Lender ruined my credit rating

sarahg85

Hi all,

Sorry if this is long, I'll try my best to keep it brief!

I recently settled a PCP deal with a motor finance company.
It was a 3 year agreement and was due to finish in November 2017.

I was given the three usual options towards the end of the agreement;

1) Hand vehicle back
2) Trade in for another vehicle
3) Buy vehicle for an agreed sum

I was sent a letter by the motor finance company informing me that if I did not provide them with a decision within 10 working days then they would presume that I wanted to keep the vehicle and would take the value of the vehicle (around £6,000) in December, meaning I would then own the vehicle.

I informed them within the timescale that I wished to hand back the vehicle and made arrangements for the car to be collected. I made my final monthly payment and then cancelled my direct debit (as instructed by the finance company).

In January I received a letter from the finance company stating that I had defaulted on a payment under Sect 87(1) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. They advised that I had not paid the lump sum for the vehicle and I was in breach of my contract.

I contacted them immediately and they agreed that the vehicle had been collected and I was not in breach of my contract. They advised that they had tried to collect the lump sum of £6,000 in December but it bounced back as I had cancelled by direct debit.
I requested that they close my account and cease from taking any further payments and I was assured this would be the end of the matter and to ignore the letter.

I then saw that my credit score plummeted as it showed that I did not make a direct debit payment.
I contacted the relevant credit reference agencies and raised a dispute and also contacted the Motor finance company again and requested that they confirm their mistake to the credit reference agencies....they said they would.

About 2 weeks later I received a further letter from the motor finance company of a further notice of default sums. I contacted them again and quoted previous conversations. They said they were waiting for the vehicle to be sold at auction and only once it was sold would they settle my account. I argued that I had done my bit by making the monthly payments and that waiting on the sale of the vehicle was not my problem (what if it took months?). They informed me that the account would not close until they received a cheque from the auction house for the vehicle. (I don't know if this is usual practice?)

Last week I was informed that the vehicle had been sold and my account is now settled however the settlement date has been marked as Jan 2018 and the late/missed payment mark is still showing on my credit file.

I am getting nowhere with the finance company and feel they have been incompetent in settling my account. Is there anything further I can do to rectify this. My credit file had no defaults until this and my score has taken a steep dip.

Thanks in advance.

[Deleted User]

Escalate a complaint with them. Proceed to FOS if it does not get resolved.

Monitor your credit file to ensure it is changed but ignore the credit score.

Ensure it is changed on all files it appears on.

sarahg85

Thanks zx81.

I have emailed their complaints department and have received no reply but have sent a chase up today.

I wouldn't normally be this concerned about the score but I am looking to apply for a new mortgage and worry that this may make things more difficult.

Do I need to contact all credit agencies individually to have the missed payment mark taken off?

Thanks.

[Deleted User]

Yes. Contact all three to ensure it is changed.

The reason you don't worry about the score is that it's not related to your credit worthiness. It will stay low once the late payment mark is removed, because that's what scores do.

Lenders, on the other hand, will see a file in the state it is supposed to be. They don't see the scores because they know they are horse poop.

DCFC79

sarahg85 wrote: »

Thanks zx81.

I have emailed their complaints department and have received no reply but have sent a chase up today.

I wouldn't normally be this concerned about the score but I am looking to apply for a new mortgage and worry that this may make things more difficult.

Do I need to contact all credit agencies individually to have the missed payment mark taken off?

Thanks.

Maybe your onfusing the score with the report, they are 2 different things, the score is a number and yes to have a 999 woild look pretty no 1 else can see it.

Your report on the other hand is what lenders can see as thats the important part of it.

Maybe you shoukd watch Martins show from last week, it was on itv, he explains about credit reports etc.

Madasa85

I would double check that the final payment you made was indeed the final payment. Also you may have been liable for a fee which they made have tried to take as well as any excess mileage fees.