Default added to file - miss informed?

dst25

Hi, I’m hoping you can help me please? 

I have a loan with the post office and needed to miss 4 payments due to unexpected expenditure when I initially called up they said 4 missing payments would not cause a default to be issued only after 5 would this happen. Providing I phoned monthly to update them I was still within my contractual obligations. 

I had been phoning them monthly explaining the situation checking everything still stood as it was when I initially called back in mid May. Yes I would just need to set up a standing order to pay the arrears off, agreed I would start this in October along with further larger over payments next year. All agreed with PO loans.

Fast forward to September phoned up to set my direct debit back up to be told my account had defaulted yesterday. I had missed the payments and now this had resulted in a default on my file. 

This was not the information I was given, none of this logged on the system. I now have a default on my file which needs to be investigated by post office loans. Which can take up to 8 weeks.

This has caused me a great deal of stress as they are saying 5 consecutive payments have been missed, at present only 4 have. The information I was initially given stated that I was still with in my contractual obligations and 4 missed payments did not result in a default as I was liaising with them. I also never received the letter stating that a default would be applied - apparently they only send letters no other form of communication. Nor was this mentioned when I called up the month prior.

Where do I stand with this? Do I just take it on the chin my error? 

However the information I was initially given was very different to what I was told today!! 

eskbanker

Sounds to me like you may be mixing up defaulting with breaching contractual obligations - as soon as you miss a payment you're no longer meeting your contractual obligations, but if you do so repeatedly then an account may ultimately be defaulted.  Obviously it's regrettable if you've been given misleading or inaccurate information, which may be worth pursuing, but it's important to understand that contractual obligations entail paying on time every month.

dst25

Thanks, I may well be mixing this up - but if I was told that it wouldn’t impact my contractual obligations as I was liaising with them monthly then surely they could have offered this information? 

when I initially phoned up to request a payment holiday I was very clear that whatever route I took I didn’t want to impact me negatively. If I had known it was likely to cause me to be in breach then I would not have done it. 

I strongly believe I have been miss informed but I do not know how to persue this when I am being told that there are no notes on file to evidence what I have been told and what I have told them. 

eskbanker

dst25 said:

when I initially phoned up to request a payment holiday I was very clear that whatever route I took I didn’t want to impact me negatively.

I don't think this was a realistic expectation to be honest - you entered into a contract which obliged you to make monthly repayments, and if you were unable to meet those obligations then that is inevitably going to be seen as a negative, both by this lender and others (via credit file updates).

dst25 said:

If I had known it was likely to cause me to be in breach then I would not have done it. 

Out of curiosity, what would you have done if they'd been clearer about the impact of you missing payments?

dst25 said:

I strongly believe I have been miss informed but I do not know how to persue this when I am being told that there are no notes on file to evidence what I have been told and what I have told them. 

You could potentially submit a Subject Access Request under the Data Protection Act, which would oblige them to make available all the data they hold about you - chances are it'll just confirm what they've already told you, but you could ask for copies of the call recordings if they still have them.

dst25

If the error is on my part then yes I take full responsibility for this. However when I phoned up to explain the situation none of this was explained to me and I was very very clear how I didn’t want this to have a negative impact. My credit file is not showing as any missed payments.

PO loans are saying there are 5 missed when actually there is only 4.

if I was told it would have this impact I would have had to put off the work that needed to be under taken at home. 

Before I request anything further from them do I need to wait until they have contacted me in regards to the complaint they have logged against my agreement? Where I have highlighted what I was told and how that’s now different to what they are saying? 

Thank you in advance.

eskbanker

dst25 said:

My credit file is not showing as any missed payments.

Have you checked all of the credit agencies?

dst25 said:

Before I request anything further from them do I need to wait until they have contacted me in regards to the complaint they have logged against my agreement?

You're entitled to submit a SAR whenever you like so this can be in parallel with a complaint if you wish.