Credit rating tanked because of finance refund error

fionaj1311

Looking for advice and not sure if this fits in here.... 

Bit of a long story but I'll try and keep it as simple and to the point as I can.

I traded in an old car in 2020 and the dealer settled the finance. The following month the finance payment came out and the finance company advised me to contact my bank to do a direct debit indemnity claim to get my money back. No issues here.

I got my refund from the indemnity claim and the finance company sent me a end of contract letter informing me that the finance agreement was settled and I no longer had any obligations under the agreement.

Fast forward 3 years and I try to apply for a new car finance deal which gets rejected. I should have near perfect credit (minimal debt, good salary and no missed payments)

I check clear score, no issues there so i sign up and pay for experian and it turns out the finance company is claiming that I've missed almost 30 payments for a contract that hasn't been running since October 2020.

I contact the finance company and it turns out that after the contract was settled, the finance company refunded me the money again in error after the bank claimed for the indemnity and is claiming that my account is now in default. My credit is now absolutely tanked over £195 that I have been completely unaware of. Finance company are unwilling to budge to remove the missed payments from my credit file even though I have a letter standing I'm no longer under any obligation with the historical finance Agreement.

I don't even understand how they are able to post missed payments on a contract that should have been closed.

Can anyone help? It's a complex situation so finding advice online has been a struggle. 

I've escalated it to financial ombudsman and experian but obviously its going to take time.

MattMattMattUK

fionaj1311 said:

Looking for advice and not sure if this fits in here.... 

Bit of a long story but I'll try and keep it as simple and to the point as I can.

I traded in an old car in 2020 and the dealer settled the finance. The following month the finance payment came out and the finance company advised me to contact my bank to do a direct debit indemnity claim to get my money back. No issues here.

I got my refund from the indemnity claim and the finance company sent me a end of contract letter informing me that the finance agreement was settled and I no longer had any obligations under the agreement.

Fast forward 3 years and I try to apply for a new car finance deal which gets rejected. I should have near perfect credit (minimal debt, good salary and no missed payments)

I check clear score, no issues there so i sign up and pay for experian and it turns out the finance company is claiming that I've missed almost 30 payments for a contract that hasn't been running since October 2020.

I contact the finance company and it turns out that after the contract was settled, the finance company refunded me the money again in error after the bank claimed for the indemnity and is claiming that my account is now in default. My credit is now absolutely tanked over £195 that I have been completely unaware of. Finance company are unwilling to budge to remove the missed payments from my credit file even though I have a letter standing I'm no longer under any obligation with the historical finance Agreement.

I don't even understand how they are able to post missed payments on a contract that should have been closed.

Can anyone help? It's a complex situation so finding advice online has been a struggle. 

I've escalated it to financial ombudsman and experian but obviously its going to take time.

Did you actually receive the £195 twice? How are they claiming that they notified you of the double payment/debt and how have they attempted to recover the money previously?

Have you raised a formal complaint with the lender and has that been concluded unsatisfactorily, or have they said no via customer service, but it has not been through the formal complaints process? On what basis have you raised it with the Financial Ombudsman, unsatisfactory complaints procedure result, eight weeks passed etc.? Have you submitted an DSAR to the finance company? 

It is not something Experian will change, they are data handlers, not adjudicators, so you have to get it removed via the finance company.

fionaj1311

Yes I did get it twice, I didn't realise at the time and I have now sent then the payment back. I'm aware that regardless of the error I still owed them the money but the thing I can't understand is how they are able to claim I have missed payments with them when I wasn't in a finance agreement. 

They claim that they sent me letters which I never recieved and when I checked my online historical account, the payment ledger showed a zero balance so the apparent debt wasn't visible. 

Surely the payment refund error would be a civil claim rather than one that reports to credit reference agencies.

I'm awaiting a final response from the companies escalations team on advice from the ombudsman so I can further escalate as the company isn't willing to budge. 

fionaj1311

MattMattMattUK said:

fionaj1311 said:

Looking for advice and not sure if this fits in here.... 

Bit of a long story but I'll try and keep it as simple and to the point as I can.

I traded in an old car in 2020 and the dealer settled the finance. The following month the finance payment came out and the finance company advised me to contact my bank to do a direct debit indemnity claim to get my money back. No issues here.

I got my refund from the indemnity claim and the finance company sent me a end of contract letter informing me that the finance agreement was settled and I no longer had any obligations under the agreement.

Fast forward 3 years and I try to apply for a new car finance deal which gets rejected. I should have near perfect credit (minimal debt, good salary and no missed payments)

I check clear score, no issues there so i sign up and pay for experian and it turns out the finance company is claiming that I've missed almost 30 payments for a contract that hasn't been running since October 2020.

I contact the finance company and it turns out that after the contract was settled, the finance company refunded me the money again in error after the bank claimed for the indemnity and is claiming that my account is now in default. My credit is now absolutely tanked over £195 that I have been completely unaware of. Finance company are unwilling to budge to remove the missed payments from my credit file even though I have a letter standing I'm no longer under any obligation with the historical finance Agreement.

I don't even understand how they are able to post missed payments on a contract that should have been closed.

Can anyone help? It's a complex situation so finding advice online has been a struggle. 

I've escalated it to financial ombudsman and experian but obviously its going to take time.

Did you actually receive the £195 twice? How are they claiming that they notified you of the double payment/debt and how have they attempted to recover the money previously?

Have you raised a formal complaint with the lender and has that been concluded unsatisfactorily, or have they said no via customer service, but it has not been through the formal complaints process? On what basis have you raised it with the Financial Ombudsman, unsatisfactory complaints procedure result, eight weeks passed etc.? Have you submitted an DSAR to the finance company? 

It is not something Experian will change, they are data handlers, not adjudicators, so you have to get it removed via the finance company.

Sorry I replied above and forgot to quote your comment to link. Thanks for your response 

sourcrates

Data complaints are generally dealt with by the ICO, the FOS may recommend you speak to them.

CliveOfIndia

fionaj1311 said:

I check clear score, no issues there so i sign up and pay for experian ...

Not directly related to your actual question, but for future reference and in case it is helpful to others reading this post ....

There is no need to pay to access any of your credit reports.  All 3 are available for free as detailed here: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/check-free-credit-report/

Hopefully this may be of some help for the future.