Advice needed - old credit card debt

[ilithya]

Hi

I'm not sure if this is in the right section but anyway I hope someone can give me some advice.

 

I got a credit card with the Royal bank of Scotland 3 years ago and long story short missed some payments and card got closed I had a remaining balance of 419 to pay off.

I didn't have all the money at once so I made an arrangement over the phone with someone with the royal bank of Scotland credit card company to pay half of it in august 2006, however when I went to the bank to pay it I didn't have any bills,

I had just moved house and had thrown out all the bills(I know silly), the women at the bank said that was not a problem and that she could just phone up the credit card company and get my details. When she was speaking to them they couldn't find any information that I had ever been a customer at all they tried my name, date of birth, old address and nothing came up so basically I couldn't pay the amount.

So there was nothing for me to do except just say ok then and forget about it.

Then a couple of months ago I get a letter from Equidebt Limited saying that the debt has been handed over to them from the royal bank of scotland.

Now I'm not happy about that at all I would happily pay that debt back since it is on my credit report, but to RBOS not some company I know nothing about!!

Also If RBOS "found" my file why did they not contact me first before turning it over to another company? are they not required to do that?

I also received a letter "supposedly" from RBOS letting me know that the debt had been handed over to equidebt however the letter looks really odd and came in exactly the same kind of envelope as the equidebt letter, in fact it has the equdebt adress on the back of the envelope, that just really strikes me as odd and I am not comfortable about having anything to do with equidebt.

Is there anyway I can get RBOS to take the debt back so I can pay to them, like I said RBOS never contacted me before turning the debt over even though they had my contact details?

 

Hope someone can give me some advise as I don't know much about how the system works at all.

 

Rgds

[ScabHunter]

I also received a letter "supposedly" from RBOS letting me know that the debt had been handed over to equidebt however the letter looks really odd and came in exactly the same kind of envelope as the equidebt letter, in fact it has the equdebt adress on the back of the envelope, that just really strikes me as odd and I am not comfortable about having anything to do with equidebt

 

Will it never stop?

 

This is a very common ploy amongst debt collection agencies. They print out letters pretending to be from original creditors which are quite blatantly not. This alone is a reason to raise a dispute as the alleged debt has not been assigned in the proper way.

 

If you want to clear this with RBOS then you will need to contact them.

 

You might also want to request a copy of the CCA agreement as well. If that fails to show, it will put you in a much stronger bargaining position should they start trying to add all manner of bogus charges to the original balance.

 

Which bring us on to another subject - bogus charges. I wouldn't mind betting that there are at least some parts of the original alleged debt which are unlawful.

 

You've got a few options here. I'll be back in a few minutes.

 

SH

[ScabHunter]

Right. Here is what I would do in this situation.

 

Firstly, I would send off a CCA request to Equidebt. They claim to be the holders of the account now, so they are legally obliged to comply with this request.

 

A CCA request is a request for a copy of the original agreement. Without a properly executed agreement, the account is unenforceable at law. They have 12+2 working days to comply with this request. After this, the account is in dispute and you are entitled to stop paying them (I know in this case you haven't started).

 

None of this is directly relevant to this case, but it may come in useful later if RBOS prove unaccommodating.

 

Next, you need to raise a complaint with RBOS. They must have an official complaints procedure. Simply tell them about what happened two years ago - the errors within their data system and how it prevented you from clearing part of the account. Complain also about Equidebt and their bogus Notice Of Assignment. Complain that you were not contacted and asked to clear the account before it was passed on.

 

If RBOS have any sense, they will make an offer of Full and Final Settlement which you can consider.

 

It is only fair to point out that if no enforceable agreement turns up, you are not obliged to pay anything, and also that there may be unlawful charges on the original account anyway. Whether you wish to pursue any of this is up to you.

 

SH

[ilithya]

Thanks for the reply!

It's very helpful. I'll send off a CCA request ASAP, is there certain guidelines for requesting the CCA, for proving that I did indeed request it etc?

 

I'll be taking the letters from Equidebt to RBOS as well, as fake letters are not acceptable and quite deceiving if not illegal.

 

Thanks again for the reply!

 

Rgds

[ScabHunter]

Thanks for the reply!

It's very helpful. I'll send off a CCA request ASAP, is there certain guidelines for requesting the CCA, for proving that I did indeed request it etc?

 

I'll be taking the letters from Equidebt to RBOS as well, as fake letters are not acceptable and quite deceiving if not illegal.

 

Thanks again for the reply!

 

Rgds

 

Sorry, should have included that.

 

With a CCA request, use the letter below. Enclose a £1 postal order. No cheques. Do not sign the letter. We don't want your signature getting in to the wrong hands.

 

Send it Special or Recorded Delivery, so you have proof that it was signed for.

 

 

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

 

 

SH