Default on Credit Report

[RobbieCorbett]

Hi, I’ve recently applied for a mortgage and to my surprise was declined due to a credit check fail.

My mortgage broker advised me to get my credit report from Experian and when I looked over it I discovered I had a default from Lowell Portfolio Ltd.

Around a year ago I received a letter from Lowell claiming I owed them £1227 due to a Vodafone account that had defaulted. The Vodafone account in question, to my knowledge had run its course and I had stopped receiving bills in the post. So you can imagine my surprise when I received a letter saying my account had defaulted for a few months, they had terminated my account and passed me onto Lowell.

Is it even legal to put a default in my credit file without giving me any notice to actually pay the debt?

Once I received this, I contacted Lowell and Vodafone, after a bit of back and forth I managed to have them remove the early termination fee and accepted that whatever amount was due, I would pay it, but still disputed the fact that I was never notified of my account being closed, me owing money, or my details being passed to Lowell. Lowell went on to tell me if I paid the debt, they would have the default removed from my account as I was never notified of it in the first place. I paid the balance last January and got on with saving for a house deposit.

Fast forward to now, after being declined for a mortgage, I contacted Lowell and they refuse to acknowledge this, and claim that the default is valid and will not remove it. I have since contacted Experian to put in a complaint and Experian have also contacted Lowell to have the default removed.

At this point I feel like there’s nothing more I can do to amend this, and still feel the default shouldn’t be there as I was never notified of the debt, as I would have paid the debt as soon as I was made aware of it.

Is anyone able to assist me in having this removed?

[Anonymous]

A couple of things about defaults.  Firstly, I think I'm right in saying that a default can only be removed by the organisation which placed it originally - so if the default was placed by Vodafone then Lowell saying they will have it removed is hot air. Secondly a default will only be removed if it was placed erroneously - paying the outstanding amount will get the default marked as "settled" but it will remain in your file for the prescribed six years.  And lastly, mobile phone providers are, as the law stands, NOT obliged to warn you before they place a default - although I've never heard an explanation as to why they have this dispensation. 

Having said all that, Vodafone do have a long and well-documented history of screwing this sort of thing up, particularly where a customer has closed an account.  In fact it's one of the most common complaints on this forum.  Your best bet is to wait for one of the Vodafone media team to post on this thread, they will be able to look in to your case and see exactly what has happened.  Good luck !

[Anonymous]

While I think of it, I'll just add that a contract doesn't terminate just because it has run its course, be that 24 months or whatever. It merely turns into a monthly rolling contract until such time as you either upgrade, or move to another provider by using a PAC code, or cancel the contract. In other words you have to take some action to terminate the contract, it doesn't happen automatically

[Anonymous]

Oops, double post!!

[Colleen]

@RobbieCorbett I'm very sorry to hear about the problems you're having with your credit file. 

We have dedicated Credit File Specialists on our team, who'll be happy to help look into this further for you 😊

I've sent you a private message with details on how to get in touch with us. 

[AnnS]

Hi @RobbieCorbett

Did you contact Vodafone to cancel the contract?  Contracts don't just run the course and end, they continue to roll over until you contact Vodafone and do something about it and cancel.

However, wait for one of the credit specialist to get to the thread, they will be in a position to find out what happened.