Trying to sort out a mess

[IKone]

My daughter got herself into debt while suffering depression - £1000 overdraft (over the limit) two credit cards, and a loan, totalling several thousand pounds. Not really sustainable as she earns no more than £250 a week and frequently less. She got to the point of not even opening the letters. Last September she moved & heard no more from the bank or the building society involved.

 

A large number of bank charges had been the beginning of the problem, & we'd started the process to reclaim last July, but after the bank's refusal she gave up. Unfortunately I'd no idea she'd taken on so much debt, until she started receiving letters from two DCAs at her new address - one for the loan (although it has a different ref no. from the original agreement - she thinks it might be from having refinanced) the other for one of the credit cards. Then she asked me for help.

 

We have loads of paperwork I'd rescued when she moved, but nothing newer than September 2007. All the correspondence since must have been delivered there & vanished. The only recent stuff is the few letters from the DCAs.

 

I have now got letters of authority from her so I can deal direct with the banks and debt collectors as she still becomes very agitated when having to deal with them. Having read some of the advice on the forums I don't intend to deal with them by phone at all. Also she has had one (undated) letter informing her of a proposed visit - I've advised her that she doesn't have to talk to them on the doorstep, and will write telling them so. She has also warned her housemates not to let in anyone who might be from a DCA.

 

I'm about to send SARs to the original creditors for all these accounts, & letters to the two collection agencies to let them know this is what we're doing, and that she will not be paying anything until she knows how these debts are made up.

 

I would like to know if I should use a request for a copy of a credit agreement letter or a request for a creditor to hold action on an account letter in these circumstances?

 

Any advice will be very welcome.

Id

[berrylover]

ok first of all send this letter to them. This will be fine for the loans and credit cards, but not the overdraft. Send it recorded delivery with a £1 postal order and DO NOT SIGN IT.

 

 

 

I DO NOT ACKNOWLEDGE ANY DEBT TO YOUR COMPANY.

 

 

 

Re:

 

 

Dear Sir,

 

With reference to the account above I would be grateful if you could send me a copy of the signed credit agreement.

 

I understand that under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (sections 77-79); I am entitled to receive a copy of the credit agreement on request. I enclose a payment of £1.00 which represents the fee payable under the Consumer Credit Act.

 

I understand that a copy of the credit agreement should be received within 12 working days.

 

I understand that under the Consumer Credit Act creditors are unable to enforce an agreement if they fail to comply with a request for a copy of the agreement under these sections of the Act.

 

I now require all further correspondence from your company to be made in writing only.

 

I am of the view that your harassment of me by telephone puts you in breach of Section 40 of the Administration of Justice Act 1970, and the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.

 

If you continue to harass me by telephone, you will also be in breach of the Communications Act (2003) s.127 and I will report you to OFCOM, Trading Standards and The Office of Fair Trading, meaning that you will be liable to a substantial fine.

 

Furthermore, should it be your intention to arrange a “doorstep call”, please be advised that under OFT rules, you can only visit me at my home if you make an appointment and I have no wish to make an appointment with you.

 

There is only an implied license under English Common Law for people to be able to visit me on my property without express permission; the postman and people asking for directions etc (Armstrong v. Sheppard and Short Ltd [1959] 2 Q.B. per Lord Evershed M.R.). Therefore take note that I revoke license under Common Law for you, or your representatives to visit me at my property and if you do so, then you will be liable to damages for a tort of trespass and action will be taken, including but not limited to, police attendance.

 

Please treat this also as a formal complaint, and send me a copy of your company complaints procedure.

 

Be advised that any further telephone calls from your company will be recorded.

 

Otherwise I will have no option but to make a complaint to the trading standards department and consider informing the OFT of your actions.

 

I look forward to your reply.

 

 

 

 

 

Yours faithfully,

[palomino]

You might have difficulty with the letters of authority. I'm trying to sort out my wife's affairs (no, not that sort of affairs) and she has written letters of authority to all her creditors and DCAs. They have all been ignored.

[berrylover]

Well then just send the above letter with your daughter's address details at the top. There is no signiture needed. They are asking for everything to be now put in writing so once the letter is opened the company has no idea who is dealing with it. Tell your daughter not to panic this can all be sorted. If, and when, you get anything back, scan it on here, obscuring the personal details, and we will help you with the response.

[surprise]

Same here with Capital One, although Lloyds and the FOS both accepted my daughter's authorisation. I fail to see one some will accept authorisation and others don't. I am about to complain to the FOS regarding CapOne ignoring her instructions for me to deal with her affairs given her fragile state of mind, so if they do refuse tell them that it leaves you with no alternative put to make an official complaint to the FOS which will cost them £450.00.

 

Best wishes with the tasks ahead, I have been down this road so I know how frustrating it can be but it has been worth it so far, Lloyds wrote off £900 for her and Lloyds also refunded £350 as a gesture of goodwill following her MP's visit to the bank.

[IKone]

thanks for your advice & support - we'll get on with that immediately

 

she hasn't had phone calls yet, as there's no landline in her house but yesterday I picked up a message for her on my own landline

- will google their number in a minute!

 

Id

[IKone]

only one of the DCAs has her current address - should I use mine as a c/o address for the other?

 

in fact if I'm dealing with all of the creditors, should I use my address on all the letters?

 

Id

Edited October 11, 2008 by IKone

[TheChancellor]

only one of the DCAs has her current address - should I use mine as a c/o address for the other?

 

in fact if I'm dealing with all of the creditors, should I use my address on all the letters?

 

Id

 

I'd get a PO Box number for a couple of months.

 

What's sauce for the goose..............

[IKone]

nice idea - how do I do that & how long does it take?

I'd like to get these letters out asap!

 

Id

[IKone]

just checked it out on Royal Mail - costs £60 for a year

oh well, back to the c/o issue

 

Id

[berrylover]

I would just put your address on them. Obviously they will send all correspondance to that address, and probably bombard you with crap, but just stay calm about it. Most of it is idle threat, and if you can scan anything you are worried about up here (removing the personal details first of course) then we will all help you.

[IKone]

I'll do that!

 

thank you all so much for your help - it makes a huge difference to have people who know how it feels giving us advice & support

 

dealing with this is stressing me out almost as much as her

 

Id

[IKone]

ok, our work on this has been a bit delayed but we're on track again

 

two questions before I send the letters -

 

1) I have included £1 postal orders for the CCAs and £10 postal orders for SARs from Lloyds & HBOS. Which name should I write on the payee line for the banks? The DCAs are easy as I have their company names.

 

2) I'm going to be dealing with this for my daughter but in some of your threads you say don't give a DCA your signature - what should we do about sending them a letter of authority from her?

 

Id

[berrylover]

I would put the company names on the postal orders. So just LLoyds TSB or HBos.

 

The letter of authority is not as easy. You definitely don't want to be supplying them with her signiture. Are you putting your address on the letters or hers?

[IKone]

mine as a c/o address

[TheChancellor]

I would put the company names on the postal orders. So just LLoyds TSB or HBos.

 

The letter of authority is not as easy. You definitely don't want to be supplying them with her signiture. Are you putting your address on the letters or hers?

 

If you send the requests "from your daughter" you can use a computer generated signature.

 

You will probably have to put her address on but I think that's a better route than giving them her signature.

 

With any luck the letters will be slowing/stopping after a short while.

[berrylover]

Ok then send them just as they are, with your address as a c/o address. And either print her name (make it obvious that its block capitals or printed on the computer or get an electronic signiture done). Also ask them for the c/o address to be noted as the correspondence address for future reference. If your daughter gets further letters to her address then you can make a formal complaint.

[IKone]

I'll send her signed authority letters with the SAR requests only -

& I believe the CCA letters don't need to be signed?

 

there is only one DCA who has written to her current address & she hasn't responded at all to them so I think it might be best to the c/o address on all the letters - but would this cause a problem?

 

Id

[IKone]

Ok then send them just as they are, with your address as a c/o address. And either print her name (make it obvious that its block capitals or printed on the computer or get an electronic signiture done). Also ask them for the c/o address to be noted as the correspondence address for future reference.

 

your post & mine crossed over - I'll do that thanks

 

Id

[IKone]

Right, I'm off to the Post Office - fingers crossed!

 

Id

[berrylover]

Good luck, if you need any more help don't hesitate to come back. And give your daughter a big hug, she is lucky to have a dad like you to support her.

[IKone]

she is lucky to have a dad like you to support her

 

I'm actually her mama - and she is very appreciative of any help I can give her

 

Now just waiting for the reaction to our letters!

 

Ik

[IKone]

More advice needed I'm afraid

 

I'm rather worried as have just had a call on my landline from someone asking for my daughter & the name they gave was BCS. The guy wouldn't give any details of course but said they had sent her several letters. Could this be the less than shiny Bryan Carter?

 

If so we have no information about what it might relate to. There were no letters from them among the papers she gave us but I suppose they could have gone to her old address. They certainly haven't come here. I told the guy she wouldn't deal with them except by post & to send letters c/o the address they were phoning.

 

I also have a 'letter before action' from the letting agency of the house she shared with friends for a while, trying to claim rent arrears from three of them (they refused to pay their rent for several months when nothing was done about the terrible state of the place) & several thousand pounds for 'delapidations'. I thought that last bit would have been covered by the deposits that weren't returned.

 

This was sent nearly a year ago & at the time she was advised (not by yourselves) to ignore it as it was unenforceable. I'd like an opinion on that one but wonder whether to post it on another thread?

 

There are also problems with mobile phone charges and a couple of minor things which I'll save for another day but I think we've uncovered most of it!

 

It does seem to be a pretty steep hill to climb for her right now - is there any way she is going to be able to sort all of it out? One good thing is that she is determined to never borrow money or live on credit ever again.

 

Id

[IKone]

I have to add that if this makes her sound feckless - she never owed money until a couple of years ago!

[IKone]

I'm afraid just after doing this life got rather complicated & a lot of time has gone by - however the responses to the letters were as follows

 

HBOS sent me a pack of statements & the debt collecting agency who had been acting for them returned their £1 Postal Order to me

 

However Lloyds sent a letter addressed to my daughter saying

 

"Unfortunately as we are unable to verify your identity we will require some further information before we are able to release your personal information to ----------. I would be grateful if you could take proof of your identity (such as a passport or driving licence) and proof of your address (such as a council tax or utility bill less than 3 months old) to your nearest branch of Lloyds TSB along with this letter.

 

The branch staff will then make certified copies of these documents and forward them to our department and we will be happy to proceed with your request."

 

This was in spite of her sending a signed letter of authority to them. Unsurprisingly neither of us felt happy about this. It seemed like a trick to obtain her current address.

 

But then things got complicated as I was dealing with complex business for an elderly relative, & we never took it any further. Now it's all got even more out of hand as today she has received a letter from Lloyds threatening her with a CCJ. I don't yet know if this arrived at her current address or was sent on from an old one.

 

Please would someone let me know

1) if Lloyds refusing to comply with her request without knowing her current address is legal

2) what we should be looking for in the HBOS paperwork

3) where we go from here

 

I realise we've been stupid in letting it slide but sometimes life does get on top of you!