EOS - Atlantik - Freemans / Cleaning up credit record

[ddaddy]

Hi,

We have been looking at cleaning up my girlfriends credit record

there where 2 entries from Freemans and one from Atlantik.

 

One Freemans account stated it had been settled and closed in 2010 with the last record update in 2010.

The other Freemans entry defaulted in 2011 and although not stated on the record, it was settled in 2013 through debt collection.

We wrote to Freemans and they say they will update the record to reflect that it was eventually settled.

 

The matter we have issue with,

is a record for Atlantik that shows a default in 2010 for £357 and they last updated the record in 2015.

They claim this is another Freemans debt which my gf doesn't recall.

 

We're not wanting to get out of paying this, I would pay it today if I have to.

Our worry is the fact that if we settle this today it will still be other credit record for the next 6 years,

whereas if it was in fact settled year ago then it shouldn't be in this state.

 

We wrote to EOS which is the company listed on the credit record for Atlantik, asking for more information.

They simply responded with a bill for the £357.

 

So a couple of days later we responded with the following letter:

Dear Sir/Madam

 

I do not acknowledge any debt to your company or it’s clients.

 

With reference to the statement you sent dated 10/02/2016 stating a debt of £357.34, I require you to supply the following documentation before I will correspond with you further on this matter.

 

template..cca

 

Your faithfully

We heard nothing back, so later sent the following:

Dear Sir/Madam

 

FORMAL NOTICE - ACCOUNT IN DISPUTE.

old template removed -dx

Yours faithfully

They responded a few days later, acknowledging the complaint saying they have passed it to Atlantik F.GmbH (Freemans Oli) and that they have put the account on hold.

 

4 weeks later we received another letter from them saying:

I am writing to you today in relation to the complaint you raised on the above account.

 

Please find enclosed a copy of the Credit Agreement and please not the the statement for the above account has been requested.

 

You have previously advised that Freemans Oli had confirmed to you that your account was paid in full on 07/05/2013; I ask if you can please provide sufficient proof of this.

 

Your account will remain on hold until I am in receipt of the statement, once received I will forward this onto you.

 

 

Now the credit agreement they sent has not been signed or even completed with any contact details.

It is simply a photocopy of an Oli.co.uk credit agreement.

It says in big letters at the bottom IMPORTANT: THE RETURNS SECTION OF THIS AGREEMENT MUST BE SIGNED AND SENT BACK TO US AT...

So why can they not supply us a copy of the signed agreement?

 

9 days later, they sent a letter to my girlfriends fathers very old address

(Luckily after 2 moves, he now lives next door to where he used to live, so he got passed the mail)

saying they are trying to contact the addressee on the letter regarding a personal matter etc.

. I think it's a standard fishing letter when trying to find someone.

 

2 days after that, they sent another letter to her fathers old address

(Please bare in mind, all previous letters were received at our current address)

saying:

I am writing to you today in relation to the complaint you raised on the above account.

 

We have received a response from our client Atlantik F.GmbH (Freemans Oli) who have advised the account was opened on 17/05/2007 at the address of : OUR CURRENT ADDRESS! which was also the delivery address.

A copy of the statement has also been sent to you. No statement was attached

 

A letter was previously sent to you requesting proof that our client Atlantik F.GmbH (Freemans Oli) confirmed to you that your account was paid in full on 07/05/2013, unfortunately we have not yet received this.

I ask if you can please send this to us to enable me to investigate this fully.

 

Please be advised your account will remain on hold for a period of 14 days to allow you time to respond to this letter with the relevant information.

If we do not receive contact from you within this time, the hold will be released and we will continue with out collection commitments.

 

I can offer you a full and final settlement on the account today for £268.01 which will be valid for 30 days,

unfortunately there is no payment arrangement available on a full and final settlement, therefore it would be a one off payment.

 

I hope you find this satisfactory, however if you have any further concerns please contact us directly or please be aware that you have a six month period from the date of this letter to refer this matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

 

 

Before we were passed these letters from her fathers neighbour, we had already responded with the following:

 

Dear Sir/Madam

 

I have received your letter dated 6th April 2016 and a copy of a Credit Agreement,

however the Credit Agreement you have sent is simply a generic copy of a Credit Agreement

and not a Credit Agreement that I recognise that I have signed.

 

Any Credit Agreement that I have signed should be readily available as proof of your legal right to default this account under the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

 

The lack of a credit agreement is a very clear dispute.

 

Furthermore, I have enclosed a letter that I received from Freemans stating that there are no outstanding debts or agreements with them.

 

Finally, you have not sent the requested statement of account which leads me to believe this account never existed or is simply a duplicate of the already settled accounts.

 

As such, I request that you remove any current and previous entries regarding this matter from my Credit Reference with all agencies that you have dealings with.

 

 

Yours faithfully

And finally, this week received a response, again to her fathers old address:

 

I am writing in response to your recent correspondence received in our office today.

 

Unfortunately we are unable to provide a signed copy of your agreement so will not be taking label action to enforce recovery of the outstanding balance, however a reconstituted copy of your current credit agreement with our client was provided. This approach is consistent with the requirements of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, as amended.

 

As you will be aware the reconstituted credit agreement that was supplied complies with all legal requirements. As such it is our intentions to recommence collections activities on this account.

 

In response to the correspondence you enclosed with your letter received today,

unfortunately the account mentioned in the letter is not this account.

 

 

Your client reference number for this account is: A30117122700701

the reference number mentioned in the letter is for the account of: C12923176700701.

A copy of the statements was posted to you on 12/04/2016,

however I have attached these again within this letter.

 

Please be advised your account will remain on hold for a period of 14 days to allow you time to respond to this letter to discuss a payment arrangement if you are unable to make this payment in full.

If we do not receive contact from you within this time, the hold will be released and we will continue with our collection commitments.

 

With this letter, was many pages of computer screenshots showing monthly statements of purchases, payments, and many Dolt Reminder Fee's.

 

For completeness, her is the letter we received from Freemans.com:

Thank you for your letter dated 5th February 2016 which has been passed for my attention in relation to credit files enquiry.

 

I have investigated the matters you have raised and note that you had two accounts on your agency ending with A701 which shows as closed. The information recorded on the credit files for this account is correct.

 

Account ending with A702 was a flex account which you defaulted and was passed to an external debt collection agency Moorcroft.

This account was paid in full on 7th May 2013.

I have amended the credit reference bureaux to reflect that the account has been fully satisfied which should resolve your enquiry.

 

 

 

Both account numbers mentioned by EOS end with A701, so is it possible it is in fact the same account?

 

What should my response to this now be?

They can't supply a signed credit agreement, and can't even get our address right.

 

Like I said to begin with, we haven't got a problem paying it, but this only came to light when my gf checked her credit records and noticed it, so it's been lingering on her record all this time, and if we settle it it will linger for another 6 years.

 

Thanks for any input.

[dx100uk]

the path you have taken is a wee bit old hat now.

as long as a debt is defaulted

then it will vanish on the defaults 6th birthday regardless to it being paid or not.

 

 

paying off debts 'to improve' someones credit rating,

is sadly a bit of an old myth now if they are defaulted

 

 

that marker [which can only be placed by the original creditor upon sale

if they don't still own the debt]

is there for 6yrs regardless

[ddaddy]

the path you have taken is a wee bit old hat now.

as long as a debt is defaulted

then it will vanish on the defaults 6th birthday regardless to it being paid or not.

 

 

paying off debts 'to improve' someones credit rating,

is sadly a bit of an old myth now if they are defaulted

 

 

that marker [which can only be placed by the original creditor upon sale

if they don't still own the debt]

is there for 6yrs regardless

 

Thanks for the reply, however Atlantik last updated the credit record 03/05/2015, so it will still be there until 2021?

[dx100uk]

is the debt defaulted?

 

 

dx

[ddaddy]

Yes, defaulted 20/12/2010. So does that mean it'll disappear on 20/12/2016?

 

Do you think I should just not reply to EOS now?

[dx100uk]

Yes, defaulted 20/12/2010. So does that mean it'll disappear on 20/12/2016? correct.

Do you think I should just not reply to EOS now?

 

 

you should have ignored them in the first place.

don't forget

a DCA is NOT A BAILIFF

and have

NO SUCH LEGAL POWERS.

 

if debts are defaulted

theres nowt you can do to improve anyones credit file

even by paying it off.

 

 

as the ico say:

 

 

All references to a defaulted debt must be removed from your credit files after 6 years

has passed from date of default, whether paid off or not.

.

{the WHOLE ACCOUNT WILL VANISH, never to return}.

.

{however, this does not mean the debt itself is not still owed

consider a CCA request.}

.

This is so that someone who continues paying something

- even after 6 years from default

- should not be at a disadvantage to someone who pays nothing after default

and ends up with a clean file after 6 years.

.

NOTE: {the bracketed text is not ICO guideline but my advise]

[ddaddy]

Ok that makes sense.

We were just worried seeing that they where still updating the record

and thought the 6 years wouldn't start until it's been settled.

 

As we only found out about the supposed debt 4 months ago,

our main goal was to get them to backdate/remove it from the record.

Waiting until December isn't too much of a big deal.

 

I guess I might write to them telling them that we won't be paying it

because we are not satisfied that it is in fact debt we have outstanding.

They've already said they won't be taking legal action.

[dx100uk]

why invite pointless letter tennis?

 

 

that's what you did in the first place

big mistake.

 

 

EOS are very much bottom feeders.

 

 

dx

[ddaddy]

True. I guess I'll just ignore them now.

In fact they don't even know we received their last 2 letters as they went to the wrong address.