Not that I've had this experience yet with MS, but I have just sent off my SAR. However, just because the bank is in default and the loan is unenforcaeble doesn't mean that they will stop harrassing you once the payments stop. Lloyds TSB have been in default since July 2005 under section 85 of the 1974 act and two months under section 78. But that hasn't stopped their systems ringing me up to get money off me depsite being them acting in contravention of the OFTs guidleines on debt collection. IMHO you have to take them to court before they cave in. When I can get the £150 together thats what I'm going to do with them anyway. Be strong, they're in the wrong! Mike

SEctions 77,78 & 85 all have it in writing, 'not allowed to enforce the agreement', by that all terms of the agreement from data distribution to interest application. In addition, common law states that you are not allowed to profit from an illegal (or unlawful) act. Thats why the suicide law was repealed in the early sixties, because it was illegal to try or commit suicide, which precluded any insurance policy paying out. Mike

Bloody hell I didn't even think about sending one of these to them. One is on its way. Mike

Unfortunatly they only apply to accounts that and I precise subsections 77 and 78 of the act that 'are in debt', if the account is not extant or dormant, the bank has no duty to supply the agreement. Unless you can rember the agreement not complying with section 61 as I can with acouple of mine. Remember the application forms enclosed in magazines, my daughter had one in her Nursing magazine the other day from a well known bank. Only one signature box! Only a small thing I know but enough to nulify the agreement. Mike

I got a call at work from my wife who was scared stiff, I was really scared too, so I rang Blair up from work during my lunch hour. The girld didn't really know why I was ringing but took the time to read all that was on the monitor in front of her. Apprantly they had asked for the copy of the agreement seven times, she then went to her manager who was the same girl that I had spoken to in September. She said that the account would be closed and I could disregard the letter. I was numb but took them at their word. Then the following arrived (15th December) Dear Sir/Madam Acc. No. x Balance due £2592.16dr We refer to the above account. Please could you telephone within the next seven days to discuss this matter further. Failure to comply with this request may result in further action being taken against you. Please note that this matter require your urgent attention. Yours faithfully, This arrived two days before Xmas, but I managed to keep it away from my wife, because it would have ruined it for her. And then on the 28th December we recived this (21st December) Dear Sir/Madam Acc. No. x Balance due £2592.16dr We write to you in connection with the above account number and with regards to the problems you have been experiencing, please accept our sincere apologise. We can confirm that we have passed the account for closure and the remaining balance, noted above for write off. Again please accept our apologise for any inconvenience caused. Yours faithfully, That was it just like that, it was gone, all that worry, in a letter that had the syntax and spelling qualities of a seven year old. And sorry for the inconvenience! your having a laugh. I realise that some of you may think that I have been rather immoral in getting the loan written off, but really what was written off was half the interest, interest that shouldn't have been added in the first place because they didn't get their paperwork right in the first place. This won't be the end of the matter because of the oFT, TS and Information Commissioner, but what I hope is is that if you know that you are in the right, and believe it, and you know the law is on your side, you will win. No for the rest of the bastards. lol Mike ps Donation coming at the end of January -- promise!

I couldn't afford to take them on or anyone else for that matter at the time, with Xmas coming up, So I thought that I would just wait and see until after the new year, then out of the blue came this (9th December) Dear Sir/Madam Bank of Scotland Acc. No. x Balance due £2592.16dr FINAL NOTICE No further reminder will be issued prior to further action being instructed. As you have failed to respond to our previous letter by making full payment or contact this office with repayment proposal your debt will be prepared for further action in five days time from the date of this letter. What action will be taken? One of our local door to door collectors may call on you to discuss the repayment of your debt with our clients And/or We may commence legal proceedings against you. We would advise that you may be liable for legal expenses should action be taken against you in addition to repaying your debt to our clients. You have one final opportunity to prevent further action being taken by (1) Make payment in full to the account. Payment can be made by using a credit or debit card by contacting our Helpline or by sending a cheque or postal order to our address quoting the above reference number. Or (2) Contact this office to discuss this matter further quoting our above reference number. Our hours of business are 8.30am to 7.30pm Monday to Friday and 8.30am to 12.30pm on Saturday. Yours faithfully

Then the phone calls started again followed by this reminder (24th October) Dear Sir/Madam Bank of Scotland Acc. No. x Balance due £2592.16dr We are a professional Debt Collection Agency instructed by our above client to obtain payment of the balance owed by you. You will appreciate that our client requires payment of the full balance as soon as possible. What Action is Required by You (1) Make payment in full to the account. Payment can be made by using a credit or debit card by contacting our Helpline or by sending a cheque or postal order to our address quoting the above reference number. Or (2) Contact this office to discuss this matter further quoting our above reference number. Our hours of business are 8.30am to 7.30pm Monday to Friday and 8.30am to 12.30pm on Saturday. What will happen if you do not take the above action (1) We may instruct one of our local door to door agents to call on you to discuss the matter further. And/or (2) We may commence legal action against you. Yours faithfully, Well I got on the blower and told the woman that I had had enough of them and was going to report them to the OFT and TS and the Information Commissioner, which I did, but again that's another story, and hopefully, when all comes to pass I'll post that on here too. The calls then stopped for another month

I also sent a copy of the letter to Blair et als company secreatry, but that was ent back as 'gone away'!

Then I started to get phone calls and quite alot of them, I must admit to have the red mist falling when I wrote this letter Blair Oliver and Scott PO Box 66 Rosyth KY11 2WG (Via recorded delivery) Dear Sir, Re: Agreement reference This letter has also been sent to the Company Secretary, Blair Oliver & Scott Ltd, 8 North Bank Street, Edinburgh, EH1 2LP Before I continue I wish to establish that I am not seeking to avoid responsibility for any debt that I may have or had, I am seeking to redress a wrong. I also offer my apologies for not following up my initial contact until now. I wrote to you on the 26th June 2006 requesting a copy of the executed agreement under the Consumer Credit Act (1974). I also asked for a statement of account. A ‘*****’ at your address received the letter on the 27th June 2006. I also requested an executed deed of assignment documenting Blair Oliver & Scott’s involvement; this too has not been supplied. In three months you have been unable to supply an agreement because no such agreement exists, indeed a ‘phone conversation with your call centre manager, *****, on the 22nd September 2006 confirmed that the Bank of Scotland cannot provide any documentation. Consequently I do not acknowledge any debt to your company As you will know your non-compliance with my request means that your company has committed an offence under Section 77 (4) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, summarily punishable by a Level 4 fine on the standard scale. A credit agreement that is not properly documented and signed by the customer is totally unenforceable under the Consumer Credit Act and is therefore a complete defence to any court claim that is issued. Please take note that any legal action you may contemplate will be vigorously defended and contested. I also contend that the money that you have obtained from me has been unlawful since you have not provided me with any documentation to prove the contrary, and under common law you may not profit from an unlawful act. Furthermore your actions arguably do not comply with the Office of Fair Trading’s (OFT) Debt Collection Guidelines of July 2003, in that you have ‘communicated with [me] in an inaccurate or misleading manner (section 2.1) by ‘presenting information in that it creates a false or misleading impression’ and ‘failing to provide [me] with information on the status of debts’. Notwithstanding the above your operatives have sought to contact me on a number of occasions (approximately ten times) over the last few days, I would imagine regarding your Company’s viewpoint on the above now disputed agreement. I know of these attempts because of the recording received when using British Telcom’s 1471 facility. This intrusion into my privacy has caused a great deal of distress to my wife and myself, since because of The Data Protection Act (Data Protection Act) your operatives say they are not allowed to discuss matters with her, (more of the DPA later). We now consider that you ‘phone calls constitute harassment and so from this date any further calls to me will be reported to the Police. In addition you are in breech of the OFT’s July 2003 guidelines in that you are wrongly pursing me contrary to Section 2.8(i). Incidentally, when Ms ***** was asked whether your company had been striving to contact me she said ‘no’ but she was going to place a note on my file that no ‘phone contact would be made until the matter was concluded’. Clearly she told me an untruth or the computerised call logger that she was examining was inaccurate. Since within an hour my wife had received two further calls from you, and I received another at 8.40pm, from a lady who said she represented Blair Oliver & Scott. Another worrying facet of this whole case is the unlawful dissemination of my data by your company to a third party. Under the DPA I have principled rights in that (Schedule I) 1. Personal data shall be processed fairly and lawfully. 2. Personal data shall be obtained only for one or more specified and lawful purposes, and shall not be further processed in any manner incompatible with that purpose or those purposes. (Schedule II) 1. The subject has given his consent. 2. The processing is necessary – a. For the performance of a contract to which the data subject is a party. I have recently conducted an audit of my personal credit reports supplied by Experian and Equifax. Within both files, an entry referenced as “Bank of Scotland” is lodged indicating a loan. This is recorded as “In Default” on the 27th February 2004. However, I note that files have been updated continually since then. Since I have had no contact with The Bank of Scotland I can only deduce that it is Blair Oliver & Scott that is updating my credit file without my consent or that your company is disseminating my information to a third party without my consent The fact that you cannot provide me with a copy of the agreement negates any Notice of Default being served on me, as required by the conditions of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. Incidentally, I cannot recollect receipt of the said documentation. If the documentation were to be produced as you are aware the default notice cancels any original terms and conditions and as such cancels any right to share my information without my consent. What I require. 1. I require you with immediate effect to ensure that all data held by you regarding the alleged agreement is removed from any and all Credit Reference Agency database. 2. Ensure that all data held by you regarding me and my family is destroyed. 3. Refund all monies paid to you by me since August 2004. 4. Ensure that no further telephone calls are made to me or my place of work. 5. Ensure that all correspondence is made in writing. 6. I require written confirmation of the above together with a quarterly statement that no data has been processed regarding me by you. Failure to comply Failure to comply with my request under the Data Protection Act 1998 will result in the matter being referred to the Information Commissioner. Failure to comply with the requirements of the Consumer Credit Act will cause me to refer the matter to the Office of Fair Trading, and Trading Standards. Failure to comply with the requirements Office of Fair Trading guidelines will lead to a report being submitted. Continued telephone contact will generate a complaint to the police. Failure to repay the paid sums shall cause me to report you to the OFT, Trading Standards and the Financial Services Authority. If you fail to comply with any or all of the above I reserve the right to offer the experience to Consumer Interest media, I have just enrolled with BBC TV’s consumer watchdog database. If you fail to comply with any or all of the above I reserve the right to take action against you without further contact. I hope to hear from you within 12 working days from the date of this letter, failure to do so will be taken that you failed to comply with my request. Yours faithfully,

Well I waited the statutory time, never heard a dicky bird, most unusual because they are like a dog with a bone. So I grabbed the bull by the horns and stopped payment.

This has been a long road to go down, with constant harassment by phone at home and work when they are not getting their own way. Only go down this road if you are strong and believe in what you are doing. There have been times when the tension it was causing my wife almost made me give up. It all started in 2003, whne because of illness our income dropped, the vultures started circling, The Bank of Scotland being one of them. Despite the CCCS being involved the soon passed the account onto Blair et al and defaulted me. Not that they told me about the latter, but thats another story. When we got back on our feet, after selling our house, to pay some of the vultures off, I got into a repaymnet scheme, eventually paying £270 per month, it was crippling, not that they cared. In June of this year I stumbled on this site, and thought in for a penny, in for a pound. I read the instructions and sent off this letter. Blair Oliver and Scott PO Box 66 Rosyth KY11 2WG (Via recorded delivery) Dear Sir, Re: Agreement reference I am presently striving to organise my personal information and can find no reference to the above agreement that I am presently paying money into. Could I ask that you supply me with a true copy of the agreement? I understand that this is my right under the legislation contained within section 77 (1) and section 78 (1) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. I also understand that it is your obligation to provide me with a statement of account. I enclose a £1 postal order in payment of the statutory fee. Since you are a Debt Collection Agency could I ask that you supply a signed true copy of the deed of assignment of the above referenced agreement? This is, I understand, an obligation, whether you are the original creditor or not, under section 189 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. I hope to hear from you within the statutory time limit. Yours faithfully, Mike 220359

I sent a complaint to Experian regarding 12 anomalies in my data, including being married to three different people, all with the same surname but different first names. God one mother in law is enough! There were three unrecorded entries of my data, all without my permission and the rest were either duplications of the same info or just wrong. I've complained to them and they've put some notice of corrections on the file, but I will still be complaining to the IC. Mike

I've sent the LBA just before Xmas, but am trying to save the money up to take them to court, but I'll be watching this with alot of interest. Mike

If you were in dispute the accounts should have been sent back to the original account holders. Have you asked for a copy of the original agreement? Mike

Happy new year to you all, hope you had a good one. My new year was complete when I received a letter confirming that Blair Oliver & Scott have now written off over £2500 because they haven't got the documentation. It's taken six months of hard work to get my first result now for the next one! Details to be posted on another thread with the kind help of Martin3030 Mike

Dear All, After a flurry of letters from Blair Oliver & Scott threatening me with Court Action and reminders over the week before Christmas and the odd phone call. I've had a letter today writing off the whole amount and apologising for the 'inconvenience'. They've written off over £2500, which equates to the interest applied to a loan they have not been able to prove existed. I will post the full time line in a future post but I'll pm a mod to see how best to put pen to paper. I've won, and can now start to put my life back on track. Only two more extant accounts to deal with. Mike

These 'phone calls are recorded make a complaint to the Company Secretary (address on companies house website) and ask for the person who rang to make an apology. Make alot of noise. I have and it keeps them on their back foot, whilst your saving up the money to take them to court! LOL Mike

I agree with others the fact that they have defaulted you (and Barclaycard/Mercers are renowned for it) is contrary to section 2 (I think) of the OFTs guidleines on debt collection. If they are sharing your data with the CRAs and they have not provided a copy of the original contart they are in breech of principles of the DPA. The fact that they have defaulted you whilst the debt is in dispute is also a breech of your rights under the act. Right a letter of complaint to the data controller of Barclays (address on the Information Commissioner) website, telling them that they are sharing your information with third parties without (you contend) your written agreement. If no reply within 12 working days reprt to the Information Commissioner. The OFT and TS should also be informed of your complaint to the IC. Mike

Ok go back to the Data Controller and ask them for all the statements pertaining to the original agreement, they should still have them, if you have an agreement, use that number to index the original. They should still have sent all the info, they probably just used the extant account numebr. Remind them that this should have been given with the original DPA request. I still think that you should ask for the original agreement, though for both accounts, send that under a different letter though! Mike

I'm a little cofused by this, if a contarct is defaulted, then surely it is not extant and all the terms and conitios applied to that contarct - including the application of interest - is no longer applicable. Or have I got the wrong end of the stick. Mike

I asked them for a section 78 in July, now not paying anything and they can do didly squat about it, and they've said as much over the phone, as you have found I'm sure thay never put anything in writing. I haven't paid them a penny since August, and since reported thm to the Information Commissioner, Trading Standards and OFT. Mike

Right start at the beginning. You were probably given a new card under chip & pin last year, that should have been sent with a copy under section 85. If not then they are in breech. The transfer from the original card to your present one should also have been accompanied by the orginal agreement, or did you sign a new one to establish it? In either case ask for a CCA section 78 disclosure for the original executed agrrement. Your SAR request should have given you all the staments pertaining to the old account as well, contact the Data Controller of Sainsbury's (address on the iNformation Commissioner's site) and ask for the residual paperwork. Mike

I take it that you sent the request to your branch, did you send it recorded delivery? If you did start the 40 day timescale from the day it was delivered, you can go onto the Royal Mail Website to find out when and where. Has the cheque been cashed yet? If it has then start then start the 40 day timescale from when it was cashed. In either case write to the Data Controller at lloyds TSB, you can get the address from the Information Commissioner website, telling them that the clock is ticking and that you will report them to the Information Commissioner for not complying with your SAR. That woman is really talking a load of b******s, it's against the banking code to close accounts vindictively. In any case I would write a letter of complaint to your branch citing the conversation and hopefully the name of the person that you were talking to, asking them to clarify the content of that conversation. It and interesting admission that the woman told you that statements are destroyed after 4 years, I find that ver ydifficult to believe, perhaps you might include that in your letter to the branch manager and the Data Controller. As regards charging you what she said for your own data is utter c**p, its your data, not their's and the maximum they can charge under the law is £10 Hope this help, Mike ps have you asked for a copy of the execute agreement under section 78 yet?

The thing is did they send you a copy of the original executed agreement with the replacement card, if not then they are in breech of section 85 of the CCA act, committed an offence and applied interest unlawfully. Mike

I think that the OFT are starting to come around out of two complaints I've sent them Blair Oliver & Scott and Monument they've asked for more information on both and asked whther they can use my information in any prosecution. Mike