Debt sold to LINK Financial - any info about this company ?

[The Phantom]

Hi

have got a massive problem with MBNA, they have just sold a disputed and unenforceable debt (they didn't provide the original true signed agreement within the 12&30 days plus have not so far refunded unlawful charges levied) to LINK Financial
I haven't heard from Link yet, does anybody know this company and what to expect
Will also talk to Trading Standards on Monday ref their ongoing investigation, as I reported MBNA for CCA non compliance a while ago and now they topped it by selling the debt...

[spiritgirl59]

Hi Nicole

I have had dealings with this company myself. Their behaviour is heavy handed and downright nasty. Whatever you do, don't deal with them on the phone whatsoever. I learned the hard way about this after dealing with an extremely rude and abusive member of their staff on the phone who basically was making empty threats to me about sending bailiffs round, taking me to court etc, but they were upsetting all the same.

Insist they only deal with you in writing and put the phone down on them if they call you, as they may well do. They are very very persistent Nicole so you need to be strong. Have a look on the forums for other threads about Link and you'll get the general idea

Meantime I'm sure someone will advise you in full how to deal with them re correspondence., I just wanted to warn you about their phone calls so you are not caught unawares in the meantime. They tend to phone at VERY unsociable hours to catch you out, and they will use the personal first name approach as in "Hi there is that Nicole?" so please don't get caught out and end up in a discussion with them like I did, its simply not worth it.

Good luck
Spiritgirl

[The Phantom]

Hi and many thanks for your reply
I doubt they will have my phone number, I believe they get their information from the original creditor and MBNA did not have my number since I changed it a while ago
So pretty sure they won't be able to phone, but I am not english so will use my mother tongue to communicate in case they do get the number somehow.
Let's see how good their language skills are and whether they are better than mine
I try to find out as much as possible about the enemy before direct contact / enagagement takes place and every little bit of info will help me to see what they are like and how to stand up to them

[gerih]

Link refused to put things in writing - said they didn`t have to. Then they refused to give details of the alleged debt & signed agreement. Eventually, I threatened to take them to court for harassment and have heard nothing since.
Good luck.

[The Phantom]

Well, bring it on LINK
I am pretty sure they won't have a phone number so they will be forced to write , let's see what they come up with
I have heard or read in other threads that they are pretty quick off the amrkt, so will probably get the first letter next week

[The Phantom]

Just did a bit of a site search ref LINK and came about a very informative thread were it actually stated that DCA do not have to comply with a CCA request as the original agreement was terminated by the original lender
I know this is what LINK usually writes in their reply letter to CCA requests, but is this true or not
Here the relevant thread I am referring to
http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...highlight=Link
Any input ?

[Vampyra]

Hi Nicole
My mother had an Barclays debt that was passed to Link. Nasty people. She has had several mini strokes and got confused and one day asked me to speak to them as she wasn't sure what they were going on about. Since then she now is bed and wheelchair bound and suffers serious dementia. They ring me frequently asking to speak to me. I say I'm not here and put the phone down. They ring and ring and ring over and over - well they did til I reported them to the police who contacted them on our behalf. They are awful on the phone - they are abusive and utterly vile individuals.

With regard the DCA request:
I am not legally trained. Reading the thread you mention I can appreciate the point of fact of a terminated agreement being a debt, whoever owns it, but as has been written on here on other threads; there are some DCA's who purchased resolved and fully paid debts, statute barred debts and non-existant debts.

I think one could reasonably argue that under these circumstances, if a DCA cannot prove you are the debtor, how can they legally enforce a debt? If I bought a load of application forms, or indeed I found some in the bins outside of the bank, and determined that maybe a third would be in debt, I could attempt, with the info on the application forms, to extract money from people.

I got a "Deed of Assignment" from Halifax, (HBOS), which looked very unofficial, stating the debt had been sold to 1st Credit Limited. Say it hadn't been? Should you pay them?

I think it may be considered a reasonable arguement in a Court that you had an agreement with MBNA and because you failed repayments for whatever reason, they terminated your account as per the terms and conditions of your account. You were told or not that a debt was sold on and you receive correspondance from a company who you did not owe money to, claiming ownership of your debt. You ask them to prove that, they cannot.

Also, please note, a terminated agreement does not negate the original agreement - if it did there would be no DCA's as there would be no debts to collect.

If this CCA template letter is not there for a purpose, why is it on this site? For what reason would anyone need an original copy of their credit agreement? Apart from when there wasn't one. How come people are quoting 12 working days + 2 days = DCA default upon the request + another 30 days = a criminal act of not complying with the terms of the Act? Why would a DCA commit a criminal act if it were not to provide the material requested?

If they believe it to be that they do not have to provide these documents - then they cannot take and keep your pound. You have given them permission to have a pound in return for a true copy of the credit agreement you signed, nothing else.

As I said in the beginning, I am not a legally trained person, but sometimes I think one has to look at these things laterally. What Zootscoot was saying I believe is that they can prove they own the debt in other ways. But I guess there are several schools of thought; if they choose not to find a way to prove they own the debt, then they could be deemed as negligent and deliberately misleading. Sending application forms is answering nothing.

I guess one could reasonably argue that if a DCA bought a debt from a creditor, they would have to disclose the date and amount paid to prove a purchased was transacted.

I am working on supposition here and not a defacto arguement, but even in a Court both sides generally have to show they have made reasonable attempts to resolve and rectify a situation before getting to a Court stage. I'm sure most Judges would probably feel it unreasonable not to provide you with what you requested, even if it is true that they do not have to.

Please note my use of the terms "reasonable" and "unreasonable" - two bits of legal jargon I do know and know have very strong implications at Court level.

[Vampyra]

Sorry just to add:

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...-link-cca.html

[winny14]

hi nicole,
good luck with link, i too have had dealings with these arrogant people.
they managed to get my phone number and i've no idea how. i dont give it to anyone, i'm ex diectory and also on the tps register. i also did 141 before i made the mistake of ringing them.
they threatened to take my house on the phone and where very heavy handed as spiritgirl says.
i am still waiting for cca request to arrive from them though they have told me the fee is £5 and not the £1 i sent, i know this is rubbish so just waiting for them to default.
they claim they bought my debt from abbey in january yet my credit report shows the default is registered by abbey and they still owned the debt in march
they tell lies on the phone so do keep all correspondance in writing and keep copies of everything, any thing you send make sure its recorded delivery so you have proof,
good luck and i'll keep an eye on your progress

[spiritgirl59]

Originally Posted by winny14

hi nicole,
i am still waiting for cca request to arrive from them though they have told me the fee is £5 and not the £1 i sent, i know this is rubbish so just waiting for them to default.

I received a letter from Link stating that it would cost £5 and not £1. I have kept the letter and the returned postal order as evidence that they have not complied with my request. They are now in default. As I mentioned in my own thread about these low lifes, the phone calls have now stopped. They don't have a leg to stand on. Winny and Nicole keep any letter they send to you telling you it costs £5, and the returned cheque/postal order as evidence....and let them tickle off (she says being very polite LOL).

Spiritgirl x

[kennyparkroad]

how do you knwo they have passed the debt on if you have heard nothing from LINK?

[winny14]

cheeky buggers kept my postal order
more proof that they dont know what they are doing

[The Phantom]

Originally Posted by kennyparkroad

how do you knwo they have passed the debt on if you have heard nothing from LINK?

Because MBNA told me. I have been on MBNA's back ref their unlawful charges and their CCA default (the debt was/is unenforceable since early this year by MBNA due to their CCA non compliance) so they simply sold it
That's why I have been talking to Trading Standards for ages, I reported MBNA for their breach of the CCA and now they sold it, so I had to inform Trading Standards of this second offence as well
But Link has not contacted me so far. I am just trying to investigate them ,their practices and generally "how they tick" so that I know what to expect when they make contact and to already put an action plan together so it is not so much of a rush when they do contact me
As far as I can gather they are quite quick to take you to court etc

[The Phantom]

Originally Posted by spiritgirl59

I received a letter from Link stating that it would cost £5 and not £1. I have kept the letter and the returned postal order as evidence that they have not complied with my request. They are now in default. As I mentioned in my own thread about these low lifes, the phone calls have now stopped. They don't have a leg to stand on. Winny and Nicole keep any letter they send to you telling you it costs £5, and the returned cheque/postal order as evidence....and let them tickle off (she says being very polite LOL).

Spiritgirl x

I think by looking at all this I will CCA them when they first contact me
(hopefully NOT by phone ) then expect their "the agreement has been terminated so we don't have to supply this and it costs £5.-" letter in return.
In reply to that I will then probably take the stance and tell them that IMHO it is their obligation under the CCA s189 to provide the information whether they are the original creditor or not for a statutory fee of £1.- and remind them of the ticking deadline or if there is no agreement because it was terminated I expect them to close this matter and then see where we go from there
As these DCAs are all pretty low I am sure it will be a bit of a dirty battle
but so be it.
I just want to make I am ready

[The Phantom]

Good morning everyone
Have just had my mail and a letter from LINK saying they are now the current OWNER of the outstanding debt as MBNA has assigned it to them and they require the full amount immediately and any payments has to be made to them (not to MBNA)
They are advising me to take legal advice on this matter and / o phone them on *********
I will send them the CCA letter stating I do not acknowledge any debt to them (which I don't as they bought an unenforceable debt anyway)

[purple blue]

HI i have only had a short aqainteance with link via Mbna. They wrote to me last year and I stated that i was still waiting for mbna to confirm that they were going to credit my account for their unlawfull charges. I havent heard anything since from them or mbna. If they keep persisting after this stand firm and throw everythingyou have at them.