8 year old debt

Joesniff79

Hi i recently looked at my credit file and saw a debt to virgin mobile from 2012 my deceased wife put alot of things in my name before she passed midway through 2012..i have no knowledge of this debt..no payments have ever been made to it and a default was only given in 2018..ive been with virgin media since 2013 when we moved home and also have a sim only contract with virgin mobile but this debt has never been brought to my attention..can this be removed from my credit file its the only negitive marker on my file and i was hoping to get a mortgage

Willing2Learn

I am not an expert, but thought I would give my thoughts.

My understanding is that the guidance states that:

If you fall into arrears on your account, or you do not keep to the revised terms of an arrangement, a default may be recorded to show that the relationship has broken down.   

As a general guide, this may occur when you are 3 months in arrears, and normally by the time you are 6 months in arrears

So, based on the above, I believe they should have defaulted the account a long time ago.  If the default were to be backdated to when the account was six months in arrears, then it would have been automatically removed from your three credit files. 

Like I said though, I am no expert.  I therefore recommend you await comments from people who have greater knowledge.

jimbo26

I would agree with Willing2Learn's comments. If no payments have been made since 2012 then the default should be back dated. 

One thing I'm puzzled by is your assertion you know nothing of the debt. In order to transfer a mobile phone contract both parties need to agree to it, therefore you must have known you were responsible for future charges.

Joesniff79

@jimbo26 it must of been a new contract that she had put in my name i moved house a couple of months after she passed and i applied for a sim only contract with virgin and they never told me about this other account that was in my name..in all she had applied for a lot of things in my name without me knowing totaling over £10,000..it was only 3 years later i found out when debt letters arrived..but still not heard anything off virgin mobile..i paid off all the debt but recently looked at my file and saw this debt from 2012 it has 6 years of late payments then default issued in 2018 ive messaged them just waiting to hear back ..thanks for all your help

jimbo26

Joesniff79 said:

@jimbo26 it must of been a new contract that she had put in my name i moved house a couple of months after she passed and i applied for a sim only contract with virgin and they never told me about this other account that was in my name..in all she had applied for a lot of things in my name without me knowing totaling over £10,000..it was only 3 years later i found out when debt letters arrived..but still not heard anything off virgin mobile..i paid off all the debt but recently looked at my file and saw this debt from 2012 it has 6 years of late payments then default issued in 2018 ive messaged them just waiting to hear back ..thanks for all your help

OK, makes more sense. If no payments made since 2012 then the default should be back dated.