CCA non comp - gargoil v DL&C

[gargoil]

CCA request was sent on 18/8 and deemed received on 20/8. They have now been in default for one month so I believe they have now commited an offence. Sending this letter off to them tomorrow morning.

 

Direct Legal&Collections

Buckingham Road

Brackley

Northamptonshire

NN13 7DN

Ref: - XXXXX

LETTER BEFORE ACTION

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

You have now failed to supply me with a copy of the original signed agreement for the alleged “debt” you are trying to enforce. This request was sent on 18/08/2006 together with the statutory fee of £1.00.

 

I have given you more than enough time to supply the original signed agreement and you have now exceeded the allowed time. By not supplying the documentation I believe you have now committed a criminal act under the legislation contained within section 77 (1) and section 78 (1) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

 

You are reminded that you were obliged to supply these documents, whether you are the original creditor or not, under section 189 of the CCA 1974.

 

I do not acknowledge any debt to Direct Legal & Collections.

 

As you are aware, a credit agreement that is not properly documented and signed by the customer is totally unenforceable under the CCA and therefore is a complete defence to any court claim that is issued.

 

I will therefore no longer be making payments against this "debt" as it is unenforceable. I now consider the matter closed and no further correspondence regarding payment will be entered into. If you persist on pursuing payment you will have left me no choice but to report this matter to Trading Standards

 

Additionally I require the removal of any defaults entered against my name. You have 14 days to comply and confirm in writing or I will apply to my local Sheriff Court for an order to enforce compliance, together with damages at the discretion of the court.

 

Yours Faithfully,

 

Gargoil

 

 

CC: Trading Standards

[pford]

Best of luck. Still not heard anything over mine letting Trading Standards deal with them now.

[gargoil]

Cheers! Been following your thread pford, Do you have a copy of th eletter you sen to TS that you could PM me? I'm not really sure quite what to say in it and am having trouble drafting one!!

[gargoil]

I have drafted a letter to TS on this matter which I will CC to Trading Standards. Hope its ok.

 

Northamptonshire County Council

Trading Standards Service

Wootton Hall Park

Northampton

Northamptonshire

NN4 OGB

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

I am writing to complain about a company Direct Legal&Collections

, whose business address is Buckingham Road, Brackley, Northamptonshire, NN13 7DN. This company have been contacting me in order to recover a debt which I do not acknowledge to them.

 

On 18th August 2006 I wrote to Direct Legal&Collections requesting a copy of the original signed credit agreement in respect of an alleged debt this company had been contacting me about. This is my right under the legislation contained within s.78 (1) Consumer Credit Act 1974 (s.77 (1) for fixed sum credit) I enclosed the statutory amount of £1 (by postal order) as payment fee, PO Serial Number 18500528.

 

Direct Legal&Collections are obliged to supply these documents, whether they are the original creditor or not under S189 of the CCA 1974.

 

I believe this company have now committed a criminal offence as they have failed to provide a copy of the original signed credit agreement and have been in default for more than one month since the initial 12 working days allowable under the above mentioned legislation expired.

 

A default has been recorded on my credit file in respect to this matter and I would like to have it removed as I believe it has been applied unlawfully. Also I believe that Direct Legal&Collections will continue to pursue me both by telephone and letter to repay this alleged debt.

 

Today I have written to them asking them to remove this default and to confirm to me that I owe them no money. I would like you to investigate this company regarding this matter and take action against them. I am of the opinion that they are unfit to hold a consumer credit license.

 

 

 

I have included a copy of the cca request sent to Direct Legal&Collections on 18/8 and also a copy of the complaint/ non compliance letter I have sent them today (5th September.)

 

Yours Faithfully

 

 

gargoil

 

 

CC Direct Legal&Collections

[nona]

Hi gargoil,

Sorry to but unto your thread, but i am also ealing with DL&C. You are the only person i've come across who has ever heard of them! Can you tell me if they're just a DCA or are they actually something to do with MBNA?

Would be grateful for any info

Thanks, Nona

[gargoil]

They are a seperate company from MBNA. They are a debt collection agency whom MBNA sell debt onto. Probably at a pittance of a price. They are also a pain in the arse but i am about to become a pain for them now!!

[jimfishybob]

I'm dealing with them too at the moment:-

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/debt-bailiffs-advice/29248-advice-opinions.html

 

30 days expires on Sunday.

[gargoil]

Go get them jim!!!!!!!!!

[pford]

Cheers! Been following your thread pford, Do you have a copy of th eletter you sen to TS that you could PM me? I'm not really sure quite what to say in it and am having trouble drafting one!!

 

 

Did all mine by phone. I only had to send them copies of all documentation between me and the bank they are now dealing with it

[gargoil]

pford did trading standards give you any indication of what they would actually do?

[pford]

Nope just told me to keep paying them as it would look good if it went to court

[shovey]

Hi ev1, im dealing with dl&c too. My debt was bought from citi cards. Could someone give me a copy of your letter for the CCA please. To send to them.

[gargoil]

Well got a reply in from "Hillsden" who I think are dl&c, letter is also cc'd to TS. They have certainly backed off from the usual "Gie us the money or we'll send in the heavies!" tact. However I think the letter is computer generated. This makes me more determined to start court action against them. The letter...

 

Thank you for your letter dated 5th October 2006. This has been passed to me for attention. I regret our failure to respond more fully to your letter and apologise for the delay.

 

I would confirm and advise the following:-

 

1. I acknowledge the £1 payment in connection with your data requests. We are still awaiting a copy of your original signed agreement from MBNA, together with your state ment of account. When these are avilable they will be forwarded.

 

2.If we are unable to forward a copy of th eoriginal agreement, we will be able to supply a true copy of the document which will comply with section 78 of the CCA.

 

3.In view of the current dispute, and our inability to supply a copy of the document at this time, we shall ask the CRA's to suppress our entry pending resolution.

 

Should you require anythiong further at this point please contact me accordingly. I will update you on developments in 21 days if there are no developments beforehand.

 

Yours sincerely

DIrector & Data Controller

dl&c

 

I plan to write back saying I will be sticking to my own timetable etc, further emphasising the criminal aspect and asking what the "suppress our CRA entry" actually means as I think thisis just a fob of statement." I will quote an exact date for me putting in summons and may even quote some of the particulars of claim to him. feel as if I'm going in the right direction. Expected a more agressive responce from them.

[jannercobbler]

Hillesden ARE Direct Legal & Collections, I have been dealing with them for about 2 months, I have received the exact same letter as above. i'm just waiting to see if the default drops of my credit file in the next few days, if not then further letters will follow to Hillesden, Trading Standards and also to the Credit Reference agencies stating Hillesdens Letter.

 

As a side note they have 12 WORKING days (after which any debt is unenforcable) and then a further Month, (after which they are committing an offence). Then they can be reported to the Trading Standards office.

[Tobes]

lol i got the exact same letter

[gargoil]

As a side note they have 12 WORKING days (after which any debt is unenforcable) and then a further Month, (after which they are committing an offence). Then they can be reported to the Trading Standards office.

 

They've already had more than that!

[nona]

Hi folks,

I am a bit out of my depth here i think, but i cancelled my DD to DL&C-to get them to write to me so i knew how to contact them-and they have threatened me with an enforcement order and bankruptcy. I have sent them a CCA letter requesting the signed agreement which they signed for on Friday. My questions are; should i resume payments? After the 12 days have they run out of time? Their letter seems to suggest that they can still try to get the signed agreement fromt he bank. Should I send them a SAR?

Thanks

Nona

[gargoil]

If I were you I'd do this...

 

1)Make a token payment if you can afford too as the debt is still enforceable before the 12 days are up and would look like good reasonable behaviour from you in the future if you needed to go to court.

2)Once the 12 days are up you can stop paying as they are now in default. Do nothing at this time, if they write to you write back pointing out this fact.

3)If the default continues for 30 days or 1 calendar month they have then commited a criminal offence and you have various things you can do then including bringing in trading standards etc, but we can deal with that then.

 

If they do produce the CCA agreement before he total 12 working days and then 1 month you can ask them to accept a reduced monthly payment but I think it is best that you can pay as much as you can afford. Theres template letters in the "debt collection & bailiff" section.

 

I definately think it is a good idea to sendthe Data Protection Act S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) to both dl&c and the original creditor and then you can use penalty charge sas the reason for account dispute. I don't think it is a good idea to use this method for debt avoidance. If anything it may give you a payment break for a shotwhile if you are short of money!

 

Also refuse to speak to them on the phone. If they persist in calling there are various letters on the forum to send them. You 'll probably find these if you do a search for "harrasment".

 

Best Of uck!!!

[nona]

Thanks for that Gargoil xx

[gargoil]

Sending out this letter to keep them on their toes...

 

Dear Sir,

In response to your letter dated 6th October 2006 and further to my initial letter of 5th October 2006. I would like to address the three bullet points that you made in your letter without acknowledging this debt to your company:-

1). You are reminded that under the legislation contained within section 78 (1) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 you are legally required to provide the requested documentation within a strict time limit You are also reminded that you were obliged to supply these documents, whether you are the original creditor or not, under section 189 of the CCA 1974. If you now produce this documentation I will still be proceeding with my court action as detailed in my initial letter due to your non-compliance detailed in this legislation. I will again draw your attention to the fact that By not supplying the documentation you may now have committed a criminal act.

2). You state that if you are unable to forward me a copy of the original agreement you will be able to supply a true copy of the document. Only a properly formatted and signed agreement will comply with the above mentioned legislation.

3).Can you please explain the meaning of your statement “suppress our entry”? Only a complete removal of this entry from my credit file will be acceptable to resolve this issue.

I inititially gave you 14 days from the date of my first letter. As a gesture of goodwill on my behalf I will now give you 14 days from the date of this letter to reflect and act as I have requested. Please let me reiterate only a complete removal of the default entered on my credit file and a confirmation that there is no balance owed will stop me proceeding to obtain a court order.

Yours faithfully,

gargoil

[jannercobbler]

Their computers must be doing a batch job as my letter from them was also dated 6th October.

 

NONA after the 12 WORKING days are up they are in default and they have to apply to a Court and explain to the Judge why they are in default and request permission to continue enforcing any debt.

[gargoil]

I think I may now DPA SAR them to find out how much I have paid to them as I think I may consider trying to claim this figure back. Has anyone filled out or drafted a particulars of claim for this type of action yet? I don't recall seeing any on the forum anywhere, it would be helpful to have one as a guideline for drafting my own.

[jimfishybob]

Not actually a particulars of claim but this may help.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/debt-bailiffs-advice/36186-ongoing-saga.html

 

Is my letter and I will probably use the bulk of it as particulars of claim if and when the time comes.

[jannercobbler]

Gargoil I have used your letter with a few amendments / inserts hope you don't mind.

 

This is what is heading towards them today.

 

In response to your letter dated 6th October 2006 and further to my letter of 4th October 2006. I would like to bring your attention to the following points:-

 

1. Although you acknowledge receipt for payment of £10 for my requested Subject Access Request, and have sent a print out of the information that you currently hold, I note that there is no statement of account for any alleged debt.

 

2. You are reminded that under the legislation contained within section 78 (1) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 you are legally required to provide a properly formatted and signed original agreement or a true copy of the document within a strict time limit, this limit being, 12 Working days after which you are in default, followed by 1 (one) calendar month after which you may have committed a criminal offence.

 

You are also reminded that under section 189 of the CCA 1974, you are obliged to supply these documents within the required timescales, whether you are the original creditor or not.

 

3. I first wrote to you on 2nd August 2006 via recorded delivery, requesting a true copy of the signed agreement under the terms of sec. 77(1) and 78(1) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, enclosing the statutory maximum fee of £1 in the form of a cheque. Therefore you have failed to adhere to the strict timescale permitted.

 

If you now produce this documentation, I will initiate a Court Action due to your non-compliance detailed in the above legislation.

 

I would like to again draw your attention to the fact that by not supplying the documentation requested within the strict timescales permitted you may now have committed a criminal act.

 

4. Therefore the only resolution will be a complete removal of your entry from my credit files, complete cessation of continuing to store, process or communicate my data and confirmation that there is no balance owed.

 

I initially gave you 7 days from the date of my last letter 4th October 2006. As a gesture of goodwill I will allow you a further 7 days from the date of this letter to act as I have requested. In any event, I shall expect a written confirmation from you acknowledging the contents of this letter within 5 working days.

 

 

I trust that I have made my position clear, and that Hillesden will now make a serious effort to understand its legal obligations and effect the changes requested. Should you be in any doubt as to the obligations as a Data Controller, then I would advise that you consult your corporate counsel.

 

Please let me reiterate again, that only a complete removal of the default entered on my credit files and a confirmation that there is no balance owed will stop me proceeding to obtain a court order.

 

Yours faithfully,

[gargoil]

Thats really good. At least there are quite a few of us at the same stage against these guys. Are you just seeking removal of default/ confirmation that account is settled or are you going to try and claim back monies paid?