Thanks for all your replies. I shall wait and see what Ruthbridge come back with - not a lot I'm imagining. Thank you again

Darn it. I wish I'd seen that letter sooner as I've just sent this one, what do you think? Dear Sirs, Account No: XXXXXXXX You have failed to respond to my legal request to supply me a true copy of the original Consumer Credit Agreement for the above account. On XX/XX/XXXX I made a formal request for a true signed agreement for the alleged account under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (s.77-s.79). A copy of which is enclosed for your perusal and ease of reference. You have failed to comply with my request, and as such you are now in default and this account has become unenforceable. The document that you were obliged to send was a true copy of the executed agreement that contains the prescribed terms, all other required terms and statutory notices and was signed by both your company and myself as defined in s.61(1) of the CCA(1974) and subsequent Statutory Instruments. If the executed agreement contained any reference to any other document, you are also obliged to send me a copy of that document. In addition a full statement of this account should have been sent to me detailing all debits and credits to the account. Furthermore; you should be aware that the Consumer Credit Act allows 12 (+2) days for a request for a true copy of a credit agreement to be carried out before your client enters into a default situation. This limit has expired and as such, as you are no doubt aware s.77(6) states: "If the creditor fails to comply with Subsection (1)(a) He is not entitled , while the default continues, to enforce the agreement. Therefore this account has become unenforceable at law" As you have Failed to comply with a lawful request for a true, signed copy of the agreement and other relevant documents mentioned in it, failed to send a full statement of the account and failed to provide any of the documentation requested, any legal action you pursue will be averred as both unlawful & vexatious. Furthermore I shall counter-claim that any such action constitutes unlawful harassment. You may also consider this letter as a statutory notice under s.10 of the Data Protection Act (1998) to cease processing any data in relation to this account with immediate effect. This means you must remove all information regarding this account from your own internal records and from my records with any credit reference agencies. Any attempted argument regarding case law such as McGuffick v RBS will be dismissed as this particular case has no bearing on the legal reporting methods that a lender has with the CRA, namely adding derogatory data whilst an account is in dispute, this account clearly is disputed. Should you refuse to comply, you must within 30 days provide me with a detailed breakdown of your reasoning behind continuing to process my data. It is not sufficient to simply state that you have a ‘legal right’; You must outline your reasoning in this matter and state upon which legislation this reasoning depends. Should you not respond within 30 days I expect that this means you agree to remove all such data. Need I remind you that a creditor is not permitted to take ANY action against an account whilst it remains in dispute? The lack of a credit agreement is a very clear dispute and as such the following applies. * You may not demand any payment on the account, nor am I obliged to offer any payment to you. * You may not add further interest or any charges to the account. * You may not pass the account to a third party. * You may not register any information in respect of the account with any credit reference agency. * You may not issue a default notice related to the account. I reserve the right to report your actions to any such regulatory authorities as I see fit. You have 30 days from receiving this letter to contact me with your intentions to resolve this matter which is now a formal complaint. I therefore request a copy of your official complaints procedure which you are obliged to supply. I would appreciate your due diligence in this matter and look forward to hearing from you, in writing within 30 days. Yours faithfully Obviously I cut out the bit about sending statements as they are the only thing that they have sent me.

Okey Dokey, up till last year we were paying an old credit card debt via Ruthbridge (cc was Associates) and then I did all the standard letters asking for a copy of our credit agreement etc etc. Nothing was sent to us and we followed the procedure advised e.g sent a reminder after so many days, then sent a letter of dispute and then cancelled all payments. Today we have received a letter from Ruthbridge asking for payment for this same client with the usual threats of court etc, but the only info they have sent is a copy of all credit card statements. There is no credit agreement or copy of enclosed. What should we do now? Is a copy of the statements equivalent to a copy of the signed agreement? Thank you for your time.

Thanks for that Erika. It would certainly seem that the derelict should be exempt. We did try to claim this way back when we bought the place in 2000 but they've insisted we were wrong. Be interesting to find out whether we can get a rebate on this. Does anyone know about the laws regarding temporary accommodation whilst building? We're paying council tax for these portacabins which have to be removed once building is finished but we know for a fact that many of the other self builders here are not being charged council tax at all for their temporary accommodation or statics. Also would anyone know what the law in Scotland is on the 'right to exist'? If I remember right in England, if you can prove that you have been paying utility bills to a property (Bizarrely the council are claiming these portacabins are a property) then the building has a right to exist. Perhaps the council will let up somewhat on the council tax if they think we may try that strategy!

OK I'll try to keep this short. We are currently living in temporary accommodation on our land while we build a house smack next to us. The temporary accomodation is basically portacabin units on blocks and we have to pay council tax on them but they have to be removed once the house is built. We currently get Council tax benefit on the temp accommodation and have to pay a decreased amount on the new build. (about 10% deduction). The reason we have to pay on the new build is because it's an extension of a derelict building and the law here says that as the derelict was banded we have to pay council tax regardless of the fact that it cannot be lived in, has no water to it, no bathroom etc etc. The Highland council has just now decided that we shouldn't get any benefit as we own 2 properties (1 temporary unit and 1 derelict property) and has suspended the benefit. Does anyone know the rules regarding this in Scotland? Should we be paying council tax on temporary limited life buildings? or on a property that cannot be lived in. The council knew of the two properties way back in 2005 when we first got benefit but the letter says that even though they knew of the 2 properties for some reason it wasn't taken into account in their calculations!!! Every year we fill out the benefit form (only 1 though, we've never had 2 to fill out) and every year we get council tax notifications for both properties showing what we're entitled to. We really don't know where to go from here or what we should be saying. Any ideas?

Edited cos I asked a question that you had already answered. Cheers. If we stop payment and somewhere down the line they produce the correct information do they then have a right to claim all the backdated stuff to when we say it went into default?

Ok, I sent a CCA letter off to 2 of our current DCA's and was wondering how long we have to wait before they are in default? We sent the letters on 20th July, 1st class registered post. Also, what is the next step if they do not produce the documents in that time? We are currently paying these DCA's monthly but have never asked for any kind of evidence of the debt etc until now. Thanks

I shall just have to wait and see what they deliver in the way of the requested paperwork then. However, we're not particularly worried about credit reports. I know that may seem to be a stupid thing to say but we never intend to get credit, a mortgage or loans ever again and infact haven't done in the past 6 years since moving here. What we cannot afford to buy with cash we simply cannot afford and don't get. I did get my credit report a few years ago but I didn't keep it. I do remember that there was nothing derogatory on it though. Should have got hubby's instead as all credit cards were registered in his name.

In which case what should we do? I have sent off 2 of the CCA letters - 1 to Rockwell and 1 to 1stcredit. Both of these we have been paying off monthly for about 3 years now, but I never questioned their 'ownership' when they sent payment demands at the start. Do we just stop monthly payments until they do produce the relevant documents!

Thank you for that. I haven't been able to find Rockwell anywhere either. It seems they are something to do with Tessera Portfolio Management LTD - thyey just hide very well.

I need to send CCA request letters to Rockwell, 1st Credit & Ruthbridge. However I only have PO box numbers for Rockwell and 1st Credit, do these accept signed for mail?

Brilliant. Thank you for that. I shall send the letters out and see what response I get.

Righto, I'm sorting stuff out to send CCA's to all our current debt collectors as we've always just paid up without checking first that they do own the debt and the have information required to chase it. Could someone send me a link please or advise what to write for a CCA to DCA's that we are currently paying debts to? Also, could you explain exactly what information we are expected to receive from the DCA and what we should do if A) that information is not what is expected and B) they don't send anything? If the DCA's cannot provide proof of the debt should we be paying them? Would they have a right to cancel our current monthly agreement and ask for full payment? Thanks in advance for your help. We're currently paying Ruthbridge £30 a month, Rockwell £25pm, 1st Credit £10pm and Paragon £10pm. Ruthbridge are also chasing hubby for another debt that is almost statute barred and so far we've ignored the letters.

I tried, but it's a business account and I had 2 letters from Lloyds refusing that they have to pay anything back on a business account. Besides, it's almost 6 years ago now so we can't really do much can we?

I'm so sorry if I'm making a mess of this. I think I've lost the plot and am just starting to confuse one with the other now lol. Ok. You're correct, the Cabot debt has not been paid for years (at least since we moved to scotland in Nov 03). Since then we have had no contact with the credit card company or any DCA regarding this debt. I wasn't sure about the fact that as we are paying off a different debt through Ruthbridge whether they could use that knowledge of husbands address as some kind of proof that we must have received the letter. You've cleared that up for me though, thank you. I now understand that they have to prove that he received the letter not prove they can confirm his address. I guess we just leave it and see what they come up with next? Hopefully it won't be a court letter! But I guess we'll just have to deal with that as it happens. Do you know if there is any way of finding out what the last payment date would have been or can we only get that by asking the DCA? which would defeat the object as he then confirms receipt of their letter.

I think 2 are Credit cards and 1 is a bank account.

Ruthbridge know this is my husbands place of abode as we are already paying a debt off through them, so would this count as proof of serving? If so, what would our next course of action be do you think?

Thank you for that. I am going to sort through everything and get some more advise from this site and am going to send a CCA letter to the DCA's. Currently that stands at Rockwell, Ruthbridge, & 1st credit.

Gawd, what does that mean? Should we just ignore it then? I've read alot about Ruthbridge on here and we have dealt with them before so I know they're are going to try severe terror tactics. I'm not worried about that as they don't have our telephone number. Is is best to just ignore then in your opinion? I just didn't know whether this would be the only warning before they take him to court as they have threatened. Or is this just s threat to get him to comply?

Since reading this thread it has come to our attention that we actually have a right to ask for information from a DCA before agreeing to any debt and/or making payments on it. We are paying off our debts through DCA 's and have always just assumed they're telling the truth and made payment arrangements with them. Although we are paying off these debts already do we have a right to ask for proof of the debt and send a CCA letter? If so, will it help us in anyway? If the DCA cannot provide the relevant information what should we do? Stop payment??? Please please advise as this is getting quite distressing. Ruthbridge and Rockwell bullied us into making agreements that we really cannot afford to keep up any longer and we're scared to lower anythign unless they make things worse for us. God, I so wish I'd been aware of this forum ages ago.

The DCA is Ruthbridge. They're letter says the client name is Cabot Financial Europe LTD, then under that it says Assigned from: Providian. It's a notice before proceedings letter and says they've been instructed by the above named client (Cabot Financial). This is the first letter we've received re this debt however we are already paying a debt through Ruthbridge and have been doing for about 3 years. They were very nasty on the phone when sorting out the other debt and we did panic and arrange £30 a month. We've since changed our number and refuse to give it to any of them and we never ever phone them. As I said, hubby has not acknowledged this credit card since Nov 03 and we've had no communication whatsoever until this letter. How can we find out what his last payment date was?

My husband received a letter yesterday from Ruthbridge DCA threatening court action for a credit card debt if he doesn't pay within 7 days. The credit card is one he had in England but we moved to scotland in Nov 03 and since we moved here we have received nothing from the credit card company and he has had no contact with them either. The letter from the DCA yesterday is the very first contact. What should he do? We didn't even know we had a right to request a proof of debt ownership, we've always just trusted the DCAs and worked out a payment (We have one other via Ruthbridge paid every month). We just don't know what the best course of action is. Please please advise.