Various cc's-worth claiming?

[scampymojorising]

Hi..this is on behalf of my partner who has several credit cards-vanquis,mint,halifax and citi as well as littlewoods catalogue and a loan from Alliance and Leicester. Basically he had these when i met him and got in a bit of a mess.

 

Anyway,what he was doing was trying to juggle them all and pay small amounts he could afford each month as the phone was ringing none stop from each company pressuring for money he just did not have. in the end it got so we stopped paying any of them as whatever we paid each month did nothing to reduce the amount by the time late payment and interest was added-the amounts were going up not down. We sorted out all other-more important bills i thought-such as utilities,c tax etc and are pretty sorted now with these.

 

Most of the credit card etc debts are now with bailiffs and the calls are coming asking for repayments. After what we learnt here we intend to ask all for a CCA. Before we knew to do this Blair Oliver and Scott rang and he agreed to repay £5 a month for the halifax cc. We will now ask for a CCA before we start to pay them?

 

Also-is it worth asking for any charges refunded from the lenders even though they have passed them to DCA's? The interest on vanquis alone was over £16 a month-more than we were paying hence the balance increasing all the time. If it is worth claiming where to start?!

 

Thanks for any advice and taking time to read this. Its a fantastic site-thats why i am here at 4.30am lol..i cant make a donation this week im sorry but fully intend to next week. Just reading some of the posts helps put your mind at rest.

[foolishgirl]

 

Most of the credit card etc debts are now with bailiffs and the calls are coming asking for repayments. After what we learnt here we intend to ask all for a CCA. Before we knew to do this Blair Oliver and Scott rang and he agreed to repay £5 a month for the halifax cc. We will now ask for a CCA before we start to pay them?

 

You cannot stop making payments if the creditor has a CCJ against you - it is a court order that you pay a stipulated sum per month & not to do so could result in a Warrant of Execution & court baliffs taking your possessions.

 

If so called 'baliffs' are contacting you without a court order, they have no legal powers whatsoever & you should inform them in writing that any attempts to attend your home will be regarded as trespass & you can prosecute as such.

 

If there is no CCJ, you should not stop payments until they are in default of supplying a cca (12+2days after request) or do not supply a valid one as until then, they have the law on their side as regards purusing the debt. If they do not supply cca etc. or you dispute it's enforceability, you should write & tell them the account is in dispute & that no more payments will be made until they find the cca. Be aware that this may prompt them to take legal action & you will have to defend in court.

 

Also-is it worth asking for any charges refunded from the lenders even though they have passed them to DCA's? The interest on vanquis alone was over £16 a month-more than we were paying hence the balance increasing all the time. If it is worth claiming where to start?!

 

DEFINITELY start making claims for any unlawful charges applied to your accounts. If you do not have statements, you need to send a SAR to the OC (cost £10.00) & request one of the DCA (free), then start calculating & claiming. You can apply to the DCA for the refund if they have purchased the debt but sometimes they are just acting as collecting agents for the OC so you may be better addressing your claim to the OC. They will fight a bit about it (sometimes you may have to commence legal action) but eventually you will get the money, although it may be credited against your debt & not cash in hand.

 

More info here (same for ccs & loans as banks): http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/faqs-please-read-these/25457-guide-reclaiming-bank-charges.html

 

SAR template here:

http://www.consumerforums.com/resources/templates-library/48-bank-templates/110--data-protection-act-1998-subject-access-request-

 

Do not sign your applications, print or use digital sig, send fee as PO & Rec. Del.

Hope that helps - FG

[scampymojorising]

Hi FG-many thanks for your reply-there are no ccj's for anything at all-its so far all been calls from the original creditors or bailiff letters but no court action,just threats of it. When Vanquis rang last my partner said he was prepared to go to court or go bankrupt-the lady said "this would affect future credit" etc-my partner said he didnt care as he didnt want credit. She continued to push him £10 a month-he stuck to offering £5. Then next day we got the letter from Blair Oliver and Scott accepting £5 a month but subject to future review.

As for Halifax he told them the same-he would become bankrupt-he then got a letter from Impact Collections Service offering a discount of 50% if he called and came to a repayment agreement for the 50% outstanding-they would make the other 50%. Is it wise to accept this-we have 7 days to accept and the cca will take longer.

 

Thanks again for your help.

[foolishgirl]

....he then got a letter from Impact Collections Service offering a discount of 50% if he called and came to a repayment agreement for the 50% outstanding-they would make the other 50%. Is it wise to accept this-we have 7 days to accept and the cca will take longer.

 

 

NO, NO, NO!! If they are offering you this now it's possible it's because they know they can't produce an enforceable CCA.

 

Send for your CCAs to all your creditors/DCAs & don't agree anything until you know the true postion. If they can't produce a CCA & you want to do a deal on a F&F, do it on your terms & get them in writing before parting with any cash but remember that most debts are bought by DCAs for between 10% & 20% of the value. You offer anything over that & they're clapping their monkey hands together for another banana. If 50% is on the table now, it will probably be on the table in another 2-4 weeks so play the game...

[scampymojorising]

Thanks again-just not sure what a F&F is? Probably something really obvious lol..have only agreed the fiver with Blair up to now which they want on the 5th so will pay that whilst waiting for the CCA from them and the others.

 

Thanks again FG.

[foolishgirl]

F&F - Full & Final

See this for template if you get to that stage - it's Letter J:

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general-debt-issues/20758-creditors-dcas-letter-templates.html