, it's not surprising you have not got anywhere with this.

A CCA request only applys to running credit accounts such as a loan, catalogue, or credit card agreement.

I'm afraid they do not apply to a utility account.

Who advised you to send that ?

stelord131

A desperation "Clear Default" search.....

stelord131

Another point is that I have copies of emails sent to the DCA offering repayments if that strengthens my case any?

sourcrates

stelord131 wrote: »

A desperation "Clear Default" search.....

Ah,

Wrong thing to send entirely I'm afraid to say.

A written complaint detailing your concerns, and telling them how they can put things right, would be the correct way to go with this.

They have 8 weeks to give you a final response, after which you can escalate your complaint to the FOS, as your complaining about a default, and debt collection.

They will then decide your complaint on the basis of fairness, and if due diligence was followed or not !!

A utility company would not have a clue what to do with a CCA request.

stelord131

Many Thanks. I will write and leave some feedback here if / when I hear back from them!