Unlawful entries on credit file for an account that doesnt exist any more

[ICY]

My wife has checked her credit report today to find a very poor rating, there is an account on the file which is showing as 6 payments missed. This account is daimler chrysler finance, and started in 2006.

 

She bought a car from Daimler chrysler in 2006 and we think this was some sort of gap insurance or the likes of (neither of us recall taking out this policy), 12 month later that car was part ex'ed at the same dealer, for a different car, the dealer had apparently sorted out all the payments, and everything was settled from the old car.

 

About 6 months ago after looking through all direct debits coming from current account we found this payment to daimler chrysler finance and as we didnt have a clue what it was for, we rang them. They said it was some sort of insurance (cant remember exctly what now) we told them that the car this was for was returned to the dealer we bought it from and part ex'ed for another car, also told them that in completing the paperwork for the new car, all previous payments would be finalised and settled, when asked why this account was not settled they said that it was our responsibilty to close all accounts, the issue being we didnt know this insurance was in place if it was gap insurance we wouldnt have bothered taking it out if asked as there was no intention of keeping the car over 12 months and as such gap insurance would be pointless.

 

 

they said they would only cancel the policy if we wrote to them cancelling, we wrote to them with list of all payments they had taken from her bank account and requested the account be terminated immediatly and requested a refund of payments since we handed the car back, they responded to this by writing saying they had cancelled the account, however would not reimburse payments since we handed the car back as it was our fault for not stopping it. They said in this letter that they would no longer take payments, as a precaution my wife stopped the direct debit with the bank immediatly, every month since then the payment has came from bank account and then been put back in again despite it being cancelled, on looking at credit file this morning, they have recorded 6 missed payments for an account that shouldnt be open.

 

This is causing major agro at mo as we are looking for a mortgage to buy a new property and are really struggling, a look on credit file shows why we are having so much trouble. 12 months ago the credit score was excellent however (962) it has now gone to very poor (339) with only one extra loan account on there, no late payments anywhere else, and virtually the same amount of credit as owned 12 months ago, this shows how damaging daimler chrysler finances record has been

[ICY]

BUMP

 

anyone ?

[ICY]

..

Edited July 4, 2008 by ICY

[ICY]

B U M P

[zootscoot]

I think yu would probably have a claim for mis-selling of the insurance. The fact that you didn't know that you had it or what it was for suggests that anyone who sold it has not done their job properly.

 

In relation to the credit file it seems they have not properly cancelled the policy in accordance with your request. Do you still have copies of any letters sent?

 

It is worth writing to the CRAs stating that you believe that there is inaccurate data on your file and request that they remove it. If you have copies of letters cancelling the policy enclose these.

 

You may also have a claim for damages against the insurance company for negligence in failing to close your account and passing on incorrect information for the consequent damage to your reputation.

[zootscoot]

You may find this case of interest:

 

http://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/opinions/a187_04.html

[myusername]

quite an interesting thread, will look at information given

[ICY]

Have the letter sent to them telling them to cancel, and somewhere we have a letter telling my wife they have cancelled it.

 

It seems very odd that no payment reminders have been sent out to my wife.

[ICY]

Still no response from DC uk to our letter, however I have now found the letter they sent dated saying they had cancelled the policy, but they have tryed to take the direct debit out of my wifes account each month, obviously we cancelled the direct debit with the bank, and this is why they are claiming the account is in arreaars because the payments they have requested each month have been bounced back to them, the amount is increasing every month.

[buzby]

This sounds very much like the problem owners have when taking out mobile phone cover, it is linked to the handset only (not the contract). So, let's assume the cover provided was for Mechanical Breakdown of the car. The fact the car was eventually sold, the dealer would have no knowledge of any policies in place for the vehicle - so there is no issue of negligence here.

 

Similarly, if there have been occasions when these payments were 'missed' because no payments were taken, perhaps due to insufficient funds. Your bank would probably charge you for these too, so it begs the question, if that did not cause bells to ring back then, with subsequent payments being successfully credited, the time to query this is at the time, not months down the line.

 

The DD guarantee will not apply, and another reason why DDd remove financial control from folk is so loved by firms. As much as I'd like to stay otherwise, the firm you complain about will have done nothing wrong, and could point to your lack of fiscal control as the primary contributing factor the problem.

 

On a more positive site, there is room for negotiation, since you've not claimed, you can hope they'll return the premiums from when the car was sold, but this will be at their discretion and not a 'right'. As for not knowing about it, ask for evidence that you arranged the policy... if they cannot provide this, dispute it - but there is a possibility it will form part of an application form with just a tick box signifying acceptance.

[ICY]

The direct debit had never been bounced, there has always been plenty of money in the account that the direct debit came out of, it is only when DC finance wrote saying that they had cancelled the payments on 2nd January that we cancelled the direct debits, note until AFTER THE ACCOUNT HAD BEEN CLOSED, how could that ring bells when we had never received bank charges for it, it is irrelevent how long it has taken us to notice, and it isnt your place to say we should have claimed earlier, we still had finance through the same organisation for further cars, it was only when going through bank statement, we couldnt figure out if this was for my car, or my wifes (both through the DCuk) so we rang them to find out what it was, they told us the reg the policy referred to, which is when we discovered it was for the car we part ex'ed in 2006, whats relevent is the fact they are still taking payments for an account which is NO LONGER OPEN, I am not asking for money back, I know thats highly unlikely if you bother to read properly I am asking that they stop requesting payments from the bank, for AN ACCOUNT THAT IS CLOSED AND NOT IN ARREARS, also I am asking the removal of all the UNLAWFULLY RECORDED information on the CRAs as they only started providing negative information AFTER THE ACCOUNT WAS CLOSED.

 

 

 

And yes the dealer did have knowledge of the policies being there, it came up on the dealers screen when we went in fairly recently, it came up on the database, along with the date the car was returned to the same dealer, in part exchange for a new car, the 'policy' was not through an outside source but was from DC finance, who sold us the car and accepted the car back in part ex for a new one.

 

Also we didnt know this policy existed

[ICY]

Not had any response from DCuk yet, in fact they have increased the missed payments on the credit file, and increased the amount by another 15.55 (the apparent monthly premium), this despite the direct debit being cancelled with the bank. think its time to send an LBA informing of legal action to commence in 14 days.

[Alipeeps]

The direct debit had never been bounced, there has always been plenty of money in the account that the direct debit came out of, it is only when DC finance wrote saying that they had cancelled the payments on 2nd January that we cancelled the direct debits, note until AFTER THE ACCOUNT HAD BEEN CLOSED, how could that ring bells when we had never received bank charges for it, it is irrelevent how long it has taken us to notice, and it isnt your place to say we should have claimed earlier, we still had finance through the same organisation for further cars, it was only when going through bank statement, we couldnt figure out if this was for my car, or my wifes (both through the DCuk) so we rang them to find out what it was, they told us the reg the policy referred to, which is when we discovered it was for the car we part ex'ed in 2006, whats relevent is the fact they are still taking payments for an account which is NO LONGER OPEN, I am not asking for money back, I know thats highly unlikely if you bother to read properly I am asking that they stop requesting payments from the bank, for AN ACCOUNT THAT IS CLOSED AND NOT IN ARREARS, also I am asking the removal of all the UNLAWFULLY RECORDED information on the CRAs as they only started providing negative information AFTER THE ACCOUNT WAS CLOSED.

 

 

 

And yes the dealer did have knowledge of the policies being there, it came up on the dealers screen when we went in fairly recently, it came up on the database, along with the date the car was returned to the same dealer, in part exchange for a new car, the 'policy' was not through an outside source but was from DC finance, who sold us the car and accepted the car back in part ex for a new one.

 

Also we didnt know this policy existed

 

I think you have two separate issues here:

 

1. Your request to get back the premiums you had already paid for an insurance you weren't aware of; and

 

2. The fact that the insurers are still trying to draw the premium despite having been requested to (and having confirmed that they have) close the account.

 

I think Buzby was replying to the first issue and the fact that you will be unlikely to get the paid premiums back as the company will argue that it's not their fault that you didn't keep track of your finances and be aware that this policy was running.

 

On the second issue though - the "missed payments" which are messing up your credit record - the company is clearly in the wrong here. You have evidence that you asked them to close the account and you have their written confirmation that they have done so. Despite this, they are continuing to try and draw the DD for the premiums. causing the DD request to bounce and registering the "failure" to pay on your credit record.

 

I'm afraid I'm not knowledgeable enough in these matters to advise you on how to go about getting them to a) stop trying to take payments and b) clear the inaccurate defaults from your credit record but I'm sure someone on here will be able to advise you. At the very least, I would think it will involve you writing to the company (enclosing copies of the previous documentation relating to the closure of the account) and demanding that they close the account and cease trying to draw payments.

[ICY]

I am not trying to get money back, it is completely pointless, I am aware there is very little chance of this happening.

 

I have written to them, they are ignoring my correspondance completely.

[buzby]

In that case, write pointing out their error (in attempting to take payments for a service that was cancelled). At the same time demand there erroneous debit refusals are removed from your credit file, and give them 28 days to confirm they have done so. Send it by Recorded Delivery.

 

IF there is no response, check your file 1 month later, and if the incorrect entries are there, send a copy of the letter to the Credit Reference Agency involved, noting that their client has refused to deal with the matter and ignored correspondence. That should resolve the problem quickly!

[ICY]

Well guess thats it sorted

 

My wife has rung them to find out why they havent bothered to respond to the letter, they looked at it, and said oh this is serious, they apologised and said they have just removed all records from the CRA files, just need to wait about a month to check credit file.

 

Success.

[buzby]

Great news! Just remember to go for the £2 check on each firm every 12 months to keep on top of it all!

[ICY]

Just to update, DCuk have now removed all traces of the account on her credit file, along with an apology.

 

RESULT