Default Notice from Argos

clarke18

Hi I wonder if anyone can help.  I’ll try and condense this as much as possible.

I ignorantly fell behind on my Argos card payments this year after I lost my Argos card and lost access to the app.  I contacted Argos for a new card that never came and I never followed it up.  Payments due were only small, 14/15 etc a month but obviously they soon built up.

I suffered a mental breakdown during the pandemic.  I left my job / family and left the country to stay with family elsewhere whilst trying to get my head right.  My GP signed me off as suffering an acute stress episode.  I returned to England 10 days ago and resumed to work on reduced hours, I’ve now gone part-time.  

Catching up on a mound of bills today and I seen one from Argos Financial Services advising me of a DEFAULT NOTICE Served under section 87(1) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974  - it advises to remedy the breach then the arrears of £63.81 Must be paid before July 26th 2020 which was obviously YESTERDAY ! I phoned and the lady I spoke to asked for the payment today to ‘bring my account up to date’ I said ‘oh great will that stop the breach’ she said
’oh no that went through on Friday the 24th and will be on your credit file for 6 years’.  

I advised the letter said I had until
before July 26th so pay so it was premature the notice was filed on the 24th! And she said ‘well we didn’t hear from you so it was filed then’.  

I’ve asked it’s escalated as I’m somewhat hoping my extenuating circumstances would matter, or the fact the default notice was filed before the expiry date.  If I’d even paid it on Saturday, the default notice had already been filed against me anyway !!

Has anyone Dealt with this before ??  Can anyone help me ?? What happens now ? I am absolutely struggling today in coping with this.  

MinuteNoodles

You defaulted before the 26th July. They're entitled to put a default on the next day you didn't pay on the day it was due. They actually have no legal requirement to inform you they're putting a default notice on your file. As the 26th was a Sunday and the 24th was the last working day before the deadline it makes sense it was done then.

The time to mention the extenuating circumstances was way before the deadline on the letter and then at that point they may likely have been willing to help you but by leaving it until after the 11th hour then that ship has sailed.

What happens now is you have a default on your credit record which will restrict your inability to borrow which is a good thing as more debt is precisely what you don't need. You can pay off what is owed and have the debt marked as satisfied which will lower the damage a little but the default will stay in place even if you do and it'll be there for 6 years. You may be able to ask them to move the default date back to when you originally didn't pay but as we're talking a matter of a few months it won't make much difference.

I would also imagine given you say you're finally addressing the mountain  of bills you have that this won't be the only negative mark on your credit record. I would get a copy of your credit record from the three main CRAS, you can do that for free using the MSE Credit Club, Clearscore and I forget for now who is the third but don't pay for them. Ignore the number they show you, concentrate on what the entries are.

It is still worth pursuing the action you're taking, especially if you can provide evidence, and they may agree to remove it but beware they're under no legal obligation to and ultimately it's down to goodwill.

sourcrates

One default is not that bigger deal, its only effect will be on your inability to obtain credit, everything else continues much the same as before, you still continue to pay the debt off, but then the account will be closed.

Nothing to stress about, happens all the time to lots of people.

clarke18

Hi
Thanks very much for your reply.  Sorry I wasn’t clear in my OP by other bills I meant generic post-out receipt for bills, things I pay for via direct debit.  I have no other debt, I’ve never been in debt before in my life.  

I guess I should have made the Argos card a direct debit bill too.

What happens with the Argos debt now ? Does that have to be paid in one lump sum now or continued as monthly repayments ? No one has specified this to me and I didn’t even think to ask on the phone.

Can I ask also, does this 6 year credit mark only count for the U.K. ? As I wasn’t planning on purchasing a home here anyway so I’m not overly concerned if it’s only a ‘black mark’ for the U.K.  

I live otherwise a creditless life so I definitely won’t be applying for another credits for shopping (not that I’d be approved now anyway)

Thanks again for all your advice xx

SpreadableToast

Even if the default notice was required to mark an account as in default with the CRAs (as MinuteNoodles correctly says, it isn't) you didn't meet the deadline of the 26th anyway.

Any argument that they've been hasty to mark the account as defaulted doesn't really hold water but they could easily remedy it by marking you as being in default on the 26th, which just means it's going to be on your file even longer.  Bit of an own-goal really.

sourcrates

clarke18 said:

.

What happens with the Argos debt now ? Does that have to be paid in one lump sum now or continued as monthly repayments ? No one has specified this to me and I didn’t even think to ask on the phone.

See my post above.

DCFC79

clarke18 said:

Can I ask also, does this 6 year credit mark only count for the U.K. ? As I wasn’t planning on purchasing a home here anyway so I’m not overly concerned if it’s only a ‘black mark’ for the U.K.  

It only counts for the UK. Where were you thinking of purchasing a home ?