Defaulted account sold on, can it be 'defaulted' again?!

sebbelcher

I have a long running dispute with Orange PCS over a mobile phone contract from 2002. I stopped paying because they, in my opinion, broke the terms of the contract, in their opinion they didn't. Anyway, in their eyes the amount owed was £144.33. Back in 2005/2006 I had a long running correspondence with them which suddenly stopped with no reply from them. When I checked my credit report a few weeks later the 'current balance' on the account had been marked as "Satisfied".

I thought I'd won. Except of course I still had this dirty 'default' mark on my credit history. I hadn't heard anything about it for over 2 years, so recently I picked up the correspondence again to try and get them to remove the default notice. Clearly this ruffled some feathers.

A week after sending this letter (today) I got a reply, but it wasn't from Orange, it was from a company called "Arrow Global Limited" saying that they had bought the debt in its entirety from Orange PCS in Decemer 2007. They are now demanding the £144.33 off me and are threatening to add another 'default' entry on my credit report under their own name if it isn't paid within 28 days.

Can they do this?!
Also, where do I stand legally if I was disputing a charge with Orange PCS and they sell the debt on? The dispute still stands, but it was with Orange, how does it work now?

Help!
Thanks!

fermi

They are not entitled to "add" another default.

From: Technical Guidance Note - Filing defaults with credit reference agencies

The ‘sale’ or assignment of debts on defaulted accounts

52 When the rights to a debt are sold to a third party, the lender has to make sure the records with the credit reference agency are accurate, up to date and adequate. If they want information about the debts to continue on the credit reference file they will need to come to an agreement with the purchaser about who is to be responsible for this.

53 If the purchaser agrees to take control of the record, the customer should be informed that the debt has been sold or assigned and to whom. The credit reference agency file should be changed to show the name of the purchaser and that the rights to the debt have been sold or assigned.

The purchaser should then make sure the record is kept up to date including changes to the amount still owed. The purchase should not affect how long the record is kept. It should be removed six years after the default.

GeorgeUK

Hi Seb

As Arrow Global are chasing you for the debt, you can inform then that it was in dispute with Orange as well as requesting a copy of the consumer credit agreement. One thing though - you say the dispute was in 2002. If there has been no payment made towards the debt for 6 years (5 in Scotland) and no written acknowledgement of the debt, then the debt is statute barred.

Check the dates of when your last payment was to Orange and also if you have kept the correspondence, if you had acknowledged the debt or if you were constantly saying that there was a dispute.

This thread covers both
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=578486