Please Help - Default Notice

[stevex41]

Hello all,

 

This is the first time I have used this forum and I'm hoping that I'll get some help. I recently changed a direct debit date on my bank account for my Egg Credit Card. In doing so the original DD was cancelled. After a trip away to Germany I returned home to find letters from Egg including one stating it was a default notice. It went on to state that I had 28 days to remedy the account.

I phoned first thing this morning and explained to the lady what had happened and made a payment there and then to cover the 2 missed payments. I asked if there was any way the DN could be removed of my file and she was so unhelpful - constantly telling me it was not possible. I then asked her what the letter referred to when stating that if the payment was made in 28 days further action would not be taken. She then told me that if the payment clears it would not go to file.

I later recieved this email :

Dear Mr

 

Following on from the conversation you had with my colleague earlier today, I understand that you requested an explanation of the default procedure. The default notice that you were sent out explains everything you need to know about the default procedure, including the timescales for bringing the account up to date and the consequences of not doing this.

 

I can see that you have made a payment today to bring the account up to date, so providing this clears, then the default notice will not be registered on your credit file.

 

Regards

I am normally an intelligent guy but I am suffering absolute panic. Will this in anyway affect my credit history?

 

I apologise if this seems a silly question or if it is in the wrong area of this forum.

[postggj]

keep that letter safe

your credit file will not show a default only a a few missed payments

 

as long as you do not miss the next 6 payments, you will be fine

 

at the moment your credit score will drop by about thirty points, after six months, back to normal

[postggj]

mind you

 

they were quick off the mark in defaulting you

[stevex41]

Thanks for your reply - I've never had such a sleepless night. The thought of not being able to get a mortgage over a £59 payment is awful.

[postggj]

its only defaults and ccj creditors frown on

a few missed payments are not going to make a difference

[stevex41]

I got home from work today to find a letter telling me that because I'd failed to abide by their terms in the original default notice that my account had been passed to a debt collection agency, and that a default would be registered.

I've just finished writing a letter stating that I payed the arrears immediately (15 days before the date deadline I was given) and I have the email stating that nothing further would happen. Egg wouldn't deal with me on the phone - simply kept passing me on to the debt agency. I honestly dont know what to do.

[underdog13]

Egg have clearly got their wires crossed. These companies are all the same; the left hand never knows what the right hand is doing. They mess up spectacularly, scare the living daylights out of customers and leave you to sort out the chaos:-x

 

Please try not to be so worried (easier said than done, I know); you paid the arrears in full before you were defaulted - assuming the payment did clear. I would write a strongly worded letter of complaint to the head of customer services at Egg outlining the situation and ask for compensation for all the inconvenience, distress and costs you have suffered. Include a copy of the default notice, proof of your payment and a print out of that confirming e-mail, point out again that you paid in full and well before the required date - you can't state things too clearly or too often for these idiots; I generally explain things to them as I would to a particularly slow 5 year old. Send a carbon copy of all ths to the DCA they have erroniously passed your account to.

 

Don't be fobbed off about the compensation, insist on it - they have massively fouled up and you are entitled to redress. Threaten them with a complaint to the relevant bodies if they don't comply with your orders and make a groveling apology to you;)

 

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, you've got nothing to worry about; plan how you're going to spend that compensation money!

Edited November 22, 2008 by underdog13

[stevex41]

Underdog,

 

Thank you very much for such a quick reply. To be honest I think I'll be worrying until this matter is over. I sent a letter off this morning by registered mail outlining everything you have said, though I must admit I didn't include anything about compensation.

My fear is that somewhere in Eggs billions of points in their T&C's that they'll make this stick.

I've just told my wife that I may have a default going on to my file for the next 6 years. I feel like I've just been given a criminal record for a very nasty crime. The only difference is that if that were the case then I'd probably still be given a mortgage easier than I will be with a default notice.

[underdog13]

If you paid in full within the correct timespace and the payment is honoured (which I'm sure it was) they cannot make a false report stick. They have to report correct information to credit reference agencies. Egg would have to inform the CRAs to remove a false default notice - it can be tricky to make them do this when it's a grey area, but yours is clear cut black and white, not grey.

 

Please try to stay calm, you'll only make yourself ill stressing out so much.

 

Don't worry about not asking for compensation yet; you are entitled and can insist upon it at a later date. Might be best to bring it up when they admit they are wrong: As they will have to, because you have cast iron proof - they can't wriggle out of proof of payment made in good time:D

 

These companies are very good at making you feel like you've done something criminally wrong. In actual fact, the atrocious way you have been treated is criminal! If things aren't remedied very swiftly by customer services, I would complain to the Chairman of the Board and inform him you will be making an official complaint to the relevant bodies.

 

Although it doesn't apply in your case, because it will be removed, default notices for credit cards are not always a bar to getting a mortgage anyway. A high street bank might not be willing to lend, but I have heard of cases where mortgage lenders aren't really interested in credit card dealing if you have a good mortgage payment history.

 

As Postggj said in an earlier post, all your credit record will show is two missed payments - pay everything on time for the next 6 months and those will be pretty much ignored.

[stevex41]

Underdog,

 

Firstly I want to say thank you. Egg did indeed reply in writing admitting their mistake and also via the telephone.

I have never had such an awful weekend though! It's good to know that there are people out there who are willing to help. So, again, thank you.

 

I am in the process of closing my egg account but I'd like to ask you for further advice if i may? I informed egg that I will be making a formal complaint but do you honestly think they'll compensate me? If so, how on Earth do I go about it?

 

Steve.

[underdog13]

I'm so pleased they have finally sorted things out for you, Steve, and glad to have been of some help.

 

Keep that letter admiting they made a mistake in a very safe place. They most definately will have to make a compensation payment, but you will have to make a bit of a fuss;) They will try to fob you off, but they are just bluffing.

 

I think to begin with, I would inform them of your intention to make a complaint and state that you are entitled to compensation for the extreme distress, inconvenience and costs you incurred; don't be afraid to lay it on a bit thick, the stress made you ill, etc. The threat of a formal complaint often open their purse strings:D Don't accept their first offer, it's bound to be paltry - work out your figures, add a little extra to that sum to make it look like you're willing to negotiate and compromise;) then stick to your guns and insist on that first figure! I'd take it up with a manager, if I were you - they should have the authority to authorise payments.

 

They do indeed pay compensation - NatWest 'lost' £6000 of my money when one of their telephone staff made a mistake and sent it to the wrong place. They arrogantly informed me, repeatedly, that they weren't responsible and it was tough luck on me! They also said they wouldn't pay my costs or compensation; they claimed they weren't responsible because I should have spotted their operators mistake at the time they made it!!!! You may have felt the seismic shift that resulted from the eruption of my absolute fury:-D After tearing them a new one, pointing out their duties under the banking code and threatening them with an official complaint to all the relevant bodies they paid all my costs, compensation (had to haggle a lot) and interest - over £400 in all. Natwest didn't manage to find the 'lost' 6k - I did that myself by contacting the company it should have gone to, who located it and returned it to my account. The second company were absolutely appalled by Natwest's behaviour and recommended I make a complaint.

 

Make 'em pay, Steve - you're entitled and they have admitted it in writing! Best of luck, let me know how you get on