Hello!

[Delta-Charlie-76]

Hi there everyone, I've been looking at this site for a couple of months and have found it very helpful.

 

My fiancee has Aspergers Syndrome (form of Autism) and has been getting into a state over DCA's phoning her non-stop until recently, now they have near enough stopped altogether thanks to advice I got from this site. She still gets nasty letters in the post etc and starts to panick when they state 'home visits' 'court action if you don't contact .... within 7 days...', she still makes the mistake of phoning them and getting very upset after a few minutes, then I step in and cut the call, what else can I do to help her?

[maroondevo52]

Hello and Welcome, Delta-Charlie-76.

 

Sorry to hear about the trouble your fiancee's having with the DAC'S.

I'll move your post to start a new thread in the Debt Collectors Forum, there's plenty of good people in there who will help you out.

 

Regards.

 

Scott.

Edited November 1, 2008 by maroondevo52

[Brassed off]

DC do yourself and your fiancee a favour, don't let her ring them and if they do ring, don't let her speak to them on the 'phone, insist that everything is in writing only

 

Can you give us a few more details about the debt - ie how old it is, whether your fiancee has been making any payments, what the debt is for?

[Delta-Charlie-76]

Thank You.

 

My young lady used to telephoned between 5 & 8 times a day for months by MBNA & Bryan Carter/Frediricksons until she changed her mobile number & I contacted BT for the choose to refuse, we still get the odd call every week, I get the phone and if its the DCA I advise them that all correspondence should be in writing only.

 

If they do get hold of her, they certainly do a job on her, after one such incident, I called Bryan Carter Solicitors and tore into them, explaining that she had A.S, I have never before had someone give me more apologies in the space of 2 minutes, we are currently paying them £1 a month for one account

 

The second account is with MBNA, they are a pain in the backside, they are very rude to her or me if they phone, if they ask for her & I tell them that 'all correspondence must be in writing...', they get agressive, very agressive, its very hard to hold your temper with idiots like that. What else can be done about these phone calls?

[Delta-Charlie-76]

The debts are for credit cards and are about 3 years old or there about.

 

She is making payments to BC of £1 a month

 

Offered the same ammount to MBNA, still awaiting a reply.

 

It is very hard to stop her phoning the DCAs up and having a slanging match with them, I have told her on many occasions "DO NOT TALK TO THESE PEOPLE OVER THE PHONE", like I said very hard to calm her after she gets one of these letters.

 

HM (My fiancee) has Aspergers Syndrome which is a form of Autism, which makes things even more trickier.

[Brassed off]

Get the telephone harassment letter sent off as soon as you can DC:-

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/letter-templates/131250-dca-creditor-harassment-telephone.html

 

Obviously edited to suit you circumstances

 

Send it recorded and if you continue to get 'phone calls, make a log of the date, time,callers name, etc

[Delta-Charlie-76]

Will do that on Monday.

 

As for logging the calls, I have already started, with a view to make a harrasement complaint against MBNA.

 

I have read on here about Bryan Carter Sols, we have been paying them £1 a month for the last 3 months, they haven't phoned for a while. Their tune changed very quickly when I pointed out to them about HM's disability. MBNA could not give a monkeys.

[ScabHunter]

Right. Time to go back to square one and reassess the situation.

 

First step - banking security. I take that all wages/benefits/income coming in to your house is paid into a bank account which is from a bank totally unrealted to any company with which you have had problems. That is critical.

 

It is also critical that no debit card details have ever been given to any DCA or creditor. Even more important, no direct debits must have ever been set up.

 

If payments are taken illegally, you may well get them back - eventually. That is not the point. The point is that it is just more trouble you can do without.

 

How is the £1 paid to Carter? If it is by Standing Order, that is far less of a security risk. Direct Debit is what you must avoid.

 

If you are in any doubt, get a new account and start again. The first step in recovering from any poor financial situation is to protect the income you do have.

 

The next step is communications security. In your case that would seem to be critically important.

 

You should send off a letter stating that all communication should be in writing. This will cover telephone calls and doorstep visits. Whether or not they will comply with this is another matter, but the letter should be sent.

 

In terms of how you deal with nuisance calls on a practical level, that is very much up to you. There are many options available to you. Without knowing your circumstances, and how much you rely on the telephone, it is difficult to give specific advice.

 

MBNA are known to be one of the worst telephone thugs in the entire industry, so your experience there comes as no surprise.

 

It should be pointed out that BT Choose To Refuse is unlikely to help. MBNA are one of those telephone thug organizations that deliberately uses more than ten numbers so it can get round Choose To Refuse.

 

If you have a PC and broadband internet, there is a way you can permanently eliminate all nuisance calls at low expense. See here -

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/debt-collection-industry/99376-telephone-harassment-action-plan-2.html#post1770207

 

Doorstep harassment is not common, but it does happen. You will already have sent a letter ordering them not to visit you, and informing them that you would call the police. Do that. If you have a cellular telephone, you can be on the line to the police as you order the visitor to leave.

 

Having sorted out banking and communications security, you can then tackle the alleged debts.

 

As these relate to credit cards, a CCA request to each is in order. Send the following letter to both. Enclose a £1 postal order. No cheques, as they have a signature. Do not sign the letter either. You do not want the signature getting into the wrong hands. Send it Special Delivery if you can afford it, at least recorded if you can't.

 

Your street

 

District

County

Postcode

 

DATE

 

 

The Bank

Street

District

County

Postcode

 

I ACKNOWLEDGE NO DEBT TO YOUR COMPANY NOR ANY COMPANY YOU PURPORT TO REPRESENT

 

Dear Sir/Madam

 

Re:− Account/Reference Number xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

With reference to the above agreement, I require that you provide me a true copy of the credit agreement

 

I am aware that section 78(1) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 sets out clearly what is required to comply with my request and quote “shall give the debtor a copy of the executed agreement (if any) and of any other document referred to in it” For clarification I require a copy of the agreement, any terms and conditions from the time when the agreement was executed together with a copy of current terms and conditions and a copy of the cancellation notice if the agreement refers to “Your Right to Cancel” within it. I also require a statement of account as laid out also within Section 78(1).if there weren’t any terms and conditions then please confirm this in your response

 

I am entitled to receive the information on request. I enclose a payment of £1.00, which represents the fee payable under the Consumer Credit Act 1974. Please note that these funds are not to be used for any other purpose.

 

I note that section 172 outlines that statements by creditors are binding where made under inter alia section 78(1) and I take this to be that any reply made in response to this request is binding upon you. Therefore you should ensure that all documents request are supplied. Any missing documents will be considered not part of the agreement and could therefore affect the enforceability of anything you send.

 

I understand that Consumer Credit (Prescribed Periods for Giving Information) Regulations 1983 (SI 1983/1569) at regulation 2 sets out the required time frame for compliance with this request as being 12 working days from receipt

 

 

Should you fail to comply with my request as outlined above, I shall consider the account in dispute. I am aware that where a creditor fails to supply the requested information the creditors rights to enforcement are restricted until such time as they comply. I am also aware that there are certain terms that are required to be within the “Agreement” and should these terms be mis-stated or not present the agreement can be rendered unenforceable in law.

 

Notwithstanding the above, I note that the Consumer Credit (Cancellation Notices and Copies of Documents) Regulations 1983 (SI 1983/1557) at Regulation 3 allows the Signature box and signature to be omitted in a copy document but the copy document must contain all the terms off the agreement contained within the signed executed original document

 

I respectfully request that you provide a copy of the original agreement signed by myself that you hold on file and while I accept that you can omit the signature box for the purposes of compliance with my request, you will be aware that any challenge to the agreement in court would require the signed copy of the original agreement. If you still reject this, please provide clarification on the status of the Original Credit Agreement and confirm either that you hold the original signed agreement on file or a copy of it on microfliche or that you no longer hold the file

 

Also please provide details of who I may address a subject access request to under the Data Protection Act 1998 section 7 so that I may obtain a copy of the original agreement should you fail to forward a copy in respect of this request

 

Therefore I look forward to receiving this information within the time frames as indicated above

 

 

 

 

 

Yours faithfully

 

XXXXXXXXXXXX

 

 

 

Send this off and wait 12 working days. If the £1 is due before then, pay it. After 12 working days they will be in default if they have not produced the agreement. At that point, you can suspend payment.

 

That is all you can do for now, until you find out what cards they hold.

 

SH

[Delta-Charlie-76]

Thank you SH.

 

The £1 a month BC is unfortunately by Direct Debit, if this is a problem what can be done about it? Do I stop this DD?

 

I will CCA MBNA & Bryan Carter re: these accounts.

 

HM had a credit card with Natwest, total £1,200 (Under care of Bryan Carter),

she also had a credit card with Alliance and Leicester for £2,000 (MBNA).

 

I only have access to the Internet at the weekends as I live with HM about a mile away and cannot afford the internet. My home telephone is ex-directory, so far BT choose to Refuse appears to be working as MBNA have had several of their numbers blocked, will change number if need be, as for Bryan Carter they only have my mobile number. If one of these numpties phone me, they get the ususaul "sorry, I won't divulge personal information over the phone, goodbye".

 

Another question, what can be done should you be unlucky to get a doorstep visit from a DCA (If we are home as I spend most of my time with HM at hospital or doing my ususal caring duties), apart from telling them to go away nicely and telephoning the police?

 

DC

[ScabHunter]

Well, personally I would NEVER want the risk of having a Direct Debit set up with someone like Carter. It is a security risk I simply would not tolerate.

 

I would cancel that Direct Debit straight away.

 

My advice would be to get another basic bank account opened as quickly as possible, with a bank unrelated to any group that you have problems with, and have any wages or benefits paid into there. As soon as that had been arranged I would scrap the old account.

 

There shouldn't be any risk once you have cancelled the Direct Debit, but banks do make mistakes, and mistakes take time to rectify. I am very much in favour of a belt and braces approach when it comes to security, so it is your choice.

 

Securing your current income from potential predators is the first step in the long road to financial recovery.

 

With the telephone harassment you have to find the right solution for you. Clearly my system is inappropriate in your case. I am glad that so far Choose To Refuse is working, I just wanted you to be aware that it is only a "partial shield" and may not continue to be effective. There are other possible options.

 

Glad to see that you are standing up to them and refusing to answer security questions. That is often enough to make them give up, although MBNA have a reputation for being particularly hard to dislodge.

 

There really is not much more you can do about doorstep visits other than the obvious you have mentioned. Send off the standard letter prohibiting visits as part of your initiatory communication. That at least allows you to prove that they are in breach of OFT regulations when you make any future complaints.

 

If you are sending off the letter about telephone harassment that Brassed Off has linked to, you can add the following to that letter -

 

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 or anyone representing 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.

 

That lets them know exactly where they stand, and insists on all communication being in writing.

 

Doorstep visits are rare, but they do happen. They are not threatening. There has even been one case reported on this forum where an old age pensioner was recruited to harass people in this way, and by talking to him it was discovered that he was on commission only. No result, no risk to the company.

 

They are having a giraffe. If you are serious about getting to somebody, this is not the way you do it.

 

Above all, do not let them get to you and come back here if you have any questions. Get those CCA requests off tomorrow and we'll see what comes back.

 

SH

[Delta-Charlie-76]

Thank you SH for your help, me and HM do appreiciate it

 

I will do the letters before I go home tonight & will take them to the Post Office in the morning.

 

DC