What next?

[laguna]

About four weeks ago my wife received a letter from Thames Credit saying they had bought a debt of hers and are demanding full payment right away. She didn’t know at the time what it was for but she’s since found out it was for a store card that she defaulted on when I lost my job in 2001. She’s not sure if payments were made on any kind of payment plan or not since 2001 as she had a few cards at the time but can’t find any receipts for this one.

I send a CCA letter to Thames after reading other posts on here and they replied saying they bought the debt and the rights to add interest etc but they didn’t buy the original agreement but would try and get the original documents as a matter of good practice.

The 12+2 days expired yesterday so what should I do now?

I’ve read other posts that say just wait until your contacted again and I’ve read posts that say send them another letter like this one i found on another thread.

 

 

Dear Sir or Madam

 

Request for true copy of Credit Agreement under Sections 77/78 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974

 

I wrote to you recently requesting a true, signed copy of any credit agreement that exists in relation to the above account. This is my right under Sections 77 and 78 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 on payment of the statutory fee of £1.00. This payment was included with my original request.

 

Under the terms of the above Act, a creditor has 12 working days to provide the requested document. This deadline has now passed & I have not received the requested documents from you. I therefore notify you that you have a further 30 days before this matter becomes a criminal offence.

 

As I am sure you are aware, an agreement that does not contain all of the prescribed terms, and/or is not signed by the debtor, is completely unenforceable & I therefore consider that this account is in dispute with immediate effect.

 

Furthermore please consider this letter a statutory notice under Section 10 of the Data Protection Act to cease processing any data in relation to this account with immediate effect. This means you must remove all information regarding this account from your own internal records and from my records with the credit reference agencies. Should you refuse to comply, you must within 21 days provide me with a detailed breakdown of your reasoning behind continuing to process my data. Should you fail to respond within 21 days, I will assume that you agree to remove all such data.

 

Furthermore, you should remember that a creditor is not permitted to take any action against an account whilst it remains in dispute. The lack of a credit agreement is a very clear dispute and therefore the following applies:

 

• You may not demand any payment on this account, nor am I obliged to offer any payment to you.
  
• You may not add any further interest or charges to this account.
  
• You may not pass this account to any third party.
  
• You may not register any information in respect of this account with any of the credit reference agencies.
  
• You may not issue a default notice related to this account.
  

If **DCA** chooses to ignore my dispute and attempt enforcement, I will file reports with the appropriate authorities, including, but not limited to, Trading Standards, Office of Fair Trading, Information Commissioners Office & Financial Ombudsman Service.

 

I also require a copy of your internal complaints procedure as further action may be necessary.

 

 

What’s the best option?

 

 

Thanks

Edited November 12, 2008 by laguna
adding letter

[rory32]

You didn't actually need to send the CCA request as if the account hasn't been acknowledged since 2001 it will be statute barred.

[IdaInFife]

Dear Sir/Madam

Acc/Ref No 4563210025897412

You have contacted me regarding the account with the above reference number, which you claim is owed by myself.

I would point out that under The Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973 Part 1 Section 6 "If, after the appropriate date, an obligation to which this section applies has subsisted for a continuous period of 5 years:

(a) without any relevant claim having been made in relation to the obligation, and

(b) without the subsistence of the obligation having been relevantly acknowledged,

then as from the expiration of that period the obligation shall be extinguished:"

I would also point out that the OFT say under their Debt Collection Guidance on statute barred debt that "it is unfair to pursue the debt if the debtor has heard nothing from the creditor during the relevant limitation period".

The last acknowledgement of this alleged debt was made over five years ago. Unless you can provide evidence of payment or written contact from myself in the relevant period under Part 1 Section 6 of The Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973 , I would respectfully suggest that you are no longer able to take any court action against myself to recover the alleged amount claimed.

Should you continue to pursue this account without providing this evidence I shall seek an interdict and damages accordingly. A formal complaint will also be made to Trading Standards along with a report to the OFT questioning your fitness to hold a consumer credit license.

I await your written confirmation that this matter is now closed and that no further contact will be made concerning the above account after that last letter.

I look forward to your reply.

Yours faithfully

Mr A N Other

 

as pinched from Rory

 

 

Idax

[laguna]

Thanks for those replies.

 

She wasn't 100% sure if no payments had been made within the last five years so thats what made me think the CCA letter was the best option.

If i send the above letter and it turns out payments were made what happens then and what happens about the CCA letter already sent?

 

Thanks again.

Edited November 13, 2008 by laguna
spelling

[rory32]

What happens then is that your original request for a copy of the agreement still stands. Also check any payments they say were made to the account very carefully as some DCA's have been known to manufacture a phantom payment. Uusually this occurs a few years after the last payment was actually made.

[laguna]

Thanks again.

[laguna]

Update.

 

We received this letter today with some photocopied statements attached from 2001 and 2003 but no CCA as was requested.

It looks like nothing has been done with the account since 2003 so do i now send the Statute barred letter or is there something else we send?

 

 

 

 

 

[IdaInFife]

send the statute barred letter above

 

Ida x

[laguna]

OK,

 

Thanks for that.

[laguna]

Update.

 

It took them a while to answer but this is what they said.

 

 

I notice their letter says Limitation act 1980 instead of limitation (Scotland) act 1973 so are they up to something or is it genuine?

 

Will a default show up on her credit rating and if so can it be removed?

 

Big thanks for all the advice.

[rory32]

I notice their letter says Limitation act 1980 instead of limitation (Scotland) act 1973 so are they up to something or is it genuine?

The letter will be genuine. They have quoted the wrong act as they are simply incompetent in such matters.

 

Will a default show up on her credit rating and if so can it be removed?

There shouldn't be a default on her credit file. If one does appear it should be fairly straight forward to remove.

[laguna]

Hopefully that will be the end of it and Thanks Rory32 for all your help.