Barclays Partner Finance Default

theman84

Hi everyone hope your all keeping safe and well during this period of uncertainty.

I think I may already know the answer to my question (silly me being pressured into agreeing something with a customer service representative whilst having enough on my plate at the time) but I wondered whether anyone else had a similar situation?

Back in 2018 I bought some new Windows and Doors for my house and was approved for finance when purchasing them by Barclays Partner Finance. The term was for a five year period at £111 per month.

All was good until 2019 when I sustained exceptional family circumstances together with being made redundant so Barclays Partner Finance were fantastic and allowed me some breathing space and rescheduled a payment plan (for when things got easier) so I could get things back on track. When they did I agreed a repayment plan of £160 per month (£111 normal monthly payment and £49 to go towards the outstanding payment balance) over a 12 month period.

All was going really well until January 2020 and February 2020 direct debit payments went missing (even though money was in my account it sounds like the direct debit went in and back again). Unfortunately (silly me) had only noticed the error when I logged into my account one night to find a transaction and noticed I had more money in my account than normal (This was Mid February 2020).

I telephoned Barclays Partner Finance as soon as possible and was informed by the customer service representative of the two missing payments but was assured the payment plan would be extended by 2 months and carry on paying the agreed payment plan amount of £160.

Anyway all payments carried on well but unfortunately Covid19 came into play, my salary was slashed by 50% to sustain my job so telephoned Barclays Partner Finance several times with little success and so applied for a payment holiday on my agreed arrangement mid April 2020 (even though March and April Payment had been made as normal).

Anyway I received an "unknown call" one evening from a very rude customer service representative advising me that due to my account had missed payments, I had been paying the loan on the 28th and not the 2nd of each month, the reference they had given me was wrong, they wouldn't honour a payment holiday and I had 7 days to pay the outstanding payments (£595 worth) before the loan would be noted on my credit rating as "defaulted" and the loan sold to a debt collection agency. I explained to the customer service representative of the history, the telephone call in February and  why I had requested the holiday. Her response was that's not Barclays problem and I should find the money or it will go to default and I wouldn't get credit again (Remember I haven't received any default letter or missed payment correspondence so it's good these "chance" calls happened or I would be in bigger trouble than a Default).

Me being me panicked like hell and put myself into financial difficulty to pay the amount within 7 days. After several attempts to call Barclays Partner Finance I paid the amount by the automated payment line and kept regularly calling them to confirm all was cleared.

Ok so Mid May 2020 someone called me back and advised me (to my shock and without my knowledge) that someone within there collections team had raised a Default back in February 2020 so it was irreversible and all they could do was apologise and give me £111 compensation and advised me to add a notice of correction to my credit rating as it wasn't entirely my fault as no correspondence had been raised from Barclays Partner Finance end to inform me of the missed payments and pending default. She did say to me "at least the debt is still with us" and "you can continue paying your normal amount but your credit rating will be impacted for 6 years now as each month you pay the credit reference agency will record it as defaulted" I thought to myself lovely thanks for the reassurance Barclays!

So a year later I'm up to date on the loan and each month there still recording it as defaulted. I've put a notice of correction on my credit file and put it down to a "Valuable lesson learnt". The best deals I used to get have now gone but would really appreciate if others have experienced a similar situation.

Thanks once again and take care :-)

adamp87

I’d look to take that notice of correction of your report. It’s doing you more damage I would say.

The default is reported as defaulted for 6 years, I’d you pay sums off the amount that will be recorded but it’s not incorrect at the moment to record it as defaulted.

The chances of removing defaults are very low, have you raised a formal complaint about the default?

finalfantasist

So did you spend the money that wasn't taken for the 2 DD's?

I'm not really sure why you wouldn't have paid it over the phone when you contacted them about it.  Or why they wouldn't have taken it from you at the time.

theman84

adamp87 said:

I’d look to take that notice of correction of your report. It’s doing you more damage I would say.

The default is reported as defaulted for 6 years, I’d you pay sums off the amount that will be recorded but it’s not incorrect at the moment to record it as defaulted.

The chances of removing defaults are very low, have you raised a formal complaint about the default?

Thanks for the comment. 

Tbh I was also unsure about adding a notice of correction (NOC) to my credit file but was advised by Barclays Partner Finance (When I complained about the situation over the phone) it would help with future credit applications.

Didn't believe them originally but it was true when I took out a new mortgage in October 2020 (Lender responded and said the NOC helped get the application approved). 

Obviously my credit report shows that the balance is going down each month in accordance with the agreed contract (even though each month it says default). 

I think it's something I'm going to have to live with and take the hit with higher rates (or declines) should I apply for any future credit. 

theman84

finalfantasist said:

So did you spend the money that wasn't taken for the 2 DD's?

I'm not really sure why you wouldn't have paid it over the phone when you contacted them about it.  Or why they wouldn't have taken it from you at the time.

No the money due to Barclays Partner Finance was still sitting in my account.

I offered to pay for the two months there and then however the customer service representative advised me "because of my extreme circumstances previously, Barclays Partner Finance would add the two missed payments to the end of the agreed payment plan" so basically 2 months more paying £160.

Trust me I wished I had not agreed to that option now and paid it straight away. 

finalfantasist

theman84 said:

adamp87 said:

I’d look to take that notice of correction of your report. It’s doing you more damage I would say.

The default is reported as defaulted for 6 years, I’d you pay sums off the amount that will be recorded but it’s not incorrect at the moment to record it as defaulted.

The chances of removing defaults are very low, have you raised a formal complaint about the default?

Thanks for the comment. 

Tbh I was also unsure about adding a notice of correction (NOC) to my credit file but was advised by Barclays Partner Finance (When I complained about the situation over the phone) it would help with future credit applications.

Didn't believe them originally but it was true when I took out a new mortgage in October 2020 (Lender responded and said the NOC helped get the application approved). 

Obviously my credit report shows that the balance is going down each month in accordance with the agreed contract (even though each month it says default). 

I think it's something I'm going to have to live with and take the hit with higher rates (or declines) should I apply for any future credit. 

NOC's rarely help.

To be honest I suspect in this one specific instance the NOC simply avoided a step in the application process as when applying for mortgages there is usually an opportunity to explain things on your file or with your finances.  I suspect if it hadn't been there you'd have just been asked for more info about the default and still ended up with a mortgage.

Any other application for credit though, where that line of communication isn't open, will just result in a decline if they don't like defaults. The NOC will just mean that you won't ever be able to apply for a financial product and get an automated "accept" as long as it's there.

theman84

finalfantasist said:

theman84 said:

adamp87 said:

I’d look to take that notice of correction of your report. It’s doing you more damage I would say.

The default is reported as defaulted for 6 years, I’d you pay sums off the amount that will be recorded but it’s not incorrect at the moment to record it as defaulted.

The chances of removing defaults are very low, have you raised a formal complaint about the default?

Thanks for the comment. 

Tbh I was also unsure about adding a notice of correction (NOC) to my credit file but was advised by Barclays Partner Finance (When I complained about the situation over the phone) it would help with future credit applications.

Didn't believe them originally but it was true when I took out a new mortgage in October 2020 (Lender responded and said the NOC helped get the application approved). 

Obviously my credit report shows that the balance is going down each month in accordance with the agreed contract (even though each month it says default). 

I think it's something I'm going to have to live with and take the hit with higher rates (or declines) should I apply for any future credit. 

NOC's rarely help.

To be honest I suspect in this one specific instance the NOC simply avoided a step in the application process as when applying for mortgages there is usually an opportunity to explain things on your file or with your finances.  I suspect if it hadn't been there you'd have just been asked for more info about the default and still ended up with a mortgage.

Any other application for credit though, where that line of communication isn't open, will just result in a decline if they don't like defaults. The NOC will just mean that you won't ever be able to apply for a financial product and get an automated "accept" as long as it's there.

Unfortunately a couple of the lenders I applied for weren't even going to look at my application until I confirmed a NOC was on my credit file as I tried explaining beforehand what had happend and one said it would have gone to a decline without it (strange how each lender reviews cases differently to one another). 

I also think what did help was my LTV was low and what I was borrowing worked out at £4500 more than my existing mortgage. 

finalfantasist

theman84 said:

finalfantasist said:

theman84 said:

adamp87 said:

I’d look to take that notice of correction of your report. It’s doing you more damage I would say.

The default is reported as defaulted for 6 years, I’d you pay sums off the amount that will be recorded but it’s not incorrect at the moment to record it as defaulted.

The chances of removing defaults are very low, have you raised a formal complaint about the default?

Thanks for the comment. 

Tbh I was also unsure about adding a notice of correction (NOC) to my credit file but was advised by Barclays Partner Finance (When I complained about the situation over the phone) it would help with future credit applications.

Didn't believe them originally but it was true when I took out a new mortgage in October 2020 (Lender responded and said the NOC helped get the application approved). 

Obviously my credit report shows that the balance is going down each month in accordance with the agreed contract (even though each month it says default). 

I think it's something I'm going to have to live with and take the hit with higher rates (or declines) should I apply for any future credit. 

NOC's rarely help.

To be honest I suspect in this one specific instance the NOC simply avoided a step in the application process as when applying for mortgages there is usually an opportunity to explain things on your file or with your finances.  I suspect if it hadn't been there you'd have just been asked for more info about the default and still ended up with a mortgage.

Any other application for credit though, where that line of communication isn't open, will just result in a decline if they don't like defaults. The NOC will just mean that you won't ever be able to apply for a financial product and get an automated "accept" as long as it's there.

Unfortunately a couple of the lenders I applied for weren't even going to look at my application until I confirmed a NOC was on my credit file as I tried explaining beforehand what had happend and one said it would have gone to a decline without it (strange how each lender reviews cases differently to one another). 

I also think what did help was my LTV was low and what I was borrowing worked out at £4500 more than my existing mortgage. 

Well, mortgages are very much the exception when it comes to credit.  Most other forms are pretty black and white and you have no ability to converse with the lending department.  And NOC's will do very little other than forcing a human being to look at it, thus making any application take a lot longer.

theman84

finalfantasist said:

theman84 said:

finalfantasist said:

theman84 said:

adamp87 said:

I’d look to take that notice of correction of your report. It’s doing you more damage I would say.

The default is reported as defaulted for 6 years, I’d you pay sums off the amount that will be recorded but it’s not incorrect at the moment to record it as defaulted.

The chances of removing defaults are very low, have you raised a formal complaint about the default?

Thanks for the comment. 

Tbh I was also unsure about adding a notice of correction (NOC) to my credit file but was advised by Barclays Partner Finance (When I complained about the situation over the phone) it would help with future credit applications.

Didn't believe them originally but it was true when I took out a new mortgage in October 2020 (Lender responded and said the NOC helped get the application approved). 

Obviously my credit report shows that the balance is going down each month in accordance with the agreed contract (even though each month it says default). 

I think it's something I'm going to have to live with and take the hit with higher rates (or declines) should I apply for any future credit. 

NOC's rarely help.

To be honest I suspect in this one specific instance the NOC simply avoided a step in the application process as when applying for mortgages there is usually an opportunity to explain things on your file or with your finances.  I suspect if it hadn't been there you'd have just been asked for more info about the default and still ended up with a mortgage.

Any other application for credit though, where that line of communication isn't open, will just result in a decline if they don't like defaults. The NOC will just mean that you won't ever be able to apply for a financial product and get an automated "accept" as long as it's there.

Unfortunately a couple of the lenders I applied for weren't even going to look at my application until I confirmed a NOC was on my credit file as I tried explaining beforehand what had happend and one said it would have gone to a decline without it (strange how each lender reviews cases differently to one another). 

I also think what did help was my LTV was low and what I was borrowing worked out at £4500 more than my existing mortgage. 

Well, mortgages are very much the exception when it comes to credit.  Most other forms are pretty black and white and you have no ability to converse with the lending department.  And NOC's will do very little other than forcing a human being to look at it, thus making any application take a lot longer.

It's good I'm not moving anytime in the next 5 years or wanting anymore credit.