Credit File Disputes

jrob1997

A default is showing on my credit file that I do not believe is fair. I have tried every avenue of appealing to the bank, who are dismissive and refuse to look at any evidence or information to the contrary of their decision. I have asked for information from my new bank, Experian, the financial ombudsman, and Citizens advice. All of which either dismiss so as not to take responsibility for the default, or advise of an extremely long wait time. The issue is now having a serious effect on my mental health and I am now in a position where I have been denied finance on a car, and now I cant get a mortgage. To put into context, this is over £140.00 I did not feel I owed based on the information I had from the new bank, but I paid anyway. 

CliveOfIndia

jrob1997 said:

A default is showing on my credit file that I do not believe is fair

this is over £140.00 I did not feel I owed

A bit of background would help, but the crunch question is, did you default on your payments?  If you did then it sounds like your credit file is showing a true statement of the facts.  If you didn't, then you need to raise a formal complaint to whoever issued the default.

jrob1997

CliveOfIndia said:

jrob1997 said:

A default is showing on my credit file that I do not believe is fair

this is over £140.00 I did not feel I owed

A bit of background would help, but the crunch question is, did you default on your payments?  If you did then it sounds like your credit file is showing a true statement of the facts.  If you didn't, then you need to raise a formal complaint to whoever issued the default.

I do not believe I did, and the bank are requesting I find evidence I called to dispute this back between January 2022 - May 2022. I have no way of providing the evidence that I called despite requesting my phone records from EE. Essentially what they say happened is payments came out following my switch to Nationwide, despite nationwide telling me that once I performed the switch I did not need to worry about any outgoing payments. 

NewUser1972

jrob1997 said:

CliveOfIndia said:

jrob1997 said:

A default is showing on my credit file that I do not believe is fair

this is over £140.00 I did not feel I owed

A bit of background would help, but the crunch question is, did you default on your payments?  If you did then it sounds like your credit file is showing a true statement of the facts.  If you didn't, then you need to raise a formal complaint to whoever issued the default.

I do not believe I did, and the bank are requesting I find evidence I called to dispute this back between January 2022 - May 2022. I have no way of providing the evidence that I called despite requesting my phone records from EE. Essentially what they say happened is payments came out following my switch to Nationwide, despite nationwide telling me that once I performed the switch I did not need to worry about any outgoing payments. 

I assume you mean 'didn't' come out?  If I read correctly you are saying that you switched bank accounts from somewhere to Nationwide, using the bank switching scheme and you assumed (or were told) that your automated payments (such as EE) would transfer and leave your new account?  If so, I think it is meant to be an automatic process and your bank(s) move everything across.when you use a proper switching service (as opposed to simply opening a new account and doing it yourself).   In any case it is your responsibility to make your payments to EE (although I guess if you did use the proper switching service and your old or new bank screwed up you might want to make a formal complaint) and if you did indeed miss sufficient payments to trigger a default then it is correct.  Usually you would be bombarded with phone calls and receive a number of letters as you miss payment after payment - did this not happen?  Finally you would usually get a kind of final demand explaining that if you don't pay up you will receive a default - did you not get this?

jrob1997

NewUser1972 said:

jrob1997 said:

CliveOfIndia said:

jrob1997 said:

A default is showing on my credit file that I do not believe is fair

this is over £140.00 I did not feel I owed

A bit of background would help, but the crunch question is, did you default on your payments?  If you did then it sounds like your credit file is showing a true statement of the facts.  If you didn't, then you need to raise a formal complaint to whoever issued the default.

I do not believe I did, and the bank are requesting I find evidence I called to dispute this back between January 2022 - May 2022. I have no way of providing the evidence that I called despite requesting my phone records from EE. Essentially what they say happened is payments came out following my switch to Nationwide, despite nationwide telling me that once I performed the switch I did not need to worry about any outgoing payments. 

I assume you mean 'didn't' come out?  If I read correctly you are saying that you switched bank accounts from somewhere to Nationwide, using the bank switching scheme and you assumed (or were told) that your automated payments (such as EE) would transfer and leave your new account?  If so, I think it is meant to be an automatic process and your bank(s) move everything across.when you use a proper switching service (as opposed to simply opening a new account and doing it yourself).   In any case it is your responsibility to make your payments to EE (although I guess if you did use the proper switching service and your old or new bank screwed up you might want to make a formal complaint) and if you did indeed miss sufficient payments to trigger a default then it is correct.  Usually you would be bombarded with phone calls and receive a number of letters as you miss payment after payment - did this not happen?  Finally you would usually get a kind of final demand explaining that if you don't pay up you will receive a default - did you not get this?

I got a letter, which I disputed over the phone, then I received a final demand shortly followed by a letter from a debt collector. Even though I did not agree with the judgement and thought my dispute was ongoing, I just paid the money. 

NewUser1972

jrob1997 said:

NewUser1972 said:

jrob1997 said:

CliveOfIndia said:

jrob1997 said:

A default is showing on my credit file that I do not believe is fair

this is over £140.00 I did not feel I owed

A bit of background would help, but the crunch question is, did you default on your payments?  If you did then it sounds like your credit file is showing a true statement of the facts.  If you didn't, then you need to raise a formal complaint to whoever issued the default.

I do not believe I did, and the bank are requesting I find evidence I called to dispute this back between January 2022 - May 2022. I have no way of providing the evidence that I called despite requesting my phone records from EE. Essentially what they say happened is payments came out following my switch to Nationwide, despite nationwide telling me that once I performed the switch I did not need to worry about any outgoing payments. 

I assume you mean 'didn't' come out?  If I read correctly you are saying that you switched bank accounts from somewhere to Nationwide, using the bank switching scheme and you assumed (or were told) that your automated payments (such as EE) would transfer and leave your new account?  If so, I think it is meant to be an automatic process and your bank(s) move everything across.when you use a proper switching service (as opposed to simply opening a new account and doing it yourself).   In any case it is your responsibility to make your payments to EE (although I guess if you did use the proper switching service and your old or new bank screwed up you might want to make a formal complaint) and if you did indeed miss sufficient payments to trigger a default then it is correct.  Usually you would be bombarded with phone calls and receive a number of letters as you miss payment after payment - did this not happen?  Finally you would usually get a kind of final demand explaining that if you don't pay up you will receive a default - did you not get this?

I got a letter, which I disputed over the phone, then I received a final demand shortly followed by a letter from a debt collector. Even though I did not agree with the judgement and thought my dispute was ongoing, I just paid the money. 

OK, it sounds like EE did chase you for the debt and you didn't pay it so it was defaulted and passed to a debt collection agency.

As far as EE are concerned they are probably confident (and perhaps with good reason) that they followed due process and the default is an accurate reflection of the facts.  i.e. you didn't pay them what was due, even after them chasing you so they defaulted.

You mention your calls to the bank about this.  I may be wrong but my gut feeling here is that you switched your bank account and expected all of your automatic payments to be taken care by the switching process.  Then you had a call from EE to say that they hadn't received your payments but instead of paying them directly you then went back to your bank to query it and somewhere in the middle you have been defaulted by EE.  The frustrations you seem to be having are probably borne out of the fact that:

EE will hold you responsible for making sure you pay them on time. They don't really care how you pay them or from which bank they just expect you to meet the terms you agreed in your contract with them.  If you miss a payment, for whatever reason outside their control they will mark it as so. If you miss too many they will default you.  (no idea why my text has changed to italics and I can't change it back!) If you call EE about the bank issue they wont be able to help, nor do they care. they will just think they have done the right thing and followed due process

Your bank won't seem to care that you have defaulted on your EE account - they too will be of the opinion that it is your responsibility to make sure they get their payment.  As the default was added by EE your bank can't do anything about that in any case so you wont get anywhere talking to your bank about your EE default

I'm afraid, with the limited information I have (and not being a financial 'expert') my opinion is that you are likely stuck with the default.  Having said this there are a few things I would do if I were in your shoes:

I would ask EE for the details of the paperwork they sent you leading up to the default.  If the finance you had with them was provided under the Consumer Credit Act (most modern mobile phone contracts are seen as a 'loan' and fall under this so it is likely it was) then there are certain processes they have to go through, specifically they have to send you a clear default notice and give you two weeks to pay.  If they didn't do this or if they did and you paid it within this period then you may have a case to take them up on to try and get the default removed.  If they refuse to supply this information you can always do a SAR (subject access request) at which point they are bound to supply you with the personal information they have on you and such a letter should be part of this.

I would separately take issue with your bank. As long as you properly opened your account under the switching service they 'guarantee' certain things and if they failed to properly transfer something you should pursue them for compensation.  You could try to pursue them for 'damages' as a result of your credit file but that is a long and complicated road, likely without the outcome you wanted but others would be better placed to advise you on that.

Good luck

MrFrugalFever

jrob1997 said:

CliveOfIndia said:

jrob1997 said:

A default is showing on my credit file that I do not believe is fair

this is over £140.00 I did not feel I owed

A bit of background would help, but the crunch question is, did you default on your payments?  If you did then it sounds like your credit file is showing a true statement of the facts.  If you didn't, then you need to raise a formal complaint to whoever issued the default.

I do not believe I did, and the bank are requesting I find evidence I called to dispute this back between January 2022 - May 2022. I have no way of providing the evidence that I called despite requesting my phone records from EE. Essentially what they say happened is payments came out following my switch to Nationwide, despite nationwide telling me that once I performed the switch I did not need to worry about any outgoing payments. 

So essentially you have not made any payments to the company in question who has defaulted you during a 5 months period whilst you were 'disputing' the payments?

I can only surmise that a default has been placed correctly and you will not be able to get it overturned. However, this doesn't mean you can't challenge formally and take it right through the FOS. Regardless of timescales they have suggested, a default remains for 6 years so a 4-6 months wait on final decision for FOS is quite likely worth it.