Default notice

[Frosty1983]

Hi,

I took out a monthly sim only contract in July 2010 which I called and cancelled in December 2011 after a long wait. I was told that this was sorted which was great because I was due to move house. As this was a monthly sim only contract I then cancelled my direct debit at the bank with Vodafone as I knew there were no additional payments to be taken.

A couple of months later by chance I returned to my previous address to pick up any mail and found that there was a letter from Vodafone saying that I owed money still, even though I was not informed this when I cancelled and also 2 months after I had supposedly missed a payment. I called Vodafone and quickly paid anything owed and was told there would not be any issues because there seemed to be crossed wires.

I have recently obtained a credit report which shows a 2 months default notice which will continue to be reported until 2018!

I appreciate now that maybe I should have left the direct debit open, as I tend to do since this experience, but I have also been bitten by firms continuing to incorrectly collect money after contract cancellations hence why I do regular clean ups.

Is there anything I can do regarding this mishap which I believe was down to lack of information? I have seen on other posts that people have gone through the to the ombudsman but hopefully this can be rectified before needed to go down this route.

Thanks

Frosty1983

[BandOfBrothers]

Hi @Frosty1983

Yes the advice is to leave the direct debit in place until you recieve the final bill by post and it's paid via the direct debit and a £0 bill and sorry your leaving letter so Vodafone can action debits and refunds if necessary. 

Im afraid by cancelling the direct debit and any payments due then stopped then you could have owed the funds and Vodafone were within their right to add the default on your credit file which lasts 6 years. 

Paying the owed amount would change its status from Outstanding to Settled. 

This is a help guide I have written which explains which department to ask your case to be referred to - i.e 'Vodafone Credit File Support Team' - and how to add a 'Notice of Correction' via Experian. It is Free to add the Notice of Correction. This gives you the tools to add notes on your Credit File to explain why the Default is showing. Although in your situation I would see no positive to adding this as the default is possibly warranted. 

Link > Default-on-your-Credit-File-And How-to-add-a-Notice-of-Correction.