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Afternoon all,
I've been lurking all morning and trying to resolve a situation I've found myself in but cant get a specific enough answer from other threads. So I took the plunge and joined.
First up a little history.
5 years ago I made the decision I would tackle all my debts head on and get everything paid however long it took. My total was roughly £15000 and seemed insurmountable.
5 years later I now have 2 payments until I am totally debt free which I'm quite proud of.
I assessed all my debts with Experian and contacted everyone to set up agreements and paid as much as I could afford a month off all of them, at one point 80% of my monthly net was going on debts. Throughout this time I watched my Experian score climb and climb and for the last 2 years its been 6 points from perfect, 993.
On the 20th of May 2016, out of the blue, I received a letter from Lowell stating I owed money to them for an old BT contract from 2012 for broadband. I rang them up and paid the full amount of £285.14 over the phone and they sent me an email receipt. I queried why it was not on my credit file otherwise I would have paid it sooner. They said they had just purchased the debt from BT and didn't know.
On the 8th of July I completed on my first house with my partner. Something that we have both been looking forward to for some time as it means we can now replace our both ageing cars that are fast becoming unsuitable for our daily needs!
We decided we would get a loan between us to buy two modest, but newer vehicles that better meet out requirements. We are both in a very comfortable financial situation despite just taking on a mortgage.
So we decided to do a soft search with Sainsburys, she was instantly accepted and I was instantly declined.
I log on to my Experian to discover that Lowell had updated my credit file on the 26/06/2016 and added a default backdate to December 2012?!
This has sent my score plummeting to 777 and the default is now active on my credit file. My previous near perfect score has been decimated by paying a debt in full on the day of notification!
I spoke to Experian today and they confirmed the default was not present until the 26/06/16 so effectively I have now been penalised for paying a debt! Experian have raised it as a query with Lowell however.
I also spoke to Lowell who said there is nothing they can do and I will have to wait a further 2 years for this be removed.
This has totally devestated me. I've managed what I thought was impossible 5 years ago and worked damn hard to get where I am now only for it to be decimated by paying a debt in full that I had no prior knowledge of. I've fired an email off to Lowell this morning before I spoke to them asking if they can remove it as a goodwill gesture.
Beyond this I don't know what action to take. I really dont want this on my hard fought file score for the next 2 years. I certainly did not expect them to default me after the full amount was satisfied!
Any advice is welcome.
Thank you in advance and apologies for the essay!
Will.
UPDATE: Lowell have gone back to Experian to say the information is correct. So no joy there.
I've been lurking all morning and trying to resolve a situation I've found myself in but cant get a specific enough answer from other threads. So I took the plunge and joined.
First up a little history.
5 years ago I made the decision I would tackle all my debts head on and get everything paid however long it took. My total was roughly £15000 and seemed insurmountable.
5 years later I now have 2 payments until I am totally debt free which I'm quite proud of.
I assessed all my debts with Experian and contacted everyone to set up agreements and paid as much as I could afford a month off all of them, at one point 80% of my monthly net was going on debts. Throughout this time I watched my Experian score climb and climb and for the last 2 years its been 6 points from perfect, 993.
On the 20th of May 2016, out of the blue, I received a letter from Lowell stating I owed money to them for an old BT contract from 2012 for broadband. I rang them up and paid the full amount of £285.14 over the phone and they sent me an email receipt. I queried why it was not on my credit file otherwise I would have paid it sooner. They said they had just purchased the debt from BT and didn't know.
On the 8th of July I completed on my first house with my partner. Something that we have both been looking forward to for some time as it means we can now replace our both ageing cars that are fast becoming unsuitable for our daily needs!
We decided we would get a loan between us to buy two modest, but newer vehicles that better meet out requirements. We are both in a very comfortable financial situation despite just taking on a mortgage.
So we decided to do a soft search with Sainsburys, she was instantly accepted and I was instantly declined.
I log on to my Experian to discover that Lowell had updated my credit file on the 26/06/2016 and added a default backdate to December 2012?!
This has sent my score plummeting to 777 and the default is now active on my credit file. My previous near perfect score has been decimated by paying a debt in full on the day of notification!
I spoke to Experian today and they confirmed the default was not present until the 26/06/16 so effectively I have now been penalised for paying a debt! Experian have raised it as a query with Lowell however.
I also spoke to Lowell who said there is nothing they can do and I will have to wait a further 2 years for this be removed.
This has totally devestated me. I've managed what I thought was impossible 5 years ago and worked damn hard to get where I am now only for it to be decimated by paying a debt in full that I had no prior knowledge of. I've fired an email off to Lowell this morning before I spoke to them asking if they can remove it as a goodwill gesture.
Beyond this I don't know what action to take. I really dont want this on my hard fought file score for the next 2 years. I certainly did not expect them to default me after the full amount was satisfied!
Any advice is welcome.
Thank you in advance and apologies for the essay!
Will.
UPDATE: Lowell have gone back to Experian to say the information is correct. So no joy there.
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