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I have a friend who is horribly in debt. I said I would help. She's due here on Saturday so I can work out what she owes to who. She is currently paying her creditors through the CCCS, however she has NEVER requested CCA. I think she should CCA all her creditors to find out whether or not the agreements are enforceable.
1) Am I right?
2) If we do send CCA letters to them all what do we do about saying she no longer acknowledges the debt - as she has been paying them so I assume that means she does acknowledge them?
yes, especially if debts are through debt collectors, need more info tho like who original debt with and wat for i.e loan credit card ect..... it will help us help you.
cca the lot of them but DON'T say anything about not acknowledge debt. well not yet any way
to make it easier for when your friend is here, we don't need amount owed,
what we need is who the debt colletors are and what was the debt for loans/cards/bank account ect....
we start from there, if there are a few get plenty of paper for you printer.
BEST time for sending CCA's is about a week after last payment was made, this way if they not responded by the time next payment due she can hold it back.
at the mo we are checking that they have the LEGAL right to collect the debt, if they don't supply the CCA you can legally withold all future payments until such time they do provide one.
IF and when they do you need access to a scanner or good camera so we can see them here,
PLEASE make sure that there is no personal information can be seen by us to protect identitys and stuff.
only down side is they will get snotty and very threatening, you must stand your ground, for example if they phone just refuse to answer any security questions, if they dont ask any they will breach the Data Protection Act.
we use the law to the letter on this forum, DCA's and creditors make their own laws up to suit themselves.
haymans, just to add bit more, it WILL be hard work and yes you will beat your head against a brick wall several times but be worth it in the end.
if friend no good sorting debt out she will need LOTS of help and she must keep you up to date on everything that happens. keep ALL letters. make notes of dates and times they phone. if they get nasty you will gather enough information to take THEM to court.
when time is right you will need to stop CCCS.
p.s please please please let one of them be robbingson way, they my favorite aswell as few others
Thank you for all the replies. It was not half as bad as I expected it to be, but it's still a fair chunk of money.
She owes all the money to DCAs:
first credit (for overdraft): £1428
First Credit (for loan): £1680
Moorcroft (for M&S card): £260
Moorcroft (for M&S loan): £6333
EIC (for IF card): £1364
She currently pays them the following monthly amounts:
First Credit (for overdraft): 40
First Credit (for loan): 100
Moorcroft (for M&S card): 25
Moorcroft (for M&S loan): 90
EIC (for IF card): 55
All interest on the above has been frozen as she negotiated that with them quite some time ago through the CCCS (she no longer uses the CCCS and pays them all directly). Despite the amounts above she has already repaid £7,000 in the last two years.
In addition to this, she owes her parents £700 (they are INSISTING she repays them at £100 per month), and Wellcome Finance £3,700 (that's for a £2k loan plus the interest for a car which she only bought two months ago) and is repaying that at £103 a month. She isn't going to dispute either of these.
We have written the CCA letters and she will send them off on March 1st - just after her next payment. She will send them recorded delivery with the obligatory postal orders. She also stated on the letter that they are to only contact her in writing as they are regularly hassling her on the phone to up her payment.
We did a budget spreadsheet for her today. After she pays all her bills, and these payments to her creditors, she has just over £100 a month for clothes, going out, lunches and anything else that crops up (like car repairs etc).
ok you done very well and you are correct in everything you done
just gotta sit back and wait once you send them off.
at to hasstle, as said refuse to ansewer personal details, be cheeky, if they ask you for details ask them for theirs 1st, i.e full home postal address, telephone number and date of birth for data protection act reasons, they will say i don't have to tell you, you reply "so why should i have to tell you mine, goodbye"
once you/friend done this (takes bottle i agree) but it gets easier u get to a point u start winding the idiots up
ok, drop M&s loan down to £50 and drop if card to £40 for starters, do this in NEXT payment BEFORE you send CCA's off this is still a reasonable repayment as you have done budget sheet, at end of day as long as you pay what you can, they can take legal action (providing they come up with the CCA) and you show budget to judge he won't do anything.
p.s tell friend to kurb the finance for a few months until this lot cleared up, no offence ment by that, lets get her out of these holes before anymore appear,
and yes i been down here meself and 2 years later i'm still sorting out my mess, BUT i'm enjoying it now, yes i used to get threat letter through the letter box, i binned them and hid behind the sofa, not anymore i got so peed off with it went on internet and found this site,
now i cant wait to get home and see what pathetic letters i get now (been couple weeks since last )
I told her if they keep ringing her everytime one of the DCA monkies says something she should reply "I will only discuss this matter in writing" over and over and over again no matter what they say until they give up.
Muppets.
If they don't reply within 12 working days should she cease payment then, or wait for the further 30 days to pass?
Whilst you can withhold payment after 12 days (working days remember) i would advise she keeps paying until they are past the 12 working days (from the day following delivery) plus calender month by which time assuming they have not complied its unenforceable, no point in stirring things up too much when they have frozen interest and charges etc or they could just get nasty again
I hope your friend manages to get sorted out with your help, the amount of paperwork generated by a debt must cost a fair bit.... at least two letters each week from each company, plus the letters from you (which they never seem to receive despite proof of delivery being provided).
Another little tip - DO NOT send original documentation if asked, it will only get 'lost' or 'not received' ask if a 'verified copy' can be sent instead as you need the originals for possible court action. Did this with Abbey National and asked to meet their representative in a branch of Abbey anywhere in London - he didn't have 12 letters they had sent logged down.... claimed the office which sent them didn't exist any more (last letter was two days before visit!)
Whilst you can withhold payment after 12 days (working days remember) i would advise she keeps paying until they are past the 12 working days (from the day following delivery) plus calender month by which time assuming they have not complied its unenforceable, no point in stirring things up too much when they have frozen interest and charges etc or they could just get nasty again
yo dude, i said that in earlier post by means "send S.A.R off no later than week after next payment due" this way the 12 days are well gone by the time next payment falls.
this will take a while and yes 1 or 10 DCA's WILL get nasty. BUT you are doing things by the LAW, DCA's don't.
if they keep bugging you point out relevant things from relevant acts and tell them to sod off of you will take them to court. I went through this with robbingson way last year, now been over 8 months since i last heard from them
I know you've done a budget sheet, and as someone has mentioned, £100 is not enough. I used the one on the National Debtline and I was amazed at the difference between my own and theirs. As your inputting the information it works it all out for you and it tells you what amount to offer each creditor. This may help you better.
I can`t see if anyone has mentioned, but DON`t SIGN YOUR CCA REQUEST. Print you name.
You never know, someone might be good with Photoshop.
Regards
N.P
Yes you are correct and well spotted (gives N.P a pat on the back )
some DCA's have been known to copy your signature into an agreement, it dosent happen that often but there are people that low out there who have done it in an attempt to make the agreement enforcable.
A friend in need
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Originally Posted by Boro
