Credit Collection Agency - another dirty trick or genuine mistake??

[Starbucaneer]

I am completely new to this website and have taken great heart from reading the post's and realizing I am not alone. Well I would like to ask some advice regarding my dealings with WESCOT.

The latest problem I have is they sent me a demand for full payment of My outstanding debt (they are acting on behalf of Barclays Direct Loan Services) dated 29/06/2010.

I already have an agreement to pay through Wescot set up 08/01/2008 with an official agreement letter from them. I phoned them and was told I needed to submit my income and outgoings again!. I informed them I would still only be able to make my normal £30 payment and would do so by the agreed date as I was already doing. ( I make sure I send the payment ahead of the agreed date of the 20th of the month). I also requested additional giro payment slips. I did notice they had changed the reference number but everything else was the same. Payment slips arrived, all with the new reference number. I made the payment. My letter was not acknowledged. As of 26/07/2010 I am now receiving phone calls each day asking me to ring them!. I have not because usually I get some kind of letter or demand first. Lo and behold a letter arrives today 29/07/2010 informing me I am in breach of the agreement and in arrears by £30 quoting the original reference number not the new one. Threatening further action if I do not pay the alleged arrears!!. Now I am unsure how to proceed. phone call that normally never gets a straight answer or letter that is always ignored!. I would gladly receive any advice. This whole thing is making me ill once again.

Sorry if this post is overly long

regards to all

Starbucaneer

[cerberusalert]

Write back quoting both reference no's citing that you were told to use the new paying in slips enclosing a copy.

[cerberusalert]

Have you checked to see whether the agreement is enforceable? If not send them a CCA request to see if they are entitled to collect this debt & if it's enforcable. If they fail to provide it within 12 working days from receipt, or the CCA is unenforcable you can legally withold any payment until they do. Send it recorded delivery enclosing a £1 postal order. When you get a reply, scan it & remove any identifying details and post it back here where we can have a look at it. We'll advise you from there;

 

Dear Sir/Madam

 

Re:- Account No: XXXXXXXX/Your Reference Number: XXXXXXX

 

This letter is a formal request pursuant to s.77/78 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. I require you to provide me with a true copy of the credit agreement relating to the above account, together with any other documentation the Act requires you to provide.

 

I expect you to comply fully and properly with this request, within the statutory time limit. You are reminded that should you fail to comply with my request, the provisions of s.77 will apply.

 

If it is your view that you are not the creditor, s.175 of the CCA 1974 applies in the case of a simple assignment, and places a duty upon you to pass this request to the creditor. In the case of an absolute assignment, you are a creditor as defined by s.189. If you contend that you purchased the rights but not the duties of any agreement, you are reminded that s.189 of the Act is clear that an assignment is of both rights and duties.

 

Your attention is drawn to ss.5(2), 3(b),6 and 7 of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPUTR). I enclose a postal order in the sum of £1.00, which is the statutory fee. Note that these funds are not to be used for any other purpose.

 

If you intend to send a reconstituted copy of the CCA you must declare the reason why it has been reconstituted and if the original exists and in what form (microfiche) etc.

 

If you are unable to comply fully and properly with this request, you should confirm this in writing at the earliest opportunity, and certainly within the statutory time limit for compliance, and return the fee.

 

Furthermore, with regards to the quantity and frequency of telephone calls that I have received from your company, which I deem to be personally harassing.

 

I have verbally requested that these stop, but I am still receiving calls. (Delete if necessary)

 

I now require all further correspondence from your company to be made in writing only.

 

You are reminded of the following under Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.

 

Trading Standards can bring about a prosecution if, with the object of coercing another person to pay money claimed from the other as a debt due under contract, he or she:

 

(a) harasses the other with demands for payment which by their frequency, or the manner or occasion of their making, or any accompanying threat or publicity are calculated to subject him or his family or household to alarm, distress or humiliation;

(b) falsely represents, in relation to the money claimed, that criminal proceedings lie for failure to pay it;

© falsely represent themselves to be authorized in some official capacity to claim or enforce payment;

(d) utters a document falsely represented by him to have some official character or purporting to have some official character which he knows it has not.

 

I am of the view that your harassment of me by telephone puts you in breach of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, and the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.

 

If you continue to harass me by telephone, you will also be in breach of the Communications Act (2003) s.127 and I will report you to OFCOM, Trading Standards and The Office of Fair Trading, meaning that you will be liable to a substantial fine.

 

Further to this if it is your intention to arrange a call from your 'Doorstep Collectors', I note that there is only an implied license under English Common Law for certain people to visit me on my property without express permission; the postman and people asking for directions etc (Armstrong v. Sheppard and Short Ltd [1959] 2 Q.B. per Lord Evershed M.R.).

 

Take note, I revoke license under English Common Law for you, or any of your representatives to visit me at my property and if you do so without my permission, you will then be liable to damages for a tort of trespass. You would also be conspiring in a trespass if you sent someone to visit me nevertheless. Any trespassers you attempt to send therefore will be dealt with accordingly.Be further advised that any further telephone calls from your company will be recorded.

 

(Print in red optional addition)

 

I look forward to hearing from you.

 

Yours faithfully **Edit to suit**

 

(Print do not sign signature)

[Starbucaneer]

Thank you Cerebrus. That was my instinct to write and to ignore the phone calls as I find them so stressful. I am worried about the consequences of not phoning them. They never respond to my letters directly. I will write and send copies of agreements etcetera and send them recorded delivery. Shall I use the old ref: or the new ref: for my next payment?. I will put in the letter that to avoid further confusion I will use the old reference for ALL future payments unless I receive written instructions from them to the contrary. Does that sound reasonable?

[Starbucaneer]

Okay I posted that last before I saw your second post. No I have not checked about the credit agreements enforceability. Until today and reading info on this forum, I hadn't any idea such things were possible. I have just written to all my debtors in turn and paid what they agreed to (within my ability to pay). Every time they demand more I either pay a bit more or say I cant afford it if I cant. Barclaycard are the only ones who have stuck to the agreed repayment plan and not chased me for more. (but have started charging interest again)

[cerberusalert]

You really should send a CCA request to all your creditors if they are for loans, credit cards, HP catalogues etc, just to see which are enforceable and which are not.

[Starbucaneer]

I may do that once this current problem is resolved;)

[Starbucaneer]

My Mate is pressuring me to ring them anyway but that did not work the last time

[cerberusalert]

You should never telephone them as all they will do is threaten and harass you & then deny it at a later date. Everything needs to be in writing, in that way it leaves a nice paper trail as written evidence of what's occurred.

[Starbucaneer]

Thank you cerberus, I think I will actually sleep properly tonight.

 

Can I ask another question...

What evidence do I have to provide to them as proof of my income and outgoings. I recently used the National Debt Helplines Budget planner a copy of which I printed out and filled in and sent to them.

 

regards

 

Starbucaneer

[cerberusalert]

What evidence do I have to provide to them as proof of my income and outgoings.

None, they have no legal entitlement to that information.

[Starbucaneer]

Thank you. Its something that occurred to me and I had not seen the question asked anywhere else on the forum (not that I have read it all yet).

 

I have my letters all ready to send tomorrow by recorded delivery