Advice please!!!

[starling]

I am not sure where to start, there is so much advice and information on here. So please feel free to move this post or tell me where to go for the correct advice.

Whilst laying awake last night, as you do when you are brassic, it occured to me that the six debt agencies myself and my husband are paying off at £50 a month each may be acting unlawfully.

The debts were credit cards from 3 different companies. These debts have been passed from one debt agency to another. We will be paying one company and then get a letter/phone call from some other company saying we have defaulted. We then go through a whole rigmarole of tracing where our payments have been going and then setting up the payment to go to the new company.

What occured to me is that, if our debt has been payed off by a collection agency, who have bought our details (in paying off our debt they have been given our details) then we no longer owe the origional company (lets say Sainsburys) anything. Therefore, we have been given a "gift" (ie the payment of our debts) and no longer owe anything to anyone. Also We didn't give anyone permission to pass on our details so they were passed on illegally, several times, I might add.

Am I correct in thinking that I can say "thank you very much for paying my debts, even though I didn't ask you to, and I will not be reimbursing you the money as you made the payment off your own bat and have been using our details to intimidate us into making payments that we no longer owe?

There must be a flaw in my thinking but I have to ask what it is?

[starling]

if no one can answer this, can anyone point me in the right direction for credit card problems please?

We have 6 and are paying £50 on each card a month. I am not sure how long we can carry on paying this much but if we cut down our payents we get phone calls demanding full payment.

[starling]

Please can anyone help? I have recently been diagnosed with a disabling illness and my husband may have to give up work soon to look after me and our disabled son, who I currently care for. At that point we will not be able to pay our credit card debts. We need help to sort things out before this happens. PLEASE, why wont anyone answer my post?

[djc]

hi starling

please be patient but someone will be along shortly.
may we suggest that you tickle the little red triangle at the bottom of the post to bring this to the attention of the site team. its possible they are enthralled with whats going on in the olympics. but rest assured this is the right site for you and the level of legal guidance dispensed is great.

good luck and do not give up.
regards
djc

[starling]

Thank you so much for your reply, I was beginning to think I was all alone.
Isn't the triangle there to report a post if it is inapropriate?

Thanks again.

[maroondevo52]

Hi, Starling.

Have you sent a CCA request to the DCA's to prove they can legally collect these debts ?

If you have 3 credit card debt's, there should only be 3 CRA's chasing you for money, where the 6 come from is beyond me.

You need to send letter 'N' in the Library, asking for your Agreement. If like you say, there are 6 DCA's collecting on these debts, send one to each.

Send each request with a £1 Postal Order and sent them recorded, and don't sign the letters.

Here's the 'link' for the letter.

Creditors and DCAs - Letter Templates & Budget Planner




Regards.

Scott.

[starling]

Errr, no. could you point me in the direction of the correct area of the forum where I can read more about it, please? I have no idea what is involved in these procedures. Sorry to be so uneducated in all this.

[maroondevo52]

Starling, Here's some info on the CCA.......


A debt becomes unenforceable under the CCA if a creditor does not supply a true copy of the signed credit agreement within 12 working days of it being requested.

The debt remains unenforceable for as long as the creditor fails to produce the signed credit agreement – this means if they produce the agreement some months down the line, they are quite within their rights to enforce it. They do not need to take any further action to enforce the debt. A debtor cannot take any action against the creditor for failing to produce the signed credit agreement within the prescribed time, because that is up to the agencies that the offence has been reported to. Any sanctions that may be imposed are at the discretion of these agencies, and it is not a matter that the debtor can take to the civil court.

If a CCJ has already been entered against a debt, then there is no point in requesting the agreement under the CCA, if your intention is to argue that the debt is unenforceable, since the debt has already been enforced. You can however request a true copy of the original signed credit agreement if you wish to check original terms and conditions etc. If they do not supply it then your only recourse is to report them to the aforementioned agencies. It would be very difficult to prove that they didn’t have the agreement at the time judgment was entered.

It is imperative that you continue to pay any debt under the terms of a CCJ.

Issuing a court claim for non-compliance of a CCA request in all probability achieves nothing to benefit to the debtor, as a court claim is likely to spur a detailed search which could well end up with them producing a perfectly acceptable original signed agreement in court – which would result in the debtor losing the case, and being made liable for the creditor’s costs.

If after requesting a true copy of a signed credit agreement the creditor fails to produce it, it does not mean that the debt does not exist, because at the end of the day the debtor spent the money and therefore they owe it and need to pay it back The debtor may now however be in a good position to make a full and final offer to clear the debt.

************************* ************************* *******


Just another point, there will be without a doubt charges on these accounts, you can claim these back.

To do this, you will have to send a S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) to the three Origional Creditors of your Credit Cards, that way if they do come up with your Agreements you can always re-claim the charges and reduce the debt.

If you do not have all your statements, send this, with a £10 Postal Order.

1. Data Protection Act, Subject Access Request letter - List of charges

Once you get all your information, count up your charges, then send a prelim letter to Credit Card suppliers asking for your money back.

2. Letter - Preliminary approach for repayment.

After 14 days, if your not happy with their reply, send this, Letter Before Action, giving them 14 days to give you your charges back or you will take them to court.

Credit/Store Card Letter Template (thanks Bookworm01036)

If when the 14 days are up, and the still refuse to give you the charges back, take them to court.
File a N1 at your local county court and wait for their responce.

Sorry for bombarding you with so much information

Any questions, just ask on this thread.

Good luck with that.


Regards.

Scott.

[starling]

Thank you. When my head stops spinning I will get down to sending the letter/letters. I will have to read everything very carfully first and make sure I understand it all.

Thank you for your valuable time.

[maroondevo52]

Originally Posted by starling

Thank you for your valuable time.

No problem

I know it's a lot to take in, just take your time and you'll get it sorted with the help of others on this site.

When I first came on here, I did not have a scooby what to do.
I though, how on earth can you take your Bank to court, well I have as have lots of others, and we all got our cash back

Post back if you have any questions, there's always someone around to help you.

Regards.

Scott.