thank you for your reassurance - it is so good to have people like yourselves on this site to turn to - you feel less alone against these bullies. No thank goodness the harassment has stopped after following advice from this site. Letter is printed out and ready to post tomorrow. I suppose there is a template and advice somewhere on the site as to what we do next if we receive no reply in 7 days???? thanks

thank you so much. i will get this sent off very soon. I have to admit I am getting really nervous though at the prospect of having to issue court proceedings and what that may involve. Khadijah

Please can anyone advise what I should do next. Thanks

Hi guys, please can someone advise on our next course of action. My daughter now has Vodafone and Orange and Vanquis agreed to minimal monthly payments. She has also cleared off her overdraft. The only annoyance remaining is CAPITAL ONE!!!! I sent them the Subject Access Request copied from this forum and dated 3rd October along with a PO for £10 asking for list of charges or statements and giving them 40 days to comply. After a few standard 'we'll take legal action' letters before the 40 days it is now spookily quiet!!! The 40 days is obviously well up - so what do we do now???? Someone mentioned a letter of non-compliance. Is that what we do next and is there a template? or do we issue some sort of court letter? Please help as we really want them off our backs. Many thanks again Khadijah

thank you when do i count the 40 days from? the day i posted the letter or the day they should have received it i.e. the following day? also is this 40 days or 40 working days? thanks

To summarise 1) Get a balance of the account and ask to hold action. 2) Request CCA to see if debt is enforceable. 2a) If they do not reply after 12+2 woking days debt becomes unenforceable until they comply with request. 3) If debt is enforceable, request S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) to reclaim charges 4) As a last resort, start paying token payments if the above fails. Hi I sent the SAR request and £10 postal order on 2nd October recorded delivery. I have still received no reply from Capital One. What should I do now???? Help???? thankyou

thanks does this mean she should write and make the offer to the debt collectors rather than vodafone?

hi, this was in the debt forum to begin with but got no replies, so was moved her. she wrote to them twice offering a monthly payment, but although the other phone co. she owes (Orange) wrote back and even sent her a payment book to make regular payments of £5 a month - Vodaphone have just ignored her letters! I will search out a template letter for her and get her to write again. She has just signed on for jobseekers allowance this week so is obviously not flush with money. She is hoping to find a new job very soon, but her salary will not be a high one. I am just worried what if they won't accept a monthly payment? They haven't responded so far? But then again they can't get blood from a stone even if they take her to court? thanks.

thank you so much

Please can anyone advise how we can deal with this?? My daughter got a letter from direct legal and collections this morning saying as she has ignored previous correspondence they are considering further action including issuing county court claim which will increase her balance by £200 and a collector calling personally at our address. From this forum I think I know how to deal with anyone calling at the house, but we are terrified of them taking her to court. She owes money to credit card companies which we are following advice on re. reclaiming charges, but do not know what to do with vodaphone. Please please can anyone advise how to deal with this before it gets out of hand. thank you

thank you for this But if they issue court proceedings to reclaim what they say she owes them, surely this will be a different issue from my daughter reclaiming her charges? or will it all be considered together? thanks

Hi even though we sent the request for my daughter's statements and charges on 1st October, we are still getting letters from dlc. Today one came saying as we had failed to respond to previous letters! they are considering further action which could result in issue of a county court claim which will increase balance by £200 and a collector calling personally at our address. This is a bit worrying. Will they respond to our mail within the 40 days? What if they don't ? What if they issue a county court claim? This is all very worrying. thanks for any advice

thank you so much

Hi I'm still finding my way around the site. I can see the main heading of Debt Action Group on the main page but then there are several forums under this - but no specific capital one forum. Where do I find the capital one thread to start my own thread?? sorry for being a pest!

Hi it's hard to know for sure until they send the statements I requested, but I think they started charging in July 2007 with a charge of £12 and then each month £24 (£12 for late payment and £12 overlimit fee). I have statements for aug, sept, oct, nov is missing, then dec, jan missing then feb - all showing £24 a month. For some reason the money they demanded in aug 2008 seems to be the same as the one in sept, but I may be wrong. So I reckon if she was charged £24 a month until august the charges would be £324 + interest! But I will know more when she gets the statements I guess. I suspect it is best to hold on and wait for the statements. In any case she doesn't have the money to pay it off now. thanks for getting back to me.

Hi again, I sent off the SAR on Friday 3rd October recorded delivery. Can you believe this morning my daughter received a letter in the post this morning (dated 2nd October) from Credit Solutions on behalf of Capital One. Now they are giving her the 'OPPORTUNITY TO SAVE 30%". They say she owes £451.88 and they are prepared to accept £316.32. They say: "If you do settle your account by paying the amount shown above, which is less than the full outstanding balance, your account will be closed once your payment has cleared. Your credit file will show your balance as satisfied with a special flag of partial settlement" Great that they have reduced it, but she doesn't have £316.32 to phone through the immediate payment they request. Do you think if we pursue the re-claiming of charges of avenue they will revoke this offer? thanks for any advice

This is a debt for a vodafone contract taken out 6th March 2008 by my 19 year old daughter. In May when she defaulted on her monthly payment they requested a termination fee of £535.05. She started repaying, then defaulted again in June. They then requested termination fee of £498.28. But bear in mind she no longer uses this phone as the contract has been terminated! She wrote a letter asking to freeze charges and make nominal payment. No response. Now demanding £596.99. Although phone not in use and suspended I think they keep adding monthly charges and extra text bundles. I have found a pile of her statements and original receipt and agreement I think. Agreement: Nokia 8600 GSM Black STD 18 months, anytime 750 minutes + 3000 texts + 120Mb mobile internet monthly charge £45 incl vat She signed to say she accepts a monthly charge of £45 and filled in a direct debit instruction for her bank. For some reason her April bill was £132.14 (£70.42 service charges and £42.69 calls, £2.85 messaging, £3.36 browsing and £12.82 vat) Her May bill was £61.64 On 23/5/08 she received a letter stating her phone had been suspended due to the overdue payment of £61.64 She paid this on 29/5/08 She then bought a pay as you go sim and stopped using her phone!!!! June bill came for £45. She called and asked to reduce the monthly amount/tariff and was told she wasn't allowed to do this before 6th December! Letter in June came stating account balance was £45 and potential termination fee £498.28 July bill now asks for £90 August bill asks for £135 3rd September she wrote them a letter explaining she has financial difficulties, no longer uses the phone and asking them to freeze charges and if she could make minimal monthly payments September bill now asks for £596.99 (includes a charge for cancellation of £498.28) Letter arrives 10th September: Notice of Default for £596.99 Today letter arrives from direct legal and collections (dlc) for the amount of £596.99 So we are at a loss as to what to do! She has already offered minimal payments and they have not responded. Please can anyone advise how best to proceed with vodafone in this case. I appreciate any help at all. Thank you

OK so I have now filled in the SAR with my daughter's details and am about to print it out and post with the £10 postal order we just bought. Will we be able to claim this and eventual court charges back too? And guess what two letter arrived in the post from capital one this morning. 1. dated 29th september to say capital one is no longer dealing with your account and it has been transferred to credit solutions ltd. 2. dated 30th september in reply to my daughter's letter offering minimal monthly payments to say "unfortunately we can't help you with your account as you have broken the terms and conditions of your capital one credit card and we have sent you a default notice". Do these letters affect anything at this stage? should we go ahead and post the SAR and £10 as previously suggested? thanks for any answers

thank you sooooo much for the support and reassurance. Can you clarify something - I checked the statements she has - for some reason we have no statements since March, just annoying letters, but it looks like each month they have added £12 as an overdue payment charge and £12 for a late payment charge as well as the interest. Will we still be able to claim these £12 payments back or is it only when payments of £20 are charged that we can claim back? If we have a chance I will print out the letter from the link 'data protection act, subject access request' and send off for her with a £10 postal order and see what happens. If this works then we can tackle Vanquis (who at least seem to have stopped adding charges when they reached £300!) and then Vodafone! But one step at a time and Capital One have been complete b*******. I managed to stop the phone calls but only after months of stress and then threatening them with police action and insisting my daughter had no access or rights over my personal telephone. I will wait for your reply re. the £12/£20 question and then type off the letter asap if we are eligible. thank you once again

Hi one more thing that I noticed is that in one of the links the person claiming the charges back had a column with added interest on. WAs this added by capital one or is this something we need to add before making a claim and are entitled to claim back? I am all ready to tackle this now - my depression is lifting and changing to anger at this company - THIS IS WAR. I feel so angry because it is my young daughter they are screwing this way - such unscrupulous people!

Thanks but what I don't understand is will they ever STOP increasing this debt. Even if we get back the charges so far, will the amount owing ever freeze so my daughter can start paying back and how do we get them to agree to a reasonable monthly repayment?

Hi Please can you help me to help my 19 year old daughter deal with her Capital One debt. The history is as follows: My daughter took a credit card with them on turning 18. Credit limit £200. Extremely high interest rate. Started charging overlimit fees and late payment fees and interest on monthly statements. She quickly got behind on her payments. Then came standing order charges for £30. By March 2008 the balance was £296.18. Now bear in mind she cannot use the card. I wrote a letter as a concerned relative in June 2008 asking for fair treatment and for them to freeze their high charges etc. Gave example of a payment of £100 she managed to make in february and in the same month they hit her with charges of £32.62 and explained it is difficult for an 18 year old etc. Got a reply in July asking her to call them. She sent a letter asking for correspondence by post and for a monthly agreement. Got a letter in August - statement of default saying she now owes £451.88. I cannot for the life of me see how???. Then this week a letter came from CREDIT SOLUTIONS asking for £451.88 and threatening debt collectors, county court claim etc. A few mornings ago I wasn't feeling great and ignored a manic doorbell ringer (thinking it just the post or meter man) and find a yellow card from POWER 2 CONTACT. Must be for Capital one I think. Yesterday she received an official tear open style letter from Power2contact on behalf of capital one saying they have been instructed to visit her within 72 hours to collect the debt! After reading the forums I think I am confident in telling anyone on my doorstep to take a hike, but I would like to know the best way forward in dealing with this debt - considering they have ignored the previous 2 letters to them. She has a pile of monthly statements from them - so I can see the ridiculous interest charges etc. So does she still write first saying she disputes the debt and asking for a CCA? Does she try and reclaim charges or is there a better way. I am just hoping someone on this forum with more experience can point us in the right direction for this. We know not to phone them or to be intimidated on the doorstep, but which written correspondence first and what hope do we have???? Any help is welcome from a worried mum and totally stressed out 19 year old!

thanks for all the advice guys. I will post as suggest - each debt query separately - the most urgent being Capital Once as they are hassling us to death - got a official correspondence from Power2contact this morning threatening to visit us to collect the debt if we don't call them in 72 hours. I find it unbelievable they can send such stuff out when we have sent 2 letters to them already asking to consider minimal monthly payments. They are just not interested - they just want to bully her it seems. I'm going to gather the info on this and post today. Thanks again

Hi no - no insurance and she took the cards/phones a few weeks after turning 18! I just don't know from reading the forums if she will be able to claim back charges and if there is a point to requesting a CCA and other things suggested. Thanks for any help

Hi, I am brand new to this forum. I have spent the last few days searching the web desperately and came across this site this morning. I have spent literally hours reading through posts and although all very helpful I am now close to tears and have information overload. So maybe if I summarise, someone can point us in the right direction. Basically my 19 year old daughter has got herself into debt and is sinking because of charges etc and is scared. She has recently lost her job and looking for another one but is extremely depressed at the magnitude of the debts. I have managed to stop the phone calls by threatening legal action and stating categorically the phone is my personal one and nothing to do with her. 1. HSBC cancelled her overdraft facility - but agreed to reduce it gradually by £50 per month. So at the moment she is £180 in debit on a £130 overdraft. 2. VANQUIS credit card. She took this a couple of months after turning 18 with a ridiculous interest rate of 47.89% - the only credit card to accept her at 18 with no history. It had a £250 credit limit. Late payment fees and interest gradually took this up to £365. She paid off a chunk to get it down to £300. To be fair it seems to have stuck at £300 for a while now with no more additions, but FIRST CREDIT seem to be dealing with it to. She wrote a letter offering £5 a month. They rejected but said they would agree to her paying £15 a month for the next 6 months and then would review. This was vie IMPACT COLLECTION SERVICES. So just made £15 first payment for her! 3. VODAFONE. A contract taken out around April 2008. In May when she defaulted on her monthly payment they requested a termination fee of £535.05. Started repaying, defaulted again in June. They then requested termination fee of £498.28. Bear in mind she no longer uses this phone as the contract has been terminated! Wrote a letter asking to freeze charges and make nominal payment. No response. Now demanding £596.99. Although phone not in use and suspended I think they keep adding monthly charges and extra text bundles. 4. ORANGE. Yes she already owed money to Orange when the kind lad at Phones 4 U persuaded her to take out another contract, even though she told him she wouldn't be able to cause she owed Orange money (I had told her she would never get another phone contract whilst she owed Orange so she actually went with the intention of a PAYG!). So Orange phone contract was taken out in 2007 when she just turned 18. Obviously long since terminated. Passed over to NCO. Debt outstanding now £693.04. Passed to MOORCROFT DEBT AGENCY. Wrote letter and they have accepted a nominal payment of £5 a month. So I have also paid this to get her started. 5. I saved the nastiest to last. CAPITAL ONE. Again took a credit card with them on turning 18. Credit limit £200. Extremely high interest rate.Started charging overlimit fees and late payment fees and interest on monthly statements. She quickly got behind on her payments. Then came standing order payments for £30. By March 2008 the balance was £296.18. Now bear in mind she cannot use the card. I wrote a letter as a concerned relative in June 2008 asking for fair treatment and for them to freeze their high charges etc. Gave example of a payment of £100 she managed to make in february and in the same month they hit her with charges of £32.62 and explained it is difficult for an 18 year old etc. Got a reply in July asking her to call them. She sent a letter asking for correspondence by post and for a monthly agreement. Got a letter in August - statement of default saying she now owes £451.88. I cannot for the life of me see how???. Then this week a letter came from CREDIT SOLUTIONS asking for £451.88 and threatening debt collectors, county court claim etc. Then this morning I wasn't feeling great and ignored a manic doorbell ringer (thinking it just the post or meter man) and find a yellow card from POWER 2 CONTACT. Must be for Capital one I think. So basically things have got out of hand especially with Capital One. We have 3 decent agreements: HSBC, Vanquis and Orange - I presume I was right to agree to these. But still not happy about the amount owing with Orange. But don't know what to do about Vodafone and feel very angry about Capital One - that a £200 limit credit card to an 18 year old can now end up as a £451 debt - and increasing it seems!!!! PLEASE can someone who is more familiar with all this talk of CCAs and talk of charges refunds etc. advise me of a plan of action/how I should tackle Capital One and Vodafone and if I did the right thing with the other companies. I have one very depressed daughter who sees little point in trying to clear her debts when they just keep increasing no matter what she tries to do. Sorry, sorry, sorry for the detail and length of this post, but thought it better to put more details than give a half story. Thanks for ANY help.