HELP - threat of legal action

[shinobi101]

Barclays in-house DCA have been chasing a loan, and I responded with 4 separate letters all of which were ignored. Barclays complaints dept denied any letters had been received but confirmed the address was correct.

 

Without replying to a single letter, they have involved another dca. I pointed out to the new clowns that they are not privy to any contract I've seen, so they'd better send a copy along with a reference number I can actually recognise.

 

Today I got a threat of legal action from the new dca. I don't really know how to respond, but can't ignore them as solictors will be next.

[LarissaJ]

what are your circumstances, have you sent the SAR?

 

Send the new clowns a copy of the 'bemused' letter

[debt4get]

who are the new dca as barclays have a number of inhouse dca's of their own

[creditcardmug]

Its almost certainly mercers, the next desk along in the office

 

CCA them if you haven't done so, and if you have send the bemused letter

[shinobi101]

Hi, the new clowns are called Debt Managers Ltd. 19 Heriot Row, Edinburgh.

 

Letter is headed "NOTICE OF LEGAL ACTION"

 

"Your failure to respond to previous letters [not true - see above] has resulted in your account being passed to this department for court action and our solicitors may prepare the court papers within seven days. If you wish to avoid legal action you must pay in full today.....alternatively you must immediately telephone our legal manager on 0844 842 5295"

 

Signed SUPERVISOR, COURT DEPARTMENT.

 

These idiots don't normally bother me, but there is a pattern here where my letters are ignored and I just receive continuous threats.

 

TBH their attempt to scare me is actually working this time. I think they would win this is court as it's from 2008, and was about to try to negotiate something with the OC (Barclays) because I want to avoid that.

 

What I don't want to do is pay these creeps anything, as their approach is one letter followed by a threat. I am thinking about complaining to the FOS about this, for what good it might do.

[creditcardmug]

From what you are saying, this is a bank loan from Barclays dated 2008, that being the case, i imagine everything about the contract will be spot-on, they will have learned from their mistakes!

 

If you think this is not the case, please get back.

[OMOH]

Send them this letter :

 

WARNING

THIS IS A REQUEST UNDER THE CIVIL PROCEDURE RULES

PLEASE DO NOT IGNORE

 

In care of:

My name (legal fiction? or Me:Family name?)

Current address

 

Date:

 

Dear Sir/Madam

 

Account details: Client:

 

Thank you or your letter dated XXXXXX in which you have indicated that there is an imminent court action should I not respond to your letter.

 

In your letter you have given notice that “our client” is preparing to initiate legal proceedings over the non-payment of the alleged outstanding balance on the above account.

 

Given that this matter is now subject to potential legal proceedings, you are obliged to provide, under the Civil Procedure Rules, information to ensure that all parties are on an equal footing, and also to ensure the claim is dealt with expediently and fairly, avoiding an unnecessary burden on the Court's resources.

 

Under the Pre-action Practice Directions - Protocols 4.6 of the Civil Procedure Rules, I request that you supply copies of the following documents:

 

1) A true copy of the executed contract and any terms and conditions that applied to the account at the time of default.

 

2) All records you hold on me relevant to this case, including but not limited to

1. A transcript of all transactions, including charges, fees, interest, payments and both the amounts of credit and any repayments made to the account.

2. Transcriptions of all telephone conversations recorded and any notes made in relation to telephone conversations

3. Where there has been any event in the account history over this period that has required manual intervention by any person, disclosure of any indication or notes that have either caused or resulted in that manual intervention, or other evidence of that manual intervention in relation to the account held by me with Lowell Financial/Red DCS.

4. True copies of any notice of assignment and/or default notice or enforcement notice that you sent to me, with a copy of any proof of postage that you hold.

5. Documents relating to any insurance added to the account, including the insurance contract and terms and conditions, date it was added and deleted (if applicable).

6. Details of any collection charge added to the account: specifically, the date it was levied, the amount of the charge, a detailed financial breakdown of how the charge was calculated, and what the charge covers.

7. Specific details of the fees/charges levied by any other agency in respect of this account and a detailed breakdown of said fees/charges and what each charge relates to and on what date said fees/charges were levied.

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

9. A list of third party agencies to which you have disclosed my personal data and a summary of the nature of the information you have disclosed.

10. Copies of statements for the entire duration of the credit agreement.

This information is required within the next fourteen days. I must advise you that if the information is not forthcoming, it will be reported to the Court that you are trying to deny me the opportunity to review my position in relation to your claim of alleged breach of agreement and any possible counter-claim.

 

Please note that, as you have initiated this action, failure to respond to this letter will place this account in clear dispute and as such you may not:

• demand any payment on the account, nor am I obliged to offer any payment to you;

• add any further interest or charges to the account;

• pass/sell the account or outstanding balance to any third party;

• register any information in respect of the account with any of the credit reference agencies; or

• issue a default notice related to the account.

Should you ignore any of the above, I reserve the right for legal action for redress, and will show the court this letter. I will also report your actions to any authority that I see fit and will request that your suitability to hold a consumer credit licence be reviewed.

 

I look forward to hearing from you in due course.

 

Yours faithfully,

[OMOH]

DCA's cannot take you to court, unless you contract with them, either through unconditionally agreeing to pay whilst talking to them on the phone or a written letter with your consent/signature. Don't let them scare you guys. It's all smoke and mirrors!!

[dx100uk]

nope

verbal does not count

must be signature on a letter acking the debt.

 

dx

[diddydicky]

DCA's cannot take you to court, unless you contract with them, either through unconditionally agreeing to pay whilst talking to them on the phone or a written letter with your consent/signature. Don't let them scare you guys. It's all smoke and mirrors!!

 

i beg to differ

 

ANYONE acting on behalf of the creditor can take you to court- even the local butcher if that is who the creditor appoints to represent them

 

quite where this nonsense comes from that you have to admit a debt in writing before you can be sued defeats me

 

i can issue a court summons to anyone on this forum at any time claiming that they owe me 10,000 for a pink elephant.

 

Whether or not my claim has any merit does not stop me "taking you to court"

 

i think it is irresponsible to give the impression that all DCa's are toothless tigers

[shinobi101]

Thanks again DD, I was a bit concerned about the "powerless DCA" idea.

 

Can I use a pre-action CPR request to oblige them to disclose all the necessary info? Agreement, default notice etc...

 

I'm thinking in terms of a pre-action letter similar to the one OMOH posted above, but without any "freeman" bits added.

 

Also, is there any reason not to serve such a notice to the OC as well or instead?

[diddydicky]

you can use the pre action protocols when you receive(or believe) a letter which appears to be a LBA

 

i would suggest that any letter that has the word MAY in it is not a genuine LBA and can safely be filed unanswered

 

although it does tend to put them on the spot and show them that you are not phased by their threats if you do respond as suggested

 

if you look through my posts you will find such a letter (i have just changed computers having hard a hard drive failure so do not have a copy readily to hand

[diddydicky]

on second thoughts- if you search through Surfaceagent X20's posts- you may find it quicker

 

(and i would advise any cagger to spend a few hours reading his posts in any event)

[dx100uk]

here you go:

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/search.php?searchid=3310997

 

dx

[OMOH]

Admin. or mod, please delete my letter.

 

I appreciate there are templates on here and as such these should be used.

 

Thank you.

[shinobi101]

Admin. or mod, please delete my letter.

 

I appreciate there are templates on here and as such these should be used.

 

Thank you.

 

Better still, is there a standard form letter similar to the one above, that would allow me to get disclosure before proceedings start?

 

I like the above letter, but I will be using the ordinary legal procedures that anyone else would (!) and with things like 'name of legal fiction' it seems it's not quite what I want, but very close.

 

The point of me requesting disclosure before they initiate proceedings is to find out whether or not I have a good case, and so avoid unnecessary litigation.

[diddydicky]

here you go

 

adjust to suit!

 

RECORDED DELIVERY

 

Request for copies of documents

(Civil Procedure Rules 1998: Pre-Action Protocols)

 

Dear Sirs

Account/Reference*[1234 5678 8765 4321]*(IN DISPUTE)

Your letter dated***DATE***(received* **DATE**) says your client has instructed you to commence court proceedings against me without delay, and that papers are being prepared for action at my local court to seek a judgement against me.

 

As you know, I have long since requested from your client, under both the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (“CCA 74”) and the Data Protection Act 1998, evidence of the agreement to which both you and your client allege I am a party. To date your client has failed to supply any such evidence, but instead tried to persuade me that providing a copy of an application form discharges your client from further obligations under section 78 of CCA 74. Conversely, I have explained that a copy of a mere application form is not a lawful substitute for a true copy of the executed agreement as required by CCA 74 s.78 and prescribed by Regulation 3 of the Consumer Credit (Cancellation Notices and Copies of Documents) Regulations 1983 (“CNCD 83”).

 

I remind you that CCA 74 s.78(6) provides that whilst a creditor is in default of a request made under sub-section (1) it may not enforce the alleged agreement.

 

Notwithstanding the above and your client's persistent, unexplained and wilful refusal to supply a copy of an executed agreement in accordance with its obligations (the permitted omissions under CNCD 83 Reg.3(2) excepted), you have made plain your client’s intention to begin legal proceedings against me. Consequently this matter is now subject to the*Civil Procedure*Rules and your letter appears to be intended as a “letter before claim”, despite not complying with the Pre-Action Conduct protocol.

 

Therefore take notice that, I request you supply to me within 14 days true copies of the following documents:

1) the executed credit agreement incorporating prescribed notices, terms and conditions applicable at the time the agreement was executed, and

2) any further or subsequent notices, terms and conditions relied on.

3/ Notice of assignment (IF APPLLICABLE)

If you are unable to supply these documents please confirm discontinuance of your client’s claim.

 

Take note that this request is not made under either CCA 74 or Data Protection Act 98. It is under Annex A paragraph 4.2(7) of the CPR Pre-Action Conduct protocol, for a copy of alleged documents which I believe are relevant but do not have.

 

Should you ignore this request, I shall in due course make another under CPR 27 or 31.15, as appropriate. If you fail to comply with that request, I will ask the court to strike out your client's claim as an abuse of process due to lack of reasonable grounds, or at least order proceedings be stayed pending provision of the requisite documents. The application will refer to this and previous document requests, and apply for costs.

 

FOR THE AVOIDANCE OF DOUBT, THE ABOVE SHALL NOT BE CONSTRUED AS ADMITTING THE EXISTENCE OR VALIDITY OF AN AGREEMENT WITH OR DEBT TO YOU OR ANYONE YOU CLAIM TO REPRESENT.

Yours faithfully

 

PRINT NAME, don't sign

[shinobi101]

brilliant, thanks again DD.