Is this an accurate reply?

Intrum Justitia are [problematic] and letters like this are becoming more and more common. DO NOT on any account pay them money. All legitimate collection agencies have access to the Credit Reference files which means that they will always have correct details of your name and address. The fact that Intrum Justitia use inaccurate variations of peoples names and addresses should ring alarm bells, but unfortunately many people do pay them. Also DO NOT phone them. Their number is a premium rate number and costs upto £3:50 per minute so people do not realise they been scammed until they get their next phone bill. Ignore their letters.

Can anyone help. I have received 5 letters from Irwin Mitchell/Intrum Justitia who saying that I have a debt with paypal. All the letters are addresses to variations of my name and address but are close enough for the postman to deliver them to me. I have never had any dealing with paypal. The amount is different on all 5 letters and varies from £87 to £502. There is a phone number to call to discuss it. Should I write or call to query this?

Saw this question and reply on another forum. Is it accurate?

thanks, i will do that over the weekend. hopefully it wil reduce the debt a bit. any other tips to lower the debt.......or get rid of it totally

Today I heard back from the DCA that they will no longer be persuing me for the debt of £600+. They (eversheds) couldnt produce the CCA and after sending me threatening letters for the last 5 months they now seem to have accept defeat. So many thanks to all those member of this forum who gave me advise throughout. This is three wins in a row. Two large debts of £2000+ each written off last year (again due to advise from this forum). I am now only left with £1700+ mastercard debt with HSBC. I can see no way out of this debt, although since Nov 2007 I do have an agreement with their dca (central debt recovery unit) that they will accept £5 a month which I am happy with. Anyhow, many thanks to everyone. Thats £5k worth of debt you have helped me get rid of without having to pay a penny!!! (Now, if anyone knows of a way to get rid of the mastercard debt.......)

cheers mate, i have included that in my letter to the DCA, many thanks. the DCA (eversheds) keep writing to me at least twice a week for the last three months demanding payment. they say that they dont have the CCA, but still want payment. i know that this is probably an obvious question, but without the CCA there is no need to pay them anything. is that correct?

cheers for your reply mate. my worry is that we have my parents with us for the next 2 months whilst they have some work done on their place. so you can imagine that i am not keen on some collection agent turning up. i have written a letter back to the DCA telling them (again) that without the CCA there is no way any payment will be made. i have also told them that this is my last letter to them and if they want to communicate with me further then it will have to be through the courts.

DCA have repeatedly refused to provide a copy of the CCA. Today I received this letter from the DCA.. "You have failed to make repayment as requested in connection with the outstanding debt of £597 "Please note that our instructions are now to commence further action. We may now without further notice issue proceedings through the Court, or alternatively, instruct a local collection agent, who will attend your address to arrage repayment. "Should you wish to avoid such steps becoming necessary, please ensure that you now respond by return of post to this letter". I dont want a collection agent turning up at my doorstep so what do I do. (I dont think they mean a baliff, i think that it will just be one of their own representatives)

i have the recorded delivery recepit of rmy letter etc, and also written confirmation from them of my request for CCA. i wont phone them (im no good on the phone anyhow...i get all flustered). thanks for advise

I am hoping that this is a simple question that will be easaily answered by someone I put in a CCA request at start of Dec. the DCA wrote back saying that they dont have a copy but kept sending me letter demanding payment and threatening court action, baliffs etc. Each time they did this i wrote back and told them that without providing a copy of the CCA i would be making no payment. They always wrote back within 2 days repeating that they dont have the CCA but still want payment or it court and baliffs. Today i received a new letter from them again saying that they dont have the CCA but asking me to telephone them to discuss "my account". As I see it i dont need to phone them as my situation (no CCA = no payment) is clear. Is there anyone who has been in a similar situation who can advise me if I am right in not phoning them. Many thanks

cheers. i am calm (well most of the time). its just that the continous letters from them are a bit frustrating. im sure you understand

has anyone had any dealings with this firm?

the dca is Eversheds

Sooooo.....if they do take me to court, do i need to turn up???????/

thanks for the replies lads. much appreciated.

If they take me to court, do i need to go in person or can i send a letter to the court explaining everything?

Thanks, that what i thought. I got another letter from them this morning threatening me with the baliffs. Very worried about it. Can they send them or are they just trying to bully me into paying?

The debt collection agency is refusing to provide me with a CCA. I sent a letter by registered post with the payment mid December. They have written to me twice saying that they dont have the CCA but that they still have the right to chase up thedebt. (The original debt is with Northern Rock). The DCA have told me that if I want the CCA then I must write to Northern Rock. From reading other threads I believe that i dont need to make any payments until they provide the CCA. Is this right?

Yes, I have one with mastercard for £1750 and they have accepted £5 per month. I have already offered NR £10 per month. They have turned this down. So I am happy for them to take this to court as £10 per month is the maximum i can pay.

Have a loan with Northern Rock. Got laid off work so couldnt pay for a few months. I wrote to NR and told them and said that I would start paying again when I was back on my feet. Anyhow, received a letter from them saying that as I hadnt made any payment for three months they had terminated my contract with them. As far as I know, my contract was that I paid them. So if they have terminated this contract does this mean that technically I dont have to pay them anymore???

I sent them this: Dear Sir/Madam Re:- Account/Reference Number As you are aware, on August 2nd I wrote to you via recorded delivery, which was delivered on the 03/08/2007, requesting a true copy of the signed credit agreement. I am entitled to this under the terms of sec’s. 77(1) and 78(1) of the Consumer Credit Act (CCA) 1974, I also enclosed the statutory maximum fee of £1 in the form of a postal order. You wrote back acknowledging my letter and stating that a full copy would be “forwarded to me within 28 days”. In the mean time you have repeatedly bullied me into agreeing to payment commitments I could not afford. To this date I have not been provided with a signed agreement under the consumer credit act within the required time frame, despite my properly formatted and paid for request. I assume you are familiar with the consumer credit act and therefore well aware that the debt is legally unenforceable if an executed agreement cannot be provided within a certain timeframe. This timeframe has now passed, (as has the timeframe of 28 days stipulated by yourself). I therefore do not acknowledge any “debt” to Northern Rock plc and I will not be making any payment against this "debt" as it is now unenforceable. I would also like to remind you that failure to comply with a CCA request is a criminal offence under the terms of the Consumer Credit Act, which I have reported to the appropriate authorities, including but not limited to the Office of Fair Trading, Trading Standards and the Financial Ombudsman. Also non compliance with the original request is therefore a complete defence to any court claim that is issued. The Office of Fair Trading, Trading Standards and the Financial Ombudsman have been notified of your failure to comply with a CCA request and that you and/or representatives have committed a criminal offence under the terms of the Consumer Credit Act I have been advised by Citizens Advice to record any further calls from Northern Rock and pass details of the calls onto the above authorities. They have also told me to pass any further letters from Northern Rock onto the same above authorities. I have also taken legal advice and have been told that as this debt is now unenforceable, any further contact from Northern Rock will be deemed as harassment and will result in legal action against yourselves. I know that you will write to me threatening legal action. I am happy for this to go to court as you will have to stand before the judge and admit to committing offences under The Consumer Credit Act 1974. You may also decide to pass this onto a debt collection agency. As you have failed to comply with a CCA request, this will be seen as continued harassment from Northern Rock and you will be in further breach of the Credit Consumer Act of 1974. I urge you to read the whole of this letter very carefully. As, as of today, the 18th September 2007, I no longer acknowledge any debt to you as you have clearly committed offences in repeatedly breaching The Consumer Credit Act 1974 . Any further requests for payment from you or your representatives will be thrown straight in the bin and reported to the above trading offices, and any visits by collections agents will be refused and reported to the above trading offices. Yours faithfully

Here's a copy of the 'you can stick it' letter that has got me out of a few debts Dear Sir/Madam Re:- Account/Reference Number ***** As you are aware, on August 2nd I wrote to you via recorded delivery, which was delivered on the 03/08/2007, requesting a true copy of the signed credit agreement. I am entitled to this under the terms of sec’s. 77(1) and 78(1) of the Consumer Credit Act (CCA) 1974, I also enclosed the statutory maximum fee of £1 in the form of a postal order. You wrote back acknowledging my letter and stating that a full copy would be “forwarded to me within 28 days”. In the mean time you have repeatedly bullied me into agreeing to payment commitments I could not afford. To this date I have not been provided with a signed agreement under the consumer credit act within the required time frame, despite my properly formatted and paid for request. I assume you are familiar with the consumer credit act and therefore well aware that the debt is legally unenforceable if an executed agreement cannot be provided within a certain timeframe. This timeframe has now passed, (as has the timeframe of 28 days stipulated by yourself). I therefore do not acknowledge any “debt” to Northern Rock plc and I will not be making any payment against this "debt" as it is now unenforceable. I would also like to remind you that failure to comply with a CCA request is a criminal offence under the terms of the Consumer Credit Act, which I have reported to the appropriate authorities, including but not limited to the Office of Fair Trading, Trading Standards and the Financial Ombudsman. Also non compliance with the original request is therefore a complete defence to any court claim that is issued. The Office of Fair Trading, Trading Standards and the Financial Ombudsman have been notified of your failure to comply with a CCA request and that you and/or representatives have committed a criminal offence under the terms of the Consumer Credit Act I have been advised by Citizens Advice to record any further calls from Northern Rock and pass details of the calls onto the above authorities. They have also told me to pass any further letters from Northern Rock onto the same above authorities. I have also taken legal advice and have been told that as this debt is now unenforceable, any further contact from Northern Rock will be deemed as harassment and will result in legal action against yourselves. I know that you will write to me threatening legal action. I am happy for this to go to court as you will have to stand before the judge and admit to committing offences under The Consumer Credit Act 1974. You may also decide to pass this onto a debt collection agency. As you have failed to comply with a CCA request, this will be seen as continued harassment from Northern Rock and you will be in further breach of the Credit Consumer Act of 1974. I urge you to read the whole of this letter very carefully. As, as of today, the 18th September 2007, I no longer acknowledge any debt to you as you have clearly committed offences in repeatedly breaching The Consumer Credit Act 1974 . Any further requests for payment from you or your representatives will be thrown straight in the bin and reported to the above trading offices, and any visits by collections agents will be refused and reported to the above trading offices. Yours faithfully

I havent paid them for about 5 months. They kept phoning me and sending me letters, but as long as they dont send a cca then they arent getting a penny. if they ever do produce the cca then I will send them a budget sheet that shows i can only afford £5 per month. (I will also say that other creditors have agreed to accept such payments). the worst case senario is I p ay them £5 per month, but I dont expect to hear from them again.

As soon as I sent the 'you can stick it ' letter, not one of the banks has bothered me since. I only sent the one to NRock this morning, so they wont get it until tomorrow (and I think they are a bit busy at the moment!!)