Advice paying several debts

[rory32]

Hi Hachi and welcome to CAG. There are a number of things you can do to help your current situation. Firstly you need to sort out a budget, have you done a statement of affairs to show your income and outgoings? Credit cards and loans are non priority debts so you need to ensure that essential bills are paid first. You also need to reserve a little bit of money for things like clothes, emergencies and a social life.

 

Secondly you need to identify if these DCA's have the legal right to collect on the account. You can do this by asking for a copy of the credit agreement (this is required to legally enforce the account), a notice of assignment (this shows that the DCA has been legally assigned to act on behalf of the creditor) and a statement of account. If they can't supply a copy of the credit agreement after 12 working days they are in default and can't lawfully enforce the account, this means that they can't apply interest and you can withhold payment until a copy of the agreement is produced. A template for this request is here http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general-debt/20758-creditors-dcas-letter-templates.html template N. You need to send this recorded delivery and enclose a one pound postal order. Do not sign the letter.

 

How old are these accounts?

 

Regarding the phone calls I would also send the letter here with the CCA request http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/37006-harassment-telephone-response-letter.html

 

Have you thought about changing your telephone number? You can do this by phoning your supplier and informing them you are being harassed and require your number to be changed.

 

Finally, are there any charges on the account which you could claim back to reduce the balance e.g. late payment fees, overlimit fees?

[rory32]

The accounts are probably reaching the two year mark,

This is when you took them out with the original creditor, yes? I wasn't asking when were they transfered to DCA's.

 

There are a lot of charges for late payments and overlimits that I know of, but have no real evidence as to what they might be, as most of these companies just give a flat amount of what I owe.

 

The statement of account should give you a lot of this information, but you'll probably have to send a SAR to the original creditor to get the full picture on how much the charges are. A SAR is a request for information under The Data Protection Act. You may be pleasantly suprised how much the charges come to.

 

Should I send a letter to each of the companies (IE send the letter to the people who I actually pay each month?)

 

I would send the letters to the DCA's.

 

I can't find our statement of affairs calculator so I'll give you a link to another one here Debt Statement of Affairs - Debt Consolidation - The Motley Fool The calculator is at the bottom of the page. DCA's (or creditors for that matter) have a legal obligation to accept what you can afford. They may through their toys out of the pram but don't be pressurised by them. A court would grant them no more than you can afford to reasonably pay and they know it.

 

I just want to make monthly payments that I can afford and still be able to live, and not be harrassed still even after I have paid.

There are bodies that are there to help you such as Trading Standards and the FOS and prevent you from being constantly harassed. They won't judge you on your debt position so don't feel helpless (plus you're with CAG now as well).

 

There are also free debt charities such as National Debtline which can offer good free help and advice National Debtline, for FREE CONFIDENTIAL and INDEPENDENT ADVICE call 0808 808 4000

[rory32]

Oh I forgot, have a read here too http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general-debt/55579-oft-guidelines-debt-collection.html

 

This what DCA's are allowed to do and what they are not allowed to do.

[rory32]

The SAR template is here http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/516-1-data-protection-act.html Also have a read through the FAQ's here http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/faqs-please-read-these/ The process for reclaiming charges is basically the same for credit cards as bank charges.

[rory32]

Can I assume that my letter got to the appropiate people

Yes.

will they just ignore my request and hassle me regardless?

Depends on the DCA really.

[rory32]

Of the six debts I have, two have agreed to payments of £10 a month, I never bothered to CCA these as they were being reasonable, should I still send these a CCA to see what goes?

 

It's still worth doing IMO as you may be in a position to offer a reduced settlement at a later stage and if the agreement isn't up to scratch or they can't find it this gives you more leverage.

I take it of the three that have not responded to my CCA request I can continue to ignore until the 30 calander days have also passed, and ignore Mints somewhat futile attempt to get me to contact them.

Yes just continue to ignore them.

[rory32]

Edit this letter as required and send to Fred. Also report the matter to Trading Standards. Account In Dispute

Letter Before Action

Dear Sir/Madam,

I refer to my recent correspondence with your company concerning this alleged debt, copies of which are enclosed for your perusal and ease of reference.

As **DCA** have failed to comply with my Consumer Credit Act request and admitted that the alleged signed executed agreement is unavailable, enforcement action is impossible under section 127 (3) of the Act.

 

The Consumer Credit Act allows 12 working days for this request to be carried out before your company enter into a default situation. If the request is not satisfied after a further 30 calendar days, Your company commit an offence. These time limits expired on XXXXXXXX and XXXXXXXX respectively.

 

As you are no doubt aware subsection (6) states:

 

If the creditor under an agreement fails to comply with subsection (1)—

 

(a) He is not entitled, while the default continues, to enforce the agreement; and

(b) If the default continues for one month he commits an offence.

 

Therefore as at XXXXXXXX this account became unenforceable at law and it is now my intention to refer this matter to the enforcement authorities.

 

If **DCA** chooses to ignore my dispute and attempt enforcement, I will initiate legal action and file reports with the appropriate authorities, including, but not limited to, Trading Standards, Office of Fair Trading, Information Commissioners Office, Financial Ombudsman Service and possible court action.

 

After taking advice, I am of the opinion that your continued pursuit is in violation of the Administration of Justice Act 1970 section 40, Protection from harassment Act 1997 section 3 as well as breaching a number of the OFT Collection Guidelines.

 

Failure to respond favourably to this letter within fourteen (14) days of receipt will result in immediate litigation being commenced against your company without further notice.

I also require a copy of your internal complaints procedure as further action may be necessary.

 

I would appreciate your due diligence in this matter.

 

I look forward to hearing from you in writing.

 

Yours Faithfully

[rory32]

Should I CCA these lot again and see what they come up with?

 

No. Send them the following letter (from Curlyben's library )

ACCOUNT IN DISPUTE

Dear Sir or Madam,

Account number: XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX

 

I must admit that I am rather bemused as to why this account has been passed to yourselves, as it is in dispute with the **original creditor/DCA** and has been since DATE 2007.

Not only is this a breach of OFT collection guidelines, but also in breach of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 and Data Protection Act 1998

 

My last letter from **original creditor/DCA** was DATE and intimated that my complaint would be

resolved on **DATE**, this obviously hasn’t happened.

As **original creditor/DCA** are now in default of my Consumer Credit Act request, OFT Collection Guidelines, *Subject Access request and have also breached *s10 Data Protection Act request , I consider this account to be in SERIOUS DISPUTE.

 

As you are aware while my Consumer Credit Act request remains in default enforcement action is NOT permitted, under s127 this constitutes a complete defence at law.

 

Consequentially any legal action you pursue will be averred as both UNLAWFUL and VEXATIOUS.

 

Now I would respectfully suggest that this account is returned to the **original creditor/DCA** for resolution of these defaults and breaches, as **New DCA** cannot lawfully pursue any enforcement activities.

 

If **New DCA** chooses to ignore my dispute and attempt enforcement, I will initiate legal action and file reports with the appropriate authorities, including, but not limited to, Trading Standards, Office of Fair Trading, Information Commissioners Office, Financial Ombudsman Service and possible court action.

 

After taking advice, I am of the opinion that any continued pursuit is in violation of the Administration of Justice Act 1970 section 40 as well as breaching a number of the OFT Collection Guidelines

 

I hope that this will not be necessary and an acceptable solution can be accomplished.

 

I would appreciate your due diligence in this matter.

I look forward to hearing from you in writing.

 

Yours faithfully

[rory32]

What would be the best thing to do

Stick to your offer of payment. Keep everything in writing, there is no need to talk to them on the phone. This is a template letter churned out by the computer. It may well be that your offer of payment was not processed before their standard threatomatic was sent.