Thread: Default Notice Theft and Liability

Long story short - thanks in anticipation of any thoughts, good or not so good!

Live overseas. Not a UK resident. British ex withdrew cash (overseas, must have got my PIN) in November or December 2002, just before we split up. Found out about it late March 2003, when finally saw the statements from the UK he had been hiding and claiming he had paid. Advised BC by telephone of what had happened, and followed up with letter and cut up card as requested. BC insisted I had to keep paying the balance as I had the card and had provided the PIN (no, it was copied from a not so private email). I now know being forced to pay was wrong and I should have refused. I have paid nearly £5 grand, about £1300 left. I have been paying the historically non interest bearing balance from overseas, with money from a court order I got against my ex for this and other debts, every month for last six years. BC suddenly started charging interest in Aug 09. Refused to pay the interest - letters back and forth with BC - final letter refusing to stop interest was received and then a UK Default Notice arrived this week, nearly a week after some sort of deadline BC had set for me to pay them off completely. What?? UK Ombudsman is involved, but nothing has happened with them yet. Surely I should be given a refund of six years payments I made when I should not have, and the Default Notice should be immediately removed? I want to come back to the UK to work, and this has ruined my credit before I even start! All help appreciated.

No one has any thoughts at all? :? Someone must have dealt with a situation like this before....all/any help appreciated please!

Originally Posted by slick132

Hi Canuck and welcome to CAG. Sorry for the lack of response but what with Christmas, etc ...... !!

I think you're too late now to query this on the basis of it not being your responsibility. This should have been done when the debt was discovered and the court order for your ex to pay you, was made. You won't be able to reclaim any amounts paid to date.

But you can tell them, if they want to start adding interest, they should provide a valid credit agreement to prove you owe the debt.

The fos may be able to help you get the interest suspended again, but don't rely on this.

Instead, send off a CCA request with the £1 fee - http://www.consumerforums.com/resour...request-letter

Many thanks for the response. I did query it all at the time, I even have all the correspondence notifying them of the theft, sending the card to them as requested, arguing that I was sure they were wrong, but they insisted I had to pay up, because the card was still with me and I knew it was my ex who took the money. The no interest seemed to be a compromise as they knew I had got the court order, and as far as I was concerned, I was passing on his money to them. There is even a police file here, but no charges were laid, as he had scarpered back to the UK by then and left all his kids too, with no child support. I sent a pound coin to BC for the CCA, it was returned with a request for a postal order or UK bank cheque, neither of which I can get from here. Hopefully the FOS will be able to help, it is all just so unfair. Thanks for your input, really appreciated, I guess I forgot about Christmas and people being busy as this is so worrying.

Originally Posted by slick132

Do you have anyone in the UK to whom you could send the CCA request.

They would then take it into a branch with your £1 coin and get the letter signed for, so you have a receipt for your paper trail.

You are a genius...I didn't think of that, I thought everything had to come from me to there and directly back to my address here...thank you! I will post back with an update as soon as I have one. Thanks again.

Does anyone know how long fos take to make a decision? I have sent them everything they asked for, which cost me a fortune in copying and such...but so far nothing back and the second person to handle my case is not responding to emails. BC are harassing me with ridiculous interest charges and now claims of "agreed increased monthly payments" three times the original level, which my clone in a parallel universe apparently agreed to without any contact with me. I am horrified at how this awful company works!:?

Originally Posted by slick132

The fos could take weeks to respond to you, and many months to resolve your complaint.

If you now have a FOS ref. no., send this to BC and tell them that you've complained to the FOS because of their intransigence. Tell them they should stop chasing for payments until the FOS have concluded their enquiries.

You could, if you want, offer without prejudice to continue to make payments of £xx per month IF BC agree to stop adding interest, so you have a chance of bringing the a/c balance down.

Tell them if they refuse to assist you in this way, you'll pay nothing further.

Thank you for your response. I received an acknowledgement from FOS today (a week after the letter was dated, such is the speed of snail mail here). I now have three reference numbers... Each letter I get tells me to "quote" a different one if I need to get in touch. I guess I use the last one as the most current, although worryingly this one, unlike the previous two, has CCJ3 as the last four digits. I hope this does not mean what I think it does, because I was never told of any CCJ being registered, nor have I been given/served any court paperwork in the last six years. None of the voluminous BC correspondence mentions it either. BC refuse to stop piling on the interest, so I have refused to pass on the payments. We are at a stalemate. This is so stressful.

Originally Posted by slick132

Yes Canuck it is stressful but hang on in there.

Don't let BC or their collection monkeys get you down. You have good support here on CAG.

Did you send BC another CCA request after they returned the one you sent with the £1 coin.

I would tell the fos about this, as BC are effectively stopping you from making the CCA request by refusing your £1 coin. What's their problem with the coin anyway - they're a flippng BANK !!

Thanks Slick. I have sent off a Postal Order for the CCA - a friend in the UK bought me one after Christmas, and I re-sent the request by return. Nothing back from BC as yet. I have no idea what the issue was with the coin. It was real and not chocolate after all.

I finally received a detailed response from fos today. The adjudicator has sided with Barclaycard. This dispute arose in 2003 and BC cannot produce any statements, CCA, or in fact anything at all. He writes that BC are under no obligation to keep anything over six years old. The adjudicator stated that on the "balance of probabilities" BC are right, I did not report the theft (I did) and I am liable. How can he just assume this, when there is no evidence I did not report it, apart from a weasel from BC stating he s/he thinks I did not, but cannot prove it as they have no records?? I have copies of all the letters I sent, but FOS says BC deny receiving the crucial one - funny that. FOS has also made some huge assumptions about the way things are done in Canada, assuming that because you cannot (e.g.) redirect post, and close bank accounts without everyone's written authority in the UK, it would be the same process here. It's not! What now? I have no CCA from BC, but Mercers are now threatening me (with what I do not know, as I am not in the UK). Help!

Originally Posted by slick132

Hi Canuck,

No real surpise with the fos decision. They tend to side with the banks and give them the benefit of any doubt.

See what comes back from the CCA request. BC will probably just send you T&C's and then refuse to send anything else. Then you can complain to the FOS about BC's failure to produce the credit agreement.

the good news is that the FOS normally do get the creditor to send out the actual agreement. You can then see if there's an enfoceable agreement or not.

Alternatively as you are not in the UK anyway, you could write to BC and say:-

1. Stop adding interest and I'll continue to pay until the debt is settled. If you don't stop adding interest, I'll stop paying completely.

2. I am not happy with the FOS decision. As I am out of the UK's jurisdiction, there's nothing that BC, Mercers, Calders or anyone else can do to bother me. Accordingly, I am prepared to offer you 30%, 40% or 50% (pick whichever you fancy) as a Full and final settlement as long as you show the debt as satisfied on my credit records.

Many thanks. I tried number 1, this tactic led me to the current fight with BC. I asked FOS to look at number 2 as a possible resolution to this horrible mess, and they simply stated the balance (which is 1400 quid, I paid over five (5) thousand) is due, and they will not advise BC to settle.

I am not giving up, I shot back today with an email pointing out the fundamental errors in the FOS opinion, and stated quite clearly that I want the opinion reviewed. I just don't get it - BC could have just taken the payments without interest and would have got the lot back. It is almost as if BC wants to cut off it's nose to spite it's face. My credit file will now show this mess, and I will not be able to come home and start again with kids to support, if I have no prospect of clearing my "credit" name. This is making me ill with worry, and has totally ruined my plans, but I really appreciate the support from this site. Thank you.

Today I received two letters from BC. I'd scan them but I don't have a scanner. One is dated Feb 19th and is from a Sue Langford giving me my own fos reference and telling me not to correspond with her again ( I didn't send her anything, who is she??).

The other letter is dated Feb 25th and is finally in response to my CCA request. It enclosed a bad photocopy of some "BC conditions of use", where BC has stamped "1985" on the back; this is after I got the original card anyway. There is no mention of any CC Act, anywhere and no properly executed credit agreement, no evidence of signature, nothing. The letter rambles on about having satisfied their obligation under sec 78 of the CCA, then talks about CPR rules 31.16 and how BC will only give me documents if I make an application to the UK court and pay Barclaycards costs to gather the paperwork after it receives an order under 48.1 (2)? In their dreams will I give them another bean for my own paperwork, but whatever. This letter is signed by Kimberley Crosby.The alleged balance has changed yet again, and is now a few quid lower than last time. FOS has not responded to my email pointing out the blindingly obvious mistakes the adjudicator made, and asking for a review of the decision it made. What on earth is BC doing? I am almost tempted to just totally ignore BC now, they obviously have no original agreement, I am not in the UK, and if they have screwed up my credit file, I am stuffed anyway.

Thanks Slick - no the letter does not say I may consider it the final response. The last line is "this completes our obligation to you under Section 78 of the CCA 1974".

What a mess.