littlewoods shop direct financial services default removal

[nocredit]

I have started this as a new thread as I was previously using 1 thread to deal with littlewoods & next directory, it was getting a bit messy so here's my littlewoods story so far....

 

I have a default for £34 from littlewoods shop direct. I have no idea what the £34 was for but as it has occurred when I moved house 5 yrs ago I can only assume that I had a few quid outstanding on a catalogue & it has been inflated to £34 by charges etc.

 

I sent S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) & £10 fee back in early September 2007 and received this reply;

 

'I regret that I am unable to trace an account number in your name at the address you have listed. To enable me to commence collating the information for your S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) please contact me by telephone.... from the Complaints Management Team'

 

I then sent the following letter;

 

Dear Mr. xxx,

 

Further to your letter dated 21/09/2007

 

The address and date of birth I provided in my Subject Access Request is correct.

 

Shop Direct Financial Services have entered data in the form of a default (dated 15/04/01) onto my credit file; therefore I require that you provide me all the data held by your company relating to me .

Notwithstanding the above I require any copies you hold on file of the default notice relating to the default that I now find on my credit file.

 

Since I have no recollection of ever receiving a default notice I require this information to enable me to substantiate the data, which your company has recorded on my credit file. If it is the case that you are unable to provide me with the data I have requested then I respectfully request that all entries relating to Shop Direct Financial Services be removed from my credit file

 

Please note that you have 40 days in which to produce this information as from your receipt of my Subject Access Request and payment on 15/09/07. Should you fail to comply with the 40-day time frame then i will make a formal complaint to the information commissioner’s office and in addition I may consider legal action to force your compliance through the county court

 

From this point I require all correspondence relating to this matter to be in writing

 

I look forward to hearing from you shortly,

 

Many weeks ( & a couple of letters from me threatening them with court action) later I received this...

 

I refer to your letter requesting access under the Data Protection Act 1998, for information which is held on file by the company.

You have requested information held on our database relating to your account.

A full investigation has been carried out, your concerns have been assessed & I confirm the findings as follows;

Both of the accounts held above were opened on 23rd January 2001. Unfortunately, our database records only extend back to September 2001. As the accounts were sold to an external debt collecting agency in May 2001, we are unable to supply you with any information.

I apologise that I cannot provide you with all the data requested but I hope that my explanation meets with your satisfaction.

Yours Sincerely

Liam Lloyd

Data Protection Unit

 

 

 

 

Am I right in thinking that this is a good response as Littlewoods should not be passing information about me to credit reference agencies if they have no record of any credit agreement, debt or default notification?

They mention 2 accounts, yet only one is marked with a default on my credit reports; the other one being satisfied. This makes me doubtful as to their having any information at all about my accounts on file.

My question now is do I approach this on the grounds of them not having information to substantiate debt or default therefore default is not valid as has not been executed correctly?

Or.. should I take the approach about them acting illegally by passing unsubstantiated information to credit reference agencies when I do not have an account/ agreement with them?

Incidently- I have no recollection of any debt collection agency contacting me about this £34 alleged debt. This letter doesn't even mention the name of any such collection agency. Surely if the 'debt' now

belongs to collection agency it should bethe debt collection agencywho inform credit reference agencies?

Or should I approach Credit Reference Agencies & point out to them that they should not be passing innacurate/ unsubstantiated information onto other parties?

Any suggestions please then I can do my homework & put a reply together... or borrow a template if anyone is kind enough to point me in the right direction?!

spellchecked it yet but would appreciate feedback as despite working on this for 4 hours (what a way to spend my saturday morning off work!!) am still not sure if I'm barking up the right tree....

 

Account Number:

Dear Mr. Lloyd

With reference to your letter dated 10/12/07

You admit that you do not have any records of the above account including credit agreements, consents for your company to process my data ,legal notices or transactions pertaining to the default that you are communicating to Credit Reference Agencies.

May I respectfully remind you of the Fourth Principle of the Data Protection Act 1998, which requires that 'Personal data shall be accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date'.You have failed to provide evidence in the form of data as per my Subject Access Request that substantiates the default that you have communicated to Credit Reference Agencies in relation to the afforementioned account.

As data subject, I dispute your record of default & by your own admission you have no records to uphold the accuracy of any such default. By communicating innacurate information to Credit Reference Agencies you are in breach of your responsibilities as data controller under the Fourth Principle of The Data Protection Act 1998.

You also state that you have not had any records of any such account or alleged default since May 2001. Therefore the information that you are communicating to Credit Reference Agencies has not been kept up to date & again this is in breach of the Fourth Principle of the Data Protection Act 1998.

 

I notice that you continue to communicate information that is causing substantial, unwarranted damage/distress to myself as a data subject.

Therefore I am serving you with this letter as:

DATA SUBJECT NOTICE UNDER SECTION 10 OF THE DATA PROTECTION ACT 1998

As per section 10 of The Data Protection Act, I require you to stop processing information about myself as a data subject.

As you have already communicated information that is causing substantial, unwarranted damage/distress to Credit Reference Agencies I require you to take action to prevent further damage/distress by way of you writing to these agencies instructing them to remove all previous reference to the afforementioned alleged default.

On doing so, please provide me with copies of said letters of instruction & correspondance from said Credit Reference Agencies showing their acceptance & complience with your instructions to remove all references to this alleged default from my credit file.

As per section 10 of The Data Protection Act; you now have 21 days in which you must provide me with a written notice informing me of your intent of complience with this notice.

May I take this opportunity to remind you that as data subject I have a legal right to compensation for damage & distress suffered as the result of any contravention of the requirements of The Data Protection Act 1998 by yourself as a data controller under Section 13 of this Act.

Should you fail to act upon this notice I shall apply to the Court for an order requiring you to rectify the information you are communicating as per section 14 of The Data Protection Act 1998 along with a claim for damages & distress as per section 13 of this act.This will be in addition to my making a formal complaint to Trading Standards & The Information Commissioner.

Yours Sincerely

 

 

I know this is a long winded response & could really do with some help here as I can't help but feel a little out of my depth & don't want this to be apparant to Littlewoods in my response.

 

Any suggestions?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[car2403]

Have you sent them a CCA request?

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general-debt/20758-creditors-dcas-letter-templates.html#post162367

 

Have you written to the CRA's under s.159 CCA 1974? A written complaint to them should start an investigation where they either confirm the information is correct or remove it as unsubstantiated.

 

You should send them a s.10/s.12 Notice.

 

After all this, it could be Court action to have it removed.

[nocredit]

Sorry for my delay in replying I've not logged on over xmas but it's back to business now...

Thanks for that car, will get on the templates and put something together

[nocredit]

BIG thank-you to everyone who helped me as I have had a letter today from Holly Parr (SDFS complaints management team) stating that..

 

..We have made a full investigation & can confirm our findings as follows:

As previously mentioned, both of these accounts were opened on 23rd January 2001. Due to the passage of tie unfortunately I am unable to provide details of any orders or payments made against this account. Due to the circumstances surrounding your account, I can confirm that we have removed the default marker from your credit file.

 

I will get another copy of my credit report just to make sure but I am pleased to have this result. If only London Scottish Bank would do the same!!

[car2403]

Ok, but don't PAY for that copy of your Credit File.

 

Send a COPY of this letter to each of the CRA's and ask them to remove the Defaults under s.159 CCA 1974 within 28 days or face Court action themselves. (It's their duty to supply a copy of your amended file for FREE!)

 

Next write back and query what is happening with the outstanding balance. Remind them, without any documentation, they are in a sticky position sharing ANY info (including late payment markers) as they don't have your consent or an enforceable agreement.

 

Depending what they say, you might not be finished here... Sorry to burst your bubble somewhat... But, what is to stop the Defaulting you again now and starting this all over again.

 

This is a GOOD thing, but the battle has been won with a war still to come... for now...