No it is not. Called and left a message for the manager to call me back tonight as he was busy this afternoon. No response as yet.

Duly renames self *Two Steps Left* Hi team, Long story short, late last year my and my partner got verbal agreement of our Gyms general manager to cancel our account early due to relocation. This took some doing, and was a long drawn out process as we were told we could terminate if we move when we joined. Eventually, when we got to speak to the Manager 7 weeks into he dispute, he agreed with us, stopped the constant letters demanding payment (we had cancelled in writing and stopped DD) apologised for the hassle so far, assured us we would be helped because "we were dealing with 'him' now" and would stop the account pending checking into that fact that we had sent the letter as instructed (we sent it recorded). 5 months later, we get a letter from him, although it was automated and he would never have seen it (not signed etc). It demanded payment for the remainder of our commitment period within 14 days or they would forward to DCA. I duly fired off a letter reminding him of our previous dealings. The next day we got a letter from their DCA demanding payment or face court action in 10 days. Just to clarify the letters were received by us 2 days apart (based on letter dates too) so the DCA were instructed too early. Because of the proximity of the DCA deadline (from the DCA) we called them and got the expected "prove it in writing" and they could not even place it on hold while under dispute. By the way it is a total and utter waste of time calling the Gym. So, I am hoping for a nice letter from the gym confirming and apologizing in writing but nothing has come through yet. The DCA deadline is Monday. We checked and the contract is CCA so I immediately came here for solice and advice. I do not know what type of credit this is deemed as and therefore whether the normal credit card letters apply. Help

Thanks Pam. One more (I promise) question about this letter, and that is do you think it worth bypassing the front doors at the bank and sending it directly to where it ended up (and something actually happened), i.e. retail collections department for the bank? It took 25 days to be routed internally and then 2 days to be responded to by two parties. Is there any benefit in it being tracked from the front? Thanks, OSL

Afternoon, Pam. I'll do that, thanks. What is my best bet in terms of dealing with the ever present DCA for the time being? I keep getting missed calls from them (I say them, of course I have no proof they own it, or even if they are pursuing the same debt I think they are, although this is my own debt, this outfit are not unknown to pursue innocent parties) once every 3 or 4 days. They have not written to me suggesting they do not know my address and I want everything in writing from them moving forward but at this point I do not want to release my address. Thanks, OSL

Sorry Pam, I meant "foreword", not "forward", as in, start the letter that you suggested with a paragraph about the mixup. Just keen to point out the farce to add to my defence so to speak and perhaps speed things up. If it was carelessly sent to another DCA not part of the same group then I presume I would be able to claim some breach of the DPA at least in terms of a complaint.

Negative to that last question Pam. Would it be worth (or advisable) to foreword the letter specifically mentioning the apparent mix-up? When I last spoke to Halifax they gave me the number of the DCA it was sold to, which was a Thames Credit number. So perhaps Halifax sent it to the wrong DCA (likely they deal with both being sister companies..?). That seems more likely than Aktiv passing the debt to Thames and not keeping a record especially as Halifax gave me a Thames number and not an Aktiv one.

Does anyone have any advice on how to proceed with respect to the above? Either Halifax or Aktiv are at fault (and Aktiv should surely have sent the response back to Halifax rather than me, so that the mistake could be investigated). Thanks.

Interesting but a little contradictory in itself. They say you'll have 2 entries as though it is the "norm" in the first para, then go on to say says you can demand they remove any extra entries which "sometimes happens" in the second para.

The plot thickens and I get much more confused! I received a response today to the original letter I wrote (I have not sent the letter mentioned in the post above) and I am baffled by it. The correspondence came in an envelope with an Aktiv Kapital (UK) postal frank on it. I assumed it was unrelated to the letter I sent bank and thought it was just a letter from the aforementioned DCA chasing the debt, which I believe is a sister company to Aktiv, (from what I can see a commonly discussed DCA here), another well known DCA, Thames Credit. Enclosed was my original letter, the £1 postal order and an Aktiv compliments slip bearing the message "Please be advised the the attached correspondence has no relation to any account held by ourselves.". There are multiple annotations on my letter. The word default has been highlighted in yellow pen and it had various "Received - date" stamps on it. This seems to be a well travelled letter. One of them is for Rosyth Retail Collection & Recovery (received on the 21st Feb by them, and forwarded by Halifax HQ the day before) which I can confirm this is Halifax Rosyth Retail Collection & Recovery. Following the chain this arrived at Aktiv on the 26th Feb and was subsequently sent back to me, arriving today. So it seems Halifax think Aktiv hold/own the debt and forwarded it on, but Aktiv are saying it has nothing to with them, even though sister company Thames have made attempts to contact me regarding it. All seems a little odd that they would not cross check. Or is this some fob off? Someone is at fault here... :confused:

Thanks again. I think I will write them as you have suggested. I am a little concerned, well, more worried actually that the time being taken to sort this out will not help matters on the DCA's end and I doubt they will appreciate me stalling them for time. Once more into the fray!

Okay great, thanks. So if the DCA is the data controller, they are the ones who will need to produce the copy of the default (even of they go via the bank to get it) and who I might subsequently have to take to court? On reflection I cannot recall if the bank specifically said they had bought the debt or instructed the DCA to act on their behalf. At this point I have only had a voicemail from the DCA and not any contact via post. I figure the bank would be the best place to get this information, but will they likely give me the info over the phone? Writing to them hasn't helped as we know .

Thanks Pam, I'll give it a shot. Paying off the DCA (as much as it will pain me to do it after reading the experiences of others) presumably would not be a bad step right now as planned? I only ask because of the issue of who is the data controller for the default in question right now, as the record has not been updated since 2006. If the DCA assume it (or have already assumed it) will they be the only ones who can remove it? It shows satisfied although it still shows an outstanding balance? With thanks, Onestep

Thanks once again Pam. I think I rushed into this at the beginning and I now have the benefit of hindsight It would be much simpler if there was a specific consumer led process that included overdraft defaults. I would be happy to pay £10 to force them to comply and then have specific grounds to pursue them should they fail. One last question I am having trouble with before I throw myself at the mercy of the Tube - but what would I be taking them to court for, assuming it went that far? If they are not legally bound to supply me with anything or prove anything to me and therefore will not breach their CCA due to the account type what grounds do I have to take them to court? Simply that they are not required to prove to me, but they must prove it to a court? Thanks, Dan

Okay that makes sense. Assuming they do not comply with my request in any way shape or form in the next 2 weeks - what options do I have? Do I have any ground to complain (to anyone) at all?

Hi Pam, I sent the letter detailed in the link in my first post to the bank, more or less word for word which asks for a copy of the default notice and requests if they cannot do it then to remove it as unsubstantiated. I am not sure if they have to comply with it due to the credit type - i.e. an overdraft. At the time I assumed the CCA request covered overdrafts but apparently there is some limitation on this type of account. If you look at the link in the first post you can see what I sent. I am wondering if the particular sections of the CCA I quoted were incorrect and thus my request under the CCA is void and hence the lack of correspondence from the bank. In the letter you can see there are 3 points. (1) which asks for a true copy of the agreement under the CCA, (2) which asks for a true copy of the default notice, and (3) which asks for the deed of assignation. As only (1) is asked for under the CCA (as it is written), are 2 and 3 covered under the CCA or not? Or is that irrelevant and if they do not comply I can complain to the authorities? In the example the bank reply, so if they don't (which does not look likely) have they committed a criminal offence as in most of the examples on this board? Many thanks, Onestep

Hi Pam, Yes I sent the CCA request to the bank as at the time I was not 100% if the debt has been sold, and if so who to. Most cases I have seen CCA's sent to DCA it has been to try and stop them chasing a debt but in this case I am happy to pay it, but am trying to get the default removed. I sent the CCA from Learnmoney rather than the standard one as the bank are the owners of the default (or at least according to the CRA). I am a bit confused now considering my goal as to what to do especially since I have the letter pending. Should I still settle regardless or will this limit the pro activity of the DCA to comply. Thanks, Onestep

Hi Pam, I appreciate you stopping by The 11/06 date refers to the special instruction of partial settlement which I guess refers to the bank decided to recover the amount partially via selling it to the DCA. I didn't think it was worth posting the full details it as I had already mentioned it in the post - sorry for any confusion. The default entry specifically mentions the bank. Full details: Company name: Account type: Current Account Special Instruction Indicator: Partial Settlement Special Instruction Start Date: 11/2006 Started: 08/1998 Default Balance: £1050 Overdraft Balance: Satisfied Defaulted On: 11/2004 File updated for period to: 11/2006 I am about to finish the proceedings to pay a full and final settlement to the DCA this was assigned to. I am not sure who levied the £50 fee but I consider myself lucky it is only £50 so have no qualms about that. I am wondering if the bank can even remove the default as technically shouldn't the DCA (Thames Credit) be maintaining this now? Note the file updated to date of 11/2006... In 2 weeks the bank will have defaulted on my CCA request (14 days + a further 30). I am wondering what steps to take should this happen.

Further to this I should add that when I went into the branch, they had no record of the address I was living at when the default was actually issued. I actually have a letter from them to that address proving they knew of it, so I suspect that they sent the default to an old address. The reason for asking for proof is to see which address they claim it was sent to. If I have a letter proving they were aware of a new address but sent it to the old one, then I will be in a good position. With reference again to the post two above if I was actually threatened with a default notice I would have paid it off straight away as it is not a large sum of money and not worth a default.

With all due respect to you, I am not trying to dodge the debt and it would be insulting to the intelligence of anyone let alone me to suggest that people expect banks to give away free money. If you read some of my previous posts in other threads you would have seen I am proactive in trying to pay this debt off (in full, right now). I am simply arguing that I had no reasonable notification this was about to happen or that it did eventually happen and I am asking the bank to prove they did. Not unreasonable? In any case I actually no longer owe any money whatsoever to the bank as they sold this debt on to a DCA (who I am about to pay off). To clarify, my dispute relates to the placement of a default, not whether or not I should pay the money. The latter, I have never disputed.

I had call back from Consumer Direct today after I contacted them about my predicament. They had no specific information, but gave me the phone numbers for the Financial Ombudsman and the Nation Debt Line. As an update, the letter sent to the bank was signed for on the 26th January and therefore today marks exactly one month since I sent it.

One tidbit of information I left out that could prove to be decisive, is that when I spoke to the bank, and questioned the fact they ever sent a notice, they could not tell me which address the default was served to. Could not tell me as in, even if they wanted to the information was not available. This may still mean a document exists on paper with the address and obviously that would not be accessible to a phone operator I randomly called, but the fact it does not exist electronically on their system is reason for some cheer.

Hi all, I have posted a couple if times before and have gotten well on my way to making some sense of my current situation regarding a default placed on my file with reference to an overdraft on a current account. There have been some recent developments so I would like to ask you all for advice as to my next move. Summary: I had a current account with an agreed overdraft limit of £1000. Mid 2004 I stopped using this account as a day to day account however I was still within the agreed overdraft. I moved home in late 2004 and informed everyone of this fact. At some point statements stopped coming, although as I was not using the account I did not notice. A recent subscription of my credit report shows that a default was registered on the account in late 2004, with a balance of £1,050. Important points that show up here: Special Instruction Indicator: Partial Settlement Special Instruction Start Date: 11/2006 Default Balance: £1050 Overdraft Balance: Satisfied I went into the bank who were not helpful really, speaking to head office on the phone. They told me the debt had been sold and gave me the DCA details. I truthfully had no notice of this action, or warning it was coming. I was told that they had tried to contact me, making reasonable attempts but were unsuccessful and there was nothing more I could do. After reading here and elsewhere I sent the letter in the below link to the bank: Remove Default Notices on a Credit File - We show you how However I have since learnt that current account overdrafts are different to other types of credit covered in the CCA. With that in mind what options do I have at this point, and what does the bank *have* to comply with from within that letter? The letter arrived on the 29th January and I gave them 14 days to reply, but I have not had any response whatsoever. I am starting to really get stressed out about this, with no response from the bank so far suggesting they do not intend to reply. In terms of the default with the debt being sold, I am not sure who I need to chase with regards the proof of default. Many thanks.

Yep, agree totally, I just wanted to clarify my position as it seems to be different to a lot of people posting here. Sorry if I came across shirty or if I suggested you were suggesting I try and avoid it - it was not my intention. They did tell me over the phone that it was because "despite their best efforts to contact me and ask me to repay the warnings were not heeded". I agree - I did mention this and apologise earlier. I do actually have one or perhaps two other threads on this subject, I just kinda jumped in here based on tifo's revelations. I guess I kinda do need clarity as some of the advice I have been given contradicts and I am stressing big time about this. Perhaps I will start a new thread separate. I would be grateful if you could drop by .

Gotcha, thanks. So, if they do not reply, and it has been 14 days, what are my next steps if any? Here I do not want to pursue this. Fact is, I owe the money, and I intend to repay it. I am not trying to dodge a debt. The issue of a default without my knowledge is the issue I have a problem with, I will pay the DCA once this issue is sorted one way or another. I will, just to be on the safe side, exercise due diligence with the DCA, but as yet I have only had a single answer phone message from them asking me to call them, and I have no reason to believe it is a phony request. They have not sent a letter as yet so I assume they do not know my current address even though the bank sure does as I recently updated it when I moved to London (oblivious to this whole affair and at the same time the debt was sold - must be coincidence as otherwise they, the DCA, would have wrote and not called). No, never. I had one phone call at one point, to ask me if I still wanted the account to be active since I had not paid any money in or taken any money out in a few months. I moved house, told them that I have moved (albeit with no proof), and after that I stopped receiving statements although I did get a letter from their credit card wing as I *have* a credit card with them (even today) on an unrelated matter to the new address. Presumably if they had tried hard, they could have matched the bank account to the credit card and seen that I had a different address registered with them. I would need to check dates though as I might have gotten that letter after they defaulted.

Hi Pam, Sorry about the muddling - I am having a hard time with this monkey on my back. I am certain that my bank, not the DCA it has been sold to (very recently), entered the default as it was entered in 2004. I guess my confusion is that I am challenging someone under section 77/78 of the CCA, but it has been stated here that this is not relevant because this is a current account. Therefore, under what (rule etc) are they bound to prove the default was issued, if 77/78 won't cut it. If 77/78 won't cut it as you mention, then it is not a relevant request and therefore doesn't need to be responded to. Or does my request for the copy of default and deed still fall under 77/78 and is executable regardless of current account statement, and it is only the true copy which will not be forthcoming? Hope you can see what I mean. Regards the S.A.R, then I am not claiming back unfair charges as I do not think it was that which caused them to default the account. They claim they repeatedly contacted me to pay money into my current account as it was largely a dormant account and I was within my agreed overdraft. The overdraft was for say £1000, and I was £950 overdrawn, however the default amount now states £1050. However they have stated it was my "failure" to keep it active which led to the default, not a bank charge and subsequently going over my limit.