Judge&priestly Sols./1st Credit/Connaught...CONFUSED!

[fairclaire]

I have recieved a letter from Judge and Priestly Solicitors today. The first 2 paragraphs......

 

RE: Debt due to 1st Credit (Finance) ltd following assignment between 1st Credit Ltd (Vanquis Bank)

Total debt outstanding £XXX.XX

 

We have been instructed by Connaught Collections UK Ltd ("CCUK") of Airport House, Purley Way, Croyden, CR0 0XZ. CCUK have been appointed by first credit (finance) Ltd to act as their agents.

 

The letter goes on to make a reduced offer in full and final settlement. It also says that Connaught have been in contact by telephone and letter and I haven't responded. I am not aware of any telephone calls from them and have only recieved one letter less than a week ago which I haven't to replied to as yet

 

Whats confusing me is who actually owns the debt? Are J&P and connaught acting for Vanquis or has the debt been passed on.

 

There is also a threat of legal action if the full amount isn't paid in 10 days.

 

I'm confused! Any advice or info on these companies or what to do next would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance

[PGH7447]

if it is a vanquis card then send them a cca request in the first instance, and they always say you havent responded even on their first letter, cause thats how foolish they are

[fairclaire]

I'm pretty sure I opened this account online. Does that make a difference?

[lexis200]

Hi fairclaire

 

That is pretty confusing but essentially it looks like 1st Credit own the account and have passed it onto Connaught to manage (ie they can collect for 1st credit but don't own it).

 

The use of the sols is to panic you. I suspect if you read the letter it's full of if's and may's rather than will's? We all have collections of this sort of thing and although it's not nice to have anything like that in your post, I highly doubt it's worth losing sleep over.

 

A couple of questions (well, 3:))

 

1) have you seen your agreement?

2) if so is it enforceable?

3) they appear to be asking for the full amount. Have they sent you a valid default notice?

 

If all the above is 'yes' I would write to 1st credit and ask them to confirm who is handling this account. If it's Connaught just send them a budget sheet and your pro-rata offer. I can only speak from personal experience but they accepted ours with no hassle (of course I now know they have not got an agreement, but that's a different story).

 

If however they don't have a decent/any agreement or they have cocked up on the default, then you can go a different route.

[fairclaire]

Thanks for that.

 

To answer your questions:

 

1.I haven't seen my agreement. I haven't requested it yet

 

2. see above

 

3. I will need to trawl through my paper mountain to look for a default notice. If they sent one I'll have it. Just moved home and have had alot of other not very nice stuff going on. This hasn't been my priority lately TBH

 

Think I might be best to send a CCA request and then I can dig out the default (if there is one) whilst I wait on the CCA.

 

I will also take your advice and ask for clarification on who is handling the account.

 

Thank you very much for your help

[themagician]

Thanks for that.

 

To answer your questions:

 

1.I haven't seen my agreement. I haven't requested it yet

 

2. see above

 

3. I will need to trawl through my paper mountain to look for a default notice. If they sent one I'll have it. Just moved home and have had alot of other not very nice stuff going on. This hasn't been my priority lately TBH

 

Think I might be best to send a CCA request and then I can dig out the default (if there is one) whilst I wait on the CCA.

 

I will also take your advice and ask for clarification on who is handling the account.

 

Thank you very much for your help

just cca whos chasing the debt ,give them something to do whilst you look for the dn,almost guaranteed they aint got one .

[fairclaire]

update....even more confused!!!

 

I did search for the default notice and couldn't find one. I don't usually throw any mail away but TBH have moved house and personal circs that put me into financial meltdown.....can't say for sure if I recieved one or not,

 

I did CCA 1st credit and as yet recieved nothing back. Then today rec's a letter from C.A.R.S (creditlink account recovery solutions ltd). Very nice letter headed in red with

 

'CONFIRMED RESIDENT'...our tracing division has confirmed your residency at the above address andtherefore we are left with the conclusion that choosing to ignore our clients.

 

It goes on to outline the usual possible threats etc

 

I haven't ignored anything....well not since the letters from Connaught. I simply sent a CCA request and now am passed onto someone else!

 

Still o clear indication if this CARS company now own the debt or are acting OBO vanquis/1st credit/connaught.

 

What is my next move???

 

Should i SAR Vanquis to hopefully get a copy of default notice?

 

And how on earth do I get to the bottom of who now owns this debt. It's moving between DCAs faster than I can keep up with.

 

Any help very much appreciated

[fairclaire]

bump

[fuzzybobble]

Usually they'll only have a template letter for the Default Notice, as none of them seem to keep actual copies of the ones they send out.

 

A Subject Access Request to Vanquis should reveal on their system data if they send one out or not. Also they'll have to send you a copy of the CCA.

 

This letter works for me when it comes to getting everything. With this they can't wriggle out of it by just sending copies of statements. You will end up with a big pile of paperwork, but it may reveal a few other things you can trip them up with....................

 

 

SUBJECT ACCESS REQUEST

 

Account Number xxxxx

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

I understand that you currently hold details of my personal and financial information within your internal record systems with regard to the account as mentioned above.

Please supply me with a complete list of transaction and charges relating to my history with your organization, INCLUDING credit cards, payment protection insurance and other products. Alternatively a complete set of statements for the accounts or associated accounts is acceptable. In addition please supply the following

:

Full copies of all contracts which you believe exist or have existed between myself and your organization, in particular The original signed, executed credit agreement/s and any terms and conditions that applied to the account/s at the time the account was opened and/or defaulted including true copies of any documents you hold in support of the same.

A complete list of all transactions or statements relating to my credit card Account with your organization.

Copies of all documents which include any of my personal information including copies of any contacts or invoices, emails or computer records containing my personal information, or any records which pertain to this information.

Full copies or transcripts of any correspondence in postal, email or any other format which you have entered into with any individual, organization or third party reference agencies, , including credit reference agencies ,which contains my personal or financial information, or which pertains to me.

Where any previous information or records held have been deleted or disposed of, the methods used to do so, including dates, certificates or references confirming details of destruction. Where you are unable to provide such certificates, please provide a declaration, signed by an authorised officer of your company, confirming the dates and methods of destruction of this data.

 

True copies of any notice of assignment and default notices or enforcement notice that you/or name of the original creditor sent me, with a copy of any proof of postage that you hold.

 

Where there has been any event in my account history over this period which has required manual intervention by any person, I require disclosure of any indication or notes which have either caused or resulted in that manual intervention, or other evidence of that manual intervention in relation to my account

 

Full hard copy print outs of my personal or financial information, held in a digital, magnetic or any other format which is held in any archives, backups or other storage devices / locations.

 

A genuine copy of any notice of fair use of my data as required by the Data Protection Act 1998

 

IF YOU UNABLE TO DEAL WITH THIS REQUEST, YOU SHOULD IMMEDIATELY FORWARD IT TO THE PERSON WITHIN YOUR ORGANISATION RESPONSIBLE FOR DATA PROTECTION.

 

You are reminded that you have a duty to inform me if you do not have the above documents This is confirmed in High Court Law - Ezsias v Welsh Ministers - [2007] All ER (D) 65 (Dec). If you do not have them you must tell me where they are or how and when they were disposed of

 

You are reminded that you are obliged to supply all the above documents in line with the Information Commissioners Technical Guidance update (Dated August 2007)

 

I enclose the statutory maximum fee of £10. You have 40 days in which to comply.*

 

If there is specific information which you require in order to satisfy yourself as to my identity, please let me know by return. However, please note that the above address is the one which you normally use to communicate my private business to me and which you have hitherto found to be acceptable.

 

Yours faithfully,

[bozalt]

My MBNA card balance has been continually transferred between connaught and 1st credit, I belive they are two trading styles of the same company and both as incompetent as each other.

[fairclaire]

ok after the letter from C.A.R.S yesterday.....today i get yet another letter from Connaught offering me 50% discount on outstanding balance if I pay up now

 

I am soooooooo confused

 

if connaught and C.A.R.S are not the same people then that means that 2 companies are chasing the same debt.

[42man]

Make sure you get the SAR off and keep a tight hold on the CCA request you sent, it is quite common that 1st Credit and Connaught might well try and serve a statutory demand on you....believe it or not a SAR to Connaught / 1st Credit might be a good idea, as when I sent mine off they never sent me any copy of any kind of assignment !!! if you do this beforehand you will be ready just in case they attempt a stat demand !!

[fairclaire]

Statutory demand....sounds scary. The debt is for around the £800 mark so do you think that a stat demand is likely? I don't own any property any assets at all really so I doubt taking that route would get them far.

 

Having had a better look at the letters from connaught and CARS there is a difference of about £35 between the amount that they claim is owed so it looks like someone is adding interest or charges to it.

 

I'm still confused as to where CARS come into all this. i get the connaught/1st credit part of it but can't find any connection between connaught and CARS.

 

Will SAR vanquis and 1st credit and think i should CCA CARS as well. Will probably get another letter from someone else by the time I've done that!

[sillygirl1]

You also need to contact Croydon Trading Standards (might come under Croydon or Surrey) about 1st Credit and Connaught... they are looking into these sharks.

[fairclaire]

I now know that vanquis definately haven't sent me a default notice. After a painstaking search through my paper mountain I have found my last statement from them. On the front of the statement there is a printed message that states -

 

'your details have been passed to 1st Credit limited to recover the outstanding debt. Please contact them directly with any queries'

 

Now where does that leave me?? No default notice and the whole debt being chased by 1st credit (c£800) despite the arrears on the accont being less than £300

 

Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[fairclaire]

bump

[bozalt]

Hi Fairclaire

 

I am not an expert but as per 42man, I would hold tight on any further action pending a response to your CCA request and a copy of your subject access request is received.

 

Connaught and 1st credit tend to huff and puff without actually doing a whole lot so unless you actually receive a court summons I wouldnt worry too much at the moment. A stat demand would be a last resort as after this is issued unless they actually intend to take further action there is little more they can do.

 

Good luck

 

B

[fairclaire]

have had no replies as yet to any of my requests to anyone.....surprise!

 

all i've had is one letter from cars threatening a doorstep collector and advising me that if this debt is in dispute to let them know so that they can 'help me resolve the dispute'

 

....should i tell them that i dispute the amount of different companies chasing this debt??

[alfwithhair]

No ignore it, they are just attempting to gain telephone converstion with you

[veryweary]

....should i tell them that i dispute the amount of different companies chasing this debt??

 

No, not just now. Because they wiill immediately jump on this to tell you that this statemnt is an admission that the debt exists.. Altho its difficult to keep getting this type of letter in the post, don't worry about it.

 

Giive them the 12+2 days to comply with your CCA request.

 

For all their threatening letters they may not be able to produce any compliant documentation. Some of us having been waiting more than 2 years and they still haven't produced anything of relevance.

 

And remember never phone them, as Alfwithair said , they will keep sending you nonsensical letters designed to get you on the phone so they can try out some of their dubious persuasive phone tactics to get you to agree and make some sort of payment.

 

If the unlikely event they send out any SD or court papers post them up minus any personal details for advice on how to see them off.