Who can change late default date on HFC Marbles Card if debt is now with Lowell Portfolio I

[molly2]

I had a credit card with Marbles several years ago.

 

I entered a DMP and have been paying substantially reduced payments ever since.

 

After 3.5 years of phone calls from them they gave up, defaulted the debt and sold on to a DCA.

 

I believe I may have a right to get the default date moved back by 3 years to within 6 months of stopping contractual payments and then it will drop off my credit file 3 years sooner.

 

Who do I write to to ask for my default date to be changed?

 

I can't see the DCA being interested nor Marbles.

 

Thanks for your help.

[dx100uk]

formal complaint to marbles first

 

then the ico if no joy

 

dx

[renegadeimp]

They defaulted 3.5 years after the actual point of default?

[molly2]

Thanks dx,

 

i take it that marbles' data controller is able to alter the default date on a debt now registered with a DCA,

either directly or by asking the DCA to alter it then ?

 

ren, yes Marbles default date is 3.5 years after I stopped contractual credit card payments.

 

They added over 20% of interest in those 3.5 years to boot!

[dx100uk]

the default would/should have been placed before the sale.

 

as for the intrest after sale

 

if its not in the ORIGINAL T&C'S they cant add anything.

 

dx

[molly2]

sorry yes it was marbles who added interest for 3.5 years and then added the default marker. The DCA has not added any interest or charges as yet.

 

my question was: if i write to marbles to ask them to alter the default date of the debt which now belongs to the DCA, can they legally do this?

 

marbles marked their own debt as satisfied when they sold it to the DCA so no longer control anything on my credit file.

[dx100uk]

the oc put the default on the oc are responsible for correct reporting

it being that by ICO guidelines, the default should have been placed within 3-6mts of the cause of action

[the third missed payment]

 

dx

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Has the CRA file no been updated by the DCA/Debt Purchaser?

[molly2]

The DCA is updating the debt on credit file monthly. Marbles have removed their entry from the credit file entirely now (Noddle and Equifax checked).

 

The letter of assignment from OC to DCA said :

 

We are writing to notify you that: Progressive Credit Limited has assigned all of its respective rights, title and interest in respect of the above referenced account (including the outstanding balance) to DCA Portfolio Ltd, effective 01/04/2012

...

Under the terms of the above assignments, and as defined in the Data Protection Act 1998, DCA Portfolio Ltd is now the Data Controller of your Personal Data contained in the records of this account. DCA Financial Ltd has been appointed by DCA Portfolio Ltd to manage your account and it is essential that all future payments and correspondence regarding this account be directed to DCA Financial Ltd at: [DCA address]

 

Should I write to the O,C asking them to inform DCA Portfolio Ltd of the correct default date, as suggested by dx100 ?

 

Or does the above imply that the DCA is the one I should be writing to (presumably with evidence of payment made from 2008 to 2012 before the debt was assigned to the DCA so the DCA can see I'm not telling porkies about when the cause of default action took place)?

Edited November 30, 2013 by molly2

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Reading back on this payments never actually ceased? You made reduced payments for a period the account was then defaulted and sold on?

The letter means the DCA is the data controller for the account from the date it was acquired.

 

Any data prior to that is still in the domain of the original creditor.

[molly2]

The contractual minimum was around £300 per month.

I made payments of £15 per month for a couple of years and now I'm currently making payments of £1 per month.

The account was defaulted in March 2012 when the payments reduced to £1.

It was sold to DCA in August 2012.

 

I've drafted a letter to Marbles to ask them to change their default date to 2009 and inform DCA Portfolio Ltd of the new default date. Shall I send it to Marbles ?

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Exactly which DCA is this please?

 

Two Major DCAs use 'portfolio ' in their trading style Lowell and Hoist?

[molly2]

Lowell Financial Ltd

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Lowell Financial Ltd

 

Not Lowell Portfolio 1?

[molly2]

Yes, Lowell Portfolio I

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

molly if we have accurate data to work with it is easier to give accurate advice, the approach may be different dependent on this.

I will get back to you.

[dx100uk]

I'd be getting an sar off to HFC too

they'll be PPI & PENALTY charges to reclaim I bet

 

 

dx

[molly2]

No PPI but about a dozen £12 late fees have been levied over the years. It wouldn't make much difference to the outstanding balance which would still be well over £10k.

[renegadeimp]

Ok. Can you backtrack right to the start please.

 

Give us a concise breakdown of the dates where each thing happened.

[molly2]

May 2008 Marbles credit card balance 10k

 

June 2008 Missed first contractual payment of 300 (paid nothing)

 

August 2008 Started DMP, paid 15 per month to Marbles who initially freeze interest but over the years add 3k of interest and a few late payment charges

 

September 2008 AP marker applied at CRAs by Marbles

 

January 2012 DMP payments to Marbles reduced to 1 per month

 

April 2012 Marbles issue default dated April 2012

 

August 2012 Marbles sell 13k debt to Lowell Portfolio I and remove their own entry from at least 2 CRAs

 

September 2012 Lowell add a CRA entry with default date April 2012

Edited December 1, 2013 by molly2

[molly2]

Following advice from dx100uk and BRIGADIER2JCS, I've prepared the attached letter to Marbles. Should I sent this recorded delivery to Marbles ?

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Yes Molly recorded signed for post, check delivery date.

[callahan]

According to guidance note 9 ICO the default occurred as soon as you failed to meet your contractual obligations. “A default is said to occur as soon as a borrower fails to meet the terms of their credit agreement”

 

Some further breaches of the guidelines;

 

“Accounts should not be routinely filed as being in default where full payments or those due under a rescheduled agreement are fewer than three consecutive months in arrears.”

 

“Accounts should normally be filed as being in default where those payments due have not been received for six months.”

 

"This guidance does not relate to lenders’ internal policies regarding collection activities or decisions to write off debts, and so on. It is concerned solely with the filing of information for credit referencing purposes. Such internal policies and practices should not be the determining factor in when and how a default is filed.”

[callahan]

Regarding what constitutes a default and the breakdown of relationship I refer to guideline 10 which gives the following as an indication of when a breakdown has occurred in the relationship between the lender and the individual.

 

“The account has been referred to a collection agency or in-house debt collection department.”

 

“The lender takes or has taken steps to cut off the service provided” - I assume you stopped using the card.

 

“The customer has not made satisfactory proposals in response to a demand for repayment” - £15 is understandably not a satisfactory proposal as it would take hundreds of years to clear the balance.

 

“The customer has given clear indication that they do not intend to meet their contractual obligations.”

[callahan]

It can also be argued that £15 is a token payment hence guadance note 17.

“Lenders should not file a default where there is a genuine and agreed variation in the payment schedule. (The only exception to this is where a debt management programme is put in place where the level of repayment represents only a token sum which is only accepted by the lender because the customer cannot afford to pay more.”

 

and finally your efforts to pay have left you in a far worse position than someone who made no effort at all as they would have had a default registered far earlier.

“Where a rescheduling of this type breaks down, a default may be filed when the total value of the arrears is equivalent to three monthly payments under the original terms. However, this should not result in the customer being placed in a worse position than someone who has made no effort to pay whatsoever. “

 

Much ammunition to suggest the default should have been registered many many months earlier.