Hello all, Had a debt with a credit card, FIRE (Cabot financial) took over, made a F&F settlement amount with them (got this in writing with dates to pay etc even a letter confirming that when this is paid, my credit files will be updated). Low and behold, last payment took them a month to debit, and no confirmation letter. Default still showing and incorrect amount also showing. 3 months later and no response to letters I have filed at County Court for my monies back, default removed and other costs etc. Check my credit file again yesterday, they have updated, but still with the default, and incorrect balance. Very very angry and frustrated. You do the right thing and they still break a contract. Just looking for some advice. Has anyone else took them to Court? Have they paid up? Do they update Credit reference agencies? Do they actually do whats on the judgement? Will they drag it out or do they right thing and settle? More angry as this is the only blip on a very good credit file. Look forward to any replies.

Hi, its been a couple of weeks, but I have attached a pictures of the Equifax Credit files that show the Default has been put back instead of settled. I am inclined to leave it until the Default drops off. The black and white one was last year and the colour one was today. Look forward to any replies. Best regards

Thanks for your replies, I will post screenshots or scan what I have got of the credit files. Its good to know that it is S/B after 6 years. I had a feeling mortgages could be chased up to 12 years.

Hello and thanks for the replies, I did not get a notification of your replies, so again, im sorry. The last payment for the mortgage was in June 2008. Possesion took place in the August 08. GE Money did not sell the house till April 2009. We then had a letter sent to us stating that there was £56,000 outstanding. We had no way to pay for this, and still dont. The outstanding debt is being chased by a company called Optima legal services. We have not acknowledged no letter from them or GE Money. The Default was placed on my files in April 2009. The 'Default Satisified' was placed on the credit file in 2009 (cant remember date) and on the Equifax credit file it stated that the default was satisified even though the full balance was not paid, there was a full and final settlement (we have never paid the outstanding balance). Experian just states 'Default Satisified'. I believe it is tactics for me to contact GE Money. However, can they really place another default once this one drops off in 3 years? It means this can be done time and time again? When would it become 'Statuate Barred'. Look forward to your help.

Hope someone can help. We had a mortgage with GE Money in 2005, house got repossesed in early 2008 (but not shown on credit file as a repossesion) and credit file with both Experian and Equifax showed a 'default' for the mortgage for the full amount. House was then sold and there was a remaining amount of £56,000 that we could not pay as we had no money. A DCA chased us for the money, but we never acknowledged these letters. In 2009 my credit files showed the debt as 'Default satisified' and that full and final settlement of the debt has been accepted (stated on Equifax, Experian just shows 'satisified') Low and behold today, just got a copy of my credit files and the debt is now showing 'Default' in red but the updated date is still showing 2009, but the defaulted amount is the full value of the property. Clearly this is incorrect information, as the house has been sold first of all and that amount should be off the balance. I have just contacted the Financial Omsbudsman, and they have stated that I have to write to GE Money for the data to be correctly stated on my credit files. I have copies of my credit files to show that it was satisified and F & F amount accepted. What are my options? This seems underhanded to get me to contact them by showing incorrect info on my credit file which is not allowed. Look forward to any advice, best regards

I am in a similar position. They have added £200 to a debt of £600 with interest amounts that do not add up. I then agreed to make monthly payments (as they would not take a settlement figure which I thought was fair), then checked my credit file (Experian) and this has never been updated with the correct amount. I then asked for a breakdown of the interest charges, they could not supply this, and I included a copy of the Credit file to prove that they have not updated it. To this they sent a letter stating the update the Credit files monthly (they do not) and that they are in there right to add interest. I stopped making payments and asked for all of the paperwork for my account, including the copy of the 'Default Notice' as the Default is in the name of Cabot (not the Credit Card companies name) that they apparently served me. July 2010 was the last letter sent, I have never received a reply. I am now in two minds, either to file at County Court for an amount (that would cover the Default on my Credit file -I also add that this is the only bad credit I have- and my time and costs) or send them one more letter with my intention of what to do. I am sure they are breaking the law by allowing incorrect data on my Credit file, and adding of unjust interest. If anyone could help with this I think it would be a benefit for all. I just can't believe the authorities allow a company like this to get away with it all of the time!

FSA I think regulates the DCA's, everytime the FSA contacts a DCA with regards to a complaint they (the DCA's) get charged something like £400 a time. If you send an email to complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk; and outline your complaint with any proof they should look into it for you, you can call them on a freephone number as well. However, I would try to get Robinson's Way number or any 'withheld' number barred from your phone by BT (previous post). I never ever give my number out to any credit company, I always make one up. Once they have your number and something happens that's it when a DCA gets hold of it, constant calling. In terms of the signed credit agreement and original T & C's, there was a Court case this year with regards to this (Cartel Marketing - another company I have unfortunatley worked for) and they lost the Court Case. The Judge ruled on behalf of the Bank/Credit company, stating that there was a contract as the account has been used and it is resonable for the bank not too keep all original documents (which is bulls*t). If it was on the other foot, the banks would be the first to state you must keep ALL original documents. So to try and take the debt to the County Court, that might be a sticking point with the CC Judge, as he would look up on any other cases.

its been two companies all along. Severn Trent have obviously asked Advantis to collect the debt? (part of the title for this thread) I hopefully won't be paying for anything, it was secured against the property, but lets wait and see.

Just an update. I have received a letter from Advantis to tell me the debt is suspended untill they receive all of the information from Severn Trent Water and a complete breakdown, then they will send it too me. Ironically, yesterday I received a letter from Severn Trent Water with the final bill for our the property that was repo' which includes the 'Court amount'. Lets wait and see!

I have today recieved another letter from Advantis, this time they have added another £167.92 onto the bill, so toatl now is £969.89. I will send them a letter today asking for a full breakdown of costs, and see where we go from there.

I thought I had sent a letter to the DCA, but checked my file and nothing sent (which I thought I did). Just a couple of points, I have 3 copies of my updated Credit File and no CCJ from the Water company, very strange but nothing there. Secondly, the total debt amount is £801.97, £552 of this is for the 'CCJ', and then an amount for £249.75 which is the final water bill for the date of April 08 to Feb 09. Having the property being handed back to the mortgage company in August and no longer in our possesion do we still have to pay the water bill from Sept to Feb 09 even though the property is not ours, but the mortgage companies? I don't have a problem paying the debt, I will try a settlement amount, however, the whole point of this is that the Water company chose to put a charge on the property and not seek for me to pay the debt monthly through the Court. Should I be liable to pay? Thanks for your help and advice.

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Just to add, yes, I told them that we want our money back and not a repair.

Thanks for your reply. I did state to the OH that we can NOT be driving the car at all, as it is not fit for purpose. The car will not be driven at all. To be honest the last time the car was driven was at the end of school term, this was before the LBA was sent. Better get siphoning the fuel out of it! You are right, we have exhausted the avenue to fix the car, hence the reason why we want our money back inc costs. I believe now that this will go all the way. I hope they settle before the 22nd April, because that is when we file the N1 court docs, and more money has to be forked out.

I have had a very intersting conversation with the Garage. There position is that they will take the car fix all of it (subject to his boss agreeing). They have stated that we bought the car for a low price, and it is not there fault that the car broke. I stated 3 or 4 times that the bottom line is, we want our money back and what it has cost us for repairs and they can take the vehicle. However he at no point through the conversation stated that they will not give us our money back. Did feel sorry for the bloke as it is not a call that I would of wanted to make, and he is gopher in the middle, however it is the company not the individual. I stated the example of buying a TV from Currys, that if it broke you are covered on the Sales of goods act i.e replace, repair or money back. The said they would not repair initially so we want our money back, the car is not fit for purpose, cost me a months wage to get it fixed and there are further problems which are compounding the situation now i.e we now have the Air Bag warning light on, and found out the back doors don't lock when the car is locked, this is on top of all of the other problems! It was a civilised conversation and stuck with the facts, I don't trust them to fix, and to be honest it would be cheaper for them to pay us off as the would recoup most of there money back anyway. Our concern now is that if it went to CC would the Judge say that they offered to repair it and we should of done that, and chucks this out of the Court? By the garage repairing it would put us in the same position had the car not failed. Again all help is appreciated.

The car has to be driven, even in the state that it is, as I work and the wife needs to take the kids to school (when they are at school). But it is only used when we have too (basically to school -it is not walkable), and we can't afford to hire a car to replace it. So we use my Seicento for 2 adults and 3 kids, a very tight squeeze indeed. We paid for the MOT and for the pads to be replaced, the Garage did not do this. However if they took the car back (and gave us our full refund) I no doubt assume they will resell it anyway and the MOT will just go with it. However if they pick it up within the next month I will take the Tax off of it as we paid for that in February. Can't believe we missed there call again this morning, no message left and they have not yet phoned back. Hopefully they will call, but I doubt it. Just expecting a letter in the post now.

Hi, for the MOT the car just needed rear brake pads. The same person done the Head Gasket work as well (i.e just to get the car back on the road) and then everything else went wrong as you know from my previous posts!

Hi again, We missed there call this afternoon, but on the message they said they will call back tomorrow. As I stated to my wife, I just want a full refund and they can come and collect the car. When you say 'Follow up the conversation with a letter of what was said.' do you mean that if they phone us and we say' full refund please' and they state (in so many words) 'not a chance'; should I send a letter stating exactly that? Thanks for your help, it is appreciated - and I think they realise now the error of there ways (I hope)!

Wife again. Hi, Yes we did state in lba 'no further correspondence will be entered into'. The phone call came completely out of the blue and took me off guard, they have had the letter a week and no reply (norm had a reply the following day), so we just thought we would be seeing them in court. We don’t want them to touch the car, we want a full refund. But I wanted to check with people where would stand in court if we refused an offer of repair, would we be deemed to be unreasonable? They have had too many opportunies to fix the car, and they refused. I do wonder if maybe they have taken legal advice and have been told to try and limit damage to the company? Although I would think that offering to repair car, proves our case quite well that it wasn’t sold for parts only. The car actually passed the MOT at the end of March (put though a local garage we use). The garage also seemed sure that the cam belt had been replaced. Should they call back I will take your advice. Thanks again for you help.

Boys wife here. I've just received a phone call from the garage. This was from the sales manager not the owner. Apparently the owner is on holiday for a week but he can call him (wouldnt you do this first?). Anyway what the sales manager suggested is that they get the car into their garage and carry out full repairs on car. There was NO mention of this sold for parts only business, so he looks like he might know they are in the wrong now. He said he needs to speak to the owner and see what he says, but what do you think we should do? Do we need to show the judge that we have been reasonable or should we refuse and carry on with court action? The sales manager said he would call me later today. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

Thanks for your help above, I will try and explain a little further, as I have now found some paperwork in the attic (glad I keep all stuff like this!) There was a Judgement for £612.22 (inc Court costs & Interest), we offered to pay, but they instead placed a charge on the property (they could of got Bailiffs but they went down the 'Charge against Property' route), this was Feb 08. At this point our property was worth about £200,000 (just before the housing crash, and we could not sell our house for love nor money). I don't have the paperwork for the Court, but I do have the letter from Severn Trent to confirm that this has happened. Obviously the house was repo and with such a large negative equity, they did not get anything when the house was sold at such a low silly price (someone got a bargain, but the Mortgage company done nothing to the house to make it look presentable -house was empty for more than 6 months-) As I said before, nothing went on my Credit file (checked all 3 companies) so assumed that was it. However, found a Water services final bill for Jan 09 (period Apr 08 to Jan 09, we left this property in Aug 08 as agreed with the Court and posted the keys back (rec del) before the final day) This bill is for a further £249 for that period, and then lumped on top is the bill that was charged against the property. So where do I stand now. The amount that was charged against the property can't be chased now, as it was charged against the property and its not my fault it did not get the full value, or is it? The additional £249, well, we left in Aug 08 (final day before possesion by the mortgage company was 30th Aug) so we only owe from Apr 08 to Sep 08, can we still be charged for the full amount (I don't mond paying for the period we were in the house)? I think they are taking a shot on this debt, but what do we do? I've got no problem paying if I have too, however in a strange way it was there choice to charge against the house, however as stated, there is nothing on my credit files about this CCJ or anything else from Severn Trent water. Look forward to any advice and help

Hope someone can give me a little advice here! We had a debt with Severn Trent Water that was charged against our property as they thought it would be the only way they would get the money (and there Legal team told us this on the phone in Jun 07). Our property was repossessed in Aug 08 and now I have recieved a DCA letter stating 'We have been Instructed by our client Severn Trent Water to make arrangements to collect the debt' The debt is £800 (The DCA is 'Advantis Credit'). We know that when the property was repossessed there was a £50,000+ shortfall (another story, but that was the Mortgage companies fault, and the Judge agreed with us on that as well). I have not seen any Defaults on my Credit file for this debt, so it is a surprise to get this in the post. My question really is, can they do this? I expect they can, but they wanted to charge it against our property. They did not want to go through the County Court, even though we were prepared to do this, however they chose to do this instead. My feeling is tough luck at the end of the day, but where do I stand legally? Should I ignore the letter? Contact them with regards to the charge, and that we will not pay? or pay in instalments. If I did the latter, am I entitled to see complete breakdown of charges as the debt was only around £400 at the time? I am not looking at getting out of the debt, but as there is nothing on my Credit file for this (They could probably Default me, but they would have to serve me with a 'Default notice' though, and this debt is not the DCA's) Look forward to any advice and help.

Thanks for all of your help. I will get a friend to have a look at the Cambelt to see if it a new one. Letter is now in post and sent Recorded. They have to the 22nd April 2010, to collect the car and refund the monies. I can see this going all of the way, but you never know!

Think this might do it then: Dear Sir Final letter before action Re: Renault Espace XX02 XXX, Date of Purchase- XX XX 2010 We purchased the above vehicle from you for £1995.00, plus a new Cambelt and a Full service as recommended by yourselves, which came to a total cost of £2587.93. A copy of your sales invoice is attached hereto for your ease of reference. We have taken advice from Trading standards and our Solicitors. TAKE NOTICE that we hereby formally rejects the vehicle under s.14 (2) and s.14 (3) of the Sale of Goods Act 1979. Due to the fault with the vehicle’s engine, and above listed faults you have failed to discharge your implied duty under s. 14 (2) of the Sale of Goods Act that the vehicle be of satisfactory quality and further under s. 14 (3) that the vehicle be reasonably fit for purpose. You have until 20th April 2010 to: Collect the vehicle from our address and refund the purchase price to us plus a full refund of costs incurred to date for the above faults, minus your £200 ‘Gesture of Goodwill’. Please also be advised that we have evidence which is contrary to your last letter dated 30th March 2010. We also have further proof of the adverts that were placed as well as the original advert placed on your website. If this issue is not resolved within the specified time period then we will commence legal proceedings to recover the purchase price plus full repair costs to date, plus compensation for inconvenience of not having full use of vehicle to date together with interest and costs. No further correspondence will be entered into. Yours faithfully Any further advice?

Cheers for that, that was one part of the letter that I was very unsure of putting in. Any other advice at all?