Default registered when arrangement to pay made with OU.

[pussycat10]

I have an account with the Open University and recently had short term financial problems which I knew were going to just be for a couple of months.

 

I ended up getting a default notice having already said I couldn't pay the full amount for a couple of months.

 

On receiving the notice I called them and nobody could answer the questions, I was just told somebody would call me back.

 

I knew I had to have this paid or an arrangement in place prior to the date on the notice

so continued to call to resolve but each time their credit management department was too busy to accept calls and were calling people back.

This never happened on each call.

 

On the last day before the notice I was calling every few hours and even tried to pay the full amount of arrears

but was told I needed to speak to credit management regardless, I could not even pay what I thought the arrears were !! They would just not accept my money.

 

I finally received a call back from whom I believe was credit management,

they understood the situation and were more than happy to accept a reduced payment for 2 months and even confirmed this by letter.

I was told that an arrangement would show on my credit file.

 

I have now seen on Equifax that they have issued the default regardless of the arrangement.

 

My understanding was if an arrangment was made the default would not be issued.

Can they do this ?

had I known this I would have ensured it was something else that wasn't paid and this was kept up to date.

 

I am furious that their inability to answer my call or take any payment for well over a week has resulted in this.

 

I know I need to speak to them on monday but how can I resolve this if they wont remove the default. ?

[Conniff]

Have you received a default notice in the post ?

[pussycat10]

Yes, received the default notice,

spent about a week trying to speak to somebody to make an arrangement or failling that pay off the arrears and not pay something else !

 

Each time I called I was told credit management were busy and would return my call,

this never happened until the last day that the default had to be rectified on the notice.

 

On that day I finally spoke to credit management who accepted and confirmed in writing a short term arrangement was ok.

 

My understanding was if an arrangement was made the default would not be registered.

 

I should also point out that the arrears are only 2 months, its not like I am months and months behind.

 

Just seems extremely harsh from a company who took a week to answer the call and to accept payment.

 

Throughout the week I had tried to pay 3/4 of the monthly payment yet my payment would not be accepted until I had spoken to credit management.

[dx100uk]

sadly AFAIK an arrangement to pay, cannot satisfy a DN.

if it does not meet the figure on the DN by the 14days date

 

dx

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

dx is correct any payment authorised/agreed or not that does not meet the contractual payment required can be considered a reason to default the account.

[brokebutnotbeatn]

You are better off with this default marker as it will drop of your credit file after 6 years. An AP marker on the other hand will remain on your credit file for 6 years AFTER the account is actually closed. It might sting now but you're better off with this in the longer term IMHO.

[Seminole]

If the debt is now fully paid you could try making a formal complaint about the failures in their process and asking for any adverse information to be removed from your credit file. Probably won't work but might be worth a shot.