Eversheds/Link financial limited.

[bownesslass]

Hello it,s me again!

This is a difficult one but I do not intend to take any action until I have a cross section of advice.By the way I am Bernard,bownesslass,s husband and I have her full permission and confidence to post on her behalf.

A good number of years ago she took out a store card card to finance birthdays and Christmas presents,etc etc. Circumstances changed and she found herself struggling to cope.

The upshot of which was a confrontatioal series of letters and threats of court action by the creditor.Had she been my wife at the time it may not have been so bad. The CAB was involved and resulted in an aggreement being reached whereby an aggreed sum would be paid each month ,which shw has stuck to till the present day.

When she took out the store card she also took out payment protection(£5 per month) that she duely paid for approx 15 years.The moment she lost her job they said it did not cover (as ever) her for unemployment.

The aggreement reached was handled by a firm of solicitors Eversheds of Merrion St,Leeds, who have on the 5/1/09 (Monday) just informed her that they are no longer going to administer the account,and informed her (by phone) that she should contact their client,(Link Financial services Ltd) to discuss the account.

 

Here is the question!! Is it safe to do that ? or should she let the Link people contact her? will she be open to pressure to increase the aggreed amount?.will they try to annul the aggrement. As we are both pensioners,this is quite stressfull,so any of you wise and helpfull folks out there who can advise us would be greatly appreciated.

Sorry to be so long winded,Kind regards.

[bownesslass]

By the way!! the debt in question was for a few hundred pounds,but each time she recieved a letter the amount escalated to £788 (present).

[rory32]

First of all do not phone them. They will just try to up your wife's payments. All communication must be in writing only from now on.

 

There are two issues here as I see it. The first is is the account legally enforceable against your wife. This is highly unlikely as it is a store card (usually these credit agreements are unenforceable as they do not contain the prescribed terms required by statute) and due to the age of the card it is highly unlikely that any credit agreement still exists.

 

The second issue is the PPI as this did not cover her, so would appear at first glance to be missold. The PPI may be slightly difficult to claim back though due to the age of the account. As a matter of interest what is the balance (roughly) of the account?

 

I think your first step is to send a CCA request to Link - template N here. Send it via recorded delivery and include a one pound postal order. Do not sign the letter. I would also put at the bottom of the letter that all communication must now be conducted in writing only and telephone calls will be treated as harassment and reported to the appropriate authorities.

 

Their reaction will probably be to put the account on hold initially for 28 days while they attempt to retrieve the document. It's extremely unlikely that they will be able to retrieve the copy of the agreement which means after 12 working days from receipt of your request they can not enforce the account at all.

[rory32]

By the way!! the debt in question was for a few hundred pounds,but each time she recieved a letter the amount escalated to £788 (present).

Okay. It looks like they are adding collection charges - which they are not allowed to do. The charges are unlawful and they can be claimed back if need be.

 

How long has she been paying off this few hundred pounds and did the original creditor add charges for her missing payments, etc?

[bownesslass]

Rory 32,Fine Scottish name indeed Sir.

Ok ,this is excellent advice, the original sum was a paltry few hundred pounds but astonishingly it just seemed to balloon to the level,and yes the original creditor did add charges.

After paying more than the "debt" was worth in PPI wife dug her heels in and on the advice of the CAB offered a small monthly sum which was aggreed to.

The amount went from £400 to £1060 with charges,at present day it stands at £770.47. We have lots of food for thought now though. Many,Many thanks.

[bownesslass]

Hello wise people.

I am Bernard,the husband of bownesslass. As usual I have her full permission to post on her behalf.

 

These encumbants at Link financial are really getting on our wick.

 

I have on two occasions,written to this outfit concerning the continuation of the agreed monthly payments of her account. Having stated that we would only deal with this matter in writing,youv,e guessed it she is being hounded by telephone. As you may be aware this subject has been posted in other places.

 

We have no desire to be confrontational but it seems that Link don,t understand plain English,and are trying to provoke a response from her (ie upping payments)not a chance I might add. This kind of behaviour is not going to continue,and the stress of the harassment and bullying,is unacceptable.

 

Ok good people, I,m sure there is any number of letters out there that I can mail to these dim wits,so any template letters plaese point me to where they are.

When I have dealt with any responses and advice from you good folk,I fully intend to take issue with them as to the validity of this debt and their ability to enforce it further after such a long time.

As I have mentioned in other posts,this debt reached such proportions through charges for this that and the other. The original amount was less than £400,but now stands at £780.

My missus was quite willing to continue with her side of the agreement,but the same can,t be said of Link Financial.

 

If anyone out there knows the address of the London head office of The Arcadia Group,to which D,Perkins belongs I will seriously bend the ear of the Chief Executive Officer, Sir Philip Green,and see how he likes it.

..............Advice on how to proceed please,Bernard on behalf of Bownesslass many many thanks:mad:

[manchester1]

Hi Bernard, try the following amend with your details ,DO NOT SIGN, DO RECORD DELIVER

 

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

 

 

Hpoe it helps

 

Manc1

[rory32]

Registration Number: Z5673588

Date Registered: 17 September 2001 Registration Expires: 16 September 2009

 

Data Controller: ARCADIA GROUP BRANDS LTD

 

Address:

COLEGRAVE HOUSE

70 BERNERS STREET

LONDON

W1T 3NL

Other Names:

BURTON

BURTON MENSWEAR

DOROTHY PERKINS

EVANS

TOP SHOP

TOP MAN

PRINCIPLES

HAWKSHEAD

RACING GREEN

[bownesslass]

RORY 32.

......Thanks again Sir. will that ad reach Sir Philip Green the CEO of Arcadia?

[bownesslass]

Manchester 1.

..................Many thanks Sir! will copy that one.I have a feeling I may need to send very soon.

By the way,I see the title is yours again this season.Good Crack. Regards de 73s.:D

[rory32]

will that ad reach Sir Philip Green the CEO of Arcadia?

It should as it's their head office address.

[mintcake]

Hello

 

I have a CCJ re a Dorothy Perkins card debt. I was paying Eversheds £5 per month even though the CCJ was for £1.77. (My bank could not make a standing order for less than £5.00)

 

I have received a letter from Eversheds stating that they will no longer take payments from me and requested that I cancel my standing order made out to them - which I have done.

 

Eversheds state that Link Financial Ltd now have the debt.

 

I have heard nothing from Link - what do I do now?

 

Any help appreciated...

[bownesslass]

Hello Mintcake!! I,m Bernard,husband of bownwsslass and I have her permission to post on her behalf.

 

The same same thing has happened to us,we were just left high and dry by Eversheds, although our case isn,t quite the same as yours. First thing is !! don,t take any nonsense from Link over the phone,as we were harassed up until last week.Make them put it in writing,and any thing you send to them do it recorded delivery so that you have proof of posting. If it is of any help this is what I did. When we were ditched by E/sheds I wrote to Link Financial to ask how they wished to be paid and asked for paying in slips so that I could continue with my side of the agreement.That was a month ago and I still haven,t got that information,so don,t hold your breath.I still sent the payment due on the date but I sent a cheque from my husbands bank account.

 

Anyway!! just hang fire on here and in no time at all there will be tons of people on these forums who will give you some cracking advice.

[rory32]

Hi mintcake and welcome to CAG.

 

You really need to start your own thread regarding this matter to receive the appropriate help and advice.

 

If Eversheds have now sold your account to Link, as it is subject to a CCJ, they may have acted unlawfully as I'm quite sure they will not have asked the permission of the court to do this.

[mintcake]

Thanks for the advice bownesslass and rory 32.

 

How do I start a thread and should I copy and paste my original question into it?

 

Thanks again

[rory32]

Have a read here on how to start a new thread and various other things http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/welcome-consumer-forums/107001-how-do-i-dummies.html

 

should I copy and paste my original question into it?

Yes.

[mintcake]

Thanks - I'll give it a go!