scary letter is it legit?

[redser]

hi all, found this site a few days ago and all i can say is what a godsend!!

just plucked up the courage post, this is all new to me so please be gentle. anyway, let me quickly explain the problem. the hubby has a credit card debt (allied irish banks) for 2,315 euro's , was a lot larger than that but paid off a lump sum just under 2 years ago, agreed to pay the rest monthly and they agreed to freeze the interest, fabb!! until about 2 months ago, hubby lost job, 3 little mouths to feed , missed 2 payments and they passed to a dca ,global debt recovery. we have lived in france for the past 4 years and a couple of days ago received a letter from global basically saying as we have failed to pay the account is being passed for immediate legal action to doctor olivier etienne, 15 chemin du devin, 1012 lausanne, switzerland. and litigation will commence fourteen days from this letters date. there is a very dodgy signature with no printed name, and on the back all the possible ways in the world of making payment, which i'm afraid is just not possible for the forseeable futur. this is very scary , haven;t told hubby as losing his job has already knocked the stuffing out of him, not sure how much more he can take.from scouring the forums for the past few days seems like i should be writing of for a cca?? am inclined to do the ostrich ,someone please help ,apologies for the lenght

[rory32]

Hi and welcome to CAG.

 

When was the card taken out roughly?

 

Are there any charges on the account e.g. late payment fees, overlimit fees?

 

Is there PPI on the account?

[redser]

hey thanks for answering!! card was taken out roughly 1995/96 .no idea about interest ect. as have had no statements from them inthe four years we have been in france. a few sporadic letters when we have missed a payment in the past but that is it. what do u think?

[rory32]

I would initially send the CCA request. It's quite possible that the agreement no longer exists now if it's from 1995/96.

 

Have you received a Notice of Assignment or a Default Notice for the account?

[redser]

sorry me again, do seem to remember the lump sum we paid of a few years ago involved quite a bit of interest, sorry for sounding so uniformed but like i said no statements for 4 years, how stupid are we??

[rory32]

You can get the statements from Allied Irish Banks by sending a SAR to them but I would initially just request a copy of the agreement from Global Debt Recovery.

[redser]

no just a couple of reminder letters of late payment and then the scary one from global debt collectors, are they serious about starting legal proceedings within 14 days ??

[rory32]

It's standard practice for DCA's to threaten legal action within 14 days. It's very rare for them to actually do it as it's designed to frighten you into phoning them whereby they can put more pressure on you to pay them more than you can afford. These people work on commission and their commission is all they are interested in.

 

Once you have sent the CCA request they should then put the account on hold. You should send it recorded delivery if you can along with the one pound fee. If there is a French equivalent of a postal order then use that otherwise you may wish to send them a cheque which you sign rather than your hubby. Do not sign the letter. The CCA request is template N here

[redser]

anyway will follow that advice, and let u know what happens, finding this website and reading all the good advice has taken a tonne of my shoulders many thanks indeed.

[redser]

thank you so much , will do that asap, after having a good read around the forums i have no intentions of phoning them, seems like a very bad idea , as yet they have not tried to phone , probably only a matter of time as AIB certainly have our no. here. will sign off for now as kids will be home from school very shortly, again thanks for the advice ,lets see whay happens................

[redser]

hi all, have hit a snag with the 1£ payment for the cca. went to the french post office, not possible to send a postal order abroad. cashier suggested a international money order, don't know how that works, she didn't really know either(we are in rural france after all:)), only have a euro checkbook, am assuming they won't accept that. i do have all globals bank details , iban ect. but if i transfer the payment into their bank account they could probably say that it was a payment against the debt?? don't know what to do , anyone any advice please as want to deal with this as quickly as possible, Thanks a mill...

[redser]

can anyone help please. should i send a sterling bankers draft. if so do i need to purchase this from an english bank in france?? anybody out there please>>>>

[rory32]

You could just send them one euro. It's close enough (90p at the mo') and by the time it reaches the it may be worth more than £1. The fee is after all the maximum they can charge, they don't have to charge it and many don't bother with it.

[debbbbsy]

Hi,

if it is your hubbies card. He took out the agreement on his own .You can sign the cheque.

 

Debs

[redser]

hi, thanks for both your replies. rory did you mean a 1 euro piece or a cheque of 1 euro?

[redser]

bump

[rory32]

Either really. Although if you have a cheque book is there any great problem with writing it out to £1 as the bank would just convert this into euros when debiting your account (I think).

[redser]

thanks rory will send the euro piece ithink