First National Tricity Finance/GE Capital went bust a few years ago. One of their major businesses was financing home computers for the now defunct company "Time Computing". Virtually no paperwork still exists - I had a similar letter from Aktiv over a year ago, with no recovery action since. As advised, keep your letter saying that no original documents exist. There's very little likelihood of anyone being able to suddenly produce even a reconstructed agreement. So, basically, sit tight and it'll be Statute Barred in 6 years. Other fleecers may well try it on, but they don't stand much chance...

It's a DCA working under the umbrella of iDem Servicing - a company that a few of us highlighted earlier this year when they took over Arden Credit Management. They don't seem to be particularly organised and, as with many DCAs that I've had dealings with, they tend to send out computer generated letters as a matter of course, rather than examining the current state of the account/alleged debt owed. As many advise here, if you DO wish to contact them by letter to resolve any problems, it's best to address the letter to a specific person. In these cases, I always send correspondence by Recorded Delivery, though you can simply request proof of posting from the post office.

Hi Lay, you ask about it affecting your bank accounts. In what way? If you've already got an overdraft facility, your bank is unlikely to withdraw that due to a default on your CRF. However, if you want to get an overdraft facility or increase an existing one, they may take the default into consideration. They certainly would if considering a mortgage with them. Similarly, if you wanted a credit card from your bank, they may decline. However, they will happily allow you a debit card to use for your account. Your bank will look at your history with THEM first - is your account "in good standing" length of time with bank, how much money in charges they've been able to drain from you over time, etc. and mainly base decisions on that. Hope that helps. H. x

Good to hear and it sounds like you've done everything right. If the bully does return, give him the letter and tell him to go away. If he refuses, tell him you're calling the police (local, NOT 999). Halifax don't seem to have been very helpful, but I have a suspicion that if the Issue/Expiry dates on a card, plus the security number on the back strip are changed, a DD won't go through. If it does, write to Halifax and complain, also do another chargeback. Lovely to hear that you and baby are happier. If you need any more help, feel free to ask H. x

As previously stated, a CCA request would be pointless as you do not have any signed agreement with them. See post #2 in this thread.

Brooc - any further news on this? Hoping you're okay and there have been no more tears! H. x

AJ30, if you need any help with wording a letter, I'm always happy to help. It's also good to have any such letter looked at by other CAG members, just in case anything important has been omitted. I'd certainly agree that until they're willing to comply and answer your concerns to your satisfaction, then you should be paying no more than £1 per calendar month. That shows goodwill to reduce the debt but also makes your point. I'd say you have pretty good grounds for a refund of charges, maybe even a small amount of compensation after an appropriately worded complaint. Remember, you are in charge, not them. Best of luck, H. x

Brigadier - in the words of the great Churchill himself, "Oh yes."

If your husband received a formal caution, it is procedure (and a requirement) that a "crime" or in this case "caution" number is allocated and recorded along with copies of statements from all parties involved (where taken). The names and numbers of officers attending any incident/reporting an incident will also be recorded in the station's log of incidents and officers attending/reporting. You will be best advised to request all this info when making any further statement or complaint. When you are both feeling calm, note down carefully, concisely and truthfully everything that happened, in chronological order, from the knock on the door to receiving the caution and signing for it. Include an explanation afterwards of your grounds for complaint/concern. Don't be tempted to embellish anything and try to avoid emotive language. It's worth both you and hubby writing down your sequences of events separately, without consultation, to ensure that what you both remember correlates. Also, one of you may remember/forget certain things. Make sure you're both happy with what you've got and then put the two together. Remember, that although this resulted due to an alleged debt, your complaint is one of assault, trespass, intimidation, etc. and that is what you should concentrate on, rather than any details of the alleged debt unless otherwise legally advised - you don't want to confuse matters or muddy the waters. As has been previously advised, a no win no fee solicitor would be worthwhile, or the CAB - consult with them before sending the above, to ensure that your complaint is correctly worded, though you will have everything in writing, in chronological order for a legal representative - it saves time, doubt and the possibility of conflicting/confusing information and be sure that nothing has been left out or forgotten. You may be advised that your complaint should go no further than the police until they complete any investigation or complaints procedure, but if advised that it's ok to do so, write a covering letter to your MP and send copy of the above after taking solicitor's advice. Copy it to the "Senior Officer" at your local police station, marking it "urgent & confidential," and copy to OFT and Trading Standards, plus the DCA. Take photos, get them witnessed by your GP or A&E along with a statement of likely cause of injury and lasting effects (if any) resulting due to injury if possible. The solicitor will probably want to add a statement or confirmation that photos, injury reports and your statement(s) are a true statement of fact as far as can be reasonably ascertained. Although your husband took physical action first, any method of self defence under law is supposed to be reasonable and proportionate. The DCA's representative's response doesn't seem to have been either. Hope your husband feels better soon and that there's no lasting damage! Best of luck, H. x

Thanks Shadow, yup, I've got all my own files and have made sure my friend keeps her's too. I keep everything - letters and envelopes received, letters sent, post office proof of posting, copies of enclosures, etc. It can be a bit time consuming, but certainly worthwhile if a query ever arises. Just goes to show that the CAG advice of trying to keep everything in writing only is very good - I've relied on it a couple of times now myself!

Okay, thanks for that. I'll tell her to hold fire for a bit then! I would have thought that if info doesn't have to be accurate/legit then that sort of defeats the object of requesting one though LOL

Thanks for confirming that dx. I would imagine that if a company has destroyed paperwork regarding a PPI claim, then they'd be hard pushed to deny a genuine attempt to reclaim too...

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but a couple of weeks ago, I'm sure I saw on a BBC financial programme that one may reclaim PPI retrospectively from the date at which the customer realises that a reclaim may be possible, or that PPI was applied to an account, rather than 6 years from the date of PPI being applied to an account/account being opened. This would give a much better scope for reclaims, especially on accounts that may have been opened more than six years ago. Thanks H. x

Thanks. There's nothing whatsoever showing either the £1 CCA request or £10 SAR on the information they sent, dated up until the end of May this year. CCA request was sent in 2010 and the SAR was sent last year. When my friend sent the Postal Orders to cover the statutory fees, I made sure she wrote, "To be used only to cover statutory fee for CCA Request/SAR" on them, scanned both and we kept both the post office counterfoils and Post Office receipts in both cases, clipped to the accompanying appropriate letters. I don't trust DCAs and was well aware, thanks to CAG, that sometimes statutory fees are used to fraudulently make payments on accounts * Allegedly*

Joe - I'd add in your letter that you're considering referring the case to OFT and FSA. Especially in light of the current banking scandals. Also, if you're in financial hardship, (unemployed, on DLA, etc.) then those are also things to mention as the High Court judgement about unfair bank charges doesn't completely cover refunds/partial refunds to hardship cases. I successfully reclaimed £370 from Barclays on those grounds. Good luck mate. H. x

Shadow - statement of default from the OC was dated December 2000. Payments stopped a few years later, but not quite six years at the moment. This has been going on for a long time. Should we still add the extra three months from the 6 years date just to be on the safe side? That would change SB date from beginning of November this year to beginning of February 2013. Also, is it a legal requirement that a SAR truly reflects all payments/refunds on an alleged account as at the date of sending? Meaning that if the provider of the SAR has missed out payments supposedly made, they can't then go back on the SAR information they provided without getting into trouble? Thanks for any further advice

Thanks Shadow - good reminder. I'm sure they'll contest our assertion anyway, but any and all advice is very welcomely received! H. x

Mar - as you're new to CAG, you may not have realised that you can follow links that are automatically generated in questions and responses. If not, have a read of this info - particularly pertinent to your situation: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/content.php?792/ Cheers H. x

I certainly will my friend and thanks for all your help. I think this may be a rather protracted process, but we'll get there in the end!

Thanks Brigadier and Rebel. Very helpful. I'll be looking at arguing that if the SAR shows no payments over a six year period and no acknowledgement made, then Statute Barred status stands. I'll have a good read too Rebel. Cheers for that! P.S. Ah, I've already read and (surprisingly) understood the OFT guidelines and Carey v. HSBC judgement. Just hoping that the SAR info coupled with CCA will stand up as proof of no payments or acknowledgement made

You're welcome. I still think you should write directly to the manager and exec of LA Fitness. If the debt has been SOLD to ARC, then you should have been informed in writing in the form of a "Notice Of Assignment". However, ARC could simply be "acting on behalf of." If you write to LA Fitness and cc. ARC and still get no response, I'd be inclined to contact OFT, carefully explain the situation and enclose copies of all correspondence. Never too late to defend oneself when unfairly treated! H. x

Thanks Brigadier, I always know I can rely on you for helpful info! I got my friend to SAR the company as well, which she did and she's so far received three identical responses - same info was supplied as in the CCA. I'm presuming that under the conditions of a SAR, a DCA is legally obliged to tell the truth and can't suddenly make up a "phantom payment" that they haven't mentioned when the SAR response was put together? I'm slightly suspicious as my friend sent the £1 statutory fee with her request and also the £10 for the SAR and with both, the DCA replied that they were not charging her as a gesture of "goodwill" although they didn't return her postal orders!

Hi Mar, Welcome to CAG. There was a recent piece on BBC's Watchdog about this kind of thing, specifically fitness centres. When you subscribed to the gym, were you shown/given a full application form, complete with terms and conditions? If so, were you also given a complete copy? What does it say about cancellation periods/penalties, etc? I think your best bet is to write directly to the manager of the centre and copy it to their chief executive, explaining your situation calmly and politely. It would be worth mentioning to them that should they attempt to take this further with ARC without attempting to resolve your query, you will also be writing to the OFT. Solicitors like Trevor Munn always use the fast track court at Northampton as they file bulk claims that are basically rubber-stamped and a CCJ granted. IF (and it's a big if) they decide to serve you with court papers, make sure you respond within the allotted timescale, state you'll be defending and that you'd like the case to be heard at your local court. Nine times out of ten, they'll back down. It shouldn't come to that though and I'm sure other members with more experience in these matters than me will be along to help soon. Best of luck, H. x

I'm sure we all know that some CCA requests, when answered, do contain the required information - a copy of an agreement, original and varied terms and conditions, notification of default date (where applicable) and amounts received by the OC and subsequently the DCA. I'd like to ask for clarification on a point though. Where a full breakdown of payments to an alleged account is provided, by date, amounts in/out and balance, and no payments are shown for a clear six year period (or more) and the debt hasn't been acknowledged, would this legally be acceptable as written proof of statute barred status? In other words, I'm presuming that the information provided is what the DCA or OC asserts to be a true and accurate statement of account and can be used as proof of SB status. So, if, when challenged, they claim that a payment has been made within the 6 years (5 in Scotland) it would presumably be acceptable to point to the information they provided as full and incontravertible proof. Thanks for any thoughts on this. It's not an urgent question, but I feel it may come up at some point soon for a friend I'm helping. Would be good to see how other CAG members view it. Thanks. H. x .

A CCA request does NOT reset the statute barred date. Lowell are trying to have you over. They're using the same pathetic, desperate lies as always. You should tell them as much. Politely. Best of luck H. x