JOHNWRIGHT v SMILE £2400

[biglondon12]

Prelim sent today, 2wks and counting....

[closey]

Blimey, I see you've had two successful claims, well done. Best of luck with this one.

[biglondon12]

Okay ....at MCOL stage and Co-Op have just offered me the full amount but they are saying they will pay my DCA the £2000 I owe them, and a cheque has arrived for the remaining £400. The account has been closed and was closed due to the charges taking the account over it's limit and beyond. I also want the default register removed.

My argument is that I have priority debts and want them to pay me direct, however what I want to do is negotiate a reduced settlement with the Data Protection Act for clear reasons.

Can anyway help? Not sure how to approach, was going to write to them insisting on settlement subject to cheque payment for the full amount and removal of the default for both credit card and current account.

Thanks in advance,

Big JW

[bottomburp]

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[biglondon12]

do you think so? you could well be right....i am on a debt management plan and pay the DCA a reduced payment so I can see whay they would be within their right to keep hold of the money.

i guess on one hand it will be good to have the debt wiped out, on the other hand i was thinking Xmas!

cheers for your advice...

[biglondon12]

regardingh the defaults though, they should remove those so i should include this condition in my reply surely?

[bottomburp]

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[biglondon12]

hang on - i have two accounts with Equidebt, one for my credit card and one for my overdraft. They are trying to settle both accounts in one go. Surely they are only allowed to settle the overdraft because that is what the claim is for? The credit card is a seperate matter.....
I think i should be writing back accepting the £400 cheque as part payment, they can settle the overdraft account but the remainder must be paid to me by cheque, and the default removed.

[bottomburp]

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[biglondon12]

Good, thought so. Thanks for your advice. They must keep them seperate.

They were quite happy to send both my accounts to the DCA at the same time but yes, when it comes to this all of a suddent it's one account.

Doubtless they have more tricks up their sleeve - i will send the letter and see how willing they are to remove the default!


Thanks again...

[caro]

If you haven't answered the letter just consider a couple of other considerations first.

1. Did you ask for the default to be removed as part of the claim? If not you can't add it to your claim now.

2. If you did ask for the default to be removed as part of the claim do not accept the cash settlement in any form. A case for removal of a default was recently lost as the judge refused to consider the issue of the legality of bank charges, because that part of the claim had already been settled.

Defaults are not my strong point so let me find someone with more experience of this for you.

[jonni2bad]

Hi,

This default is now certainly a serious consideration when accepting payment. You are very likely to get a hearing based on the default issue if they settle the cash part and recent experience would suggest that you would be harming your case for the removal if don't get a chance to talk about charges in court.

There are a couple of considerations, some covered above by Caro...

Please let us know if you included the removal as part of your letters and the PoC - could you also please show your PoC, or at least PM them to me.

Secondly, what were the level of charges imposed AT THE DATE OF DEFAULT (not just your total claim).

Finally, if you do not accept the payment without the removal of the default and your whole case gets to court, you would then be able to argue for payment by cheque rather than them paying off some part into your old account - this would not be a 'given' and would be based primarily on the Judge you get etc.