Creation - Default & Late payments?!!!

KPike

Hi all

Just after some advice, if any, on how I can proceed with my situation...

Here is the scenario:

I originally took out furniture finance from DFS around April 2012. It was on interest free finance and the agreement was to be taken by direct debit from my joint (bills) account. It was for my new home where I was living.
At the beginning of 2015 I called Creation Finance to get a settlement figure to repay the finance in full as I was going through separation with my partner and I wanted to pay off and close the finance. I was then told that I was unable to do this and then had to be transferred to the Collections team. I was then advised that I had been in 6 months worth of arrears.

I asked for the reason and the company told me that I had either cancelled the direct debit or had insufficient funds in the account.
I then used the internal banking systems (I work for the bank) to check the real reason. I then found that the direct debit had been cancelled by the originator (being creation) with no reason attached. I then took a screen shot of the information and sent it off to them as they denied that this had happened.
Creation also held my previous address details, they captured them wrong at point of sale in DFS, so I had not been notified of the missed payments. There had been no calls made, my mobile number was the same.

I assumed as the payments were by direct debit, they should be coming out automatically as there has always been sufficient funds in the account to pay (there was constantly a float of around £1,000 in the account to more than cover bills).

After a lengthy investigation from Creation, they told me that there was no evidence their end that they cancelled the direct debit it and closed my complaint. They explained that they contacted AUDDIS and the error did not lay with Creation.

I then went to the financial ombudsman service who took on the complaint. Ultimately, the conclusion was that, although they agreed that I did not do anything wrong or malicious (I provided them with my evidence and proof that there was always sufficient money in my account to pay), Creation provided evidence (from AUDDIS) that their systems or staff did not cancel the direct debit. As the FOS were unable to prove who was at fault, they explained that as the missed payments were on my credit file, they could not order Creation to remove them. They put it down to an unidentified internal systems error with either the bank, AUDDIS, or Creation.

I repaid the whole balance of the finance when this was concluded.

As I am individually regulated by the FCA (financial conduct authority) and work in a heavily regulated environment, my job has now been put up for re-evluaiton. Although I'm confident that my explanation is sufficient, potentially I could be losing my job, home and car! I called Creation one last time and explained this, and all the reply I had off them was "it's just one of them unfortunate situations, there's nothing we can do about it."

Being unhappy with this answer, I went to my trade union who offer free legal advise. I spoke to one of the legal team and they explained that there is absolutely nothing that I can do, I have to just bare it and wait a few years for it to drop off....

I am now looking to move home and I am unable to due to my credit! I got a credit report and it shows that I have a very poor score for the above reason only. I have put a notice of correction on the file but after going to many different lenders, they have no interest in taking me on for a mortgage at all.


Has anyone experienced this before? Is there actually nothing in my power that I can do to combat this? Is it just one of them things that I have to accept and potentially lose everything?

I understand that some people may say "well it's your responsibility to ensure that your direct debits are coming out and why didn't you check your statements?". I had a joint account where all my bills came out of and I put 150% of the value of my bills in that account to more than cover them so I didn't have the need to check the account on a regular basis, as direct debits collect payments automatically I would assume that this should work as it should!

Any suggestions on how I can proceed with anything? Or is my life now on hold for a few years?

Thanks

Richey_

You used the "internal banking systems" to look your self up and viewed information which a normal member of the public would not be able to view :shocked: :shocked: :shocked:

That in my line of work would be gross misconduct and most likely to end up in dismissal and very probably a criminal investigation!

As sympathetic as I am for your situation, I feel that if you have done what it appears that you may have done, that is far worse than a minor blip on your credit reports.

Working in a bank you would know that the scores are irrelevant and also if you have applied to many different mortgage lenders as you suggest that too would cause you problems by having too many applications in a short space of time.

boo_star

Richey_ wrote: »

You used the "internal banking systems" to look your self up and viewed information which a normal member of the public would not be able to view :shocked: :shocked: :shocked:

That in my line of work would be gross misconduct and most likely to end up in dismissal and very probably a criminal investigation!

Having worked for a bank in the past their policy was that you may view your account using internal systems but it was in "review mode only." You were not allowed to make any changes, even an internal transfer between two of your accounts but merely viewing the information was fine.

Obviously other banks may have different policies on this.

It's hardly top secret information. If the OP had called customer services and asked them who cancelled it and why, they would have been given the answer.

KPike

Boo_star - Absolutely correct. You are able to view your own account in "read only", you can't make any changes.
The information that was held in regards to the direct debit would be viewable by just calling customer services and asking for the information yourself or even calling into the branch and doing the same.

In regards to the original topic, I have only made 1 credit search i the last 6 months.. This has not harmed my credit score...