Credit File Amendment = Mortgage Withdrawn

[ARW83]

I am yet another customer subjected to Virgin Media's unscrupulous credit file policy which is clearly causing mayhem with so many poor families.

I cancelled my broadband contract with Virgin in February, and paid an additional sum that month (assumingly the final bill). They tried to charge me again in March and I could not reach anyone to discuss it.

Virgin then passed their invoice to BPO who informed me that sometimes the contracts are charged a month in arrears. Unable to reach Virgin I decided to close the matter and paid the sum, still confused as to why it was due. £39 paid 2-months late.

I am now in the process of purchasing a home for my family, so my 3 year old can have a garden for the first time in his little life. My mortgage broker has advised us that Virgin have placed a default notice on my credit score and our mortgage has been withdrawn because of it.

I have emailed VM's Credit File Amendments team with the details but their 21-day SLA is too slow to salvage our house purchase, which has already cost thousands in searches, legal fees, surveys.

I am in absolute utter despair.

If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know.

[Zach_R]

Hi @ARW83,

Thank you for your post and welcome to our community forums. We're here to help.

I'm incredibly sorry to hear you're having some credit file related issues that are impacting a mortgage. If the full outstanding balance has been cleared and you wish to dispute this being represented on a recent credit report then we'd first recommend (if you haven't done so already) that you log the dispute with your choice of credit reference agency, such as Experian or Equifax.

If you've already done that and the problem remains then it would be best to contact our dedicated team by sending an email to creditfileamendments@virginmedia.co.uk when you can. The earlier step with a reference agency can sometimes help to speed the team's investigation up as it helps to facilitate the information they require.

In the email sent to our dedicated team, please make sure that you include your full name, account number, contact number, account address, the company that you used to view the credit file, and any specific details related to the credit file enquiry.

The team will then look into your enquiry and work it within the following 21 days. Unfortunately there'd be no way to expedite this beyond the above.

Please do let us know how you get on.

Thanks,
 

[japitts]

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@ARW83 wrote:

I cancelled my broadband contract with Virgin in February, and paid an additional sum that month (assumingly the final bill). They tried to charge me again in March and I could not reach anyone to discuss it.

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Easy to say in retrospect, but there's a popular misconception that cancelling regular payments automatically cancels contracts - this is not the case.

With the benefit of hindsight, I would have recommended following up your request with a signed-for letter confirming the cancellation. That would also have provided a documentary trail.

It's also worth noting that settling an outstanding amount doesn't remove the default but will mark it as settled.

[ARW83]

Hi - I cancelled with VM but it turns out a new fee was generated at the same time. So some confusion over a £39 payment for 2-months has now caused my otherwise immaculate credit score to plummet along with the loss of a mortgage. 

[japitts]

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@ARW83 wrote:

my otherwise immaculate credit score

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One point to note, the term "credit score" is largely meaningless. You have a statutory credit file on which individual lenders score you against their own internal criteria.

A couple of notable CRA's also sell you a "credit score" for their own marketing purposes.

[Carley_S]

Should you wish to dispute the mark on your credit further, please do follow the steps advised by my colleague and the team will be able to assist further on this.