change [Ha, ha, that’s a good one – Ed.]. In fact, I’m
going to be bloody furious! This all started when I came to change
my beloved 7 Series BMW at the end of its lease.
As BMW decided over a year ago that during a credit crunch-fuelled
recession the best way to deal with the situation is to remove any
form of discounts and bonuses from any of the cars that punters
like me would like to drive, I opted for the Mercedes alternative
to the sexy-looking 5 Series.
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No problem there, and as the current E Class is about to be
replaced I was offered a reasonably good deal, including satnav and
heated seats (oo-er missus). Nothing to get too grumpy about there,
in fact quite excited by the heated seats.
Now I know my credit history is perfect (except for the odd
credit card payment, when I forget and it gets paid a couple of
days late) – none of that paying by new-fangled direct debit for
me, thank you very much.
We all know the odd late credit card payment isn’t a major
issue, but as I keep spouting on to customers to check their credit
file before applying for credit, I thought I had better practice
what I preach (yawn). So I went onto one of the well-known credit
reference agency sites, gave them my credit card details and got my
free report and there it was: I had a default!
Nasty blast from the past
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By GlobalDataYep, 18 months ago, following a row with a certain mobile phone
company I cancelled my contract, confirmed by them, but they
carried on taking DD payments anyway (not surprising that I don’t
pay my credit cards off this way). As a result I told my bank to
repay the money, which they did. Anyway, I had lengthy arguments
with the phone company, threats from debt collectors who initially
didn’t know the name of the company I was supposed to owe the money
to, let alone the reason why I allegedly owed it.
After getting the local OFT on the case, the mobile phone
company buggered off and didn’t contact me again. So, suddenly
confronted with a credit file showing a default but knowing that
other than this my credit was perfect, I paid a further £5.95 to
see my credit score. It was off the damned scale. My file also had
a note saying to all and bloody sundry that I would be unlikely to
make my payments on a credit arrangement.
After writing to the new leasing company and paying a larger
deposit, I am now driving my new Mercedes with a warm bum, but how
can the mobile phone company simply register a default even when
the contract no longer exists? And even worse, when I haven’t ever
missed a loan/credit payment, how can the credit reference agency
make such a scathing, unjustified statement?
If lenders are going to rely on information stored by the credit
reference agencies, wouldn’t it be a good idea if it was accurate?
With that off my chest, I’m off out to sit in my car and feel the
pleasure of heated seats – no thanks to a well-known mobile phone
company.
