Settled but wont send cheque ???

[Trish76]

Hi All!

Right, this is for a friend .

She has had a great success in being able to get a settlement in full for her Visa card.The snag is that she is over her credit limit and the debt was sold on.She rang Halifax and asked them to let the DCA know that the acc was in dispute as the DCA was having none of it....

The Halifax told her that they would not do so as they no longer owned the debt.So when she accepted the offer she asked for the money to be paid to her by cheque.So as it's been 12 days that she sent the acceptance letter with request to send the money by cheque and she had heard nothing she rang them this morning and was told that they would not send it to her as it is company policy to simply add the money to the account.

Is right of them to do so or is it possible to challenge this,as she was hoping to get a settlement figure out of DCA and have a bit left over.

Any advice would really be helpful!!

Thank's Trish

[Deller]

A DCA cannot act on an account that is in dispute, once you send a prelim to the bank, you put the account in dispute and the DCA must refer it back to the bank until the dispute is settled.

 

I would simply send them a dispute letter along these lines.

 

 

 

ACCOUNT IN DISPUTE

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

Your ref:

 

 

Thank you for your letter of DATE, the contents of which are noted.

 

 

I am disputing the total value of these debts with BANK due to unlawful and unreasonable charges. As such Therefore I consider this account to be in dispute and no further action shall be taken until this matter is resolved.

As per OFT guidelines Section 2.8k "not ceasing collection activity whilst investigating a reasonably queried or disputed debt."

 

This process may take some time, due to the Office of Fair Trading's test case, but I will try to expedite this issue as a matter of urgency.

 

I hope that you will enter into a sincere dialogue with me about this matter and I am writing this letter to you on the assumption that you would prefer to do this than merely respond with standard letters and leaflets.

 

I would appreciate your due diligence in this matter.

 

I look forward to hearing from you in writing.

 

Yours faithfully

 

 

The money your friend is claiming is from Halifax and NOT the DCA, the debt should have been passed back to Halifax as soon as the account was put in dispute. It seems to me as though both the bank and the DCA are trying to pass the buck back and forth to each other.

 

IMO, once the debt has been passed back to Halifax your friend will then be able to discuss with them as to how she wants her settlement paid to her!!

 

As you've already stated, this will probably enable her to obtain a settlement figure and have some of the monies left over.

[Deller]

One other thing, they will always want to pay the money into the account, that is if the account is still open.

 

So, if you owe them money on a credit card or overdraft, then they will try and deduct the amount they owe you from the amount you owe them.

 

In the case of credit cards, if your refund is more than your credit limit, or outstanding balance, then they will clear the account and send you a cheque for the difference.

 

HOWEVER, you can stipulate exactly how you want to receive your money. This is totally up to you, so don't let them bully you into accepting a deduction of an outstanding balance.

 

I hope that clears things up for you.

[Edz11]

It depends on if the debt was actually transferred to the DCA. Halifax may well still be the Creditor. In which case what they have done is quite legitimate. But if they have flogged the debt properly and there was an absolute assignment - then Halifax have paid the wrong person.

[Deller]

From my understanding of this though, Halifax are looking to pay this settlement to the DCA. It seems to me as though the debt should have been passed back to Halifax as soon as the account entered dispute, therefore the settlement should come from HALIFAX to the CLAIMENT and allow her to decide how she wishes to settle the debt!!