Debt settled but only cleared year and half later

Ferguson89

Hello!

Im hoping someone here would be able to help me as I seem to have been going round in circles for years. I have searched the board for a while and i'm unable to find something similar.

I took out a contract with Orange a few years ago (unaware of the dates) before the contracted ended I joined a deal with Phones 4 You where they (what i thought they did) was pay your remaining bill and start a new contract. I was a very naive student at the time. They didnt pay the bill but put the money into my account (on the same day as my student loan!) and orange did not use direct debit for the last bill.

I thought this was the end of the matter until I was denied credit a couple years later and seen they had defaulted my account without my knowledge and with no contact through mail, phone or email. I contacted orange who struggled to find my account and informed me the debt wasnt mine but the number had been stolen. I was informed to email an address to have this rectified. I checked a few months later and nothing had changed and I called them again. They told me they were unable to find the account, after several more calls I was told it was sold to a debt management agency and to contact them. I did this and eventually managed to pay of the debt through the company online. I was going to dispute the defaulted status but was aware this would drop after 6 years and decided to wait it out (around this time)

During all this, I had an account with Orange for my current mobile, I also had my mums phone on here (she doesnt know how to use contracts/internet etc). I have had no issues whatsoever, I have upgraded each year and paid all bills on time. My mum had her phone for 6 years when she finally decided to upgrade this year. This then shifted all accounts over to EE.

After checking my credit report today I have found Orange have a closed an account with me as 'Settled' from August 2016 which is having a negative impact on my credit score and I think it will mean I need to wait another 6 years until this drops off? I called EE to try and figure out why this is using my old phone number / current number / mums number. The assistant was unable to find anything to do with this report on my file, he contacted customer service at Orange and spoke to his manager, all unsuccessful. He has advised me to contact creditfilequery@ee.co.uk with my issue as there is nothing he can do without the account.

I just feel like I am not going to get anywhere with this and i am not sure where to turn. Me and my partner are looking into purchasing a house and I do not think it will be possible with this on my file.

I really appreciate any help you can offer because at the moment I feel like there is nothing I can do.

Jo

Dobbibill

If the contract has ended, it will show as settled.

EE will now start reporting in place of Orange.

Take no notice of your score, it isn't relevant.

Ben8282

A settled account should not be having a negative impact on your score.
The negative impact is more likely as a result of your opening the new accounts with EE especially as your post implies that there are more than one of them.
You say that Orange didn't use direct debit for the final bill. If you had been paying by direct debit I wonder why? Could it perhaps be that you cancelled the direct debit before they had the chance ... ????

Ferguson89

Thanks for your reply, I must be worrying over nothing.

I dont think I explained myself properly, I opened an account with phones4you with EE and cancelled my current contract at the time. I didnt cancel any direct debit so i have no idea why they didnt take the last bill / inform me of it. Which is why it became defaulted for some time.

I currently only have the one account with EE which ive had for 6 years now, however, I have 2 phones on this account which is why it seems I have multiple accounts. They are up to date on payments and on time.

Thanks for your replies, I must read more regarding credit reporting!!

Jo