PRAC Financial & BW Legal

lewjones

So here's another experience with these two; my son shares the exact name and DOB as a Payday loan defaulter which PRAC purchased and, using their scattergun approach, they latched onto him. PRAC had Equifax create an account and link his address to that of the debtor resulting in his credit score being 'shot' and he had a mortgage declined because the lender swa 'Payday' on his credit file. BW just deny everything and will accept nothing - including a bank statement showing no deposit from Payday on the date in question; completely different bank and account details and an address 300 miles away from that of the debtor. Various referrals to the FOS were useless so I think the next step is Court as my son is literally 10's of 1,000's of pounds out of pocket. Any thoughts??

Jamesyb123

It shouldn’t need to go as far as court. Have you exhausted the complaints procedure? So get a final response from the company then take it to the ombudsman? It should be fairly easy to spot an address 300 miles away I’m surprised they haven’t resolved it. If it goes to the ombudsman it will go in your favour as the fact is they have the wrong person and all documents will show this.

lewjones

Never had a final response from BW! They provided one to the FOS which we'd never seen (but had a letter from the same person who provided that dated at least a month later saying they were still investigating!!) One of the FOS investigators said he thought Payday were rersponsible so the first complaint we made was closed - now the FOS say they can't consider that again! As I said, totally inept!!

Jamesyb123

It’s not an affordability complaint though so surely they must review it again as it’s nothing to do with responsible lending it’s not your sons debt.

lewjones

Our complaints have always been against BW. I guess if I lodge a new complaint against PRAC - because I have it in writing from Equifax that they instructed the 'damage' that was done to my son's credit file/score - I might get a different resp[onse but in all honesty, my experience with the FOS is that they could not investigate their way out of a paper bag!!!

[Deleted User]

Complain to Equifax that the debt is not his and demand they remove it - you can escalate it to the ICO if they cause problems

Write a complaint to the pay day lender as well.

You need to do stuff formally before you start trying to talk expensive court action, you will not get tens of thousands of pounds compensation

PixelPound

Did your son not check his credit file prior to mortgage application?
As stated it sounds like your son lodged the wrong complaint, responsible lending is all about affordability. At somewhere along the line this debt has been linked to you son, it's a mistrace. It is possible that either the payday loan did it before selling or PRAC did it afterwards - or have you already established that? It is a case of lodging a complaint and following the process. 
The problem though at present is they may simply suspect you are just doing debt avoidance by complaining first on responsibility and then mistrace. However your son needs to persevere.

lewjones

BW did the trace. Firstr they told the FOS that the trace came back with 'positive new address for confirmation' and then over a year later they said Equifax told them it was a 'match' so they can't be held responsible for anything thereafter. Quite frankly I don't trust anything any of them say. They were clearly just 'trying it on' and thought we would pay to have the credit file repaired. Unfortunately the FOS just did not get it!!!

PixelPound

BW did the trace rather than PRAC? Your last post differs to your first, so just clarifying.
IF BW are involved, how along the litigation route is it. If your son is wanting to sue, then a counter claim when they issue a claim form would be when best to do it. However, it would be proving how much out of pocket your son is.

In regards to FOS, it might be your misunderstanding of FOS, rather than FOS understanding of your case.

lewjones

Yes, BW claim do have done the trace but Equifax have said the instruction to create an account came from PRAC. The FOS Investigator recdeived a letter from BW explaining how they did searches to identify my son but he did not disclose that letter - which was full of all the necessary information, e.g. bank details where numerous payday loans had been paid which did not match my sons - and then said we were complaining about the wrong people!! When a subsequent complaint was not upheld by another investigator, I asked that this was all looked at by an Ombudsman. She basically agreed with me but said she could not consider information from a closed complaint!! I've wasted nearly 3 years with those clowns!! One investigator did seem to get it and she got BW to get PRAC to tell Equifax to remove the account - which saw my son's credit score return to normal but only after all the damage had been done. BW described PRAC's repairing my son's credit file as a 'gesture of good will'. Jokers!!

2021BJ

lewjones said:

Yes, BW claim do have done the trace but Equifax have said the instruction to create an account came from PRAC. The FOS Investigator recdeived a letter from BW explaining how they did searches to identify my son but he did not disclose that letter - which was full of all the necessary information, e.g. bank details where numerous payday loans had been paid which did not match my sons - and then said we were complaining about the wrong people!! When a subsequent complaint was not upheld by another investigator, I asked that this was all looked at by an Ombudsman. She basically agreed with me but said she could not consider information from a closed complaint!! I've wasted nearly 3 years with those clowns!! One investigator did seem to get it and she got BW to get PRAC to tell Equifax to remove the account - which saw my son's credit score return to normal but only after all the damage had been done. BW described PRAC's repairing my son's credit file as a 'gesture of good will'. Jokers!!

What do you actually want here?  Going to court for tens of thousands of pounds rules out the small claims track, so your son better has some very deep pockets as losing in a higher court could be very expensive.

You say he has lost tens of thousands, but how exactly?