OK I found this one and all praise goes to cagger Curly Ben for this one (hope he doesnt mind I have nicked it). ACCOUNT IN DISPUTE Dear Sir or Madam, Account number: XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX In response to your letter of DATE the contents is duly noted. As I am still awaiting compliance of my Consumer Credit Act s77/8 request with DCA1 this alleged debt is in dispute. I must admit that I am rather bemused as to why this account has been passed to yourselves, as you can clearly see it is in default with the DCA1 creditor and has been since DATE. Not only is this a breach of OFT collection guidelines, but also in breach of the Date Protection Act. As you are aware while my Consumer Credit Act request remains in default enforcement action is NOT permitted, under s127 this constitutes a complete defence at law. Now I would respectfully suggest that this account is returned to the DCA1 for resolution of these defaults and breaches, as DCA2 cannot lawfully pursue any enforcement activities. If DCA2 chooses to ignore my dispute and attempt enforcement, I will initiate legal action and file reports with the appropriate authorities, including, but not limited to, Trading Standards, Office of Fair Trading, Information Commissioners Office, Financial Ombudsman Service and possible court action. I hope that this will not be necessary and an acceptable solution can be accomplished. I would appreciate your due diligence in this matter. I look forward to hearing from you in writing. Yours faithfully, BLAH (Print DON'T sign)

Passing a debt to another collector while in dispute naughty naughty. there is a template letter somewhere for your situation, I will try and find it. Sploits

Set up a standing order DONT pay by cheque. you may find that a copy of your signature from the cheque mysteriously lands on a CCA Sploits

They may also say that a default was placed against you in the last 5 years (giving you a random date) and tell you that is when the statute barred clock starts ticking. DONT LISTEN TO THEM. Mackenzie Hall tried that with me (A scottish company ironically) but the clock actually starts from when you last paid or acknowledged the debt Sploits

And there will be the same kind of attack everytime they issue me with a ticket. My mate has just phoned me and said he has just recieved a ticket from APCOA and he wants me to go down with him to "Hand It Back" to them lol. Last year I would never of contested a ticket and I would of paid it no questions asked but thanks to you lama and nero I now know the ins and outs of the law and I now will fight an always winning fight. thanks again

Ha you beat me to it pmw1971

When was the last time you acknowledged or made a payment against the alledged debt?

Excellent ScarletPimpernel. Got a little worried for him then

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general-debt-issues/20758-creditors-dcas-letter-templates.html

I would maybe get rid of your name at the bottom of your post

I would also get CCA requests into them ASAP.

You should send them a letter asking for statement of account, or SAR them that way you will have everything for the alleged debt/s. Then you just need to sit down with a highlighter and mark through all the late fee charges, admin charges etc. pop them on a spreadsheet (which im sure is on this forum somewhere and it will add everything up for you and add a interest rate on for you. do a search for my name (sploits) and have a look at the TBI financial thread. A few caggers have explained wonderfully how you should go about it and has links for you to look at. Sploits

Unfortunately mobile contracts arent covered by the CCA

If the amounts are more 3 or 4 times more then I would look at claiming back all the unfair charges. This could in theory cancel out the debt plus you can add an interest rate on top as well. I done it with a DCA and it worked out that they owed me twenty quid. Got a letter back saying they take note of what I have sent them and they wont be back in touch. Never heard from them again Sploits

What are the debts for? Which DCA's are they? When did you last make payment on the accounts or acknowledge them? You could send the statute barred letter with I DO NOT ACKNOWLEDGE ANY DEBT TO YOUR COMPANY across the top and by sending that letter you are not admitting the debt. Other people will be along to help pretty soon Sploits

Good morning, I hope everyone had a great weekend. Since my last little run in with APCOA everything has been quiet with them. They have issued a few of my friends with tickets and I have advised them NOT to pay the muppets. Well again I parked on that land dropping off DJ equipment and low and behold I go back out to my car and I have a nice yellow sticky pounch on my windscreen. I open it up hoping for a winning lottery ticket but to my disappointment its another parking ticket from APCOA. Well I decide that I should really go and sort this out so I walk down to their offices in my town and go up to the counter to be greeted by a very young lad. Me - "Hi, I'm here to return your ticket as I'm not paying it" (throws ticket at young lad) Young Lad - "Oh OK would you like to pay cash?" Me - (Looking a little puzzled now at his stupidity) "You seem to of misheard me, I'm not paying your ticket so you can have it back" Young Lad - "Erm why arent you paying it?" Me - "Firstly can you prove I was the driver? Your ticket is against the law and has now legal power what so ever. There are no meters on the land I parked on so the mount of cash you can claim from me is £0.00. Would you like me to continue?" Young Lad - "Oh OK? well if I can give you the ticket back and you need to right to us and contest it" Me - "No I dont. I don't accept your ticket and I am here to return it. You just keep it and we will consider the matter closed" (I start walking out) Young Lad - "Wait a minute I need to go and get my boss" (He is now starting to panic) Me - "Oh that would be great." (I return to the counter and a short evil looking guy appears) Evil Boss - "Why are you not paying the ticket?" Me - (I repeat what I have said to the dimwitted young lad) Evil Boss - "But you need to pay it. We are employed to look after that land and ensure nobody parks there" Me - "No I dont need to pay it. How can you justify me paying you £30? You really dont have a clue do you? Now what are you planning on doing about the matter" Evil Boss - "I will pass it to debt collection and we will get the funds via that route" Me - "Oh great I like DCA's. But just to warn you that I'm pretty clued up on civil law and Debt collectors and I can assure you that they have no more power trying to collect the debt than you so in the end up its you who will be losing out even more than now" Evil Boss - "Oh I WILL sort this out and have you pay the ticket" Me - (Now with a big smile on my face and leaning over towards him) "No you wont as you have no power what so ever. I now welcome you too take me to court and we will fight it out there. But please be assured that it will be you walking out the court room with red faces when we argue all the facts stated and the big fact that your tickets are breaking the law. Also I am prepared to report you to the BPA and I will watch you crumble" (I still have a smile on my face) I then say goodbye and walk out feeling great about myself after shooting them down. Will wait and see IF I get anything through the post (I would be really disappointed if I didnt but I'm not holding out much hope) Sploits

You could CCA them to see what they come up with but if they havent contacted you in a bit why "relight the fire"? I would personally sit and wait to see what else comes in IF anything Sploits

Thats the usual drivvle they have sent you a few times. Well I guess you will have to cut your losses on this one. I would maybe try one more swing at them before completely giving up and file a complaint about them. I'm guessing Trading Standards or something along them lines (somebody please correct me or give further advice) purely because they have got your money and wont give you it back or a good enough reason why they wont give you it. If you do complain remember to mention that they have said the money will be kept because of PENALTIES (naughty naughty) and admin fees but yet there is no breakdown of this.

Well cuz I bet you aint the first and I bet you aint the last. So whats your plans for this then? Let it go or fight it to the death? I know what I would do but I get a sad kick out of this sort of thing especially if its a DCA lol

Well said Steve_M. I told Startrek81 to ask the company for a breakdown of admin costs to show how it would come to £300 but they are yet to come up with anything. The agreement also sates that the holding deposit will be held against ANY admin fees. How do we know there actually was any? OK there must of been some but like you said £300 worth? And unless they can provide a backup of this then they are screwed IMHO.

Hey it doesn't hurt to try. They charge us for crazy things so why can't we do the same back

Have a look round the forum. People have charged DCA's for writing letters to them and I'm sure 1 user actually billed 1 DCA for his time training their staff (because they had no idea of the law or what they where actually doing). Sploits

I would have a look at the statements on the accounts and see what charges are on there and claim them back. HFC wanted £540 from me but it was mainly charges. I done the math (charges, default fee etc) and added the compounded interest rate and it ended up that I was able to claim back £560. The buggers owed me £20. They soon dissappeared back under their rock. Sploits

Morning all, I have been trying to help Startrek81 with this and as electrica77 stated I'm also sure that penalties are illegal under English Contract Law. The following is the agreement that Startrek81 and her friend had signed (washed of personal details), I have also red ringed the part that seems most important. Any help will be appreciated for Startrek81

Spot on JF4L, keep us posted on the outcome and have a great weekend