HELP: HoistP/Robinson way changed default date!

Danbrand1

Hi all,

Apologies if there is already a thread for my circumstances but nothing related highlighted my issues.

Bit of background on the debt:

In my naive youth, I took out a HSBC student overdraft in 2008 for the amount of £500. Not long after this, in 2008, I left University for health reasons and buried my head about all debts etc.

Fast forward to last year, the debt finally came off my credit report after the statutory six years.
Around two months ago, I was contacted via letter by H Cohen's solicitors acting on behalf of Robinson way/hoist portfolio, threatening legal action for the amount outstanding.

I followed this up with the statute barred letter for the alleged debt as I'm 100% positive that I've never made a payment or acknowledged the debt as mine in writing (it also no longer existed on my credit file)
Shortly after I received a response claiming a payment was made of £49 on so and so date, making the debt not statute barred.

For completeness, I checked my bank statements and was able to confirm that the payment never existed. I didn't reply as to not risk any acknowledgement of the debt.

A week or so later a settlement offer for £115 was sent to me from Robinson way (I believed this to be a last chance effort to recoup some money) I put the letter aside and thought no more of it.

Today I've checked my Experian credit file and to my amazement, the debt has reappeared with a later default date than was originally set. To say I'm furious at this is an understatement, my partner and I were planning to apply for a mortgage and this has now really put a spanner in the works.

I'm not sure what to do next, I'm convinced that the default date has been changed by Hoist in order to enforce their legal action, the problem I have is that the original debt had long since cleared my credit file and I have no proof of the original details (more importantly the default date) which would confirm that it's statute barred and that it should not be on my file at all.

What's my next move? Request my credit file history from Experian? Complain via the FO? Any help would be much appreciated.

Apologies if there are better threads for this query but I'm a bit lost.

Cheers
DB

[Deleted User]

Ask the for a Subject Access Request showing the payment apparently made

National_Debtline

Hi Dan


Welcome to the forum. The first thing to explain is the date of the default should not affect whether this debt is statute barred. An overdraft will become statute barred if there has been 6 years (since the bank called the overdraft in) where a payment has not been made towards it, you have not acknowledged the debt in writing and a CCJ has not been obtained.


Given they are claiming a payment was made and the debt is not statute barred, it's generally better to challenge that now. Ignoring it could make them more likely to take court action. You could ask them for more information on how the payment was made, just be careful not to acknowledge the debt in your response. You may want to refer to the debt as the 'alleged debt'.


Once a debt has dropped off your credit file because the default is 6 years old, it certainly should not be added back on. While a debt collection agency (DCA) is entitled to register the debt in their name, they must use the same default date as the original creditor. You can complain about this, but if you do that now be very careful not to acknowledge the debt is yours. You can take your complaint on to the Information Commissioner's Officer (ICO) if necessary www.ico.org.uk.


Susie
@natdebtline