Old mobile bill affecting credit file.

NorthWalian

A friend of mine is looking to get a mortgage but cannot due to a credit file blacklist that has been imposed by O2.

A few years ago his son racked up a large bill on a mobile game which he did notice until after the 14 day cooling-off period.

He has contacted apple and o2 multiple times for a refund but has sadly been refused and still refuses to pay the bill which has led to the issues on the file.

He also operates a small business so going down any of the bankruptcy routes to get it written off would also be a bad idea.

Does anyone have any solutions or advice?

MorningcoffeeIV

It's not a credit file blacklist - theres no such thing.  O2 have simply reported the status of the account.

If he refuses to pay the bill, he'll just need to wait the 6 years until it falls off his files and hope a CCJ isn't obtained in the meantime, giving him another 6 years. 

Alternatively, just pay the bill and open up at least some of the mortgage market.  A broker may be able to help.

NorthWalian

MorningcoffeeIV said:

It's not a credit file blacklist - theres no such thing.  O2 have simply reported the status of the account.

If he refuses to pay the bill, he'll just need to wait the 6 years until it falls off his files and hope a CCJ isn't obtained in the meantime, giving him another 6 years. 

Alternatively, just pay the bill and open up at least some of the mortgage market.  A broker may be able to help.

Is there any routes to get the payment chalked off considering the amount is quite large and very unreasonable considering the facts.

Hoenir

Unfortunately in life things don't simply get chalked off. That's the importance of credit files. Any organisation that provides credit of any kind is able to make a commercial decision based on the facts. 

Kim_13

He can make sure that his complaint is being treated as an official complaint and escalate to the ombudsman if he is not happy with the outcome, but I’m not sure there’s much mileage in it. A spend cap would have been easily set up on the account but the ombudsman would only be likely to rule that O2 had done anything wrong if there was evidence that he had tried to apply one but O2 were remiss in setting it up. O2 will have incurred charges from Apple so if they wrote off the full bill they would be out of pocket - that’s clearly not fair on their other customers as O2 would just raise their prices to cover it. The money has to come from somewhere and he, the son and Apple bear more responsibility than O2 on the face of it.

If the amount is unaffordable he should have agreed a payment plan under duress and maintained it while exhausting other routes - not paying anything at all is in breach of the credit agreement and that it was defaulted on is a fact.

In similar situations posters have found it easier to recover monies from Apple etc if the child was below a certain age, but I can’t recall the details. A forum search of old threads may help. This would only recover money though, it isn’t going to help his mortgage situation.

NorthWalian

Kim_13 said:

He can make sure that his complaint is being treated as an official complaint and escalate to the ombudsman if he is not happy with the outcome, but I’m not sure there’s much mileage in it. A spend cap would have been easily set up on the account but the ombudsman would only be likely to rule that O2 had done anything wrong if there was evidence that he had tried to apply one but O2 were remiss in setting it up. O2 will have incurred charges from Apple so if they wrote off the full bill they would be out of pocket - that’s clearly not fair on their other customers as O2 would just raise their prices to cover it. The money has to come from somewhere and he, the son and Apple bear more responsibility than O2 on the face of it.

If the amount is unaffordable he should have agreed a payment plan under duress and maintained it while exhausting other routes - not paying anything at all is in breach of the credit agreement and that it was defaulted on is a fact.

In similar situations posters have found it easier to recover monies from Apple etc if the child was below a certain age, but I can’t recall the details. A forum search of old threads may help. This would only recover money though, it isn’t going to help his mortgage situation.

Would there be a situation that would lead to Apple reimbursing O2 and O2 then removing the file?

BoGoF

NorthWalian said:

Kim_13 said:

He can make sure that his complaint is being treated as an official complaint and escalate to the ombudsman if he is not happy with the outcome, but I’m not sure there’s much mileage in it. A spend cap would have been easily set up on the account but the ombudsman would only be likely to rule that O2 had done anything wrong if there was evidence that he had tried to apply one but O2 were remiss in setting it up. O2 will have incurred charges from Apple so if they wrote off the full bill they would be out of pocket - that’s clearly not fair on their other customers as O2 would just raise their prices to cover it. The money has to come from somewhere and he, the son and Apple bear more responsibility than O2 on the face of it.

If the amount is unaffordable he should have agreed a payment plan under duress and maintained it while exhausting other routes - not paying anything at all is in breach of the credit agreement and that it was defaulted on is a fact.

In similar situations posters have found it easier to recover monies from Apple etc if the child was below a certain age, but I can’t recall the details. A forum search of old threads may help. This would only recover money though, it isn’t going to help his mortgage situation.

Would there be a situation that would lead to Apple reimbursing O2 and O2 then removing the file?

Why would Apple reimburse O2 for the bill racked up by your friends son. I don't know if your friend thinks that because they returned the device within the cooling off period that it somehow resolves him of paying any data/app charges that occurred? Or is it a case of 'principles'? Sometimes 'principles' can come back to bite you on the proverbial.

NorthWalian

BoGoF said:

NorthWalian said:

Kim_13 said:

He can make sure that his complaint is being treated as an official complaint and escalate to the ombudsman if he is not happy with the outcome, but I’m not sure there’s much mileage in it. A spend cap would have been easily set up on the account but the ombudsman would only be likely to rule that O2 had done anything wrong if there was evidence that he had tried to apply one but O2 were remiss in setting it up. O2 will have incurred charges from Apple so if they wrote off the full bill they would be out of pocket - that’s clearly not fair on their other customers as O2 would just raise their prices to cover it. The money has to come from somewhere and he, the son and Apple bear more responsibility than O2 on the face of it.

If the amount is unaffordable he should have agreed a payment plan under duress and maintained it while exhausting other routes - not paying anything at all is in breach of the credit agreement and that it was defaulted on is a fact.

In similar situations posters have found it easier to recover monies from Apple etc if the child was below a certain age, but I can’t recall the details. A forum search of old threads may help. This would only recover money though, it isn’t going to help his mortgage situation.

Would there be a situation that would lead to Apple reimbursing O2 and O2 then removing the file?

Why would Apple reimburse O2 for the bill racked up by your friends son. I don't know if your friend thinks that because they returned the device within the cooling off period that it somehow resolves him of paying any data/app charges that occurred? Or is it a case of 'principles'? Sometimes 'principles' can come back to bite you on the proverbial.

The bill originated from Apple and not O2 so Apple wouldn’t be losing anything (especially as they haven’t provided anything of actual value).

I think it was one of those weird situations where the phone bill was put as the billpayer as opposed to a debit card etc

Nasqueron

NorthWalian said:

BoGoF said:

NorthWalian said:

Kim_13 said:

He can make sure that his complaint is being treated as an official complaint and escalate to the ombudsman if he is not happy with the outcome, but I’m not sure there’s much mileage in it. A spend cap would have been easily set up on the account but the ombudsman would only be likely to rule that O2 had done anything wrong if there was evidence that he had tried to apply one but O2 were remiss in setting it up. O2 will have incurred charges from Apple so if they wrote off the full bill they would be out of pocket - that’s clearly not fair on their other customers as O2 would just raise their prices to cover it. The money has to come from somewhere and he, the son and Apple bear more responsibility than O2 on the face of it.

If the amount is unaffordable he should have agreed a payment plan under duress and maintained it while exhausting other routes - not paying anything at all is in breach of the credit agreement and that it was defaulted on is a fact.

In similar situations posters have found it easier to recover monies from Apple etc if the child was below a certain age, but I can’t recall the details. A forum search of old threads may help. This would only recover money though, it isn’t going to help his mortgage situation.

Would there be a situation that would lead to Apple reimbursing O2 and O2 then removing the file?

Why would Apple reimburse O2 for the bill racked up by your friends son. I don't know if your friend thinks that because they returned the device within the cooling off period that it somehow resolves him of paying any data/app charges that occurred? Or is it a case of 'principles'? Sometimes 'principles' can come back to bite you on the proverbial.

The bill originated from Apple and not O2 so Apple wouldn’t be losing anything (especially as they haven’t provided anything of actual value).

I think it was one of those weird situations where the phone bill was put as the billpayer as opposed to a debit card etc

They haven't provided anything physical/tangible but they have provided value - processing the payment for OP, running their payment server etc and the game developer has costs associated with creating the game and keeping their service running for people to play. Microtransactions are insidious but they certainly aren't nothing

penners324

You friend is liable for the debt to O2. 

Their principles in not paying it have ruined his credit file and possibly cost them a lot in increased mortgage interest