HFC/Weightmans Advice

[mazel01]

Any advice on this please....

[mazel01]

Please could someone help me on this one....

[mazel01]

Sorry to drive you mad, but getting really worried about this. Just need somenone to advise on what to do next?

[shieldblaster]

It seem the left hand doesn't know what the right one is doing with regards to HFC and weightmans.

 

Could you not contact HFC by letter requesting the outstanding balance figure? That way at least you know what you owe from the horses mouth as it were, and maybe at the same time send a token payment as Rory suggests telling them that you have very little disposable income and that is all you can afford at this time, you could also include a statement of means showing just how little income you have to play with.

 

At least it shows willing and if it does come to court the Judge will at least see that you are prepared to deal with the issue with the limited resources you have.

 

Hope this helps

 

Mick

[mazel01]

I am waiting for the SAR to come back from HFC, hopefully that should show what is outstanding. Do I need to write another letter as well?

[gordonsanderson]

Hi mazel01,

Dont worry sbout the amount, i have had 4 different values of my loan, all of which are wrong, when you get yoy SAR back it should state on that info, you could also send away for you credit report as this will show you what balance the loan has left. I,ve just started on weightmans and they want new info on me and said that i owed £37,000 which calculates to 3.5 x the original loan amount with PPI at nearly £5000, make sure your SAR is exactly what it is supposed to be as what they sent me was basically a list of telephone cal logs, they are basically refusing to supply me with SAR so after the ICO i'm goig to court....i cant stress enough....IF YOU CAN GET THE CORRECT INFO then you can apply your defence....If you cannot get the requested information they are legally abliged to give you then you can file an order through the courts and claim comp for non-compliance of SAR regarding PPI.

 

Chin up bud, and keep your wits about you coz they are b*****ds.

 

Regards Gordon

[mazel01]

Still no reply from HFC to my SAR....

[mazel01]

Please could someone help me on this, I am shaking like a leaf...

 

Received letter from HFC this morning enclosing statement of account but no other information although I SAR'd them.

 

Also received a letter from the courts via Weightmans that they have started legal proceedings against me.

 

I was fuming so I rang Weightmans and spoke to someone who said that they were entitled to issue legal proceedings against me. I told them that I had only received a part answer to my SAR from HFC and the account was in dispute. She said well thats nothing to do with Weightmans we can issue proceedings when we want to and have done. I said thats totally incorrect & illegal what you have done.....she said no HFC haven't told us that the account was in dispute so therefore we have issued these proceedings......after 20 minutes of talking to a brick wall I slammed the phone down......

 

PLEASE HELP I AM SO WORRIED & STRESSED!!!!

[mazel01]

Forgot to mention, when I rang Weightmans, I only gave my account number & they started talking about my account.....

1) The first guy I spoke to only asked me for my account no.

2)Then he put me through to someone else, who again didn't ask me for any personal details

3)Finally he put me through to the head of the dept, again no personal details were asked from me.....

 

I thought that solicitors have to follow DATA PROTECTION????

[mazel01]

If I was complain who would it be too?.......

[sequenci]

You can complain here:

 

LCS: Legal Complaints Service home

[mazel01]

Hi Sequenci, according to Weightmans they have never been told that the account was in dispute and have sent me a statement of account..should HFC have told them that I had sent a SAR to them and therefore the account is in dispute until they provided me with this information. Weightmans reckon not, they say that they have an agreement in plave to issue procedings when they feel suitable????

[mazel01]

Oh, when I asked Weightmans on the phone why the figure they are claiming was totally different to the one on the statement from HFC. There answer was it should be the figure that was on the default notice that HFC sent originally....I am so confused:confused:

[PriorityOne]

Hiya Maz... got your PM

 

Unfortunately, HFC are not shy in issuing proceedings against people but there's plenty of good info. on some of the other HFC threads re. Weightmans and the tactics they like to use. Unfortunately, although you have disputed the balance and sent a SAR, the SAR won't have placed the account "in dispute" as such... only a CCA request will do that and since they you've said earlier that they supplied an enforceable Agreement.... the account is no longer in dispute through non-compliance. I assume this is why they've gone ahead and contacted Weightmans.

 

You say that HFC supplied you with a Statement of Account... what's the figure on there ? What was the figure on the Default Notice (if you have it available) ? Are they the same ?

 

You say that you've received a letter from the courts Via Weightmans... what do you mean ? Are these court documents or is it just a letter from Weighmans threatening court action ?

 

[mazel01]

Hi Priority, the amount on the statement of account is £9200.

 

I have got 2 default notices:

 

1) Sep 06 - Outstanding balance =£9877.53

Less Statutory rebate allowance = £1893.86

Oustanding balance = £8415.99

 

2) Feb 07 - Oustanding balance = £17643.41

Less statutory rebate = £7898.75

Amount to be paid = £9744.66

 

The letter that I received said that legal proceedings have commenced and I would receive the court papers shortly.

[PriorityOne]

You have 2 Default Notices ?.... they can't default the same account twice.

 

If court papers have already been filed though, you're best to wait for these so that we can look at the Particulars of Claim.... and see the balance on there. I assume that there'll be a whack of unlawful charges on there as well.

 

Rory32/pt2537 (Paul)/tomterm8 (Tom) are the legal bods. that can help the most when things reach this stage.... so it may be best to PM one of them to look in on the thread at this stage.

 

Please try not to worry....

[mazel01]

I have just checked through the default notices & they are both for the same account......are they not supposed to have done that?

[PriorityOne]

No... you cannot end (default) an Agreement twice. HFC did this to me recently and I made an official complaint. Under the circumstances, I would wait for one of the legal bods. to advise whether you should make a complaint about this now... or wait and mention it as part of your Defence.

 

I would be inclined to wait....

[rory32]

Did the default notices come from HFC or Weightmans?

 

I think it would be a good idea to send Weightmans a letter headed ACCOUNT IN DISPUTE outlining why the account is in dispute. Also make an official complaint to them. Send recorded delivery so that they can't deny that they received it.

 

While this may not stop them from filing a claim against you it removes any excuse that they were ignorant of any dispute and starts to build a case against them. Really you need to stop speaking to them on the phone - it is a pointless exercise and phone calls can always be denied.

 

If you need help with the letter let us know.

 

Try not to overly worry about this. If they file at court (this isn't a given as often DCA's will inform you that your account is being prepared for legal action when in fact it isn't) then you will have a good defence for any claim against you and they will be forced to supply you with all the account information including PPI and charges.

[mazel01]

Rory, the default notices both came from HFC. I would be so grateful if you could help me on this letter, I don't know where to start. Thanks Rory

[mazel01]

Just to confirm that one default notice was received 2006 & the other in 2007...

[rory32]

ACCOUNT IN DISPUTE

 

ACCOUNT NUMBER: XXXXXXX

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

I refer to your letter of **/**/**, in which you advise of your intention to issue court proceedings with regard to the outstanding balance of my loan.

 

 

As you are aware, this account and the balance thereof is currently subject of a dispute. I can only assume your letter has been sent in error, as you must surely be aware that action such as that you propose would constitute breaches of the banking code. This matter has been discussed in correspondence with your clients ********* department and on **/**/**

 

Additionally, this action you propose is clearly quantifiable as retaliatory due to my own claim against your client to recover unlawfully levied penalty charges and PPI. To proceed as you have indicated would therefore be contrary to the statement of the Financial Services Authority of 6th July 2006 in which it ruled such action to be discriminatory. I also believe this action to be tantamount to a sanction imposed merely for pursuing my legitimate right of seeking a judgement from a court.

 

 

I trust your client is committed to upholding the standards of the Banking Code to which it subscribes, and would not hold its regulator, the FSA, in such contempt as to ignore its 6th July statement.

 

 

I will allow you 7 days to reply to me, in writing or by Fax only, withdrawing the threat of action imposed in your letter of **/**/**. If you do not do so, I will draw your client’s transgressions to the attention of the Financial Services Authority and the banking code standards committee, by making formal complaints and enclosing copies of all recent correspondence.

I look forward to your prompt response.

 

Yours faithfully

...

[mazel01]

Thanks Rory. This is to go to Weightmans recorded delivery?

 

Weightmans said that legal proceedings had already commenced & the court papers will arrive within the next few days. So I presume that I ammend the letter you kindly posted above to mention that.

 

Also if they have already started legal action & I send this letter, can they still withdraw it?

 

Do I need to change 'banking code' in the letter to anything else or does HFC fall under that for a personal loan?

[rory32]

This is to go to Weightmans recorded delivery?

 

Yes, although special delivery would be better if you can afford it.

Weightmans said that legal proceedings had already commenced & the court papers will arrive within the next few days. So I presume that I ammend the letter you kindly posted above to mention that.

Yes just amend the letter to reflect that.

Also if they have already started legal action & I send this letter, can they still withdraw it?

Yes they can withdraw the claim at any point right up to the actual hearing.

Do I need to change 'banking code' in the letter to anything else or does HFC fall under that for a personal loan?

No you don't need to change it. HFC subscribe to the banking code.

[mazel01]

This matter has been discussed in correspondence with your clients ********* department and on **/**/**

 

Is this referring to the SAR that I sent HFC?

 

As you are aware, this account and the balance thereof is currently subject of a dispute.

 

Rory, when I spoke to Weightmans today, they said they were not aware of any dispute and hadn't been informed from HFC that there was one. I told Weightmans that I had sent in a SAR to HFC but had only received a statement of account back. Is it still ok to include this section in the letter?