Defaults added due to Serious Stroke

Freddieboy69

Hi All

I am hoping that someone may be able to advise the next steps I could take in regards to 2 defaults on my credit file,

A brief history,
Up to the end of 2012 all my accounts were up to date and I had no problem obtaining credit, in December of that year I suffered a serious stroke and was hospitalised for a considerable period, during this time my only concern was my wellbeing,
Four years later end of 2016 I have another stroke, and early this year was advised to hire some rehabilitation equipment,
After completing the application forms and submitting it I am informed it was declined and asked to contact Equifax,
This I did and was horrified to discover that I had received FIVE defaults during the period of my hospitalisation during my first stroke 2012/13
I have managed to sort most of these out direct with the companies concerned:
British Gas: spoke to someone in customer compliance who understood the distress that this had caused and removed the file completely from my credit file,

British Telecom: agreed with them to pay off the balance of the account in return for them to change the default status to up to date no late payment indicators and show as settled,

NatWest Bank: went through there complaints handling centre, and it was agreed that due to the circumstances if I paid off the default it would be removed from my file.

All good so far:j. But then had to contact Lowell regarding 2 defaults.

Lowell: not sympathetic at all was told that the contracts were still ongoing during my hospitalisation, that it is a legal requirement for them to show on my credit file for 6 years, and that there is nothing I can do......
One of the defaulted accounts was for a dongle sim and the amount was £31 the other defaulted account was for a mobile sim contract and the amount was £125, these I have now settled.

I settled these accounts last month and having just checked my credit file, British Gas has been removed completely, NatWest have shown the account closed with a nil balance and British Telecom have shown my account as having been up to date since 2013 and now settled and closed,

What if anything can I do about the 2 Lowell defaults? I was thinking of a Notice of correction?? Or are there other avenues that I can follow,

Thank you all for your time and patience in reading this,

Regards

Freddie.

sourcrates

Hi,

Lowell would not of been the issuers of these defaults, whoever was the original creditor would of defaulted you.

Lowell are a specialist debt purchaser, by the time they became involved, the accounts would already of been defaulted prior to been sold to Lowell.

You need to chase up the original owners of these debts to attempt to remedy the situation.

Ben8282

Freddieboy69 wrote: »

Hi All

I am hoping that someone may be able to advise the next steps I could take in regards to 2 defaults on my credit file,

A brief history,
Up to the end of 2012 all my accounts were up to date and I had no problem obtaining credit, in December of that year I suffered a serious stroke and was hospitalised for a considerable period, during this time my only concern was my wellbeing,
Four years later end of 2016 I have another stroke, and early this year was advised to hire some rehabilitation equipment,
After completing the application forms and submitting it I am informed it was declined and asked to contact Equifax,
This I did and was horrified to discover that I had received FIVE defaults during the period of my hospitalisation during my first stroke 2012/13
I have managed to sort most of these out direct with the companies concerned:
British Gas: spoke to someone in customer compliance who understood the distress that this had caused and removed the file completely from my credit file,

British Telecom: agreed with them to pay off the balance of the account in return for them to change the default status to up to date no late payment indicators and show as settled,

NatWest Bank: went through there complaints handling centre, and it was agreed that due to the circumstances if I paid off the default it would be removed from my file.

All good so far:j. But then had to contact Lowell regarding 2 defaults.

Lowell: not sympathetic at all was told that the contracts were still ongoing during my hospitalisation, that it is a legal requirement for them to show on my credit file for 6 years, and that there is nothing I can do......
One of the defaulted accounts was for a dongle sim and the amount was £31 the other defaulted account was for a mobile sim contract and the amount was £125, these I have now settled.

I settled these accounts last month and having just checked my credit file, British Gas has been removed completely, NatWest have shown the account closed with a nil balance and British Telecom have shown my account as having been up to date since 2013 and now settled and closed,

What if anything can I do about the 2 Lowell defaults? I was thinking of a Notice of correction?? Or are there other avenues that I can follow,

Thank you all for your time and patience in reading this,

Regards

Freddie.

I am finding what you say happened to be quite difficult to accept. You claim that these five defaults occurred in late 2012 but you did not find out about them until you were declined credit in 2016.
One of the accounts was British Gas. If this account was defaulted, what happened when you came home from hospital and found the gas supply to your home cut off for non-payment? After all, British Gas would not continue to supply gas to you after your account had been defaulted. How have you managed for gas since then? Surely British Gas would have been contacted at the time ... Have you been without gas since 2012?
Similarly, if British Telecom had defaulted your account your phone would have been cut off. Did you never think to call BT about this at the time? Have you been without a phone since 2012?
Again with NatWest. You don't say if the default applies to a bank account or a credit card, but either way, surely it didn't take you four years to realise that the bank account or credit card in question was no longer operational?
Then you say the other defaults were for a dongle SIM and a mobile phone. So not only was your home phone defaulted and disconnected, so was your dongle and mobile phone as of course service would not have been provided to you after the accounts were defaulted.
And still you didn't realise anything was wrong until four years later ...
I am not unsympathetic to your medical problems but something really does not add up here.


The two Lowell defaults are now over 4 years old, are presumably marked as settled and are for relatively low amounts. I think at this stage a notice of correction would probably do more harm than good. I would also point out that drawing potential lenders attention to a potentially recurring serious medical condition would not be to your benefit. These defaults will drop off your credit files six years after the date of default.

Freddieboy69

Thanks for your comments,

Because of the severity of my stroke I never returned to the house I was living in (rented) but was moved to a bungalow with the help of social services,

I assumed mistakenly as it now turns out, that my family would of taken care of my accounts at my old address,

I have not applied for any credit since 2012 so had no idea what had happened.

yoshiyella

I can't offer much, but when I was in a car accident and in a coma for several months, I defaulted too on several accounts as none would deal with my mum. On release from hospital, I was still ill for several more months (literally sleeping 18 hours a day). When I contacted all companies only Alliance and Leicester were sympathetic, not only did they remove the default but they also refunded all charges and gave me a gesture of goodwill (never asked for that). All other companies pretty much said "tough luck" even when I provided them with full proof of medical notes.

I now have a list of companies who I detest! I know that it is not their fault and is a true reflection. Sadly in today's world morality and business do not mix for the majority.