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Default dispute advice

Jazzbee
Level 1: Joiner
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Registered:
Hi everyone. I'm posting on here because I'm not sure what else to do and hope someone at o2 can do something about this issue as we have tried over the phone and via email to no avail. It's lengthy - be warned!

Background:
This issue is actually my partner's issue but affects me too, and due to the stress of it all she's becoming unwell.

Long story short, we got a mortgage Decision in Principle as first time buyers and went property hunting. We found a house we love, and with our Mortgage Broker's advice and guidance, made an offer which was accepted. Then our lender (thankfully) did a 'soft footprint' check and found out my partner has an o2 default sold to Lowell Portfolio from November 2015 for £35.36. She had no idea about this previously and it didn't actually show up on the credit report she got from Equifax (we now know it's on Experian and didn't realise). She had no idea this was there and has always paid her bills. She called Lowell Portfolio and was advised this was a debt they acquired from o2.

Back in June 2015 her contract with o2 ended. She let it roll on for a while and decided she wanted to go for a deal with Vodafone instead. She called o2 and the person she spoke to told her to call back on a certain date in the future because she'd have to pay her final bill then and tell that advisor she wanted to cancel. She did exactly as advised and called up on said date, told the advisor what she had previously been told and paid - what she thought was - her final bill. That advisor said it would take a few days to cancel officially but the account was paid and nothing more was due. A few days later she recieved a final bill in the post and assumed that was automatically system generated for the final bill she had just paid so she didn't put much thought into it then heard nothing else about it. From then she didn't give any of this a second thought.

Fast forward to the mortgage application and we find the default and was told by our Mortgage Broker that the best thing to do is pay the money owed so we can be considered by lenders, so she contaced Lowell Portfolio to do this. They told her by paying it she accepts liability for it (which she told them she does not and will be disputing this and seeking a refund and that the default be removed as she was misadvised).

We can only assume that the first advisor either hadn't had enough training or wouldn't have made commission on an upgrade and didn't want a cancellation logged on his file - I used to work for a mobile network and would come across this issue weekly when people on the retentions team had 'fobbed' people off because they couldn't make a conversion on the call. She was misadvised. Anyone can legally request a cancellation whether in contract or not (subject to an early termination fee if in contract) and generally give a 30 day notice for it to end. I know final bills get generated after this point to ensure all usage is paid for and the price plan is paid for etc due to pro rata advance and arrears billing. She didn't know any of this at this point and we only met a couple of years later so unfortunately I couldn't support her with this at the time.

Now time is of the essence and her credit score still isn't showing as satisfied. Experian have kindly surpressed this from her record until LP updates them. The other lenders haven't yet as they need confirmation from LP that she has paid (even though we sent receipts). We still cannot get a mortgage until this is updated.

My questions are:
- How long will this take to be updated on all credit files?

- Can o2 remove it from the credit file completely (which is what we have requested) or does it have to be LP?

- What can be done to rectify this issue? So far we have spoken to Customer Services, Payments team and emailed the credit referrals team all to no avail. How can we escalate this to be looked into properly?

All info appreciated! Thanks.
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MI5
Level 94: Supreme
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@Jazzbee 

I'll ask @EmilieT to look at this for you.

I have no affiliation whatsoever with O2 or any subsidiary companies. Comments posted are entirely of my own opinion. This is not Customer Service so we are unable to help with account specific issues.

Currently using:
Pixel 7a (O2 & Lyca), One Plus 6 (Sfr), iPhone 12 Pro Max (Vodafone)
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EmilieT
Former Staff
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Registered:

Goog morning @Jazzbee, and welcome to the community Wave

 

I'm really sorry to hear you're having some difficulties proceeding with your new house purchase due to a credit file issue - we have some information here on everything related to credit files, and I can also chase the credit referrals team that you have emailed on your behalf! I'll send you a Private Message shortly to get a few more details first slight_smile

 

Thanks for the mention @MI5 thumbsup

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