Default back-date request

drivingtodebtfree

Hello!

Thanks in advance for any help.

I entered a DMP in December 2021. My creditors were notified via letter on 10-Dec-2021.

My first creditor registered a default in August 2022. I complained to them that they should have registered the default at the point of offering token payments only and they've agreed to backdate my default to December 2021.

My second creditor is being a little more tricky. I think I'm being penalized as I made two additional payments to them directly. Please see below:

Good Afternoon,

Please consider the below guidance:

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) 2007 guidelines, “Filing defaults with credit reference agencies” at paragraph 24: "If the payment set out in the DMP is at a level that represents only a token sum in repayment, because that is all the customer can afford, the account should be recorded as a default”. Token payments are typically payments that will take 6+ years to complete. Given you were informed of my DMP and intended payments of £1.18pm for a balance £434. This would have taken approximately 30 years to pay-off. Therefore it aligns with the ICO guidelines that you would have  recorded a default at the time of the DMP starting in December 2021 / January 2022.

In addition I made 2 x additional payments to you in January 2022 and July 2022 which were outside of my DMP. These were due to being gifted monies from a family member and I thought it was best to put these towards debt payments. I feel like this gesture of goodwill to Capital One has backfired (particularly the July 2022 payment) as essentially these have delayed the default being registered. I don't think these payments should be considered as these were not guaranteed payments to you. My only payment set-up to Capital One was £1.18pm. As mentioned in a similar FOS complaint (DRN 8827726) it has previously ruled for it to be 'unfair' to be in a worse position by trying to make the minimum payment while on a DMP and a default should be applied with the DMP payments started. 

Thank you for any advice!