court threat

[suzieblooz]

I have been in a DMP for 15 months with Payplan & have never missed any payments. Only Creation Consumer Finance Ltd (through Land of Leather) refused to accept a payment arrangement. However Payplan paid them anyway and I have heard nothing from them in alll this time until today. This is the letter their solicitors - Greenhalghs - sent

TERMINATION NOTICE
Dear Sir/Madam

Our Client: Creation Consumer Finance Ltd
(formerly known as Open & Direct Retail Services Ltd)
Credit Agreement dated 27/11/2004


We act for the above named client.
We refer to the default notice dated 22/04/2006 in respect of the agreement. You have failed to comply with that notice by paying the full amount of arrears in time.

You are therefore and hereby notified that the Agreement is terminated and that the full balance under the agreement is now due, being £2014.64.

Please note all previous arrangements to accept payment by instalments(through debt collection agents or otherwise) are withdrawn. All further correspondence should be addressed to us.

Court proceedings will now be issued for recovery of the full sum due together with interest and legal costs.

Yours etc

So what does this mean? It started out as £599 interest free for a year and over £1200 is for PPI that they refused to cancel.
Will they take me to court. I can't afford to pay any more than I am currently paying and Payplan has all my income/expenditure sheets to prove it. Is this just a computer generated 'scare letter' or should I be worried. Any advise greatfully rec'd.
PS I'm in Scotland.

[tonycee]

hi suz, no wonder your blue. im no expert, but if it does end up in court, the judge will allmost certainly side with you offering what you are paying now. if your income/expenditure dictates that all you can pay is what you are paying now, then try not to worry.i would however ask for a copy of the contract that says you cannot cancel your ppi, again im no expert but this sounds very very dodgy. good luck

p.s. your forgiven for being in scotland.

[miss muppet]

Yes Suz, I would say this is a good old "frightener", just send in your cca and Subject Access Request request - £1. for the cca £10 for the sar, they have 12 days to comply with the cca and forty days for the sar. If they haven't got the original agreement then they are stuffed - use the template letters and send recorded delivery and start counting!

[suzieblooz]

Thanks for the reply Tonycee. I was actually thinking about contacting them about the PPI after I get my bank charges back - one thing at a time . I'm just worried they'll make me travel to some court in England (not that I've got anything against England!!) - it's just Scots law can be different & I have no money to travel anyway. I've tried to contact Payplan but they are very busy, I've posted a photocopy to them, but I don't want to spend the weekend worrying(unless I have to).

[suzieblooz]

Thanks Miss Muppet, done all the Subject Access Request stuff with the bank, was waiting to do them plus a couple of others once bank had settled. If it's just a good old frightner letter then I'll calm down - (deep breathe). I think the fact it came from a lawyer & not them was enough to scare me. Guess I'll cca them this weekend, can't do any harm!

[tonycee]

Hi Suzie. Although Miss Muppett is right about contracts, dont rely on this, do your own bit now. I believe the letter is a panic letter in light of the Consumer fight back..(god bless CAG) but DONT treat it lightly. You MUST find the pennies to get your letters off now.
I know its impossible NOT to worry, but please try, remember the law is on your side, I guarantee from my own experiences, and there have been many, (not proud) that if this ends up in court, you will not have to pay anymore than you are now.I would advise you to keep making an effort to pay what you have been paying, and keep a copy of ALL correspondence, i would also suggest that you read as many threads as poss, and then when you are bored, read some more.
Dont rely on 14/40 days, big organizations are disregarding the law, Barclays *ank, (i know) took 127 days to reply to my SARS...
Do it NOW NOW NOW.
So Chin up and good luck. Keep us informed

[suzieblooz]

Thanks Tonycee. I've spent months on here reading, in fact I've taken root! My bank took a while to respond to the Subject Access Request as well, Bless, the wee soles are struggling with all the extra work - tee hee. The contract prob will be ok - I was going to cca though to find out how much was PPI as I lost the original agreement in the days before I was organised. Hoping the fact I'm paying through Payplan will help my cause, & every other creditor has accepted the payment plans. The letter could be in response to Payplan sending out updated income & expenditure sheets to everyone. I must have fallen off their radar and the yearly review has provoked them into action. Ah well - don't feel so bad now. Thanks and will keep updating. This might become as long as my bank thread.

[ODC]

I wouldnt worry. IF this matter ever gets to Court any judge will look at your income and expenditure details. The fact that you have been making regular payments through payplan will show that you are doing your bestnd not trying to evade your debt. They will never make you pay more than you can afford. As regards where the court will be I think you can request a hearing at a local court. No doubt some of the experts on here will confirm this

[louiboy]

That's only at the scary letter stage.

They would need to issue Ordinary Cause Summons for you to appear in Stirling Sherff Court. If not you can have the case moved there.

3 levels of Summons/action

Small claims - upto £750 Can attend and defend/pursue yourself

Summary Cause - upto £1,500 Can attend and defend/pursue yourself

Ordinary Cause - over £1,500 Not sure if you can defend this yourself may need a solicitor. Only a solicitor can raise an action for Ordinary Cause.

Have a look in the General Forum - Scotland section

[suzieblooz]

Thanks for replies everyone. Have previously had a good read at General forum - Scotland section as my bank charges came to £5207 (and I wondered why I was in the mess that I was.... ). So maybe it is a scare letter to make me pay, if I don't respond they may just carry on accepting payments - like they have for the last 15 months. I'm in USDAW union at work so I can get access to a solicitor for a free consultation at least. I'll not worry (much), it was sent to Payplan yesterday, so they should get it by Tuesday and maybe sort something out. I've had a read at the PPI forum as well. I believed them when they told me I couldn't cancel, but now I'm enlightened!
Suz

[tonycee]

Yay. Go girl. Kick some butt.

[suzieblooz]

Update - talked to Payplan today. They reckoned it was a scare letter too and took the phone number for Greenhalghs as Payplan need to get in contact to find out the details of where to send payment. Payplan phoned back and told me the (not very pleasant) woman had refused to deal with them & told them to get me to phone for the details. I phoned and spoke to the (not very pleasant, in fact down right rude) woman who told me it had to be in writing. I've sent a letter recorded delivery asking for the details of where to send payment and giving my permission for Payplan to deal with them. Got a bad feeling about this one. I think they will stall on payment details so I miss a couple then enforce the debt. Thats why I've sent it recorded delivery and everything will be in writing from now on. Trying to find an address for Creation consumer finance(formerly Open & Direct) to sent cca to, as I've lost all original documents. Think this one might run & run, but I'm not bovvered any more. They can't take what I don't have!

[tonycee]

hi suzie. They are indeed not allowed to talk to a third party without your specific permission, Data Protction again. Write back stressing that you are offering to maintain payments untill the matter is resolved, if you get no response put the money to one side, They cannot enforce anything without a court decision, if it goes that far, and trust me it wont, you can prove that you offered to make payment but was blocked from doing so. keep copies and use recorded delivery (hope im not telling you how to suck eggs) do all this, and do it now, and they wont have a leg to stand on. Good Luck

[powelll]

The OFT Debt Collection Guidance does state that creditors or DCAs should not be refusing to deal with an appointed 3rd party. Uusually a DMP co will get you to sign a form confirming you are happy for them to deal which should be sufficient for all creditors. If the DCA have breached the OFT guidelines you can make a complaint

[suzieblooz]

Thanks again for help. I've now written giving them permission to deal with Payplan. If I get no payment details, Payplan will send them a cheque every month. It's up to them if they cash it, but it would look rather bad in front of a judge if they tried to take me to court for non - payment
I use recorded delivery for everything now, in fact I nearly sent my brother's birthday card that way!

[ODC]

Originally Posted by suzieblooz

Thanks again for help. I've now written giving them permission to deal with Payplan. If I get no payment details, Payplan will send them a cheque every month. It's up to them if they cash it, but it would look rather bad in front of a judge if they tried to take me to court for non - payment
I use recorded delivery for everything now, in fact I nearly sent my brother's birthday card that way!

They will NEVER take you to Court. A case like this going before any judge would be thrown out. Judges rarely make you pay more than you can afford. They will buckle when Payplan send them a chque. They will not like it but will have no choice. They will probably send the nasty letters every so often too. Give them to payplan or file them for future reference