New to this forum. Problems with AIC, CABOT

[Torexxx]

Hi All

 

I am new to this forum, I was contacted by one of those companies who cold call you to see if you have any debt,and I went into the internet to see if there was much about it, and lo and behold ended up here I had to close my small business back in 2001 due to ill health (cancer Fit and well now) I ended up with debts of over £20,000 and have been paying them of ever since I have 2 credit card accounts with AIC 1 credit card account with Cabot 1 unsecured loan with Cabot and 1 unsecured load account with Robinson way with the except of the loan accounts which are still total about £8000 the credit card accounts are down in the £400 to £800s I have been paying these off but lately all they credit ref agencies are pestering me to increase payments which I just dont have, they are then offering me reduced amounts to pay them of which again I just dont have, I have been looking at the forums and have printed of some CCAs which I am about to send of in the near future, should I continue to make the payments that I have agreed with them or what? Any help or advice would be most appreciated, I have noticed some people mention about grammer and spelling,I left school at 14 and english was not my best subject so please bear with me though all the spelling mistakes and bad grammer

 

TOREXXX

Edited August 2, 2009 by Torexxx

[babybear39]

Hi and welcome to CAG

 

You can stop payments legally after the 12 + 2 working days if the DCA defaults on your CCA requests

[Bazooka Boo]

If you have made arrangements to pay them an amount each month then yes IMHO you would be wise to continue paying them, you can ignore their requests to pay more, and don't feel pressured into trying to pay more than you can comfortably afford.

 

Once you send the CCA requests, they have 12+2 days in which to reply and return a valid CCA, if/when they don't you can then legally withold payment to them until such time as they do.

 

On the payment front, if all you can afford to pay them is £1 a month then that is all you should pay them, no matter how much they grumble and threaten you with court action or bankruptcy etc etc, as no judge will make you pay more than you can afford, besides the simple fact that you have been paying them anything will act in your favour.

 

Boo:wink:

Edited August 2, 2009 by Bazooka Boo
CCA request time limit!

[Undercover-Elsa]

Hi Torexx and welcome to CAG

You need to send your CCA requests off first. I wouldn't recommend stopping paying them until you know your ground, but certainly I wouldn't agree to any increase in payment.

However, if they fail to provide your agreements plus a statement of account withing 12 calendar days plus 2 working days (for postage) then you can, legally, withhold payment until they do so.

When you do the requests, use the template linked below..note the bit about which section number to use for either loans or Cards, and amend the letter in the two places accordingly.

Print name, don't sign..£1 PO (NOT CHEQUE!) and send by recorded delivery, saving the receipt.

From this point on DO NOT DISCUSS IT WITH THEM ON THE PHONE.

Insist IN WRITING ONLY..firstly so they can't bully, confuse or trick you into paying more, and secondly to have a record of all communication from hereonin.

So pleased to hear you overcame your illness. Let's hope CAG can help you make your finances more healthy too

Any further help you need, just holler

All the best,

Elsa x

[Torexxx]

Hi all

 

Thank you for the information I will get the CCAs of to them this week and see what happens Again thanks for the replies

 

 

TOREXXX

[brokebutnotbeatn]

Greedy beggars, aren't they! People who have agreed a payment plan are the 'easy target'...a misplaced kinship with the premise of 'its easier to get more business from existing happy customers than find new ones'...! The key word in that being, of course, 'happy'....will they never learn?!

[Torexxx]

Hi All

 

4 CCA letters sent 3 signed for and No4 still winging its ways to Glasgow will sit back and wait for (or maybe not ) replies

 

 

 

 

TOREXXX

[Undercover-Elsa]

Well done!

Might be an idea while you're waiting to start a ring binder folder with sections for each account, plastic wallets to save their letters in order, copies of anything you send them and a diary sheet at the start of each section for your notes....

It begins...

[Torexxx]

Hi All

 

Thanks U-E just out this morning and bought a couple of ring binders have stolen some plastic wallets for inside of my daughter (she has 100s so wont miss them) Will start logging everything, I was thinking a few weeks ago about buying a Truecall to stop the sales and silent calls we have been getting, so" bit the bullet" and bought one through the CAG so that I can now also record the numerous calls I can expect from AIC and CABOT

 

Bye for now

 

TOREXXX

[Torexxx]

Hi All

 

Post has just arrived this morning and in it 2 letters from Cabot in reply to my CCA requests. These both state that they have requested the details from the original lenders, They also returned my £1 postal orders stating "please be advised we do not accept the statutory fee required under section 77 and/or 78 of the consumer credit act 1974 and have returned the fee for £1.00 that you have sent".

Then they say they anticipate that they will be able to supply the information within 12 days but may take longer and if so will write to me again.

 

I take it these are pretty normal replies from them, but if they do not accept the fee do they have the same responsibilities, if they had accepted it

 

Bye for now

 

TOREXXX

[babybear39]

It's up to them whether they accept the fee or not, the rules of the game remain the same though

[Torexxx]

Hi all

 

 

Thanks Babybear thought that but wasnt sure

 

 

 

TOREXXX

[Bazooka Boo]

I was thinking a few weeks ago about buying a Truecall to stop the sales and silent calls we have been getting, so" bit the bullet" and bought one through the CAG so that I can now also record the numerous calls I can expect from AIC and CABOT

 

You won't be dissapointed I promise you:D

I have one and it is the best investment I have made this century..

[Torexxx]

Hi All

 

I have just noticed that one of the cabot letters that came in shows the amount I owe, I also have another letter I got from them at the start of the year which also displayed the balance. Now I have been making payments every month to them and the latest letter shows my debt to them has increased over £3000 in the 9 months from the first letter Now the other letter that was received shows a £700 decrease from the start of the year which would correspond with payments made on it I would welcome any members views on the increase in debt of nearly 50% in 9 months

 

TOREXXX

Edited August 7, 2009 by Torexxx

[babybear39]

You need to request a statement of the account which is FOC from Cabot to see if they're adding charges and interest.

[Torexxx]

Hi all

 

Have never seen an increase on it before over the 3 yrs just a decrease when payments taken of it. Though maybe they had done it because I CCA them. It could also be that Cabot have made a mistake in the amount left when they sent out the letter

 

 

 

 

TOREXXX

[Torexxx]

bump

[brokebutnotbeatn]

can someone tell me what "bump" and "subbing" actually mean?

[Undercover-Elsa]

Hi BBBB

Bump is just to bump the thread back to the top of the list so more people will see it.

Subbing is when people subscribe to a thread, as anything you post in is added to your subscription list. However its usually better to just scroll to top of thread, click "thread tools" and "subscribe to this thread"

 

Elsa x

[ODC]

However, if they fail to provide your agreements plus a statement of account withing 12 calendar days plus 2 working days (for postage) then you can, legally, withhold payment until they do so.

It's 12 WORKING days i.e Mon-Fri:)

[brokebutnotbeatn]

Hi BBBB

Bump is just to bump the thread back to the top of the list so more people will see it.

Subbing is when people subscribe to a thread, as anything you post in is added to your subscription list. However its usually better to just scroll to top of thread, click "thread tools" and "subscribe to this thread"

 

Elsa x

 

Thanks Elsa. I feel much better knowing this now!

[Fester Tester]

Can I just jump in? I no I'm new but something struck me reading this thread.

 

The OP says that they have been paying for a while. But I wonder what rate of interest was being charged? They are not allowed to charge more than the original contract so maybe there is a way to see if it was more than that and work out of the amount paid has already covered the debt? I was paying 8% on a credit card but getting charged 12% by a DCA so I queried it and got a refund cos I had paid more than I was supposed to.

[babybear39]

There's a simple way of finding out, request a statement of account from the DCA FOC

[Fester Tester]

FOC???? Soz. New to all this so don't no all the terms yet.

[babybear39]

Oops sorry, FOC = free of charge.