WARNING! o2 Default credit error stopping our mortgage!

[Anonymous]

O2 have placed a 'Default' mark on my now wife's credit history without us knowing anything about it. We have agreed to buy a new build home under the governments NewBuild scheme and have paid our initial deposit, however, when proceeding with the mortgage the lenders rejected us stating that it was "too much of a risk". It was only when we checked our rating and did some investigation that we found out it was because o2 have placed a default on her file. What makes it worse is she has just got a new job which is the reason for buying the house, she may now end up losing the house and her job!
 
This default is for a total of £10.69 and is looking like it will now stop us from buying a £250,000 house. The contract ended in 2011 and according to o2 "was fully paid off", however, there seems that there was actually £10 remaining on the account. O2 made absolutely no attempt to contact us to inform us of this and have instead just passed it off to a 3rd party debt collection agency. This agency also made no attempt to contact us and have subsequently marked it off as a default. This is obviously illegal as no notice of default was issued. Common sense would say that if they had contacted us for the remaining £10 charge, this would have been paid without even a second thought.
 
We have tried to contact o2 as we have only until the 8th August to exchange contracts on the house which it now looks as though we will lose. However, we are not able to make direct contact with anyone and we keep getting fobbed off with feeble excuses and email address' to contact and no one directly to speak to.
 
I thought you would all like to know about this as it is outrageous! O2 seem to be able to place defaults against peoples credit files without actually attempting to inform the customer of their intent. This can then wreck their lives!
 
We will be following up with legal action against them but I thought you would be interested to know on this o2 customer forum. We have also been in communication with a couple of national newspapers so you will no doubt read about it soon.

O2 your customer service is shocking and we need this rectified IMMEDIATELY! This could end up costing you way more than £10.69 unless you act!

[Anonymous]

Hi and welcome to the Community.

At first sight my initial reaction was to say that what o2 had done was correct and that they now need to put an update on your credit file to recognise you have paid.

But then I read it again and, based solely on your comments @Anonymous (and I am assuming they are entirely accurate both from your point of view and if o2 we're asked), then there appears to be service failures here.

1. You didn't get a final bill. This is normally sent via email link and a paper copy.
2. O2 didn't chase you for 3 years. Sure it was only £14 quid but it was enough for your mortgage company to raise eyebrows although I can't believe they would decline you on that alone.
3. O2 Don't appear to have followed their own procedures.
4. As soon as you became aware you paid.

My advice would be to go to complaintreviewservice@o2.com via email and provide the full FACTS of the case. If you have already done this then you need to receive either by email or post o2's FINAL DETERMINATION. Then and ONLY then can you go further.

Once you have the final determination you have two options.

1. Refer your complaint to higher level complaints (these guys report directly to the chief executive) OR

2. Refer to Ombudsman (which costs o2 £300 anyway).

If you choose option 1 and are still not happy with their outcome you can still go with option 2 afterwards.

Please do let us know how you get on.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your post.

I asked complaintsreview to confirmt that their decison remains which they did. I asked for appeal route and contact deatils for cEO and said i would take up with the ombudsmand. I did not get a reply.

I really don't have time to go to the ombudsman as this can take a few weeks so i have emailed the CEO, hoping to get a quicker response. 

Like i said in my post i am a solicitor, owning my own firm, this really doesn't look good - a debt that hasn't been paid for 3 years (and only £14.00).

Financial instituitons have really tightened their criteria for mortgage applications so it has and will make a difference. They look at a number system, a point score for each month that you have a default and not made a payment. 3 years is a lot of points.

It is so frustrating when i was unaware of it. I will post if i get anywhere with the CEO.

Of course, i will have to go to the ombudsman if i don't get anywhere. I can't believe customer service/complaints at O2 would rather pay £300.00 for a £14.00 debt that their customer was unware of an which they didn't make her aware of. I would never treat my clients like this.

Kind regards

[jonsie]

It's a shame things are allowed to get so far. I wish you luck in sorting this out.

[Anonymous]

I look forward to your update and hopefully an amicable resolution.

[Anonymous]

And this was latest reply form complaintsreview, absolutely no budging and appears completely irrelevant that a manager at O2 advised me as this was an error on O2's behalf that as long as i request removal of the default from O2 complaintsreview it would be removed;

I understand you were advised that the default would be removed. However, this is incorrect and because we have to record an accurate representation of you credit file, and the outstanding balance was valid, we’re unable to amend your credit file.

As previously advised, if you want to escalate further, your next step is to seek advice outside of O2, through the Ombudsman Services.

I was given the CEO's deatils but no other 'higher' avenue of appeal.

not the geatest customer service .

[Anonymous]

We certainly feel your frustration.

Sometimes common sense does not prevail. 😞

Good luck with your challenge.

[aldaweb]

@AnonymousHave you added a Notice of Correction to that default on your Credit File?

eg http://www.experian.co.uk/consumer/faq/AR5.html

[Anonymous]

No what's that?

My understanding is that only O2 can alter the default?

Kind regards, Tania

[aldaweb]

Only O2 can remove the default but you can add a Notice of Correction to the default placed by O2 giving the reasons for the missed or late payment, in this case the failure of O2 to send out a Final bill.

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From http://www.experian.co.uk/consumer/faq/AR5.html: A Notice of Correction is a short (200 words max) explanatory note you can add to an entry on your credit report to explain the background to that information. Anyone searching your report in the future or who has seen it in the previous six months will see the Notice of Correction, and they must take account of it when you apply for credit.

There are a coupple of examples linked to from the bottom of the page I linked to in my previous post.

I would do this for each Credit Reference Agency.

[Anonymous]

Thank you i will do so but i have been informed by my financial advisor that as long as that remains the bank will not approve our application. It is so frustrating that O2 just don't seem to care and just say they had no obligation to send out any reminders. Yet don't seem to care that i never even had a bill!!! I have emailed the CEO 3 times but no response so will have no choice but to go to the Ombudsmand but this will take some no doubt.

I would much rather be spending time with my 5 kids then worrying about this....

kind regards, Tania