Thanks for that - i called them earlier and i dont think they know what they are doing I spoke to customer services and told the girl what i wanted to take an additional line but have it on one bill and she said i need to speak to sales before i had a chance to say anything she'd pushed me though to the sales team. Who answered the phone in seconds. When i explianed to sales what i wanted they said that customer services need to do that since its just additonal phone on the account that is required - advised he would pass me back to customer services for them to deal. But he infact passed me to the pay as you go helpline. I dont understand why everythnig is so hard these days. I will try them again later if no joy i dunno what im gonna do

Hello All, Just a quick question I have been a orange customer for a few years with no problems and was wanting to take out an additional phone but have it on the one bill. I was wondering if i would need to be credit checked for this or if orange just use past internal history or scoring. anyone know ? Dera.

cheers for that andie 303 I have also had a quick look around and it would seem that you have to top up at least monthly to get any kind of perk. I guess thats just the way it is.

Hello All, I am wondering if anyone what the best pay as you go tarrifs are out there. I am currently with Orange and pay £10 a month on the phone to benifit from their magic numbers scheme. Basically what magic numbers allows you to do is speak to someone for upto 1 hour but no more than 3 hours a day for 20 pence. But to get it you need to top up at least £10 a month to keep them active I was wondering if there was anything that was maybe better value than that or where you can chat at a discount for the life of your balance. Anyone with any ideas please let me know. Cheers.

also who placed the default orange or the DCA - is it listed as Orange or is it in the name of the DCA ?

Ms Unknown, It would seem the account was short settled meaning that you paid the DCA a reduced figure so this would show on your credit file as a Partial settlement or full and final settlement meaning what you paid would not clear the outstanding balance in full. As a result of this partial settlement orange have to by law report this meaning a default would automatically be added since the full balance was not paid. Might be an idea to launch an online dispute with Equifax and get them to investigate it on your behalf if orange do not reply to Equifax's request within 21 days then Equifax will remove the entry until such time they do reply. Orange do report to both Equifax and Experian though i believe and if Equifax do remove the entry it will still show on your Experian report. Request an online investigation and whilst that is going on put in a SAR request to orange which costs £10 but will provide you with all the bills and comments made by customer services and collections on your account. Keep us updated on progress. Dera.

Thanks Buzby, I will wait to see what happens with the file. I might need some help on writing letters and stuff technical wording etc. Let me know if thats ok if not i understand its ok

Pelham9 Thank you for that information, I was a bit confussed about the default so spoke to experian who advised the default will fall off from 6 years of when it was placed whether the balance is still outstanding or not. Not sure whos correct can anyone else clarify this please. ? Just wanted to say thanks to Buzby and your self for all your information and help on this. Many thanks

Buzby, Thanks for all your help on this. I would like to fight it more but to be honest its getting me down, All I want is the file to be updated to a 0.00 balance and if they do decied to default the account to default it with the correct date. I am just angry since if i had known the debt was outstanding i would of paid it years ago, The only reason i found out that it was outstanding was because I applied for a copy of my credit file and found that its on there so i paid it stright away. I just hope they can see some compassion and goodwill and just leave it as is and just settle the account

Buzby, Thanks for that I was just wondering its obvious that orange had written this debt off. I have had this confirmed today. What i am wondering now is now that I have paid the outstanding balance are orange allowed to go back and place a default the account even though the had amount had been written off ?.

Buzby, Thanks for the update I guess I just wait and see what they do when the update the credit record entry. What are the chances of them terminating my current contract now that this has come to light with the old account since technically i shouldnt of been granted a new line since their was an outstanding amount on the previous account even though i didnt know about it until now ? Can they terminate it. I will fight it if they try and do that since I can say look i didnt know i had an outstanding balance on the old account until I checked my file and paid you the day that I found out you have never written to me to advise that a balance was still outstanding. Also my current account with them has not been in arrears for 5 + years. If they do get nasty I also have a pay as you go account with them with a credit balance of around £550 if they terminate my current contract what would my chances be of me saying something along the lines of, Since you have terminated my current contract account I want the money thats currently on the pay as you go account refunded to me in the form of a cheque so I can take my business elsewhere ?

So my question is are they likely to delete all the incorrect data and show the account to be in arrears for over 5 years and place the default on from 2002 of which would make the default disappear anyway given its age or just mark it with an S and place no default on the account or delete the entry entirely. ? Bit Confused.

Buzby, Thanks for your reply surely when the account was terminated back in 2002 they should of stopped processing my data. All I want if they do default the account is for them to put the correct date of which i believe to be 2002. Since to this day its showing as up to date but with an outstanding balance of which i paid now last month, But was told it will be updated within 30 days, Meaning that the balance should now read 0.00 and marked with an S

Hello All, I have a slight problem and fear I may of opened a can of worms. This is a bit of a long one so please bear with me. I had an account with orange back in 1999 of which ran smoothly up until 2002 or there abouts where I got into to some difficulty paying the bill. It happened back in the day where i used to use my old Orange Nokia phone as a modem and used as a dialup modem calls to 0800 numbers were free back then on orange. One month i got a bill for just over £200 that I felt was incorrect only to find that they had started charging for 0800 data calls. I called them up and and advised that I wasnt made aware of the change and the charging policy to such numbers. The person at customer services advised that they would send the bill for recalcualtion and not to worry. One month later I got a bill for £600 I was told I could still use my phone and not worry about paying until the bill had come back from recalculation. Another month went by and again I got an even larger bill for just under £1000 if i remember correctly. I called them up again and asked what was going on I was advised that the bills had come back from the recalculations team and they were indeed correct and that I would have to pay the outstanding balance of just under £1000. I asked why have I now got a bill for just under £1000 and was told calls are charged a month in arrears hence why it had mounted up. I had no way of paying this debt now since it had grown so large plus I had other bills to pay for rent food utility bills gas electric etc. I explained i needed time to pay and was advised that they would suspend the account (use of phone) and any action for a period of 30 days to give me time to pay. I couldn't pay within 30 days and since the original bill of £200 was now technically outstanding for 60-90 days the phone was disconnected and the debt referred to a a debt collection agency. About six weeks later I got a letter from a DCA demanding payment of the outstanding balance. I called the DCA to make an aranagement to pay of £25.00 per month. They rejected this offer and stated that if full payment is not received within 14 days then they will begin legal action to recovery the money in the form of a CCJ. I was so angry at this so I wrote a letter to the complaints team at orange explaining I felt the DCA's tactics were a bit heavy handed and explained that I was offering to clear the debt at £25.00 a month until the debt was clear. a few days later I recieved a letter from orange explaining that they will contact the DCA on my behalf and that the DCA should accept the £25.00 a month. I then made payments each month of the agreed amount and all was well. This went on for at least 2 years I cant remember if I set-up a direct debit or I just used to pay over the phone each month. Anyway one month I went to pay and the DCA advised that the account was now up to date and they will pass the account back to orange. I advised that the phone was now disconnected and that was that. I took out a new connection with orange in 2003 and have been using that phone ever since to this day I pay every month on time, Although there was a period of about 5 or 6 months where I was a month late with my payment but cleared that arrears on this new account back in 04 and now pay by direct debit, no problems there. Fast Forward 5 years to present to last month. Me and my girl friend want to enter into the world of part rent part buy. I thought it be best to take advantage of the 30 day free trial of Equifax and Experian credit checking service. I got copies of my reports only to find that my old orange account was showing on my report with lots of green 0's but an outstanding balance of a couple of hundred pounds. My current phone is on there as well showing green 0's too showing the same updated date for both accounts. I phoned up orange and asked about the old account and was passed through to the collections team, Who advised that there was an old amount of just over 200 pounds outstanding. I asked how this could be possible when I had paid the outstanding balance of which i thought was in full. She advised the amount has been outstanding since 2005 and has stayed the same since then, she also advised that it also went out for collection but collection was unsuccessful. I find this hard to believe since Both my current orange account and the old one were both registered at the same address and the current live account being paid via Direct Debit. I agreed to pay the outstanding amount and she advised that my Credit file will be updated within 30 days. Its been almost a month now and I am worried since I think they will settle the account and delete the incorrect payment history of which I agree yes they should do. But I am worried they will enter the default date as 2005 not 2002 since I guess they should of defaulted it once it went out for collection the 1st time which was 2002. The fact of the matter if i had of known that this 200 odd quid was outstanding I would of paid it. Im angry since I have not heard anything from them with regards to this account neither anything from the so called new collectors from 2005. Im hoping that they will just mark it with an S and that will be the of it, If they don't and they default it with a date of 2002 then thats fine since it will automatically fall off anyway But im worried that if they mark it as 2005 that also will be incorrect data. I feel that I have dropped my self in it since had I have just left it yes it would show an outstanding balance but still green zero's and if I had of left it and someone had chased me for it then the debt would of been statury barred anyway. But I thought it best to be honest so i brought it to their attention. Can anyone give me some advice on how to proceed if things do get nasty since I feel as if I have just made a big mistake.

Michael, Many Thanks for this information Rgds Dera.