Received a card from them today to say that 'Mr Lewis' will be visiting to discuss a personal matter between 8am & 7.30pm. They ask us to ring and confirm, of course we have not, are they allowed to visit us. Sorry it's so late but I've only just found this site, have to go to work at 15.30. Any advice would be very gratefully received. :?

Don't call them, don't worry about staying in and don't bother answering the door if he does come round. Ask him politely to leave and if he refuses then phone the police to report a suspicious person on your property. Don't answer any questions etc.

Then when he's gone, send Hunter Forrest a CCA request and make sure you clearly state that you want everything in writing and that they have no right to send someone to the door and that you will consider phone calls harassment.

Something similar to:

1 A Street

Anytown

Countyshire

AA11 2BB

 

Creditor Ltd. 13 August 2007

PO Box 111

22 Street Road

Anytown

BB22 1AA

 

To Whom It May Concern:

 

 

Your Reference: xxxx

I DO NOT ACKNOWLEDGE ANY DEBT TO YOUR COMPANY

 

 

With reference to the above account, I request that you send me a true copy of this credit agreement before I will correspond further on this matter.

This is my right under the legislation contained within section 77 (1) and section 78 (1) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, and I am entitled to receive a copy of my credit agreement on request.

 

 

Your obligation also extends to providing me with a statement of account. I enclose a £1 postal order, which represents payment of the statutory fee payable under the Consumer Credit Act. I understand that a copy of my credit agreement should be supplied within 12 working days from the date of this letter.

 

 

I understand that under the Consumer Credit Act, creditors are unable to enforce an agreement if they fail to comply with a request for a copy of the agreement under these sections of the Act.

 

 

Also, since you are a Debt Collection Agency, I would also ask that you supply a signed true copy of the executed deed of assignment for the above referenced agreement. This is an obligation, whether you are the original creditor or not, under section 189 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

 

 

Non-compliance with my request is a criminal offence under the above Act and will result in a report being submitted to the relevant statutory authorities.

In summary, I DO NOT ACKNOWLEDGE ANY DEBT TO YOURSELVES AND THEREFORE REQUIRE YOU TO SUBSTANTIATE THIS BY PROVIDING THE FOLLOWING DOCUMENTATION BEFORE I CORRESPOND FURTHER :

1. True copy of original credit agreement
   
   
2. Statement of account
   
3. Copy of the executed deed of assignment from (Name of OC) and (Name of DCA)
   
4. Fair Processing Notice.

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.

 

 

Take note at this stage, that any legal action you may contemplate will be both vigorously defended and contested.

 

 

Further to the above, please ensure that any contact by yourselves is made in writing only to the above address. Telephone calls and personal visits will not be accepted and viewed as harassment. With reference to your comments about someone visiting me at my home, please be advised that I will only communicate with you in writing. Should it be your intention to arrange a “doorstep call” anyway, please be advised that under OFT rules, you can only visit me at my home if you make an appointment and I have no wish to make an appointment with you.

 

There is only an implied license under Common Law for people to be able to visit me on my property without express permission; the postman and people asking for directions etc (Armstrong v. Sheppard and Short Ltd [1959] 2 Q.B. per Lord Evershed M.R.). Therefore take note that I revoke license under Common Law for you, or your representatives to visit me at my property and if you do so, then you will be liable to damages for a tort of trespass and action will be taken, including but not limited to, police attendance.

 

 

As this account is now in dispute, I would also draw your attention to The Banking Code section 13.6:-

We may give information to the Credit Reference Agencies about personal debts you owe us if:

·The Amount Owed is Not in Dispute.

·The Office of Fair Trading provided a Code of Guidance that is in relation to Debt Collection: OFT 664 Response to consultation paper and final guidance on unfair business practices dated July 2003

Deceptive and/or Unfair Methods-

2.8 Examples of unfair practices are as follows:-

k. Not ceasing collection activity whilst investigating a reasonably queried or disputed debt.

 

 

If you continue in your pursuance of this account I will have no other alternative than to report you to both, The Information Commissioner and The Office of Fair Trading. Furthermore, I shall submit a Consumer Credit Act 1974 complaint to the OFT upon the basis that you have failed to comply with the OFT's direction of 5 April 2006 and are therefore not a 'fit and proper person' to hold a consumer credit licence under the 1974 Act. If you do not understand what this means then seek advice from your legal department.

I look forward to hearing from you within the statutory time limit.

Yours faithfully

 

 

 

Mr F Bloggs

They are allowed to visit you with your consent.

If they do turn up, politely but firmly tell them to go away. They have no legal right of entry, but even so if you don't feel comfortable opening the door talk to them through a letterbox or window.

If you feel that the situation might escalate, call the police and report a breach of the peace.

Keep calm, remember YOU are in control and YOU have the law on your side.

Anyway, I'm willing to bet they don't show up

Thanks a lot for the advice, 'Mr Lewis' did not show but at least I now feel prepared just in case.

Thanks again

Is this their first contact with you or have you previously received letters from them regarding an account?

Did the card actually say 'visiting' or did it say 'calling'? Well known tactic of these lowlifes when what they actually mean is ringing you.

I had a card from a DCA saying 'we called today but you were not in' which would have worked well except that on that particular day I was in and the card was handed to me by the postman:D

What they were probably hoping was that you would ring them in panic... at which point, they would have used the usual tactics to frighten you into making payments....

If you don't call, you may not even hear from them again. If they were that sure that you were the person they were looking for, then they would have tried to contact you on the 'phone first. If they haven't done this, then chances are they haven't got a 'phone number for you.... so the postcard is the next best thing, so to speak.

Don't play the game... ignore it until/unless they write to you. With any luck, you'll not hear from them again.

Thanks again everyone, Rory32, no this is not our first contact with them, we have had letters and an attempt to make us fill in an Attatchment of earnings form, all ignored.

Goldlady the card says, Mr Lewis will be calling on you, they have no contact number for us.

This is re: a mortgage shortfall dispute that we have with Halifax, they (Halifax) have served no legal papers on us at all, we have just had letters from various solicitors and agencies like Hunter Forrest. This has been going on for nearly 8 years now and they have tried lots of tactics but we've never been threatened with being called on before.

To cut a long story short, we purchased a house, lived there for five years, hubby made redundant, kept up the payments for as long as we could but in the end had to admit defeat. Halifax would not let us stay there until we'd sold it so we handed back the keys and they sold it for less than half of what it was worth. Currently pursuing us for k17, a lot of money I know and possibly some of you will be disgusted.

This has been going on for nearly 8 years now and they have tried lots of tactics but we've never been threatened with being called on before.

have you paid anything in the last 8 years or signed anything acknowledging the debt? If not then this Debt will be statue Barred after 6 years and you don't have to pay a penny.

Unless its differnet in this case, sure somebody with more nous than me will let you know.

Isn't it 12 years for a secured loan/mortgage?

Anyway, oldgirl, if there's anything to be disgusted about it's Halifax's behaviour. Don't beat yourself up, most of us are here because our circumstances changed and we found ourselves in trouble with unsympathetic lenders.

Thanks again everyone, Rory32, no this is not our first contact with them, we have had letters and an attempt to make us fill in an Attatchment of earnings form, all ignored.

Goldlady the card says, Mr Lewis will be calling on you, they have no contact number for us.

This is re: a mortgage shortfall dispute that we have with Halifax, they (Halifax) have served no legal papers on us at all, we have just had letters from various solicitors and agencies like Hunter Forrest. This has been going on for nearly 8 years now and they have tried lots of tactics but we've never been threatened with being called on before.

To cut a long story short, we purchased a house, lived there for five years, hubby made redundant, kept up the payments for as long as we could but in the end had to admit defeat. Halifax would not let us stay there until we'd sold it so we handed back the keys and they sold it for less than half of what it was worth. Currently pursuing us for k17, a lot of money I know and possibly some of you will be disgusted.

After so long, I suspect this account has been sold to these people, in which case... you really do need to ignore them until they make written contact with you, threatening legal action.... or issue court papers. At the moment, I think they are just fishing around and waiting for you to confirm that you are the person they are chasing.... so don't do it. While they remain unsure of who you are, they are very unlikely to pursue you too hard..... and as they don't appear to have a 'phone number for you.... their only method is to try and scare the poo out of you by using the old postcard trick.

As for being disgusted with you.... perish the thought !! I doubt anyone on here would judge you for anything. I did something similar and was pursued for a far greater amount anyway.

If they make any written contact threatening legal action... or issue court papers, then please come on here for advice.... but under no circumstances, confirm to them who you are at this stage ! It's actually 12 years that you can be pursued for and not 6. On shortfall debts, only the interest can be pursued for 6 years.... but the capital can be pursued for 12. If I am wrong on this, I'm sure Rory will point it out.

Hi Mike, after Halifax had sold the house we had no contact from them, they knew where we were. About 2 years after we had left the house we were contacted by Direct Legal & General reference the shortfall. Having never had any dealings with debt collectors before we were scared, agreed to pay them £40 a month which we did for a year. They then got greedy and demanded £100 a month which we could not afford. I found a super site online called The UK Home repo page, they advised no contact. Despite the fact we'd been paying them we stopped payments, that was towards the end of 1999, since then we have been contacted by solicitors acting for the Halifax and various debt collectors. We usually hear about every 3 months, one solicitor sent us a letter every week for 3 months then we never heard from them again. The Halifax have given us no proof of how they marketed the house, or actual proof of how much they got for it. Nor has there been any court action on their part, no court order for them to get money from us.

Thanks everyone

Another Typical Story demanding money without giving the payer full facts of what is owed etc.

I have to agree with P1 less is more in this case don't contact them at all unless you have too.

On shortfall debts, only the interest can be pursued for 6 years.... but the capital can be pursued for 12. If I am wrong on this, I'm sure Rory will point it out.

Just a quick recap on our situation (is it really nearly 7 years) for the past two years we have had quarterly letters from Gosschalks solicitors, (& numerous others before them) asking us to contact them as they want to help us (yeah right), the last two have contained income and expenditure forms & also say that their client (Halifax) will consider a settlement payment (all ignored). We are now both pensioners & hubby had to leave work 3 years earlier than planned due to ill health, so they stand absolutely no chance of getting a penny, also it's nearly 14 years now surely they will give up soon, although they have told us 'this debt will not go away', we no longer worry about it, we have no assets & rent our home. Our main problem now are our credit cards, I have a feeling they will be getting pro rata payment letters soon, sadly I fear we may die in debt.

Just a quick recap on our situation (is it really nearly 7 years) for the past two years we have had quarterly letters from Gosschalks solicitors, (& numerous others before them) asking us to contact them as they want to help us (yeah right), the last two have contained income and expenditure forms & also say that their client (Halifax) will consider a settlement payment (all ignored). We are now both pensioners & hubby had to leave work 3 years earlier than planned due to ill health, so they stand absolutely no chance of getting a penny, also it's nearly 14 years now surely they will give up soon, although they have told us 'this debt will not go away', we no longer worry about it, we have no assets & rent our home. Our main problem now are our credit cards, I have a feeling they will be getting pro rata payment letters soon, sadly I fear we may die in debt.

14 years since the short fall occurred? If so the Council of Mortgage lenders agreed that its members would not pursue shortfall debts after 6 years if there had been no relevant contact with the debtor.

Personally I would tell them openly about your situation and "suggest" that the debt should be written off completely as there is no reasonable hope of there ever being satisfied.

As I read it you have not made any payments or acknowledged any debt since 1999 so it must be statute barred. Forget it.

sadly I fear we may die in debt.

A friend of mine once said.. If you die in debt, you die in profit.

LOL.

Thanks everyone for your comments, not really worrying about it as we have nothing to give them anyway.

Thanks everyone for your comments, not really worrying about it as we have nothing to give them anyway.

Good attitude! I always think there's no point worrying about things you can't do anything about.

I used to worry Caro but have grown older and wiser, all we have are our pensions, property is rented, and we have no savings so we just get on with life, will shortly be writing to credit card companies asking them to take smaller payments, if they refuse well it's tough as smaller payments is what they will be getting.

Still receiving letters from Shoosmiths, latest one threatening court action (by our client), usual expenditure sheet.

All of which will be ignored, do these people never give up, not worrying, nothing to give them, no assets and hubby very ill.

Thanks for listening folks.