Debenhams Card - solicitors threats

[vix2000]

My daughter has a Debenhams card which she has been unable to pay since being on benefits. She has foolishly just not paid it and it has now been trnsferred to a debt collection agency. The thing I have noticed is that, although she had a 180 pound limit, the balance is now over 400 pounds with fees and charges. Can these charges be reclaimed although she hasn't paid the monthly payments? Thanks.

[Bookworm]

Ask yourself this:

 

Did it cost GE Capital (next on my list, btw) £20, £25, £30, when she didn't make her payments?

Would have GE Capital still made some profit from the accrued interest even if they hadn't added the above charges?

 

So did they actually lose out by your daughter not paying her charges?

 

If you believe the answers are No, Yes, and No, there's your answer.

 

You seem to think that because she didn't pay, she's somewhere to blame and therefore might not be able to reclaim her charges. That tells me you don't understand the underlying principle of it all. You need to go back to the FAQs and read them until you know why you're doing what you're doing.

[vix2000]

I am saying that she was foolish to put her head in the sand and think that the problem would go away and ignore it. My query was regarding claiming back charges that she hasn't actually paid, however if they were removed from the account she would have a much more managable amount to pay back.

[Bookworm]

And how would they get removed if she doesn't claim them back?

 

Yes, she was foolish, no, it won't go away by itself. Her behaviour does not justify GE making tons of money off her. Once those charges have been reclaimed, yes, it will be easier for her to pay the rest of the money back.

 

At this point, if she hasn't done so yet, she should say to the collection agency: "This is how much I can repay per week/month. However, I dispute the sum of xxx, so am not prepared to pay that sum at this point. I will therefore make payments of xxx towards the sum I do owe of xxx, until the matter of the disputed amount has been resolved."

 

She has to be seen to be making an effort towards clearing the actual debt.

[vix2000]

Has anyone requested charges back after a company has frozen interest and accepted a reduced payment, any info gratefully recieved, please?

[vix2000]

My daughter has recieved court papers from GE Capital regarding a debt on her Debenhams card.

 

As she is now on Income Support our local debtline office has been advising her, and they were sent her financial statements and letters requesting the charges and interest to be suspended, and to accept an arrangement to pay.

 

Their reply to this is to serve court papers on her.

 

As the balance is mostly charges I am of the opinion that she should counterclaim, but she has no statements.

 

According to the form, if she counter claims, she only has 14 days to issue, and we arent guaranteed to recieve statements before then.

 

Anyone got any advice please?

[lee6370]

First things to do is counterclaim, if you haven't got all the statements, just take what you have got and make an estimate, for the whole period your going to claim for, when you counterclaim let them know your figure is an estimate.

 

Write to Capital one, requesting a list of all charges, remember to include your £10.00.

 

Your counterclaim will buy you enough time to get the list of charges.

 

What is the amount Capital one is claiming?

How much do you estimate they have added in charges?

[vix2000]

Thanks Lee

 

GE Capital claiming £489.62, her limit on the card was £180 so at least £309.62 are charges/costs. Have responded to court requesting 28 days to enable us to obtain statements so everythings on hold for now. Interesting that she had to telephone the solicitor to request the statements, and they told her she had already had statements. She then said that the person giving her financial advice (me) had told her to request her statements, and she had a right to these under DPA law. He asked her who her financial adviser was, to which she told him that was her business. He then said the statements would be at least 2 weeks, but did not ask for payment. He also said that no further action would be taken by them until she recieved them, but we applied for extension just in case. As soon as he knew she was being advised, and mentioned DPA how his attitude changed. They expect everyone to roll over and capitulate.

[Janet-M]

Don't just ask for the statements .. send them a Data Protection Disclosure Request , you can amend the one in the libary to suit you.Ask them for all the infomation they have and keep in the part that mentions manual intervention.

[Guest Alison82]

Well done, I wonder what the expected to happen in court?! Well the shoe is on the other foot now, watch them squirm!

[vix2000]

Thanks all for the support.

 

When he told us he would not act until she recieved the statements she said we only had his word for this, so he told her to log the time and date of the call and his name as all calls are recorded. Surely this would prove he promised to send the statements aswell?

 

Or do you think she should send the DPA also. Then they have 40 days, which will be too late as we only have 28 days to form a defence.

[vix2000]

Any advice gratefully accepted. This is the current situation.

 

My daughter had a debenhams card with a £180 limit. Last Nov. she became unemployed with a baby on income support. She could not keep up her payments and the account was passed to a debt collection company, Viking.

 

She contacted Sheffield debtline for help and they assisted her in compiling a financial statement which was sent alongside a letter requesting that interest and charges on the account be suspended, and with an offer of payment. A week later she recieved court papers claiming nearly £600.

 

When she showed me these I as furious at the fact that they have tripled her debt. I got her to phone the solicitors on the claim form. They promised to send copies of her statements and said they would take no further action until she recieved them. when she said she only had their word that they would do this she was told that their calls are logged and to keep note of the date and time. She did this, but nearly a month later nothing has happened.

 

We acknowledged the claim, giving us 28 days, but looking at other GE posts am very sceptical about any information or promises they have given us. As the 28 days are nearly up I have, on her behalf, submitted a part admission for the original debt, but estimated it at £100 due to not recieving the information, and submitted a counterclaim for the charges, interest on the charges, interest persuant to county court act and costs incurred after the debtline letter was sent, in line with normal claims on this site.

 

As they didn't send the statements we can't calculate exact amounts. Can anyone help with the following:

 

a) what will happen now?

 

b) where do we stand if we go to court?

 

c) how do we ever calculate any amounts if they refuse to send the information?

 

Any advice will be gratefully recieved as I'm totally in the dark as she's the defendant as opposed to the claimant.

[thecornflake]

Hi,

 

This is a bit different as you said from most people's situations here but until someone with a bit more legal knowledge replies I will try to answer your questions.

 

a) what will happen now?

 

I believe the next stage would be for them to reply with a defence to your counterclaim (if they intend to defend it).

 

b) where do we stand if we go to court?

 

Presuming the charges added on to the debt are similar in nature to the charges being claimed back by others on the site (which it sounds like they are) you should be in a good position to go to court. If they recognise this there is a good chance they will settle for the original debt amount to be paid but this is less well known territory than with the banks.

 

c) how do we ever calculate any amounts if they refuse to send the information?

 

You should make a DPA request as soon as possible (see the library for a standard letter and amend as appropriate). They have to comply with this within 40 days.

I presume your original request for information wasn't specifically a DPA request so I'm not sure where you stand on this.

You may be able to make a CPR 18 request for the information, however people here are getting these from banks and we have found out that we don't have to comply if the claim is in the small claims court.

 

Read the thread here - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=5292 for more info on the CPR 18 request. You may need some specific advice from one of the more legal-savvy bods here as I'm not sure how this applies in your situation.

 

However, the DPA request is a definite - They have to provide the information and can charge no more than £10 for this.

 

Good luck.

[vix2000]

thanks for the help. Will sort out DPA request asap.

[vix2000]

So as we are dealing with Howard Cohen solicitors now, and Debenhams and GE have told us that all requests should be made through them, do we need to send a DPA or CCA request? Want to make sure its right as time is short. Thanks.

[vix2000]

so i need to send dpa to ge capital and cca to howard cohen?

[alanfromderby]

Correct.

[vix2000]

thanks Alan. Will do that now.

[vix2000]

My daughter has just rung me to say she has recieved a letter saying cl finance has defended the counterclaim, it has been transferred to sheffield county court and she has to pay £1700 fees (more than what she owes) if she wishes to proceed with the counterclaim. If she doesn't pay this it will be cancelled She has also recieved (enclosed) a small claims track questionaire. I have no idea what to do now.

[alanfromderby]

If she is unemployed she will not have to pay the county court fee. Go to the FAQ's and there is a link to the form and guidelines for those who cannot afford to pay the fees.

 

Can you confirm the £1700 figure - the original claim was onlt £600. The fee would be nowahere near that.

[alanfromderby]

I would also write to the solicitors, and GE, expressing your disgust that they have continued with action when the debt is "in dispute", since this is in breach of the Banking Code.

[vix2000]

Thanks Alan. The amount of fee was correct, but I hadn't put a figure in the counterclaim amount box so the courts put the highest fee in. Found this out from bankfodder. so now we have to go and amend the form with the correct amount. Will then see what happens!!!!!

[vix2000]

Can a moderator point Bankfodder in this direction as he has told me not to do anything without consulting him first. Thanks.

 

Hi. Just to recap since our last telephone conversation - My daughter is being sued by ge capital, originally, now CL finance. We admitted £100 of the £592.21 owed but counterclaimed the charges. We recieved an incomplete set of statements and you told me to write a stern letter requesting the missing information. We did this and she has now recieved the following letter from howard cohen solicitors.

 

22nd May 2006

 

Re: CL Finance Ltd – balance: £592.21

 

SHEFFIELD COUNTY COURT – CASE NUMBER xxxxxxxx

 

As you are aware, this matter is subject to a County Court Judgement.

 

We can confirm that we are prepared to allow you to repay the debt due to CL Finance Limited at the rate of £5.00 every month commencing on the 22nd May 2006.

 

Payment MUST be made direct to our client’s collection agents The Lewis Group using the attached payment slips, or by sending to them a series of post-dated cheques, payable to the lewis group, which will be presented as they fall due. Alternatively, our client will accept payment by standing order to the lewis group, but only if immediate arrangements are made. Please ring them immediately on xxxxxxxx to make arrangements to pay.

 

We continue with conduct of this action and should any one payment be missed we shall immediately take enforcement action.

 

I am not aware that a judgement has been made. Please can you advise me what I should do next.

[bram stoker]

You would be best to PM Bankfodder with a link to this thread rather than have 10 moderators PM him. He won't mind, especially as he asked you to do so.

[vix2000]

Hi.

I pm'd him yesterday and the day before but I know he gets so many that its easy to miss some.

I wouldn't bother him but I really need to contact them tomorrow about this and last time I did something without consulting him first I got 'done'!!!!!!!

Shall I pm him again?