Advice needed re full & final settlements and "unenforceable debts"/CCA

[benboy]

Hi all. I have three credit cards on a debt management plan and I am lucky enough to have received a small windfall. I phoned Barclaycard today to ask for my balance and then asked what address I should send a f+f s offer to. She replied....."Barclaycard to not offer Full and Final Settlement, we have a collections department instead". So do I believe her or just write off with my offer? I also would like your opinions about percentages my creditors are likely to accept. My creditors are Lloyds tsb credit card, MBNA credit card and Barclaycar. I have in total about £11,500 in debt with them and wish to pay off with as little as £4,000. Also, I have heard about the companies that investigate whether the debt is enforceable or not.... is this worth doing...any success stories? ? My colleague has been waiting to hear the result of hers for about nine months now. She paid about £500 which includes investigating her PPI as as well as the personal loan it relates to. She was told no win no fee but was not given a timescale.... so, how long do you give them? Could they keep your money indefinately?

 

 

 

Thanks in advance

Edited December 14, 2009 by benboy

[natalie]

Why use one of these companies when its simple enough to do it yourself.

 

Put your money in a savings account (not in a bank you owe money to though!)

 

Then send this letter

 

http://www.consumerforums.com/resources/templates-library/86-debt-collectors/581-cca-request-letter

 

with a postal order for £1.

 

I wouldnt ask for any f and f figures until you get these.

[benboy]

Why use one of these companies when its simple enough to do it yourself.

 

Put your money in a savings account (not in a bank you owe money to though!)

 

Then send this letter

 

http://www.consumerforums.com/resources/templates-library/86-debt-collectors/581-cca-request-letter

 

with a postal order for £1.

 

I wouldnt ask for any f and f figures until you get these.

 

Thank you Natalie I will have a look at that. However, I was reading a thread on here where to find out whether a debt was enforceable or not was not that clear cut and even when taken to court after no CCA could be produced, the judge still decided in favour of the Creditor! Also I am still not finding anyone who has had success with this. If it takes a "professional" company 9 months or more to sort out then this indicates it may not be "simple enough to do it yourself". I also have a charging order on my property from RBS, would they have had to show the court the CCA? Can I still take RBS down the CCA route? Also, although sending a request for the CCA seems simple enough... what happens next?

Edited December 14, 2009 by benboy

[natalie]

Even with no CCA it wont just diappear, they will carry on selling the debt on and it will be on the DCA merry-go-round. All that it means is that they cannot take you to court for the money, and eventually (after 6 years) it will become statute barred.

[benboy]

Even with no CCA it wont just diappear, they will carry on selling the debt on and it will be on the DCA merry-go-round. All that it means is that they cannot take you to court for the money, and eventually (after 6 years) it will become statute barred.

 

Hi

 

Isn't it only statute barred if the creditor soesn't contact me for 6 years?

 

How come these claims companies advertising on the radio (apart from the obvious... to get business) are making out you can get the debt written off?

 

What is the actual point in me asking for the CCA? Does it mearly give me a better bagaining tool when I make any full and final settlement offers, presuming they are late sending the copy and/or it is dificient in some way? Otherwise I will stop any payments and be nervous for the next 6years waiting for their CCA to turn up (like a bad penny:D) If they do send me the correct CCA at any time then surely I would have to re-start payments again as, although they have not abided by the law by providing the CCA in the timescale allowed it still exists and so the debt is enforceable. That's not how I want to live for the next 6 years, I have been under so much stress for the last 4 years.

[natalie]

No, Statute Barred is 6 years from the time YOU last acknowledged the debt.

 

Who is the debt with and when was the account taken out?

 

If they dont provide a CCA straight away its unlikely they have one, although they have been known to turn up, its not all that common.

[benboy]

Hi Natalie, thanks for your advice so far.

 

My debts are with the following:

RBS Lombard loan (thay have a final charging order on my house),

MBNA credit card

Lloyds tsb credit card

Barclaycard (Skycard)

 

I don't know how long I have had these but put it this way I took out a DMP with CCCS in 2007 so I know I had these credit cards before 2007.

 

I have read on here that if you have a debt with a CCJ then there is no chance of unenforceability.

 

I am thinking of making very low offers with my small windfall (maybe 10-20%) Although I am told by National Debtline that RBS won't really care as now their money is secured. If they are not interested I will just work with the other 3 creditors.

 

Thanks again in advance

[Dotty50]

Hi Ben,

 

Good luck in your pursuit of F & F's there are a lot of threads on here about them and some Caggers seem to negotiate without a problem and get very good reductions.

 

I have approached the Halifax with an offer of around 35% but not accepted, however did get a drastic reduction in the interest rate. Currently awaiting written confirmation and will re-commence a reduced payment in the new year.

 

If you have a secured loan, then it is important that you maintain payments on this if you can. It is a priority debt, as with your mortgage. Although, you state that RBS have a charging order, so was that a result of a loan defaulting as opposed to a credit card debt?

 

Your windfall should come in very useful to get some of your creditors out of the way but it will not be an easy task and will probably be very slow. (I started in April).

 

Most important, ensure that your windfall is safely stashed away. Who do you bank with? If you stop paying a CCC for example with Barclaycard and you have your money in a Barclays Bank account, they are within their rights to help themselves to your money to offset their debt. It's called the 'Offsetting rule' so beware!

 

Dotty

[benboy]

Hi Ben,

 

Good luck in your pursuit of F & F's there are a lot of threads on here about them and some Caggers seem to negotiate without a problem and get very good reductions.

 

I have approached the Halifax with an offer of around 35% but not accepted, however did get a drastic reduction in the interest rate. Currently awaiting written confirmation and will re-commence a reduced payment in the new year.

 

If you have a secured loan, then it is important that you maintain payments on this if you can. It is a priority debt, as with your mortgage. Although, you state that RBS have a charging order, so was that a result of a loan defaulting as opposed to a credit card debt?

 

Your windfall should come in very useful to get some of your creditors out of the way but it will not be an easy task and will probably be very slow. (I started in April).

 

Most important, ensure that your windfall is safely stashed away. Who do you bank with? If you stop paying a CCC for example with Barclaycard and you have your money in a Barclays Bank account, they are within their rights to help themselves to your money to offset their debt. It's called the 'Offsetting rule' so beware!

 

Dotty

 

Hi Dotty!

Yes, I do have secured debts: Mortgage, Halifax Loan, and RBS Loan (charging order). I am up to date and maintaining my payments with these. However, this didn't stop RBS getting a final charging order even though they accepted my offer of repayments through CCCS and I neve defaulted on the new payment agreement

 

I have £10,000 to use to pay off £17,000 or if RBS won't budge then it's to pay off £11,500. Obviously I am going down the CCA route first and if it comes down to it, F+FS offers using as little of the £10k as possible. I hope the remainder of my money will make life just a little bit easier and also I wont have such a large chunk taken out of my salary to pay debts.

 

OMG!, I have a Barclaycard (used to be skycard), and my current account is with Barclays! I am on top of my arranged payments and they froze the interest. However Dotty, would this cause a problem if I went down the enforceability route/CCA with my Barclaycard?

 

Thanks

Ben

[Dotty50]

Hi Ben,

 

I have read on here where money has been taken out of peoples accounts to cover unpaid debts and one of the first things I was advised was to open a parachute account totally unconnected with any of my creditors.

 

If you were paying under an arrangement with RBS, how did they manage to get a charging order? My understanding is that this type of order is granted after a ccj is obtained and remained unpaid. Maybe I have got this wrong. I am sure others will come along to clarify.

 

You don't need to PM me (although its not a problem) but once anyone posts on your thread, they are sent a email to advise that another post has been added for you to read.

 

Don't think that I am an expert on here, I do have some knowledge from previous employment but it's been a while and lots of things have changed since (not for the better)!

 

I will offer any help if I can but most of it is from my experience on here. If you do request CCA's, start separate threads for each one in the appropriate bank or dept forums and you will find you get lots of help as you go along.

 

You can also click on my name and that will take you to my threads if you want to read any. MBNA x2, Halifax, Capital 1 and Sainsbury..... so far.

[benboy]

Hi Dotty, I have no idea why or how RBS got a final charging order on my house. I wanted to attend the hearing but Crewe County Court wrote to tell me the hearing was ajourned... unbeknown to me it went ahead on the origional date so I had no idea I should have been there. Got no appology from the court when I complained although they admitted they sent me the letter of ajournment.

 

Thank you for your advice and I will take a good look at your threads.

 

I may well set up a parachute account.... only trouble is.. whith whom??? The only bank I could open an account with (when escaping my creditors in order for me to sort CCCS payments out) was Barclays. Natwest refused as I was told it was connected to RBS and I had an unauthorised overdraft with them.... also claimed unfair bank charges against them.

 

Thanks

[Dotty50]

Surely that shouldn't have been allowed to happen! I personally would pursue this further for my own piece of mind. There are legal experts on here that may be able to assist, it seem so unjust.

 

As far as the parachute account is concerned, yes it's difficult to know where to go, with all the mergers. I opened a Nationwide current account but already had a savings account with them and did it prior to going down the CCA route.

 

Again, you will find advice on here, I know I have read threads about which current account is best or easiest if you have had problems. If you click on the Search bar and type in parachute accounts, that may help.

 

Keep reading and searching threads, it's very daunting at first and you think you will never get anywhere but you will eventually take in the advice given and will be able to move forward.

[benboy]

Thank you once again for your advice.

 

To be honest I need to concentrate on clearing my debts and have learned to live with the charging order after all that was done 2years ago now. The amount owing RBS with the charging order now stands at £5'700. I have heard it is only extreme circumstances that they order a sale of the property and I have never missed any payments.

 

The one thing I am definately going to do is go down the CCA route with MBNA..... they made my life a misery until I gave them higher monthly payments. Lloyds TSB have been ok with no harrassment, and so have skycard (Barclaycard).... they accepted £11.66 and froze interest and charges without any hassle.

 

Yes Dotty, I have learnt so much in the past few days of joining this group and I feel also I have alot to learn.

[benboy]

Dotty50 advised me to be careful if I have a CCard with the same company I bank with. Well I hav a Barclaycard and a Barclays current account. I have a payment agreement with interest frozen with BC and have kept up with payments so this does not worry me. However, If I go down the CCA route with BC and I prove unenforceability then am I at risk of the "offset rule"? Where they can empty my account to pay off the BC debt owing? I say "at risk" and not "are they allowed by law" to do this. The law cannot actually stop them doing this, they can only deal with it after the event. I can't afford for this to happen as I have bills and food to buy.

 

Any ideas?

Edited December 17, 2009 by benboy

[Dotty50]

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/welcome-consumer-forums/58685-do-you-need-parachute.html?highlight=parachute+account

 

Hi Ben,

 

Have a look here, it may be of use.

[benboy]

Hi Dotty, I'm off to bed soon but I will have a look at that, thanks Will also get round to your threads too, when I can!