Default Removal

[RichieP1982]

Hi there,

My partner had a virgin contract then moved house, now there was a 3month gap where she had to move into her parents house, then wanted virgin in the new house in 3months.

Virgin said this wasnt possible so tried to charge a £260 cancellation charge. She disputed this but in the mean time a default for the £260 was added to her credit file.

She has contacted them and since paid the default as we are trying to get a mortgage. They said:

"We have asked experian and equifax to remove the late payment references and default from your credit report. Once updated late payments against your VM account will be shown as paid on time, any outstanding balance will be removed and the account shown as settled.

My question is, will they definitely remove the default as they said in writing, or is this just show it as settled?

And if so how long should it take? We cannot get a mortgage with this default at the min, and if we do its going to be a rubbish mortgage rate, costing us £400+ per month extra 😞

thanks 

[Ernie_C]

It can only show as settled as you have accepted that the default was correct.

[ruinedmylife23]

You'll email the credit amendments team, who will do NOTHING. I'm in the same boat over a bill of £10.62 that I paid on time. Noone replies, noone can do anything, experian won't remove it because VM won't tell them its not outstanding. VM have emailed me to say I owe NOTHING, but its like shouting into an incompetent echo chamber, its so bad it doesn't even echo. 

I'm having to start court proceedings against them for defamation of character and loss of earnings with an anticipated cost of £50k. I'll win though, its cut and dry. There is no defense that can be presented by VM that justifies the impact these defaults have when the consumer didn't do anything wrong, including  paying their bills online.

Horrific omnishambles of an organisation that is quite happy to provide crap service and ruin peoples lives.

[Ernie_C]

@ruinedmylife23 

Your situation is entirely different to that of the OP and hence has no relevance to their situation.

[RichieP1982]

even if i have in writing that they will remove the default and any late/missed payments (of which there were none!)

also i dont agree that paying a default is admission of it been correct? Its surely better to pay it off then argue the toss, with regards to any credit applications, a paid off default is better than and non paid one?

[Ernie_C]

..then you will need to provide proof that the £260 which was an early disconnection fee for leaving a contract within its minimum period was incorrect.

Were you within the minimum contract period of your contract when you cancelled?

[RichieP1982]

probably was but that wasnt my question. I understand that side of it.

But simply if they have put in writing that they will remove the default, will they do it?

[Ernie_C]

They can’t remove the default, just advise that it’s been paid and the credit agencies will mark it as settled.

It can’t be removed as this would not correctly reflect that you failed to pay a debt on time. Your potential creditors need this information about you.

It will only get removed after a number of years.

[RichieP1982]

But thats a different argument. We didnt want to cancel they refused to move the service to the new property due to a break of 8-10 weeks or something.

Also said we couldnt just continue to pay without an address for the services so she was disputing the charge. 

Meanwhile she moved to the new house and never received any further info from VM, until we contacted them after seeing a default.

As i said, Virgin have also acknowledged this, by saying, in writing, that they will remove the default. So are you saying the VM credit reference team are lying then about what they are going to do?

[Ernie_C]

I can’t comment on what you were told or how you’ve interpreted it.

What I am saying is that you appear to have been advised correctly about the situation and chose to not accept it, getting you into your current situation.

We need to cancel our contract but we won’t be able to start a new contract until we move in three months. Virgin Media say that that means you will have to pay £260 early disconnection fees.

Can we not continue to pay for our existing contract for three months? No, say Virgin Media, because you won’t be at the location and the new owner/tenant may want our services.

You cancel, incurring early exit fees which you choose not to pay.