Hello all,

I would like to ask for some advice.

With CAG's help I have been trying to sort out my mum's finance situation recently

today she sent me a copy of a Litigation Warning letter from Midas Credit Services that she received.

I told her to ignore it as it uses terms like "possible further action" etc etc.

The reason for the letter is that my mum has apparently failed to reach a repayment agreement with Moorcroft Debt Recovery;

however my mum had a payment plan in place with Lloyds for £1 a month with a paying in book.

This was arranged after months of threats and harrassment by Lloyds prompted her to go to the CAB where a very knowledgeable man helped her sort out a new bank account and got Lloyds to stop adding interest to the amount.

She took the loan out over the phone in 2006 and was told she would only be accepted if she took out PPI as well.

The repayments were over £200 a month but 3 months later she lost her job, the insurance paid out for 1 month after which she turned 65 and was told the insurance no longer covered her!! (This alone makes me pretty angry )

My mum continued paying the installments, INCLUDING the PPI premium, for X amount of months until she rang them and asked if the PPI amount could be deducted off what she owed.

I assume they then cancelled the PPI.

After a few years of payments my mum then owed MORE than the original amount. ;

She was also advised to take out a Gold(?) account with Lloyds as she would be able to get a credit card.

She is currently in debt to Lloyds with all 3,

2 are with Apex Credit Management (she is paying a set amount off per month) and

the loan is with Moorcroft.

Moorcroft rang her after acquiring the debt and said £1 a month wasn't enough and that she should pay more..

she went to CAB and unfortunately the first man had transferred to another branch so she's been dealing with a less clued-up guy that she has to chase all the time.

He sent Moorcroft a letter saying all correspondence should be through CAB and offering £10 a month payments.

My mum told Moorcroft that she would only deal with them through CAB but they wrote to her saying they've had no letters from CAB and they want their money!

Sorry for the long essay but I'm trying to get all the details in (to the best of my knowledge) to avoid confusion.

So here are my questions:

1. Can Moorcroft demand extra payments and if not is there a complaints procedure regarding this?

2. Is it worth requesting a CCA, my mum is not disputing the debt but we really have no idea how much she's paid off and whether any fees have been added by Moorcroft or Lloyds

3. PPI complaints;

I think it's worth doing this as she was blatantly mis-sold this, especially as it didn't cover her only 5 months into the start date!!

However will requesting a CCA interfere with this, should one be sent in before the other?

4. Can previous interest accrued on the loan be written off as well as fees?

If we get the PPI refunded and work out that my mum has made payments totalling, say, half the original amount, would it be fair to say she will only pay off the remaining half and not the interest too?

My mum thinks that the debt was sold on because she missed a couple of payments and then paid twice the amount the following month.

She was told afterwards that this only proved to them that she could afford to make bigger payments

I have been with Lloyds TSB since I was born; my mum opened a savings account for me and my brother and I stayed with them ever since but after the way they've treated my mum I've moved to Santander .

I would really appreciate any help on this!

i would SAR lloyds

sounds like she has been spoofed blind

prob they owe HER!!

carry on with what she is doing £1PCM

till we get the SAR

then its reclaiming time!

dx

Thank you for the reply; an SAR is a new one on me!!

I have now read a bit about them,

I believe they can take 40 days?

Should a PPI claim be put in at the same time as well?

I was thinking of the CCA because if it turns out as not being enforceable in court then it would put my mum's mind at rest over these litigation letters.

Although I have seen a few people effectively put in 'limbo'after being told the DCA requires more time to get the information from the original creditor.

Should she make the payments to Lloyds?

She hasn't paid anything for the past few months because Moorcroft didn't send a direct debit mandate or any means of payment.

I've told her not to phone Moorcroft under any circumstances!

I may get her the telephone recording gadget just in case,

my mum still finds it hard to believe that companies will lie over the phone...

I'm also trying to press on her the importance of sending everything Signed For.

I would carry on paying LTSB - but only what your mother can afford - ie £1. would send a CCA request to Moorcroft now and at the same time SAR LTSB. Both letters in library

Never pay by direct debit - I have been paying LTSB cash over the counter and have ignored Moorcrap - now seen them off got the next DCA on my back.

Intend

Hi huppe

Send the SAR first, Template in the library. Get all the PPI charges on a spreadsheet, workout how much interest they owe you. Then put the claim in. Send a

CCA request, they have 14 days to respond, if they fail to do so, put the account into dispute. Don't set up a DD as stated earlier, you have no control on the amount taken. The SAR data that comes back will answer a lot of questions.

OK thank you I will send the SAR first and see what they come back with.

Do I need the first one on the list (for debt and DCA) or the second ( to reclaim penalty charges on credit cards/loans and PPI)?

I think the second as it mentions going into a local branch if necessary but I just want to make sure.

Will get it posted tomorrow!!

I'm dying to send a CCA too but I will hold off for now.

Should my mum ignore Moorcroft for the time being?

I will tell her to start paying Lloyds direct again.

Is it best to send a PO or a cheque?

I read a PO was better but read somewhere else that there is no record if these are cashed or not.

I would pay LTSB direct and cut out the DCA. Not sure about your last question - does this refer to the SAR, if so a Postal Order, if paying LTSB I always pay by cash in branch - I do it for son-inlaw - you only need the account number.

Intend

Yes sorry I meant when paying the SAR fee, should we send a cheque or a PO

Always safest to send a postal order. Lloyds probably wouldn't misuse the bank account details gleaned from a cheque but they might be tempted to do so if it's an account with one of their group companies.

Under no circumstances giver bank or card details to Moorcroft or any DCA. They simply cannot be trusted.

Agree with last statement - always best to try and keep it with the OC - with me CC still with LTSb and paying some off, loan, they moved to DCA despite an agreement, so have gone down CCA route and stopped paying.

Good luck

The second one is fine, infact they should send the same data, which is everything they hold. Once you've got everything, send off the CCA request.

Is it ok to leave the bit in about Lloyd's wrongdoing and mishandling of the account?

Seems a bit rude, or am I being old fashioned!

Will get this sent tomorrow and keep you updated.

Probably best to put it in writing to CAB that we'll be dealing with this on our own from now on too.

EDIT

My mum received another litigation letter this morning from Midas; should we just ignore them?

I googled Moorcroft/Midas and came across a website which recommends creating a tacit agreement with 3 template letters, or a Copyright & Trademark Procedure.

I can't find any info on CAG about this.

It seems to be a way of charging fees to the DCA's presumably in the hope that they'll go away.

Would you recommend this approach in tandem with the SAR request?

At the moment, get the SAR and CCA done. Ignore all else.

as a side issue

has she checked her CRA file?

dx

Oh dear,

I've just found out that my mum was originally paying £1/month for the other 2 accounts but Apex insisted she pay more.

She has already signed a direct debate mandate for £10/month for each account.

A payment went in late and they said she was in default so had to pay the full amount back.

she went to CAB and they added up her outgoings,

she said she could afford £20/month if she stopped paying for her alopecia medication

CAB wrote to Apex offering to pay £20 and they accepted.

Surely she shouldn't have do this?

Can we get the direct debit stopped and carry on with £1 payments?

She hasn't checked her CRA file, is that the one with Experian?

Just get her to ring the bank and cancel the direct debit or she should be able to do this online if she subscribes to their internet banking service.

Never give a debt collector a direct debit. They can easily misuse it.

what?

stop paying for medication to pay a ruddy credit card debt AND paying it too a tinpot DCA - NO NO NO !!!

can you get her to get a copy of her CRA file from experian?

we need to know WHAT debts are REAL!

dx

I will sort out Experian for her,

just asked her about paying lloyds direct and she said she went to pay in at a branch before and was told there was no such account number.

The girl behind the counter rang head office and was told Apex were dealing with it now and that my mum should have received direct debit mandates to fill in.

We could cancel the new direct debit amount and re-start the £1 ones?

if its lloyds do it be internet banking

NEVER EVER set up a DD to a DCA.

just vary the terms of the existing ones to £1 via internet banking

or better cancel them all.

do it via BACS on the internet banking site.

dx

Stop all DD payments now.

If LTSB won't accept payemts then stop paying.

If they still own the debt then they should accept your attempts to pay.

just to make it clear you should never, ever set up a DD to pay these people.

The DD can be abused by DCAs - I personally only pay cash in at a branch.

Had a reply from Lloyds thanking us for the PO but saying that to satisfy their verification procedures the letter we sent should have been signed by hand.

We can have the info sent to a local branch if we don't want to give a signature but need to send another form to them stating this

(along with whether we want info on all the accounts including bank statements or "just the accounts quoted in your original letter").

Surely the letter we sent was pretty clear about us wanting ALL the information that they hold?!

Is this just a stalling tactic?

They say if they don't hear back within a month they will close the file!

Happy Christmas everybody!

We sent the letter back to Lloyds requesting the info be sent to a local branch.

Got a proof of posting but didn't send it recorded as the letter came with a pre-paid envelope.

Still waiting for the info to be delivered.

I have helped her get a copy of her credit report

of the 15 or so credit agreements on there,

there are 3 Defaulted agreements all with Lloyds.

The credit card, loan and current account.

Can anyone advise me where to go from here?

I hate all this waiting for Lloyds

stick with £1pcm via internet banking

await 40 days for the sar

i would strongly advise she opens another bank account with a diff group

for her income

lloyds are sadly very well known for dipping their off-set fingers into account with money

to pay themselves on account with missed payments.

what are the other 12 accounts not more stuff shes paying i hope

dx

Thank you for the reply

I was quite surprised actually, apart from the 3 defaults the rest are either green and "settled" or green and "up to date".

There are some catalogue accounts, mobile phone contracts from years ago and current accounts with different banks.

Also a previously loan from Lloyds.

I noticed that the Lloyds credit card is listed twice but with slightly different amounts,

one classed as settled and the other as defaulted.

Both have the same start date.

Weird!

this is looking more and more like a cash cow situation.

the catalogue accounts are prob littered with £12 fees

dont forget you can reclaim all unlawful fees & of course mis-sold PPI

dx