howard cohen re; ge money

[adelita]

hi can anyone help and advice me please
i sent a letter to howard cohen solicitors and ge money regarding charges and asking them to refund the charges
howard cohen wrote back to me basically saying that the accounts that i refered to were subject of county court judgements wich i currently comply with, and i am expected to comply with the terms of the judgements, they basically said that they take great exception to the allegations that they or ge money have acted unlawfully,, and that they will regard any proceedings that i bring to them as frivolous and vexatious and they will accordingly be vigourously defending,
does that mean that legally because they have made county court judgements against me and i am keeping up with payments, there is nothing i can do about having the charges refunded ???????????
or are they just trying to fobb me off with gooble dee goog
please any help and advice will be much appeciated

[Bookworm]

I think the word we're looking for here is: total BullSh*t.

How long ago were those CCJ obtained? If the amounts were solely or mostly made of charges and interest piled on charges, there could be the possibility of applying to get them set aside.

More info, please. Then, we'll go on the offensive. Bloody cheek.

[sarahpp]

adelita

Are Cohen actually acting for GE money or CL finance?

I am dealing with them at the moment

Sarah

[adelita]

howard cohen are acting on behalf of ge regarding debenhams,and 2 other store cards.
how do you feel about them??

[adelita]

the ccj were obtained last year, i had a solicitor originally dealing with my debt problem and he said all he could do at that time was to make offer for payment??? he didnt really help me sort my debts out at all, i ended up contacting the companies my self and and coming to arrangements with them

[sarahpp]

They are bullies and will intimidate you if they possibly can.

Do you know for sure that the judgement has been made in favour of the store cards directly and not C.L. Finance who seem to be the company most often employed to do their dirty work. This makes a big difference to your response.

In my last reply from Cohen's they even stated that a variation of judgement order which was granted by the court was at their discretion and not the courts!!

Please don't be intimidated especially if you are up to date with your payments. I have made it very cear to them that once I establish that a large proportion of the alleged debt are due to charges I will requesting that the judgement be set aside. I will help you with your letters if I can.

Sarah

[adelita]

your right sarah lol
i just found the original documents from court and the claimant was cl finance, but signed by howard cohen, when the solicitor was dealing with this last year he said i had no defense as i owed the money to ge money and i could not dispute the claim, he then send acknowledgement back to howard cohen and an income and expenditure form, he did the same with all my debts, what do you think i should do with the letter i received today from howard cohen,

[sarahpp]

Have you had any "home visits" by representatives of C.L. Finance?

[adelita]

no not regarding ge money or howard cohen,all correspondence regarding these accounts have been through howard cohen

[sarahpp]

Ok

You will need to send the Data Protection Act subject access request form which is in the templates section to G.E. to establish how much (if anything like mine it will be most) of the alleged debt is made up of charges. You can send one form for all of the cards you have with G.E. and only have to pay one £10 fee either by cheque or postal order. If you can't find the account numbers they should be able to trace you through your full name and address. I sent mine to

Data Protection Officer
G.E. Capital Bank PLC
Trent House
Torre Road
Leeds
LS9 2BD

Remember, the alleged debt wasn't with C.L. it was with G.E. I didn't have an address to write to for C.L. Finance and their "representative" would not give it to me so, I wrote a CCA to Cohen's asking that they provide documentation. Your letter won't be exactly the same as mine because I don't know your individual circumstances but, feel free to adapt mine. The documentation you need is the same

Dear Sirs

When I had to give up work because of illness a few years ago I handed my payments to creditors over to a debt management company as I was not able to deal with the stress of intimidation at the time. However, I have now taken back management of my financial affairs and have been going through my paperwork. I can find no record of any debt owing to C.L. Finance and have no contact details for this company. I therefore do not acknowledge this debt and, as representatives of C.L. Finance I require you to supply the following documentation before further discussions may proceed.

Firstly, you must supply me with true copies of the agreements ou refer to in these matters. This is my right under the legislation contained within section 77(1) and section 78 (1) of the Consumer CreditAct 1974. Your obligation also extends to providing statements of account. I enclose a £1 postal order in payment of the statutory fee. This payment is not, under any circumstances, to be offset against he amount allegedly owing.

I also require that you supply signed true copies of the deeds of assignment of the above referenced agreements.

You are reminded that you are obliged to supply these documents whether you are the original creditor or not, under section 189 of the CCA 1974.

As you are aware, credit agreement that is not properly documented and signed by the customer is totally unenforcable under the CCA and therefore is a complete defence to any court claim that is issued

Take note at this stage, that any legal action you may contemplate will be both vigorously defended and contested.

I have maintained payments on this account because it is court ordered and not because I acknowledge any debt to C.L. Finance. At the time of the judgement I felt unable to defend. If however, C.L. Finance cannot provide the relevant documents detailed above I will have no hesitation in asking for this judgement to be set aside.

Please accept this letter as formal notification that the alleged debt to C.L. Finance is "in dispute".



Hope this helps to set the ball rolling

Sarah

[Bookworm]

I have maintained payments on this account because it is court ordered and not because I acknowledge any debt the debt to C.L. Finance. At the time of the judgement I felt unable to defend. If however, C.L. Finance cannot provide the relevant documents detailed above I will have no hesitation in asking for this judgement to be set aside.

I would add to this the following: "Furthermore, should you be able to provide me with the requested information, and if on further investigation, it turns out that a large part of the debt was in fact due to unawful charges, then I definitely will seek a set-aside to the above-mentioned CCJs."

Let them know who's boss now.

[sarahpp]

Originally Posted by Bookworm

I would add to this the following: "Furthermore, should you be able to provide me with the requested information, and if on further investigation, it turns out that a large part of the debt was in fact due to unawful charges, then I definitely will seek a set-aside to the above-mentioned CCJs."

Let them know who's boss now.

Bookworm - I agree.

I waited for Cohens to come back and state that the debt belonged to Debenhams. They were able to provide a signed agreement (all the better for calculating contractual interest!!) but, no statements and no deeds of assignment or any reference to them.

I then wrote back:

"Thank you for your letter of 24th August and enclosure of signed credit agreement.

You have not yet however, complied with my requests for a statement of account or deed of assignment.

If the alleged debt does indeed refer to Debenhams then I am at a loss as to how the amount has grown so large unless it is by the addition of unlawful penalties.

In an attempt to reach a figure upon which we can both agree I am today sending a request to G.E. Finance for statements for the last six years which they must provide by law. If I find that unlawful penalties have been added to my account I shall be requesting that they be refunded and the original County Court Judgement set aside on the basis that the amount claimed contained an unlawful element.

Please take notice that this matter is formally "in dispute"

I will honour court judgements pending a review of information but, please bear in mind the points raised above. The variation of payment for the judgement incidentally was decided by the court and not Cohen & Co.

I also confirm that I will be reporting C.L. Finance to the Office of Fair Trading for their methods and attempts to recoup monies via fees for their home visits which they are clearly not entitled to do."

I did it this way because I wanted them to tell me where the alleged debt had come from and not the other way round. I have not heard a peep from them since. They still haven't provided anything to show that C.L. own the debt.

I realise that the last bit of the letter will not apply to you adelita bacause you haven't experienced the "joy" of a C.L. home visit but, Cohens will probably come up with the signed agreement pretty quickly but, nothing else.

[adelita]

Originally Posted by sarahpp

Bookworm - I agree.

I waited for Cohens to come back and state that the debt belonged to Debenhams. They were able to provide a signed agreement (all the better for calculating contractual interest!!) but, no statements and no deeds of assignment or any reference to them.

I then wrote back:

"Thank you for your letter of 24th August and enclosure of signed credit agreement.

You have not yet however, complied with my requests for a statement of account or deed of assignment.

If the alleged debt does indeed refer to Debenhams then I am at a loss as to how the amount has grown so large unless it is by the addition of unlawful penalties.

In an attempt to reach a figure upon which we can both agree I am today sending a request to G.E. Finance for statements for the last six years which they must provide by law. If I find that unlawful penalties have been added to my account I shall be requesting that they be refunded and the original County Court Judgement set aside on the basis that the amount claimed contained an unlawful element.

Please take notice that this matter is formally "in dispute"

I will honour court judgements pending a review of information but, please bear in mind the points raised above. The variation of payment for the judgement incidentally was decided by the court and not Cohen & Co.

I also confirm that I will be reporting C.L. Finance to the Office of Fair Trading for their methods and attempts to recoup monies via fees for their home visits which they are clearly not entitled to do."

I did it this way because I wanted them to tell me where the alleged debt had come from and not the other way round. I have not heard a peep from them since. They still haven't provided anything to show that C.L. own the debt.

I realise that the last bit of the letter will not apply to you adelita bacause you haven't experienced the "joy" of a C.L. home visit but, Cohens will probably come up with the signed agreement pretty quickly but, nothing else.

maybe im going about it the wrong way, this is what i wrote to howard cohen
I now understand that the regime of fees which you have been applying, or ge money have applied to my account in relation to late fees and over limit charges, are unlawful at Common Law, Statute and recent Consumer regulations.

I would draw your attention to the terms of the contract which you agreed to at the time that I opened my account. It is an implied term of that contract that you would conduct yourselves lawfully and in a manner which complies with UK law.

I am frankly shocked that you have operated my account in this way as I had always reposed confidence in your integrity and expertise as my fiduciary.

I calculate that you have taken hundreds of pounds in late fees , hundreds of pounds in court fees and solicitor costs plus hundreds of pounds which you have charged me in interest for the sums which you have taken.


entry will not be acceptable.

Additionally, you have entered a default notice against my credit record. This default occurred merely in respect of unlawful charges levied by you, or was the result of impecuniosity’s caused directly by the taking by you of penalty charges which you had applied unlawfully to my account.



In addition to full payment of the sum mentioned above, I require that you remove the default entry from the register. Please note that mere correction or amendment to the
I require repayment in full of this money and removal of the default notice. If you do not comply fully within 14 days, I shall begin a claim against you for the full amount plus interest, plus my costs, without further notice.

they then wrote to me saying

they take great exception to the allegation that they or their client has acted unlawfully.as you are aware the accounts you refer to are subject of court judgements which you are currently complying with. you are expected to continue complying with the terms of those judgements. we will regard any proceedings that you may bring as frivolous and vexatious and they will accordingly be vigourously defended
yours sincerely howard cohen

what should i do now???????

[sarahpp]

Adelita

You have PM'd your last message to me and I have replied but, just for anyone else reading:

You have "jumped the gun" a bit on this one and I think you need to start again from the beginning.

You need to send a Data Protection Act (in the templates) to G.E. to find out whether they have levied any unlawful charges on your account. When you have the exact figures listed ( I used the simple spreadsheet kindly provided) you can then send your preliminary letter to G.E. If they do not agree to refund the full amount or respond either way you can send them the LBA (not Cohen) after 14 days. If you still do not receive a satisfactory response you can file a moneyclaim online after a further 14 days and claim interest at that point.

The issue with Cohen is to do with whether C.L. Finance actually own the alleged debt and whether Cohen and Co can produce the documentation to that effect. The letter you send to Cohen & Co therefore is a CCA request. You need to make it clear to them that the alleged debt is in dispute but, you will continue to honour court ordered payments until you establish the amounts disputed and/or ask for the judgement to be set aside.

I hope this clarifies

[JonCris]

Originally Posted by sarahpp

Ok

You will need to send the Data Protection Act subject access request form which is in the templates section to G.E. to establish how much (if anything like mine it will be most) of the alleged debt is made up of charges. You can send one form for all of the cards you have with G.E. and only have to pay one £10 fee either by cheque or postal order. If you can't find the account numbers they should be able to trace you through your full name and address. I sent mine to

Data Protection Officer
G.E. Capital Bank PLC
Trent House
Torre Road
Leeds
LS9 2BD

Remember, the alleged debt wasn't with C.L. it was with G.E. I didn't have an address to write to for C.L. Finance and their "representative" would not give it to me so, I wrote a CCA to Cohen's asking that they provide documentation. Your letter won't be exactly the same as mine because I don't know your individual circumstances but, feel free to adapt mine. The documentation you need is the same

Dear Sirs

When I had to give up work because of illness a few years ago I handed my payments to creditors over to a debt management company as I was not able to deal with the stress of intimidation at the time. However, I have now taken back management of my financial affairs and have been going through my paperwork. I can find no record of any debt owing to C.L. Finance and have no contact details for this company. I therefore do not acknowledge this debt and, as representatives of C.L. Finance I require you to supply the following documentation before further discussions may proceed.

Firstly, you must supply me with true copies of the agreements ou refer to in these matters. This is my right under the legislation contained within section 77(1) and section 78 (1) of the Consumer CreditAct 1974. Your obligation also extends to providing statements of account. I enclose a £1 postal order in payment of the statutory fee. This payment is not, under any circumstances, to be offset against he amount allegedly owing.

I also require that you supply signed true copies of the deeds of assignment of the above referenced agreements.

You are reminded that you are obliged to supply these documents whether you are the original creditor or not, under section 189 of the CCA 1974.

As you are aware, credit agreement that is not properly documented and signed by the customer is totally unenforcable under the CCA and therefore is a complete defence to any court claim that is issued

Take note at this stage, that any legal action you may contemplate will be both vigorously defended and contested.

I have maintained payments on this account because it is court ordered and not because I acknowledge any debt to C.L. Finance. At the time of the judgement I felt unable to defend. If however, C.L. Finance cannot provide the relevant documents detailed above I will have no hesitation in asking for this judgement to be set aside.

Please accept this letter as formal notification that the alleged debt to C.L. Finance is "in dispute".



Hope this helps to set the ball rolling Sarah

I always understood Comet to be GE Capital Bank. Nevertheless I have sent the CCA demand to the address below whom I suspect are CL Finance
Mrs S. Barker
The Lewis Group Ltd
PO Box 7817 Bingham
NG13 8YL
Dear Madam
CL Finance (Comet)
I do not acknowledge ANY debt to your company. I require you to supply the following documentation before I will correspond further on this matter.

1. You must supply me with a true copy of the alleged agreement you refer to. This is my right under your obligation to supply a copy of the agreement under the legislation contained within s.78 (1) Consumer Credit Act 1974 (s.77 (1) for rolling sum credit) - your obligation also extends to providing a statement of account. I enclose a £1 postal order in payment of the statutory fee, PO Serial Number

2. A signe