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My current situation is one that involves debts with several credit card companies. Barclaycard is one of those companies, and I have tried to include as much information about my situation as possible.
Barclaycard (Credit Card)
The original agreement began around 2006 and in April 2006 Mercers debt collection Ltd wrote to instruct me they were now the owners of the £3k+ debt. The debt was then handed to RMA (Risk Management Alternatives) in August of that year. Then Colemans-CTTS Solicitors wrote to me on Behalf of RMA, with Westcot Credit Services being the current DCA, who I have agreed to pay each month until 2070 (or thereabouts). Our payments were then reduced to £1 pcm in 2008, after facing further financial difficulties, and have remained consistent since. Having recently learnt that some credit card debts could prove unenforceable, I'm now considering writing to request copies of the original CCA's, in the hope that they may prove to be exactly that.
Before I go any further, can anyone advise me who I should contact on this occasion. Should I write to Westcot or Barclaycard, and will this harm the existing agreement? Do you have any templates that I could use, and do I need to send any money along with each letter?
First thing I'd do is gather up every scrap of paperwork you have, search the house top to bottom, and then clip everything into A4 Folders, Letters into one, Statements into another one.
Read through that, and see if you can make out what happened when.
If you have, say, a Spreadsheet Application on your PC, then make up a simple Sheet that acts like a big Diary, and start adding in the Dates of when people sent you letters.
The aim is to see if you can track who was passed this alleged Debt and when, and if Barclays Bank plc still own the alleged Debt, or if they have sold it to a Debt Collecting Agency (DCA).
Please be aware that Mercers are owned by Barclays Bank plc, so the alleged Debt would not have been sold from one to the other, if it was with Mercers, then it was still with Barclays Bank plc.
I'm not sure what the status of RMA is, so you'll need to read a few Threads on CAG to see if they are part of the Barclays Empire, or if they are independant DCAs.
The Solicitors will be Lawyers-for-Hire, but they could also be DCAs pretending to be Lawyers, or they could be a Department working within a DCA, I regret I do not know, but look for that and see if you can spot any links via their correspondence. See if any show Company Numbers, then do a search at Companies House to see if the Addresses and so on link them together.
Likewise Wescot, who are often linked with Barclays, suggesting the alleged Debt could still be with Barclays, who have simply farmed the collection out to a series of deadbeat DCAs.
If you find that Barclays do still own the alleged Debt, then send your s78(1) Request and £1 Fee to Barclays (always via Special Delivery to ensure you get Signed Proof of Delivery).
Send that to the Registered Office of Barclays, and not to Barclaycard or Mercers, here it is:
The Company Secretary
Barclays Bank plc
1 Churchill Place
London
E14 5HP
If you are not sure who owns the alleged Debt, then send one to who ever was last chasing you for Payment, that sounds like Wescot I think...not sure where they live, so you'll need to run their Company Number through the Companies House Web Site above to find it...but I know they are in Scotland, hence the name Wescot.
If you do not have all of your Statements, then it would be a good idea to send Barclays a SAR along with the £10 fee (Special Delivery). Ask them for everything.
Then sit back and wait for all the bumf to start flooding back, then plan what to do next when you have a good overview of both the alleged Debt and who now thinks they own it.
If you can, keep Paying the minimum Payment until you know where you are with this.
First thing I'd do is gather up every scrap of paperwork you have, search the house top to bottom, and then clip everything into A4 Folders, Letters into one, Statements into another one.
Read through that, and see if you can make out what happened when.
If you have, say, a Spreadsheet Application on your PC, then make up a simple Sheet that acts like a big Diary, and start adding in the Dates of when people sent you letters.
The aim is to see if you can track who was passed this alleged Debt and when, and if Barclays Bank plc still own the alleged Debt, or if they have sold it to a Debt Collecting Agency (DCA).
Please be aware that Mercers are owned by Barclays Bank plc, so the alleged Debt would not have been sold from one to the other, if it was with Mercers, then it was still with Barclays Bank plc.
I'm not sure what the status of RMA is, so you'll need to read a few Threads on CAG to see if they are part of the Barclays Empire, or if they are independant DCAs.
The Solicitors will be Lawyers-for-Hire, but they could also be DCAs pretending to be Lawyers, or they could be a Department working within a DCA, I regret I do not know, but look for that and see if you can spot any links via their correspondence. See if any show Company Numbers, then do a search at Companies House to see if the Addresses and so on link them together.
Likewise Wescot, who are often linked with Barclays, suggesting the alleged Debt could still be with Barclays, who have simply farmed the collection out to a series of deadbeat DCAs.
If you find that Barclays do still own the alleged Debt, then send your s78(1) Request and £1 Fee to Barclays (always via Special Delivery to ensure you get Signed Proof of Delivery).
Send that to the Registered Office of Barclays, and not to Barclaycard or Mercers, here it is:
If you are not sure who owns the alleged Debt, then send one to who ever was last chasing you for Payment, that sounds like Wescot I think...not sure where they live, so you'll need to run their Company Number through the Companies House Web Site above to find it...but I know they are in Scotland, hence the name Wescot.
If you do not have all of your Statements, then it would be a good idea to send Barclays a SAR along with the £10 fee (Special Delivery). Ask them for everything.
Then sit back and wait for all the bumf to start flooding back, then plan what to do next when you have a good overview of both the alleged Debt and who now thinks they own it.
If you can, keep Paying the minimum Payment until you know where you are with this.
I hope this helps.
Cheers,
BRW
Hi BRW
First off, thank you for your comprehensive response, I hope what I posted made sense. I've unfortunately only kept the letters sent to me by Westcot, as I was under the impression they owned the debt. I can now see that they are working 'on behalf of our client' which as you just stated, is Barclays themselves. I guess this means I need to write to the Barclays address you've provided, along with a £1 P.O, and see what gets returned. Our financial situation is dire to say the least right now, so do I need to send for a SAR for £10, or should I just wait for the CCA response, and take it from there?
Incidentally, WCS also used Nelson Guest & Partners at one stage, who wrote to pursue the debt, and RMA are in fact NCO Europe Trading as RMA
The SAR is mainly to get the Statements to see if there are any Unlawful Charges or PPI you can claim, or Counter-Claim if things go that far.
No rush for that, the main one is the s78(1) Request to Barclays, but the SAR will be needed if you want to get a lot of background bumf to form a better view of the issues.
They should also send you letters and other interesting things, much of which may help you.
If you think BC still own the debt, I'd keep paying the £1 per month. This is because BC will NOT send you a copy of the credit agreement in response to a CCA request. In time, you could try the CPR route which costs nothing in the early stages. Read other BC threads for more info on this. Also, read Link No2 in my signature below.
However, if they are still adding interest and penalties to the a/c, send a SAR when you can find the £10 fee. This will enable you to reclaim all penalty charges on the a/c.
If you think the a/c has been sold to Westcott or anyone else (and you should have got a Notice of Assignment to confirm this), send the current creditor a CCA request with the £1 fee. They are more likely to try and find the credit agreement.
And if they can't produce it, you can stop paying AND still reclaim all the penalty charges on the account, to be paid to you direct. They'll say any refund should be set against the a/c but if you sue them for the refund, it should be paid to you direct.
Any help and advice is offered in good faith, based solely on my own knowledge and on experience gathered from this site. I am not qualified to offer legal or financial advice, which you should seek from an expert before making any important decisions. My opinions are therefore offered without liability.
If you think BC still own the debt, I'd keep paying the £1 per month
I aim to do exactly that.
Originally Posted by slick132
If you think the a/c has been sold to Westcott or anyone else (and you should have got a Notice of Assignment to confirm this), send the current creditor a CCA request with the £1 fee. They are more likely to try and find the credit agreement.
I've had a look through my paperwork and at no point have I received a Notice Of Assignment, which leads me to suspect that it was always Barclays debt.
Originally Posted by slick132
If they can't produce it, you can stop paying AND still reclaim all the penalty charges on the account, to be paid to you direct. They'll say any refund should be set against the a/c but if you sue them for the refund, it should be paid to you direct.
So if I write to Westcot and request a CCA, and they fail to provide one, just stop all payments until I hear from them? It's easy enough to do, being a simple Standing Order.
The SAR is mainly to get the Statements to see if there are any Unlawful Charges or PPI you can claim, or Counter-Claim if things go that far.
No rush for that, the main one is the s78(1) Request to Barclays, but the SAR will be needed if you want to get a lot of background bumf to form a better view of the issues.
They should also send you letters and other interesting things, much of which may help you.
In your case, I'd continue with the £1 per month for as long as they allow it if they're NOT adding interest and charges.
You didn't mention if you think interest and/or penalties are still being charged in your reply.
I suspect the debt is still owned by BC and therefore any CCA request, whether sent to Wescott or anyone else, will be referred back to BC. They will NOT send you the agreement.
But by send the CCA request, you may just awaken a "sleeping dog" and spur prompt into pursuing the debt more vigorously.
Any help and advice is offered in good faith, based solely on my own knowledge and on experience gathered from this site. I am not qualified to offer legal or financial advice, which you should seek from an expert before making any important decisions. My opinions are therefore offered without liability.
In your case, I'd continue with the £1 per month for as long as they allow it if they're NOT adding interest and charges. You didn't mention if you think interest and/or penalties are still being charged in your reply.I suspect the debt is still owned by BC and therefore any CCA request, whether sent to Wescott or anyone else, will be referred back to BC. They will NOT send you the agreement.But by send the CCA request, you may just awaken a "sleeping dog" and spur prompt into pursuing the debt more vigorously.
There haven't been charges or interest added for several years now, and I've been thinking that myself for most of today. I figure if £1 per month for 20 years won't kill me, then just leave it be, so on that note, I think I will.
Any help and advice is offered in good faith, based solely on my own knowledge and on experience gathered from this site. I am not qualified to offer legal or financial advice, which you should seek from an expert before making any important decisions. My opinions are therefore offered without liability.
Barclays CCA Request?
Ltd wrote to instruct me they were now the owners of the £3k+ debt. The debt was then handed to RMA (Risk Management Alternatives) in August of that year. Then Colemans-CTTS Solicitors wrote to me on Behalf of RMA, with Westcot Credit Services being the current DCA, who I have agreed to pay each month until 2070 (or thereabouts). Our payments were then reduced to £1 pcm in 2008, after facing further financial difficulties, and have remained consistent since. Having recently learnt that some credit card debts could prove unenforceable, I'm now considering writing to request copies of the original CCA's, in the hope that they may prove to be exactly that.
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Re: Barclays CCA Request?
Originally Posted by banker_rhymes_with
Re: Barclays CCA Request?
Re: Barclays CCA Request?
