I agree with reallymadwoman. Get legal advice. A lot of solicitors will give you a free initial interview of say 20 or 30 mins to hear your situation. If I was you I would write everything down point by point, just the facts, and take any documents along with you. This will allow the solicitor to understand what is happening quickly and tell you what the options are.

I can only think to do what I suggested in post 2. Perhaps someone else here has a better idea.

OK Telephone Harassment First: Presuming you have sent the telephone harassment letter and done it recorded delivery you have at least some proof it was sent. I would wait until they call you one more time just in case they take notice of the letter anyway. If they do call again get the name of the caller and his department, and note the date and time of the call. I would then send a complaint letter to OFCOM naming names and the date and time with copies of proof of delivery and also copy Lloyds TSB in the letter. Then see what happens. If the problem continues and is a nuisance say so by posting back here. 2. CCA Request Your position at the present time is that you have made a lawful CCA request and they have not responded. You are therefore at liberty to withhold payments until it is provided. Whether you do so or not is up to you. In addition, you have the choice of whether to follow up your letter with another one telling them you are now legally withholding payments. This is a personal choice. Some people on here do send a letter, others say the meaning and intent of the first letter is entirely clear and no further elaboration is necessary. I think the latter myself. The difference in approach between ourselves as debtors and the debt collecting establishment should be that we do not send a stream of communications that become meaningless. Instead we only write when we wish to achieve something and the outcome is either we achieve it or failing that, take action. That action should not be another letter repeating your previous position. In this case we tried to obtain a copy of the agreement and have not achieved it. The action we take is to withhold payments. The situation is clear and no further action is required on our part. Please note I have had a successful career at ignoring correspondence and not playing letter tennis and as such I have not been in the position you are now in. My advice therefore comes with a strong health warning as what I am suggesting to you is largely picked up from other threads on this forum. I therefore suggest, again in the absence of any other comments from other CAGers, that you have a good look around the site at other similar threads to get the corroboration of my views that I would dearly like to see on this Thread.

Hi Are you still using the account? If so consider getting another account and operating your finances from that one. Then you can offer them what you can afford. they have two choices, accept it or take court action. If they win and you have already made an offer and are paying them you can ask the judge to maintain that schedule and he will.

Hi Never call a DCA. They will lie to you and insult you. You will have no audit trail of what was agreed and they may be able to get you to agree to things you don't want to. If they call you never answer. Ignore all their letters unless you get a CCJ summons or an SD. Have a look for some other HFO threads on here. They seem to be a very stupid mob.

Hi I am very sorry to hear of your circumstances. If he tries to cancel the finances it is likely he will still be liable for the balance. How does he propose to settle the balance? Does he intend to sell the car in order to settle the finance? Perhaps you could point out to him that he will be liable for the debt as the finance is in his name. Is he about to get his licence back and therefore wants the car or is his position one of spite? Frankly I do not understand his motivation, other than greed. It is a radical idea but if all else fails and there is no further/better advice on this forum may I suggest you draft a letter to the finance company and state: a. The story of how you came to buy the car, how he got the finance, how the car is in your name, and how the remaining payments are now in jepoardy as he does not have the means to maintain them. (Provide a photocopy of the vehicle document to prove who the keeper is I.E. you). b. State that not withstanding your poor credit references you have been the responsible party that has made the payments (enclose bank statements to prove it). c. Ask if they will consider formally assigning the agreement to you or giving you a new agreement to cover the remaining payments. Point out that your husband has been unemployed throughout this period. d. If your financial circumstances without your husband are the same/ or little different perhaps provide an income/expenses sheet to show them you have the ability to continue the payments. Assuming the finance company went along with this idea the car is then in your name with the DVLA but the finance company still has an interest in it until you have finally paid it off, and your husband would struggle to make a legal claim on the vehicle. Wait a while and see what other suggestions come on, just in case there are some legal pitfalls with the idea.

I speak as a total lay person but in the absence of any other advice if you want to start a case in which many people will be involved I think the first thing to do is to get a good firm of solicitors involved who are willing to take the case and manage the many claims of the individuals concerned. You could then draft the main elements of the case, who would qualify and what the potential recoveries/costs are. You would then presumably need to advertise for possible claimants to come on board and for that to work properly you would need to divulge who the company is and present the main points of your claim. In the absence of any budget to advertise Nationally you could issue press releases to the National Papers. If the story is good enough you would likely get some "page 15" type coverage. Give people an email address to write to in the ad. I guess it is possible that this thread and others on similar web sites would also get the word out.

PS get the kids to practice a bit so the board is not messed up. Get a board that is a box as well to contain all the pieces.

Give him something that is potentially useful but will also remind him of the class. Get a chess set and get the kids in the class to write their names one each in all the white squares (Maximum 32). If you have more than 32 pupils buy a white marker and start using the black squares. He will keep it for the rest of his life, and might even play chess from time to time.

Hi I am sorry to hear of your situation. You will get some excellent advice on here so stay calm for a little while and give CAGers a chance to read your thread. I don't know a huge amount about bankruptcy but here are few things I have thought of as a result of reading your thread: 1. The DCA's talk a lot about bankruptcy but in reality they would be stupid to carry out the process unless they know that you have sufficient assets to pay their costs and the amount they are owed AND the amounts owed to your other creditors. 2. For them to make that decision they would have to know what you have got AND who your other creditors are and what they are owed. I would think it very unlikely they have that information. The letter you have is a mean and nasty threat and they are very unlikely to follow through with it. 3. If they have a good case they are better of issuing a County Court Summons as a. it is cheaper as an overall process, and b. they get to keep the full amount if they win without involving other creditors. 4. I therefore think it unlikely you will be made bankrupt. They may go as far as to issue the SD but if you decide to ignore it and let them make you bankrupt (as I did 3 times with other creditors) they will simply put you back on the debt collection treadmill and try something else. 5. In the absence of the "relief" of bankruptcy you should try and get some measure of control over creditors. Here is what I would do in your situation: a. Do an income and expenditure sheet. On one side of the paper list all your earnings/income after tax and deductions. On the other side list your expenses as follows: Rent/Mortgage Council Tax Food/Heating/Utilities Transport A small Reserve (say 5% of the income) Everything else The maximum amount you can pay your creditors is the figure you get when you subtract the expenses from the income. b. At this point you can decide how much to pay your creditors and in what proportions. That is what they can have. There is no more and nothing they can say or do will materialize money where there is none. You can then offer them what you have calculated they can have. they have two choices. Accept it or take you to court. If they win in court you can tell the judge you made them an offer, show him your I&E and the judge will make them accept the offer (or a lower one even?). 6. You can at this point challenge the debts as some of them may not be enforceable or can be reduced due to incorrect charges and so forth.

Hi I have had loads of letters like this and no one has ever turned up, though that does not mean that they wont, but consider this; They have to come from some office, hang around hoping you are in and have no powers at all, less than the postman in fact. They know that and with their time and petrol to be considered it is simply not business like. I refer to my post 3 above. All communications are to be in writing only. This is your right. In the very unlikely event that someone turns up, you are completely within your rights to refuse to open the door, refuse to speak to them and tell them to go away. Legally they must. However, if you are suffering from anxiety there are two things that may help; Either get someone to stay with you that knows the situation and keep you company, Or go out to someone during the period you think they may arrive. However, it is most unlikely anyone will show up. This is just a nasty tactic to scare you. Don't let it.

Wow. You are clearly very much on the ball and very knowledgeable. Probably know more than me and I am picking up a lot of what I know from this forum by reading around etc. Not sure I can help further at this point but will stay on the thread and chip in if I can add anything useful.

whoops! should read the thread properly. But good news anyway. You have got some control of the situation.

Ha Ha Hi Babydoll So these guys have issued an SD with no paperwork to back it up. I suggest you copy the SD and the letter they have just sent you and write to the MOJ, Trading Standards and FSO. One of this mob may be interested in the use/abuse of the legal process I.E. issuing a demand without themselves knowing if they are able to prove the debt.

1. From what you say you don't have to worry about any recording they might produce. 2. Did they say they were recording the call at any point in the process of the call? If not they cannot produce it as evidence. In the unlikely event that this becomes something they wish to rely on in the future you should be able to obtain the recording from them as it will be part of the evidence they are producing. Biggest lesson here: Never talk to them, written comms only.

Hi First of all, and I stand to be corrected, but I think you can only be defaulted once for any single account, even if it is sold on. Therefore the first default would be the correct one, the second one not, and can be challenged. Second, the debt should not have been sold whilst it is still in dispute as this appears to have been. Was it in dispute at the time of the sale? Has it in fact been sold or is Experto Credito just acting on behalf of MBNA? Have you received a default notice? Have you received a Termination notice? Have you received an assignment letter from either party? What is the amount of the debt and how much do you dispute as being misused? As a holding action I would write to EC briefly explaining your position and disputing the account. Then wait for other CAGers to chip in. Also: 1. Never to talk to anyone on the phone. Not ever. Written materials only. If they call, put the phone down without speaking. 2. Most letters they send are threatening but not credible so can safely be ignored. However, keep posting back here every time you receive correspondence just to make sure what you have got is not a problem.

It seems extraordinary that you have paid £1800 on a £500 judgment and still have £1390 to go! Was the total amount of the CCJ £500 or was it £500 plus the Court and solicitor charges? If the latter, what was the total amount of the judgment? Did the judgment ask for interest? If so at what amount? Some judgments don't get interest, others get statutory interest if they ask for it (currently I think about 8%) and others ask for contractual interest I.E. the interest rate that applies to the card!!). It is possible therefore that the £1390 is correct. However, it is equally likely that one party or another is putting spurious charges into the account. For example are the solicitors charges attracting interest and i so at what rate? If it was me I would write to the solicitors concerned and ask for a statement of account. Assuming they reply this will reveal how the credits and debits on the account arrived at where they are today. As a precaution send the letter recorded delivery just in case you are on to something and they try to be evasive. You can also consider applying to the court for a reduction/elimination of the interest and possibly the debt. I have no idea how to do this or if it is possible. Hopefully other CAGers will come on here and provide some practical advice in that area. Also; did you defend the debt or did you get a judgment by default? It is just possible you could have grounds for getting the judgment set aside though this would be very difficult. Finally, and this is just a minor suggestion, but consider stopping the direct debit and replacing it with a standing order. The payment remains the same but they no longer have the ability to take whatever they want out of your account.

Hi Not sure if Council tax gets eliminated in a bankruptcy so watch out for that one, just in case. Wait for other CAGers to comeon and clarify that and other things. Also, if you must do it, do it soon as the price is about to go up!

Send the telephone harassment letter, customised to your circumstances. IE put a paragraph in at the top saying the alleged debt was thrown out of court on x and is in any case statute barred. Therefore please take note of the following; and then the rest of the letter. Recorded delivery, unsigned. See what happens next.

Hi Stu They are in breach of the CCA request as they have not provided the information they must lawfully do. You do not therefore need to pay them anything until this is provided. They are in breach of the letter of harassment both by calling you and telling you that they will continue to call you. You are in a minor breach of post 2 part 11 on this thread by talking to them!!! However, it is interesting that they were prepared to finally offer you a plan of some sort. I wonder if this was simply their standard process for dealing with arrears or as a response to your correspondence. What you do now is up to you. We could really do with some more CAGers to come on here and lend their brains because currently I am the only one offering support and I am out on a limb, as most of what we are talking about here is what I have picked up on other threads. Can I ask for some other CAGers who have been here to chip in please? Please read the thread and advise what to do regarding the breach of the CCA request and the breach of the harassment request. If no one else posts in the next 24 hours just put a quick comment in and I will receive the CAG email and look back in.

Don't sign anything until you have seen some advice from other CAGers. Here are some possible reasons for the letter: 1. It is genuine and they think they cannot provide data to you unless they have correctly identified you. In order to deal with this you could make a copy of a recent utility bill and send it (recorded delivery) with an (unsigned!) letter stating that since they are concerned about your identity here is bill that only you could receive that should be sufficient to identify you. 2. It is time wasting. They may use the lack of a signature to say they have not received a valid request. 3. It is a trap and they really want your signature so they can fabricate an agreement. There seems to be a body of opinion on here that thinks there is no requirement to provide a signature. Some say ignore and let them default. Others say take some action as in 1. None say send a signature.

Spurious has a valid question. Notwithstanding the fact that one of the T&C's is a right to contact the debtor's employer, is it a lawful condition? I would not mind betting the loan companys have a term in the contract saying that if any of the other terms are unlawful that does not invalidate the rest. So even they accept that it is possible that terms in their contract are not lawful!

Hi Knackered Did you intend to include a link to something here?

Hi This is one of the reasons for not ever calling them or speaking to them on the telephone, as they say you said something and you say you didn't and the whole thing is unproductive for you. They probably record the calls so whatever was said, only they have the evidence. As of right now you say you did not acknowledge the debt and they say that you did. The onus is still on them to prove the debt. If the conversation did take place as they say it did then they should be able to reproduce the recording. (though I bet they wont). I think as you now stand they have not proved the debt and this is not their final response, though their letter is trying to scare you into thinking it is. If it was me I would just ignore it until such time as they provide material proof of the debt if such exists, or the recording of the conversation, if such exists. I would not dignify their communication with any sort of reply. However, you said this was part of their response. What was the rest of the response? Is it safe to assume it had nothing substantial by way of any proof?

Great. Keep posting with developments.