Property Debt Collection DCA Fee

[andrew1]

I live in a property development on a private estate which has a management company we all pay service charges through. During my other life I had arrears in this charge and the management company employed a DCA to collect the monies. The debt was £471 the DCA added their ' charges of £193 and it was recovered through my mortgage as I had no dosh at the time.

Can anyone tell me if this DCA charge is legit or can I give them the CAG treatment?

[lookinforinfo]

Andrew, it will probably depend on what the charges were for. If they were
for Court charges then it would be unlikely you could reclaim those, though
why they would pay the Court fees when they didn't own the debt would
probably indicate that it wasn't for Court fees.

You can ask the DCA to justify the charge [their may be something in your
T&Cs about it] though you might end up having to send them an Subject Access Request to get
what you want. You can invoke the OFT guidance on collection of debts
where they say that DCAs should not add their own charges and thus maybe
save yourself £10.

[andrew1]

Thanks for confirming that Lookinforinfo. I thought as much but just needed confirmation. This was pure Debt collection fees and confirmed as such in their letter " unless you let us have the sum of £665.06 which includes our costs of £193.88 (incl Vat) within the next 7 days "...blah blah. Hardly call it a 'service'. It was for arrears in service charge which is once a year charge for gardens and such things on the development. No court fee, solicitors fees nothing.
Problem is that the management company is made up of 15 houses and they are all friends and neighbours and I suppose the management company would have to pay the collection fee which is a bit embarrassing. They then went on and took it from my mortgage via Abbey as I had no lolly at the time as my business crashed. It happened twice with these buggers so I might just go after it CAG style + interest - won't hurt sending them the letter will it

[lookinforinfo]

As the debt collector is paid by the person who employs them, they have a bit
of a cheek charging you as well-especially when they have no contract with
you.
What is interesting is how they could take it from your mortgage......

PS Wouldn't hurt a bit.

[andrew1]

Apparently, whilst we own the freehold of the property, we are on a 'private' estate ( we pay for the roads & lighting ) and the development is run by a 'management company who take care of common parts, collecting maintenance charges for the upkeep. It somehow falls in line that the Abbey mtg has some kind of responsibility for the debt and the management company can request payment from Abbey in the event I or anyone else come to that with their mtg, didn't pay their dues.

Needless to say, I resented paying the dca charge, but because of the neighbour bit felt I had to.

That's what this site does for you though, it gives you the balls to try !

[lookinforinfo]

Not having lived on a private esate, I was unaware of that facility available
to the management company-and a bit surprised by it.

On reflection, I realise that if one cannot get finance elsewhere then being
able to dip into the mortgage could solve the problem. And while the interest rate is virtually the lowest you can get, because of the length of time a
mortgage runs, the method of repayment works out very expensively in the
long run.

I imagine that as the mortgage allows for additional amounts to be taken out of it, that it must also cater for amounts being paid in to it also. So when
finances permit, it would be a good idea to pay off that extra amount when
you can. And even paying a little bit more off the mortgage each year will
perhaps knock several years off the motgage.

[andrew1]

You're not kidding. Since I got my life back again i have been doing that. Abbey National are absolute swines and I have even written to the Sales Director telling him what they are doing in his name - they have had me in court twice for repo after the business went ( and twice I won !) but the director ignored me and sent me back to Customer Services. The quicker I get rid of the Abbey and their mortgage the better so every penny goes in.

... all things come to he who waits and whilst I am not one to normally seek revenge, so long as I am treated with the same common respect we all deserve, then I will leave well alone - Abbey deserves no mutual respect because they have given me NONE. So, revenge will be sweet

Thanks for your help, much appreciated.