Please help - Default on credit file

[Steffan_555]

Dear Forum and Vodafone, please can you help!

While in the process of applying for a mortgage, today I have discovered that I had an unpaid bill the month after finishing my contract with Vodafone which has seriously affected my credit rating. I was not contacted in any way to make me aware of this bill. Although I think the bill was a mistake I have paid it off today as soon as I discovered this. 

I have been a loyal Vodafone customer many times over the years and to potentially lose out on getting a mortgage (and stamp duty relaxation) due to this delay in a £17.32 payment I was not aware of would be devastating.

Please can someone help? Perhaps by putting me in contact with the credit file department to resolve this and to remove this from my credit file.

Thank you

[BandOfBrothers]

Hi @Steffan_555 

What we see sometimes is that a person has cancelled their Direct Debit too early after cancelling their contract. It can take Vodafone approximately 2-4 Weeks depending on when you cancelled and other contributing factors to create a final bill sometimes. See the information in the How To Cancel link I added below.

When a person's cancels their contract Vodafone will then cancel the Direct Debit when all has been cleared.

You should then receive a sorry your leaving letter and a £0 bill.

From Cancel-your-account. 

“ When we close your account we'll cancel your Direct Debit - so you don't need to.

We'll keep billing you as normal up to and including your disconnection date. You'll get a final bill after you've disconnected, which will include: ”

Then if the Direct Debit has been cancelled and they feel they've exhausted means of collection they can without any prior warning to the account holder place a Default on that person's Credit File.

It's not dependant on how much is actually owed.

The Default remains insitu for 6 years if warranted.

So my advice is to contact the Vodafone Social Media Team's via Twitter or Facebook and they'll collate your information and bring their Credit File Specialist Team's onboard to investigate if this was warranted or not. 

Contact-us-for-account-specific-queries. 

Paying the debt as you have does change the status of the default from Outstanding to Settled which does look better on your Credit File but can still affect Credit checks etc unfortunately.

I wish you all the best with this. 

[donnyguy]

As I post on every single one of these threads.

They have a duty to notify you of a bill and give you opportunity to pay.

This is a standing theme with Vodafone, people leave. Don't seem to get a final bill (as they're locked out of their online accounts) and also Vodafone don't seem to have a process in place to notify users a bill is outstanding or even a department to chase debt. 

First most people are aware is when the debt collectors get in touch (using the same contact information Vodafone for some reason choose not to use) or when they check their credit files. 

Seems nuts to me.... try not paying any other company. They seem to have an issue. 

So whilst you the amount isn't disputed, they didn't notify you so they haven't kept up their side of the deal.

That's grounds for removal.

[Steffan_555]

Thanks @donnyguy, appreciate your post very much. Do you have any advice on how to resolve this? I have contacted Vodafone through twitter at the moment.

Thanks again.

[donnyguy]

I think you've taken the best first steps in getting this raised with customer care. If you don't have any luck via twitter, check out www.vodafone.co.uk/complaints 

[Steffan_555]

Thanks @BandOfBrothers for your post.

"Then if the Direct Debit has been cancelled and they feel they've exhausted means of collection they can without any prior warning to the account holder place a Default on that person's Credit File."

This interesting as I can't find any record (text, call, email, letter) of being notified, even though my number remained the same. I would say that the means of collection had not been attempted.

Slight edit to the text below from initial post:

Thanks for the background on the direct debit - perhaps I will be more aware in the future, although I believe the  final bill was a mistake. I had already asked Vodafone on the phone to cancel my contract and all payments on the last day, however I was still charged for the day after my contract finished. Also I was charged for amazon prime the day before my contract finished, contrary to the text notification I had received from Vodafone. It said I would be charged the day after my contract finished (the day when the automatic enrolment contract began). I cancelled amazon prime immediately on this day when it happened. Nevertheless I have paid this now.

[BandOfBrothers]

You're very welcome @Steffan_555 

We understandably do not have account access as fellow customers so cannot clarify how and when Vodafone attempted to collect funds and make contact.

The Social Media Team's via Twitter or Facebook can check this.

Now you've contacted them via Twitter please give them time to respond to collate information and involve their Credit File Specialist Team.

I hope for a favourable outcome for you.

You can contact one of the Credit Houses for advice and if they agree could add a Notice of Correction but they'll only do this if they agree something is wrong and adversely affects your File incorrectly.

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