Ok so me and my partner have some debts to pay off and so went through our finances to decide what we could shave. One being the gym at £110 per month. I cancelled the direct debit then spoke to the gym in person to ask if we could take a 2 month break until our debts were cleared. She informed me i needed to give a months notice however i had already stopped payment and so decided to ignore there calls from there on. One month later i recieved a letter saying we owed them £110 and if we didn't pay our case would be passed on to a debt collection agency. I still decided to push my luck thinking i would call there bluff. Then on Friday i recieved a letter from this agency informing me i had 48hrs to pay or they may pass my case onto their solicitors. I have also noticed they have said i owe £132.00. I presume the extra £22 is there fee yet they haven't mentioned the charge. Now i don't understand why they didn't just pass my case straight on to the solicitors..is it because it may cost them money? If so are they really going to persue me for this measly £110. Surely they are taking a greater chance paying the court fees and in the case that i may not be able afford to pay anything. Of course i wouldn't let it get this far as i don't want to end up with a CCJ but they don't know this. So do i carry on to call there bluff and wait for the solicitors letter or shall i call today to sort this out? If they can send me proof of a signed contract by myself i am quite happy to pay but can they charge me for this information? And also can they add this £22 without informing me?

Many thanks!

Firstly, you have every right to receive on request a copy of the agreement that you signed, if this agreement makes no mention of the £22 charge they have applied, then they have no right to apply the charge as it isn't part of the agreement that you entered into.

Gyms are notorious for pursuing lapsing members, request a copy of the agreement and look carefully in the terms and conditions to see if it mentions the application of charges.

if the charge has been applied by the DCA, then they are completely unlawful as you have entered no agreement with them.

Right great thanks, i thought that they couldn't charge this £22 without informing me or for the cost of sending a letter. I presume too then that i don't have to pay for information e.g. a copy of the signed contract (except posting charges). I just wanted to be sure before i state my rights in the phone call i am about to make?

Send a £1 postal order to cover admin fees.

Just to update, i called this company and have been told i must pay £10 to recieve a copy of the contract. I told them my solicitor says that we have a right to see this information by law free of charge minus any postage charges. They then insisted under the credit consumer act they have a right to charge £10. Is this correct? Thanks

NO.....it isn't right...quote them this...

Consumer Credit (Prescribed Periods for Giving Information) Regulations

1983 (SI 1983/1569)

2 Prescribed period

The period of 12 working days is hereby prescribed for the purposes of each provision of the Act specified in Column 1

of the Schedule to these Regulations relating to the duty indicated in Column 2 in relation to regulated agreements

SCHEDULE

SECTIONS OF THE ACT IN RESPECT OF WHICH A PERIOD OF 12 WORKING DAYS IS PRESCRIBED RELATING TO DUTIES IN

RELATION TO REGULATED AGREEMENTS

Regulation 2

Section of the

Act

Duty

(1) (2)

77(1) Duty to give information to debtor under fixed-sum credit agreement.

78(1) Duty to give information to debtor under running-account credit agreement.

79(1) Duty to give information to hirer under consumer hire agreement.

and section 78 for running credit

78.

Duty to give information to debtor under running-account credit agreement.

— (1) The creditor under a regulated agreement for running-account credit, within the prescribed period after receiving a request in writing to that effect from the debtor and payment of a fee of [F1 £1], shall give the debtor a copy of the executed agreement (if any) and of any other document referred to in it, together with a statement signed by or on behalf of the creditor showing, according to the information to which it is practicable for him to refer,—

(a)

the state of the account, and

(b)

the amount, if any currently payable under the agreement by the debtor to the creditor, and

©

the amounts and due dates of any payments which, if the debtor does not draw further on the account, will later become payable under the agreement by the debtor to the creditor.

(2) If the creditor possesses insufficient information to enable him to ascertain the amounts and dates mentioned in subsection (1)©, he shall be taken to comply with that paragraph if his statement under subsection (1) gives the basis on which, under the regulated agreement, they would fall to be ascertained.

(3) Subsection (1) does not apply to—

(a)

an agreement under which no sum is, or will or may become, payable by the debtor, or

(b)

a request made less than one month after a previous request under that subsection relating to the same agreement was complied with.

(4) Where running-account credit is provided under a regulated agreement, the creditor shall give the debtor statements in the prescribed form, and with the prescribed contents—

(a)

showing according to the information to which it is practicable for him to refer, the state of the account at regular intervals of not more than twelve months, and

(b)

where the agreement provides, in relation to specified periods, for the making of payments by the debtor, or the charging against him of interest or any other sum, showing according to the information to which it is practicable for him to refer the state of the account at the end of each of those periods during which there is any movement in the account.

(5) A statement under subsection (4) shall be given within the prescribed period after the end of the period to which the statement relates.

(6) If the creditor under an agreement fails to comply with subsection (1)—

(a)

he is not entitled, while the default continues, to enforce the agreement; and

Send them letter 'N' from here, send it recorded and do not hand sign it...

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general-debt-issues/20758-creditors-dcas-letter-templates.html

Thanks for advice i have copied the letter and will forward it today...

Just to update..

I am starting to get nervous now and have no idea of the next step. I sent the letter off with a postal order for £1 last week. I have today recieved another letter from them totally ignoring my attempts.

The letter says...my records show that this debt has still not been satisfied and you may have chosen to ignor my attempts to assist you in resolving this matter. After further investigation my client has also confirmed that there are no outstanding issues or queries pending on your account. It is in your interest that you phone me today by telephone to discuss payment of this debt. Failure of which will result in us passing your account to Stenfield Solicitors for collection through court proceedings. Any additional court costs will be added to your debt. To avoid this payments must be made by card/chq/postal order within 48 hrs. All county court judgements are automatically registered in the register or cort judgements. If paid after 28 days the judgement is endorsed satisfied/paid but kept on record for 6 years.

OK whats the next step? I have checked with royal mail and the letter was delivered. They cant just slap on a CCJ without taking me to court can they?

They may try to take you to court and indeed some do, but a judge will only award a CCJ if it isn't defended or you lose the defence case.....but wait until you hear back in answer to your CCA request and keep us posted....when the 12+2 working days is up send them this by recorded...

Account In Dispute

Ref:

Dear Sir/Madam

Thank you for your letter of xx/xx/xx, the contents of which have been noted.

You have failed to respond to my legal request to supply me a true copy of the original Consumer Credit Agreement for the above account.

On **DATE** I made a formal request for a true signed agreement for the alleged account under consumer credit Act 1974 s77/8. A copy of which is enclosed for your perusal and ease of reference.

You have failed to comply with my request, and as such the account entered default on **DATE**.(12+2 days after you sent the CCA request)

The document that you are obliged to send me is a true copy of the executed agreement that contained all of the prescribed terms, all other required terms and statutory notices and was signed by both your company and myself as defined in section 61(1) of CCA 74 and subsequent Statutory Instruments. If the executed agreement contained any reference to any other document, you are also obliged to send me a copy of that document.In addition a full statement of this account should have been sent to me detailing all debits and credits to the account.

Furthermore

You are aware that the Consumer Credit Act allows 12 working days for a request for a true copy of a credit agreement to be carried out before your client enters into a default situation.

This limit has expired

As you are no doubt aware section 77(6) states:

If the creditor fails to comply with Subsection (1)

(a) He is not entitled , while the default continues, to enforce the agreement.

Therefore this account has become unenforceable at law.

As you have Failed to comply with a lawful request for a true, signed copy of the said agreement and other relevant documents mentioned in it, Failed to send a full statement of the account and Failed to provide any of the documentation requested.

Consequentially any legal action you pursue will be averred as both UNLAWFUL and VEXATIOUS.

Furthermore I shall counterclaim that any such action constitutes unlawful harassment.

Please note you may also consider this letter as a statutory notice under section 10 of the Data Protection Act to cease processing any data in relation to this account with immediate effect.

This means you must remove all information regarding this account from your own internal records and from my records with any credit reference agencies.

Should you refuse to comply, you must within 21 days provide me with a detailed breakdown of your reasoning behind continuing to process my data.

It is not sufficient to simply state that you have a ‘legal right’; You must outline your reasoning in this matter and state upon which legislation this reasoning depends.

Should you not respond within 14 days I expect that this means you agree to remove all such data.

Furthermore you should be aware that a creditor is not permitted to take ANY

Action against an account whilst it remains in dispute.

The lack of a credit agreement is a very clear dispute and as such the following applies.

* You may not demand any payment on the account, nor am I obliged to offer any payment to you.

* You may not add further interest or any charges to the account.

* You may not pass the account to a third party.

* You may not register any information in respect of the account with any credit reference agency.

* You may not issue a default notice related to the account.

I reserve the right to report your actions to any such regulatory authorities as I see fit.

You have 14 days from receiving this letter to contact me with your intentions to resolve this matter which is now a formal complaint.

I would appreciate your due diligence in this matter.

I look forward to hearing from you in writing.

Yours faithfully

It is in your interest that you phone me today by telephone to discuss payment of this debt.

Is there any other way of phoning somebody without the use of a phone ?

Did they really say this or is it a typo ?

Pete.

LOL no it actually says contact by telephone!

So it is better to ignore this letter than to write to them reminding them i take it?

Thanks

I think you will find that gym agreements, like mobile phone contracts etc., do not fall within the realm of the Consumer Credit Act.

The £10 they are requesting is probably for a subject access request under the Data Protection Act 1998. This of course does cover your situation and you should automatically get a copy of the agreement with such a request.

Oh no really?! So what now shall i contact the gym and ask for a copy or contact this debt agency? I thought i was onto a winner. They have recieved my request and not replied telling me this information, will that make bare any reasoning on my part if it goes to the solicitor? I feel stupid now

I was a member of fitness first for some time a few years back and decided I didnt like it anymore and cancelled my direct debit.

They ranted on for some time with there threat letters before they must have got bored and gave up.

Im not saying this is what happens for everyone ... Just my personal experience.

Thats what i thought, its only one gym and not a big chain, surely they arnt going to risk taking me to court and having to pay court fees on the chance that i can't pay! The court fees would possible be more than what i owed. My sister was a member at fitness first and she cancelled her DD, by saying theres a law that you only pay for you have used, but have since tried to google this and found nothing.

If they did take you to court, they could ask for their solicitors and court fees to be added to the bill.

Regardless of whether the debt is covered by the CCA or not, you have raised a genuine query against the debt, you can prove this, they are not allowed any enforcement action whilst a debt is in dispute. If they do decide to take you to court, that should be the basis of any defence.

i have a problem i had a letter come to my address off a debt collection agency telling me i owe £227 i made them a offer of £10 a month they accepted didnt ask me what money i was getting, then i get another letter off a different debt collector about another debt i owe whitch is £672 i phoned these up and told them that i could only afford £10 a month they said to me its got to be £12.00 a week because i was paying that to provident whats providents contract got to do with them so i set up a standing order to pay £5 a week not £12.00, a couple of weeks go by then they ring me saying that they cant accept £5 a week so where have they been for them 2 weeks i told them they are going to have to take the £5 a week and they said they dont have to take anything what should i do about it

Hi. Welcome to CAG.

I think it would be better to start your own thread. Click this link:

Debt Collection Industry - The Consumer Forums

Just down on the left is a new threaed button. Click on that and you can then start your own and I'll keep an eye out for you.