Too right! Can you believe their cheek?

Hello soulysurfer, I hope the replies you've received above have calmed you down and reassured that this letter really isn't anything to get so worried about (and certainly not scared). Others are advising you above as to how to respond, but just by looking a bit more closely at some of the language in that letter -- it shows that it's all bluff and bluster (but of course sneakily worded with the intended effect to worry and frighten, which it did.) Also, the barman down the local pub recommends today's special of Shepherd's Pie It may be 30C and sunny in Clacton-on-Sea tomorrow, but also, it may not. They may as well stop there. There are so many ifs and maybes and mays in there. If Dipsy nicks Tinky-Winky's handbag, and if the unlikely event happened of your case ever going to court where the judge could see that you could afford 50p per month, our client would get 50p, and bugger-all else in big red letters. Oh, they're talking about :love:happiness now after all those nasty but ultimately empty threats? I completely understand how you must have been worried, but please don't worry about this -- see it for the toilet paper that it is. As citizen B said: it skates the boundaries of breaching the OFT guidelines on debt collection. It's good that you're here getting advice on what to do, and it is best not to totally ignore the letter without acting on it in some way -- but really, please don't worry -- this letter really is a lot of guff from a company that specialises in threatening and intimidating people. That's their business and they're experts at it -- until you see through their garbage ..! Take care, All the best, F.E.

You're not stupid! Just there are a lot of abbreviations to get used to in all this -- you'll get used to them and know what they mean over time, but just ask away if you're unsure! OC is "Original Creditor" -- who you took the loan/credit card out with in the first place (before the nasty Debt Collection Agencies got involved..!)

PHEW! If you'd left "my account" in, that could have reset the Statue Barred clock as direct acknowledgement of the debt!!! Glad I got the comment in after all and that it was helpful -- even with my limited knowledge! I am learning though, as we all are ... Nice one!

(may already be in, I mean)

With the CCA request, with regard to "correctly worded", does it contain these vital points (or words to the same effect)? -- "I do not acknowledge this debt" -- if you make any reference to it in the letter, refer to "the above account" or "the alleged account", NOT "my account" "The £1 payment is the statutory fee for the CCA request and is not to be used for any other purpose" -- make it a postal order, not a cheque -- send the letter recorded delivery/signed for (of course) Sorry if this is telling granny how to suck eggs, but ... these may all indeed be in the CCA request, but it's worth checking!

Thanks Fred! I got a warm glow from reading that ! It's very early days yet but I'll continue to post about how I get on. I kept banging on about the morality thing as it comes up here just about every time CCA is mentioned (via the word wriggle). I see though you have a thread on that very topic from a few years ago so I'll have a read through that. I failed also to see morality in the case of one bank where I paid them £2000 but my debt with them WENT UP anyway despite paying all that hard earned money gained through scrimping to the bone. Anyhow, spilt milk, and enough of that nonsense going forward!

Hello Fuzzel, Well done on trying to cover all angles and get yourself properly informed. I wonder whether it's actually helping you however to be told that you're worrying about nothing, and that you should ignore ignore before you yourself have fully appraised yourself of the reasons why you might be able to ignore them and not worry ... I saw your expression of this several times in your thread and I felt your frustration. One thing that I can't see mentioned in the thread is: what type of debt is (sorry, WAS) this? Credit card/Overdraft/Loan? I'm not in a position to advise, given that I've only recently started tackling my own situation. I would have thought that if it's a credit card or loan, there's no harm in sending CapQuest a correctly worded CCA request. HOWEVER, as you're either past or very close to the statute barred date, this is something you would not want to jeopardise, so I would wait for some more informed advice from others more knowledgeable than myself. One thing though that I think you should put well and truly to bed at this stage are any notions of offers of payment!!! Very best wishes -- I'm sure you'll get through this as you're going the right way around finding out the fine detail of your situation and your available options. F.E.

Thanks HH! My credit rating is shot to bits now anyway as I've received default notices from all but one of the creditors. On a side note, I think the mantra of Keep A Good Credit Rating At All Costs (fed through adverts for credit report agencies, "How's your credit rating" ads on ever other hotmail page, and things like the "Your Money" section in the Daily Mail, et. al) has contributed to people being in worse debt situations when they eventually do face up to them and start trying to tackle them. E.g. to keep paying and not miss a minimum payment, people get into a lot worse trouble than if they'd have thought a year previously "these minimum payments really are a struggle -- I'm going to have to get a reduction and look into paying debts". Rather than "Oh no! My credit rating will be crap if I stop paying! Better borrow off another card to meet the minimum payment on this one!" I admit thought that if you're moving house or need a mortgage, or change your mobile phone provider etc. then a duff credit rating will be a handicap. But I think I can handle six years or so without credit -- and even when those six years are up I don't think I'll be bothering with credit any more! Sorry, change that word "credit" for the proper word: "Debt"! "Debt card", "debt rating", "debt default swaps" "debt is the lifeblood of small business in the this country" (I've heard them "credit" for that last one a lot!). Sorry to have rattled on ...

Thanks Caro. I know it's not going to be all plain sailing, but even the simple fact of being able to redirect the cash paid pointlessly and uselessly into the DMP into a savings account/under the mattress to be available down the road to offer Full and Finals has got to be better than the farce of the past two years. If I'd done that a couple of years ago I would have £6000 cash which would have demolished a big chunk of my overall debt if offered via F&F. Regarding this thread in general, and the original posting, I'm still not clear at all however about the disparity of the moral stances between: stopping payment of a credit card debt on the basis of unenforceability (that is still outstanding and that you know you sometime must have applied for) = using paperwork to wriggle out of paying/morally bad . stopping payment of a credit card debt on the basis of it not appearing on a CRA report (even though you know that you have not yet paid it back in full and there is still money to be paid back on what you owe) = using paperwork to wriggle out of paying/morally not bad If you search for "wriggle" or "wriggling" on this forum, there are a lot of declarations of the former whenever CCA requests are mentioned.

Indeed. In nearly two years I've paid £6,000 into the DMP and according to creditors' statements, the total debt has gone down by £416. Complete *@#. "We" (see above)/aka CAG (presumably) might not agree with the concept (although how all however many thousand users of this forum can be of one mind and opinion, I can't quite fathom), but I am stopping paying this debt, so I suppose that makes me a wriggler*. After two years of playing by CCCS rules (and living as lavish a lifestyle as a Victorian street urchin), the whole parasitic financial "industry" can eff orf. "Industry". Ha! * I seem to remember a pleasant but equally impossible game for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48K with the same name circa 1985.

I thought something like that might be the case ..! Reclaiming charges might be worth doing if a CCA is seen to be enforceable and they start realistic threats of litigation ... Have done! Still awaiting replies but very early yet. After having done a few months of research and learning from others' experiences I'm actually feeling quite excited and that weight has started to be lifted. **** the banks!

Thanks. Despite having read the "claim back charges" pages, I'm still not clear on what I could reclaim. All charges and interest from the date the DMP started? That in itself would be amazing. I'm thinking though of saying sod the lot of them and just stopping payment. Although if I could get a chunk of interest and charges back at this stage before the Statute Barred clock has been ticking very long, it might be nice. Although maybe it's more effort than it's worth and I should just concentrate on keeping track of the correspondence they start bombarding me with once they stop receiving any money ...

Many thanks PriorityOne! Yours is the first reply that has addressed the crux of my initial posting. The word "wriggle" seems to suggest slyness and wrongdoing, yet the morality and uprightness of one's obligation to pay or continue paying seems to magically disappear after six years. It is the moralistic-ness in the seeming distinction between the two that I have difficulty reconciling.

Thanks for the response, and I'm not sure who you exactly mean by "we", but do you agree with the concept of paying a DMP (with CCCS) where the creditors refuse to stop or reduce interest, and where they keep adding absurd interest making repayment of the debt impossible, despite genuine attempts and efforts and considerable financial hardship in doing so? I don't see what alternative I have. Keep paying a DMP (with two years' history of consistent regular monthly payment) where 93% goes on charges and interest that the creditors continue to refuse to stop charging?