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I have recently received letters from Lowell claiming I owe Egg £10,000 ish and to pay up (basically standard threats starting with we believe you previously lived at xxx address which I did).
Before I found this very helpful site I wrote back confirming I had paid Egg in Full and final settlement for all my accounts with them back in 2004 (although the reference they provide is not one of my account numbers with Egg). They wrote back asking for proof such as a bank statement so I sent all my copy of letters from myself to egg and a copy of my statement showing the cheque clearing for £12,000 - along with a CCA request.
I think I have made many mistakes in this whole thing and am worried as I have no way to pay back £10,000 and thought this was all finished years ago.
I originally wrote to egg confirming I could no longer pay as at the time I had split with my long term partner, was young and naive and a little depressed trying to run my home alone I raked up hiddeous amounts of debt. Looking back I should never have been leant the amount I was as at the time my outstanding debt was around twice my Gross annual salary amd therefore had I not sold my flat I would probably never have been able to get close to paying off these debts.
Anyway in this letter I confirmed I was just about to finalise the sale on my flat and would then be in the position to offer a full and final settlement with a cheque that if cashed would deamed to have settled all of my accounts in full.
Around a month later I sent the letter stating I enclosed a cheque in full and final settlement of all my accounts with egg (which was for over 50% of the outstanding debt). I wrote again a month later stating I had received no response but as the cheque had been cashed I had deamed the accoutns to be settled in full and final settlement.
I never heard another word until Lowells wrote to me in October.
I only sent my CCA request last week but am very worried now that as I received nothing in writing from Egg confirming my accounts were clear that I may still be liable as after looking around it seems they usually supply viable contracts?
I had several accounts with them as I quote 4 seperate account numbers. One would seem to be a credit card and I presume the others are loans but I no longer remember as it was so long ago and the only paperwork I kept was in realtion to paying in full and final settlement?
To make matters even worse I am only on SMP at present and have already arranged via flexible working to reduce my hours and therefore see no way if they supply an answer that I will ever be able to pay them back. I really thought what I had previously done was enough to finalise the account (now I am not so sure).
Any advice as I'm quite worried and now have a beautiful child to take care of as well????
Just to confirm - Lowells have sent a demand for payment quoting an account number which is not yours?
If that is the case, it is up to them to prove it is your debt by providing a copy of an executed agreement signed by you with that account number on.
Steven
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GE Money Won unconditionally May 2007 NatWest Won unconditionally August 2007 BrighthouseWon unconditionally August 2007 GoldfishWon unconditionally April 2008 (including CI on the basis of Sempra) Clydesdale Financial Services (now BPF) Won unconditionally February 2008
Any opinions are without prejudice & without liability. Do not take any legal action on my advice alone. Almost everything I know concerning the law I learned from this site.
Please note, I will not give advice by PM. Please send a link to your thread and I will do my best to answer there.
The reference they quote isn't mine and isn't even close to one of my Egg accounts but I presume it is their reference not eggs.
I do think they are chasing the right person though as they quoted my old address, I asked for details of the account including a balance Breakdown within my CCA request
I do think they are chasing the right person though as they quoted my old address
Nevertheless, they still have to prove that this particular debt is yours and that means producing a copy of an executed agreement.
I suggest you write and tell them that you never had an account with Egg with an account number like the one they have quoted and therefore you do not acknowlegde this debt.
Ask them to prove it's your debt by sending you a copy of the executed agreement and that you are making that request under ss77(1) and 78(1) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. Send the the statutory fee of £1 as a postal order (not a cheque) "I enclose....".
Remind them that trying to collect a debt when they may have the wrong person is in breach of the OFT guidelines on debt collection:
False representation of authority and/or legal position
2.3 Those contacting debtors must not be deceitful by misrepresenting their authority and/or the correct legal position.
2.4 Examples of unfair practices are as follows:
f. pursuing third parties for payment when they are not liable
Deceptive and/or unfair methods
2.7 Dealings with debtors are not to be deceitful and/or unfair.
2.8 Examples of unfair practices are as follows:
a. sending demands for payment to an individual when it is uncertain that they are the debtor in question, for example, threatening debt recovery action to 'the occupier' or sending a payment demand to all people sharing the same name/date of birth as a debtor in the hope that contact with the correct debtor will be made.
Steven
Using CAG Toolbar will generate much needed income - Download Here
Confused by Simple Interest? Confounded by Compound Interest? Read my Interest Tutorial
My Wins
GE Money Won unconditionally May 2007 NatWest Won unconditionally August 2007 BrighthouseWon unconditionally August 2007 GoldfishWon unconditionally April 2008 (including CI on the basis of Sempra) Clydesdale Financial Services (now BPF) Won unconditionally February 2008
Any opinions are without prejudice & without liability. Do not take any legal action on my advice alone. Almost everything I know concerning the law I learned from this site.
Please note, I will not give advice by PM. Please send a link to your thread and I will do my best to answer there.
i have sent the CCA request on 12/01/08 (recorded delivery) and included an extra line saying
"Please note that I do not acknowledge any debt to your company. The reference number you are quoting does not correspond with any account I had with Egg therefore I am unable to establish if the debt you are chasing was ever one of my accounts however for the reasons previously stated I dispute that I owe any money relating to Egg. To assist with my records please can you confirm details of the account you are writing to me about with a Breakdown of the balance you are requesting of £10046.96 including any charges on the account." So I think I may have actually got something right in this whole thing!
Guess I'll just have to wait and see what I get in return
That seems to cover it. The only thing is you should have quoted ss77 and 78 of the CCA 1974 - they have to comply with a request made under those sections.
Steven
Using CAG Toolbar will generate much needed income - Download Here
Confused by Simple Interest? Confounded by Compound Interest? Read my Interest Tutorial
My Wins
GE Money Won unconditionally May 2007 NatWest Won unconditionally August 2007 BrighthouseWon unconditionally August 2007 GoldfishWon unconditionally April 2008 (including CI on the basis of Sempra) Clydesdale Financial Services (now BPF) Won unconditionally February 2008
Any opinions are without prejudice & without liability. Do not take any legal action on my advice alone. Almost everything I know concerning the law I learned from this site.
Please note, I will not give advice by PM. Please send a link to your thread and I will do my best to answer there.
I used the template from here and it includes "I understand that under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (Sections 77−79), I am entitled to receive a copy of my credit agreement on request. I enclose a payment of £1.00 which represents the fee payable under the Consumer Credit Act." so I think I'm ok on that too?
Actually probably easier if I just post the whole letter to make sure
Dear Sirs,
Your Reference No. xxxxxxxxxxxx
Thank you for your response which I presume is relating to my letters dated 26th November 2007, 8th December 2007 & my email.
Please note that I do not acknowledge any debt to your company. The reference number you are quoting does not correspond with any account I had with Egg therefore I am unable to establish if the debt you are chasing was ever one of my accounts however for the reasons previously stated I dispute that I owe any money relating to Egg. To assist with my records please can you confirm details of the account you are writing to me about with a Breakdown of the balance you are requesting of £10046.96 including any charges on the account.
I have enclosed a copy of my bank statement showing the cheque cashed by Egg clearing my accounts with them in Full and final settlement as requested.
To further enable me to ensure the account you are chasing is correct I would be grateful if you would send me a copy of this credit agreement.
I understand that under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (Sections 77−79), I am entitled to receive a copy of my credit agreement on request. I enclose a payment of £1.00 which represents the fee payable under the Consumer Credit Act.
I understand a copy of our credit agreement should be supplied within 12 working days.
I understand that under the Consumer Credit Act creditors are unable to enforce an agreement if they fail to comply with a request for a copy of the agreement under these sections of the Act.
I would ask that no further contact be made concerning the above account unless you can provide evidence as to my liability for the debt in question.
I look forward to your reply.
Yours faithfully
Sparklez30
Does that all look ok? Thinking back I probably shouldn't have put in a copy of my bank statement showing the cheque clearing but they asked for this as proof I'd paid my debts to Egg. I have received no response as yet but will post here when I receive anything
Using CAG Toolbar will generate much needed income - Download Here
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My Wins
GE Money Won unconditionally May 2007 NatWest Won unconditionally August 2007 BrighthouseWon unconditionally August 2007 GoldfishWon unconditionally April 2008 (including CI on the basis of Sempra) Clydesdale Financial Services (now BPF) Won unconditionally February 2008
Any opinions are without prejudice & without liability. Do not take any legal action on my advice alone. Almost everything I know concerning the law I learned from this site.
Please note, I will not give advice by PM. Please send a link to your thread and I will do my best to answer there.
coincidently my post just arrived and received a response from Lowell dated 16/01/08.
It says (still quoting their ref which means nothing to me):-
We are in receipt of your request for a copy of your credit agreement in accordance with section 78(1) of the consumer credit act 1974.
We are also in receipt of the prescribed fee from you.
We are requesting a copy of the agreement from the original lender whom you originally entered into the agreement.
Whilst we endeavour to reply to you with the required information within the prescribed 12 day period under the Consumer Credit Act, you will appreciate this is dependant upon receipt of the information from the original creditor.
We will advise you further if it will take longer than the prescribed period.
If you have any queries regarding the above, please contact us on 0113 3086044
Yours sincerely
There is no mention in their letter of my request for a Breakdown of what makes up the balance or any reference to the statement I sent them proving my cheque for £13,000 (sorry about my previous mistake my cheque was for £13,000 not £12,000).
Does the fact that they quote section 78(1) tell me if its a loan or credit card account?
Having checked with the CRA's I only have 1 default for Egg which totals just over £2000 so I presume this is seperate to that (although I have the same issue with that entry in that I provided Full and final settlement for all accounts with them but as at yet no one is chasing me I think I will leave that one for now).
It may or may not indicate what sort of loan it is - they may assume its a CC becuse it's Egg. Having siad that, this is one of the better responses from a DCA - at least they seem to understand the mechanism of CCA requests.
Steven
Using CAG Toolbar will generate much needed income - Download Here
Confused by Simple Interest? Confounded by Compound Interest? Read my Interest Tutorial
My Wins
GE Money Won unconditionally May 2007 NatWest Won unconditionally August 2007 BrighthouseWon unconditionally August 2007 GoldfishWon unconditionally April 2008 (including CI on the basis of Sempra) Clydesdale Financial Services (now BPF) Won unconditionally February 2008
Any opinions are without prejudice & without liability. Do not take any legal action on my advice alone. Almost everything I know concerning the law I learned from this site.
Please note, I will not give advice by PM. Please send a link to your thread and I will do my best to answer there.
Egg & Lowell
£10,000 ish and to pay up (basically standard threats starting with we believe you previously lived at xxx address which I did).
settlement for all my accounts with them back in 2004 (although the reference they provide is not one of my account numbers with Egg). They wrote back asking for proof such as a bank statement so I sent all my copy of letters from myself to egg and a copy of my statement showing the cheque clearing for £12,000 - along with a CCA request.
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Originally Posted by Sparklez30
