Lendable and DMP

NorthernPlantation

Hi Everyone!

I have lurked on here for some time and managed to get some fantastic advice. Bit of background (as brief as possible): Got into lots of financial trouble because of a failed business back in 2022. Had a loan from Lendable at the time and because of the amount of debt I was in (over £30,000) I moved to a DMP after missing some payments on most debts. Since then, Lendable - and everyone else - have been paid through a Stepchange arranged DMP. All have correctly registered defaults for 2022/2023 and my credit file has been making slow progress as I pay down what I owe.

Except Lendable.

They have been registering 'missed payments' on my credit file every month for the past four years. Without fail. How do I address this? I see from some of the Ombudsman's correspondence on similar cases that they tend to side with Lendable on this (the usual, "they were correctly informing the CRA agency of missed payments and/or reduced payments in line with requirements"). As I draw to the end of the DMP, am I to now expect that this one account will destroy my credit file for another 6 years??? Is this legal????

Thanks very much for listening and for any advice you can offer.

As an aside: how can this company get - and maintain - such glowing reviews on different forums? I have had nothing but trouble with them and it seems I am not alone!

Grumpelstiltskin

OK So it appears you went into your DMP before your debts had defaulted, Stepchange don't tell you that you should wait until your debts have defaulted before you start your DMP.

What could you do? You could cancel your DMP and self manage, then you could stop paying Lendable, if you self manage you choose who and how much you pay.

fatbelly

Download the principles document from here

https://www.scoronline.co.uk/key-documents/

Point out where they are not following guidance and ask them to backdate a default

NorthernPlantation

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81989814#Comment_81989814

I think that's what I will try - and I have also been advised to post a notice to all three major CRA explaining that Lendable haven't defaulted and these payments are part of a DMP. Apparently, Lendable aren't very good at recognising all of this and continue to mark them as missed payments. Thanks for the response!

NorthernPlantation

Unfortunately,

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81989813#Comment_81989813

Unfortunately, yes. I hadn't the will to search forums at the time - felt completely overwhelmed because I had never been in so much debt before. Stupid really. I could cancel the DMP, but at this late stage and with it nearing completion, it seems silly to do that now. Someone told me to put comments on my credit file about it and in another response to this post, someone else has recommended that I should ask them to backdate a default. I'm not confident they will listen having looked into it all, but I will try. Thanks for your reply, though!

ManyWays

What date was the Lendable loan taken out? If it was in the last 6 years, look at making an affordability complaint now. Win that and the interest is removed, also the negative mark on your credit record.

You can do this as well as asking for a default to be backdated.

NorthernPlantation

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81990438#Comment_81990438

Thanks. I have exhausted that avenue — Lendable came back (late - and offered me a £25 apology) and said that I was "only utilising 77% of my available credit". What they didn't admit was what my bank statements actually showed: that I was overdrawn every month and having to get more debt to try and get myself out of the problem I got myself into. It might be worth sending it all to the Ombudsman, but having read their responses to others for the same thing, I wouldn't hold out any hope whatsoever. As far as the Ombudsman is concerned, so long as they have run the proper checks ("they state that they have carried out the correct checks") and so long as they report failures to pay to CRAs, they have done nothing wrong. There might be a few outliers that have been upheld and awarded reparation of some kind, but it's a strange thing that the Ombudsman doesn't seem keen to find against Lendable!

Rob5342

Give the FOS a go anyway, it's free, takes little effort and you have nothing to lose.

ManyWays

If you are reading the FOS published cases, they are often not standard ones. In 90% of cases, the investigator decision is accepted and the then the decision is not published. Many lenders will often not take a marginal case to an ombudsman because they do not want it published if they lose.
What have you got to lose except a bit of your time by trying this?

NorthernPlantation

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81994191#Comment_81994191

That's completely true! OK. Let's see what happens :)