Hi, about 2 months ago I had several direct debits set up on my account by a fraudster. Luckily my bank spotted this and returned them unpaid. To be honest they didn't seem particularly bothered about it, but that's another story. One of the direct debits was a subscription to a website for £40!!! Since the direct debit was cancelled unpaid I have received numerous letters from a company called Legal Recoveries and Collections which I ignored. They have then passed it along to Rossendales who appear to be trying to be far more intimidating. Today they have sent me a "Notice of Visit" and inform me that someone will be coming to collect the debt in the next few days. (The alleged amount is less than £70 so this seems extreme.) I know I don't owe them anything and I know they obviously can't take me to court because there can be no evidence, but I would like to avoid a visit if indeed it a realistic prospect. Is there a specific letter I can send? I'm a bit annoyed at this because I've done nothing wrong on this occasion lol! Thanks for your help!!

Received a "Statement in relation to the below agreement which is governed by the consumer credit act 1974" from MKDP today. First I've ever had, it's from 01.12.13 to 30.11.14. It just details interest and the £55 legal fee they've added to the amount. Do I need to worry?

That's what I thought, I wasn't sure if they were allowed to keep amending it? Also, as the claim is stayed, and likely to remain so indefinitely, will it stay in my credit file indefinitely?

Sorry to resurrect an older thread, I was just checking my credit file, and I noticed that it was defaulted in September 2009, the balance had been a steady amount since then, but 5 months ago MKDP seem to have stuck on an extra £55, are they allowed to do that?

My defence was that it's all charges, and that it may be statute barred, but they won't provide me with information to verify if it is or not. So presumably it would have to be statute barred before the date of the claim? Would it need to be stayed for another 6 years to be SB now?

How does that work with regards to it being statute barred?

Duly noted Sir, I didn't know it would be that difficult. What would you advise I do? Can it be left stayed indefinitely?

Thanks Brigadier, how long do I wait before I apply to have the claim struck out?

Rang the court to check today. MKDP haven't responded to my defence so the claim is stayed for now. But apparently they tried to get a judgement in default at the beginning of June which was refused by the court as I had submitted a defence. I'm a little confused as to what they're doing here?

You're right of course I will write to them later. They just really got to me! Which I suppose is what they want. Thanks for you're help!

I had an inkling, always good to have you guys confirm it, thanks for your help

That's my plan, am I right in thinking that the charges and admin fees are unenforcable?

i was wondering if someone could take a look and see if I need to be worried, I'll include the email exchange I've had with the guys at CRS recently. ME: Dear Nick Bright, Thankyou for your letter dated 22.04.14, the contents of which have been noted. You claim that you wish to come to an amicable solution, so therefore let me reiterate my offer of £xx.xxfor the final two months fees. Thankyou for your kind explanation of the legal process involved in small claims court. Could you possibly provide me with a true copy of the agreement which I signed with yourselves and which you will be presumably be basing your court claim on? I would rather have it now than have to wait to request it under CPR procedures. I am happy to pay £xx.xx as full and final settlement by bank transfer, online, or cash into an account of your choosing. Please let me have your response within 10 days, either by letter, or by return email to this address. THEM Further to your email of 24th April 2014, we are unable to provide you with a signed copy of your minimum term membership agreement, as this was entered into via an online sign up process called SNAP and as such, no signed physical document exists. We assure you, however, that despite this, it remains a legally binding agreement, and to our knowledge is fully enforceable. We have, however, sent in the post a copy of the terms and conditions of that agreement, as well as all of the information transmitted from the website at the time of joining, including the personal details you supplied (highlighted in green) and the product information supplied to you (highlighted in yellow). As previously explained, your offer of £xx.xx is not acceptable as final settlement of this balance, as there is no reason why the costs incurred in trying to rectify your breach of contract should be covered by any party other than you. Payment can be made by Credit/Debit card by calling us on 01444 449165. Alternatively, cheque/postal orders should be made payable to Credit Resolution Services and sent to CRS, 2nd Floor, Rockwood House, 9-17 Perrymount Road, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, RH16 3TW. A payment plan can also be set up if you are unable to settle in full, although we do charge a little extra for this. If you are experiencing financial difficulty, there are organisations who offer free debt advice and assistance such as Step Change (0800 1381111), National Debtline (0808 8084000) and your local Citizen Advice Bureau. Please ensure a payment or response is received within the next 7 days, so we can avoid further action being taken. Yours sincerely, David Castle ME: Thankyou for your eventual reply to my email sent at the end of April. You will notice that I am replying to yours within your arbitrary 10 day deadline. I am a little perplexed at your reasoning for claiming such a large amount. I was under the impression that fees and penalty charges could only be decided / added to a debt by a court, and not by a debt collection agency such as yourselves? Again, I am happy to pay the £xx.xx for the remaining 2 months membership, but I will not pay your fees and penalty charges. I really cannot make it any plainer for you than this. We're obviously not getting anywhere with this exchange, as I am still not intimidated by you or your company, which I can only assume is what you are trying to do here? Perhaps you could issue a claim against me through small claims court so we can get the final resolution that you seem so confident in? https://www.gov.uk/make-money-claim-online That is the web address I believe you will be requiring. I look forward to reading your justification for your assorted "admin charges." I would ask you to reply within a deadline, but it seems a little pointless. THEM: Further to your email of 21st May 2014, we apologise for the delay in our reply. With regards to your statement that you were "under the impression that fees and penalty charges could only be decided / added to a debt by a court, and not by a debt collection agency such as yourselves?" you are unfortunately mistaken. If this matter were escalated to court the judge would indeed have the right to decide whether or not these charges were due, but they would also have the right to decide whether any aspect of the balance claimed was due and that would be true of every claim of any kind. That is the very reason judges are employed to deal with such matters; to make a judgement. This in no way diminishes the ability, or indeed the responsibility, of parties to set out what they believe is owed before court level as this is in fact a requirement of the Civil Procedure Rules 1998. You have advised you look forward to our justification of our charges and so we shall advise, much as we did in our letter of 30th December 2013, that Clause 6 of the terms of this agreement, which you have agreed to be bound by, states that "If you fail to pay any monies due under this agreement or if any Direct Debit is returned unpaid or any cheque is returned unpaid or if any other form of payment is not honoured for whatever reason, you shall pay us on demand an administration fee of £20 (which we require to cover our costs of seeking to pursue such payment from you)." Harlands deal with many health clubs and other businesses across the UK and Ireland. The monthly fees are determined by the individual business and can vary from as little as £5.00 per month to as much as £1100, per month depending on the business. The administration charge of £20.00 is paid to Harlands and is £20.00 across the board, as the administrative process they follow is the same regardless of the fees due to the club. As Harlands are employed by the club to administer the agreement, these costs can acceptably be considered the responsibility of the consumer if they breach the contract, especially since they have signed to agree to be liable for those costs. As you may be aware, whilst common contract law does not allow punitive charges in relation to financial agreements it is entirely possible and acceptable for either party to apply charges payable by the second party, to cover costs incurred by the first party due to a breach of contract on the part of the second party. £20.00 is the amount deemed by Harlands' directors as representative of their costs in dealing with the administration involved with a missed or returned payment. When they submit for a payment by Direct Debit which is then returned, they are charged by the bank. This amount does not amount to £20.00, however, and we concede that the cost of the paper, envelope and franking of the default letters does not make up the entirety of the rest of the sum, however, as a business they have to pay overheads for staff wages, whose employment would not otherwise be required if it were not for the missed or returned payments and furthermore pay overheads for office space and increased usage of utilities, equipment, furniture and stationary to accommodate these staff and the processes involved with the administration involved with missed or returned payments, costing hundreds of thousands of pounds every year. It is our position, therefore, that all of these costs are incurred as a direct result of a breach of contract by those who default on their agreements, which, in this instance, is you. With regards to our own collection fees, we work under the guidance of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and are fully confident that our own collection fees are in line with that guidance. To demonstrate the validity of these recovery fees we would refer you to the specific points within the current version of the guidance which states the following with regards to charging consumer's for debt recovery: "CONC 7.7.2 01/04/2014 FCA A firm must not claim the costs of recovering a debt from a customer if it has no contractual right to claim such costs." Reference to clause 8 of the terms of your agreement will show that you have agreed that "If you fail to pay any amount due under this agreement for a period of more than thirty days, then we may pass the debt to a third party company for collection. The reasonable and direct costs incurred in employing the third party company will be borne by you including costs in tracing you if you have changed your address without telling us." As such there is such a contractual right to claim such costs. "CONC 7.7.3 01/04/2014 FCA A firm must not cause a customer to believe that the customer is legally liable to pay the costs of recovery where no such obligation exists." It has been demonstrated that there is such a contractual provision and as such you are liable for such charges and stating as such is not misleading you. "CONC 7.7.4 01/04/2014 FCA Where a firm has a contractual right to levy default charges, a regulated credit agreement must state the charges and the conditions for making the charge under, as the case may be, the Consumer Credit (Agreements) Regulations 2010 (SI 2010/1014) or the Consumer Credit (Agreements) Regulations 1983 (SI 1983/1553)." Your agreement is not a credit agreement, therefore this would not apply in this instance. "CONC 7.7.5 01/04/2014 FCA A firm must not impose charges on customers in default or arrears difficulties unless the charges are no higher than necessary to cover the reasonable costs of the firm." This agreement is not with us, but between you and Lifestyle Fitness, the debt has not been bought by ourselves, and we act as an agent on their behalf. This is not, therefore, the cost of transferring your details to ourselves, or the cost of our phone calls or letters, but the cost to Lifestyle Fitness for employing our services as a debt collection agency. As this is the actual cost of employing our services, it is 100% representative of Lifestyle Fitness' costs. As explained previously, and repeatedly, your offer of £xx.xx is not sufficient. Our position remains as previously advised. If you are not willing to set up a payment plan with us, we have no alternative but to proceed with further action against you. We will hold this for a further 7 days. If you advise us again that you do not intend to pay, we will continue our collection procedure, but will not continue to enter into further correspondence as our decision has been made. Payment can be made by Credit/Debit card by calling us on 01444 449165. Alternatively, cheque/postal orders should be made payable to Credit Resolution Services and sent to CRS, 2nd Floor, Rockwood House, 9-17 Perrymount Road, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, RH16 3TW. A payment plan can also be set up if you are unable to settle in full, although we do charge a little extra for this. If you are experiencing financial difficulty, there are organisations who offer free debt advice and assistance such as Step Change (0800 1381111), National Debtline (0808 8084000) and your local Citizen Advice Bureau. Please ensure a payment or response is received within the next 7 days, so we can avoid further action being taken. Yours They seem very intent in writing long emails to get their money. But I've offered them the remaining balance so many times now, I'm getting bored.

Court confirmed receipt of Defence today. Been reading a few threads, but can't see if MKDP tend to challenge defences in cases like this or not. They do seem to have bought a Job lot of old HSBC accounts and gone litigation-happy though

Thanks Andy, I'll get that submitted now!