@barclaycard Barclaycard / egg transfer nightmare

[HP Mum]

Marlin Capital is the Creditor. Marlin Financial Services have been appointed to chase.

Ok we all know they are one and the same - but is it best to do a Postal Order to the Creditor or to the Chaser ?

Just want to make sure. And guess this helps everyone else too...

[dx100uk]

blank po

 

dx

[HP Mum]

Really ?

i did this once before and it was returned to me because it was blank.

[dx100uk]

not for a cca you didn't.

 

dx

[slick132]

Hi Mum,

 

Don't worry about the 5 days left according to their demand. They have no authority to make demands about how quickly you respond.

 

From what you've said about their letter, I'd make the PO to Marlin Financial Services.

 

[slick132]

Hi HPMum,

 

I've replied about the PO on your thread.

 

[dx100uk]

posts from another thread moved here

 

dx

[HP Mum]

Morning,

A quick update.

I sent a CCA (with £1 PO) to Marlin and it was received/signed for by Marlin middle of last week.

A letter from Marlin crossed in the post.

I just received a letter:

" We have written to you a couple times (NO - just once) but received no response. Because you have not contacted us to organise a mutually agreeable payment plan, we are now considering advising our client to take further action to recover your debt.

If you do not make contact with us then one of the following actions MAY be taken:

- A solicitor being instructed to review your account to determine whether our client should consider the commencement of legal action to seek recovery of your debt via the County Court. You will be provided with more information about the legal process if this course is taken

- A licensed agent being instructed to make an appointment to visit you at home to put you back in touch with us so we can discuss your circumstances with a view to agreeing an affordable repayment plan

- An alternative debt collection agency being instructed to collect your outstanding debt

If you want to avoid any of the above listed actions, please contact us urgently and in any event within the next 7 days on...... Our office opening hours are mon-Fri 8-8, Sat 9-1.

 

So, what is the next best step?

 

How many days do they have - the statutory time limit - to reply to my CCA request ?

And, due to the nature of this letter above, should I send them an "Account in Dispute" template letter ?

 

xx

[slick132]

Hi Mum,

 

I suggest you respond saying:-

 

Dear sir or madam.

 

I refer to your letter of xxdate.

 

Your letter is inaccurate - you have only written to me once.

 

My response to the first and only letter from you was a CCA request sent to you on xxdate.

 

Until you respond to my formal request as required, this matter is in clear dispute and you must cease collection activity.

 

Any further threatening letters from you will be referred to such regulatory bodies as I see fit.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

[slick132]

Marlin have 2 working days for postage plus 12 normal days to respond to your CCA request.

 

[HP Mum]

So 2 weeks ? For Marlin to reply to the CCA.

If received on a Wednesday, the Thurs/Fri is considered the working days + 12 days. In otherwords, next Weds 20th they have to reply by ?

[slick132]

Hi Mum,

 

2 working days is for them to receive the CCA request. Eg if you posted it on a Thursday, the working days are Friday and Monday and they have 12 days from the Monday to respond.

 

I always suggest you allow a few extra days. Until they respond, collection activity must cease.

 

[HP Mum]

Evening !

Marlin did NOT reply to my CCA.

They should have done so by 20th March.

 

Today I received a letter "Notice of Change of Agent"

 

"Dear hpmum, Since you have not agreed a payment plan with us the creditor of your account, Marlin Capital Europe Ltd, has decided to appoint Mortimer Clarke Solicitors to take over recovery activity from us.

Mortimer Clarke Solicitors will be in touch shortly and you should engage with them to agree a payment arrangement on your account.

Yours faithfully, Marlin Financial Services Ltd."

Since they did not receive a reply to the CCA - what should I now write to Marlin and to Mortimer Clarke. I know they should not actively pursue me until the reply to the CCA, but what should I write to emphasise this??

 

Thanks x

[HP Mum]

I found this in the library. Is this the correct template letter to write to Marlin AND to Mortimer ? Or do I just write it to Marlin ?

 

 

Dear x

 

Letter Reference *********

Account Reference ********

 

FORMAL COMPLAINT/ ACCOUNT IN DISPUTE

I am in receipt of your letter **DATED** the contents of which have been noted.

 

 

On **DATE** I made a formal request for a true signed agreement for the alleged account under consumer credit Act 1974 s77/78. This was signed for as delivered on the **DATE** Enclosed with that request was a postal order/Cheque in the sum of £1.00 which represents the statutory fee.

You have failed to comply with my request, and as such the account entered default on **DATE** (12+2 working days after you made the initial request).

 

The document that you are obliged to send me is a true copy of the executed agreement that contained all of the prescribed terms, all other required terms and statutory notices and was signed by both your company and myself as defined in section 61(1) of CCA 74 and subsequent Statutory Instruments. If the executed agreement contained any reference to any other document, you are also obliged to send me a copy of that document. In addition a full statement of this account should have been sent to me detailing all debits and credits to the account.

 

Furthermore, you are aware that the Consumer Credit Act allows 12 working days for a request for a true copy of a credit agreement to be complied with before you/your client enters into a default situation. This limit has expired.

 

As you are no doubt aware section 78(6) states:

 

If the creditor fails to comply with Subsection (1)

 

(a) He is not entitled , while the default continues, to enforce the agreement.

 

Therefore this account has become currently unenforceable at law.

 

As you have failed to comply with a lawful request for a true, signed copy of the said agreement and other relevant documents mentioned in it, Failed to send a full statement of the account and Failed to provide any of the documentation requested. You will also be aware of the CPUTR 2008 and the OFT's guidelines on debt collection which state under the title Deceptive and/or unfair methods - Examples of unfair practices are as follows - 2.8

 

(i) - 'Failing to investigate and/or provide details as appropriate, when a debt is queried or disputed, possibly resulting in debtors being wrongly pursued'

 

(k) - 'Not ceasing collection activity whilst investigating a reasonable queried or disputed debt'

 

Consequentially any legal action you pursue will be averred as both UNLAWFUL and VEXATIOUS.

 

Furthermore I shall counterclaim that any such action constitutes unlawful harassment.

 

I reserve the right to report your actions to any such regulatory authorities as I see fit.

You have 21 days from receiving this letter to contact me with your intentions to resolve this matter which is now a formal complaint.

 

 

I look forward to hearing from you. This should be in writing, I have no wish to correspond by telephone.

 

Yours faithfully

[dx100uk]

dear fleecers

 

I ack no debt to you or your client

 

unless & until you or your client produce a VALID SIGNED CCA

is accordance with my CCA request of DD/MM/YYYY

 

I shall be ignoring any further correspondence relating to this alleged debt

 

 

 

 

 

dx

[HP Mum]

Ha ha

 

Have drafted a similar letter to the one I found in the library, just changed it a bit.

Will post tomorrow.

xx

[slick132]

Hi HPMum,

 

I'd suggest a letter somewhere between your lengthy one above and DX's abbreviated version.

 

You don't need to go into all the detail IMHO. You just need to say, in the absence of your reply to my CCA request, you cannot pursue the debt, nor can you pass it on to anyone else for recovery action.

 

[HP Mum]

Thanks Slick. I was up late fretting last night. Not sure why I never remember to chill and take the time to respond ! I will re-draft a shorter version and post tomorrow...

All the best x

[HP Mum]

Morning

 

I am getting both angry and worried.

 

Despite sending two letters to Marlin

 

- one letter in early March complaining that their details were incorrect,

they had only contacted me once and that the account was in dispute

 

and one letter last week advising them that they had failed to reply to my request for a valid CCA and thus they could not pursue the account legally ......

 

.. yesterday I got a letter from their solicitors - Mortimer Clarke - dated last Thursday.

 

MC advise "

several letters have been sent to you by Marlin asking you to contact them in relation to the above debt, and they are disappointed that you have not responded.

The matter has now been passed to us, as our client is now considering serving a statutory demand on you in respeccct of the above debt.

If a statutory demand is served on you, and you fail to make payment in full or alternatively put in place reasonable arrangements to settle the debt,

within 21 days of service we are instructed to file a bankruptcy petition against you at the court in your area.

 

The consequences of bankruptcy would be that the Official Receiver and possibly a trustee in your bankruptcy,

takes control of your property and assets in order to sell them to pay your creditors. T

his can include taking your car, household items, bank savings and otehr financial assets and other items not essential to basic living,

 

Being made bankrupt could also result in you having difficulty in obtaining credit and your credit providers may withdraw your current facilities." blah blah blah

 

So

- clearly they are being aggressive.

 

Exactly as many people here have been saying they are.

 

Is it possible for them to act this way and to serve a demand ?

 

Even if they have NOT ONCE even shown what debt they are pursuing ???

 

I have a signature for the CCA request and have had no reply.

 

Is this a tactic - that they just ignore and push and let you argue these points after they have served ?

 

Or is it worth letting them serve Notice anyway

 

- so I can then respond with the CPR 31.14 template letters ???

 

I am sure others will be in same situation now. So any advice here that can be shared - is very welcome.

Cheers x

[dx100uk]

IMHO its willy waving.

 

MC are the inhouse fake/tame solicitor

 

just the bloke at the next desk in a diff skirt.

 

 

dx

[ken100464]

HP Mum

 

Am following your thread with interest. Marlin as you say aggressive and this is exactly where I suggested people would end up if they didnt give them respect and forget what has gone before. Sadly you seem to be the first although another poster has been sent your letter before this one but with another solicitor. It saddens me as you seemed well aware tweaking these guys isnt a game.

 

If it was me and I aint legally trained so take this how you want. I would be getting a letter off pronto to Marlin referring to the non compliance of the CCA request and the dispute that now raises. Tell them to call off the hound dogs MCL while the dispute is ongoing. Pop in a copy of the proof they signed for it. Did they cash your PO? Also ask for proof that they are legally entitled to chase this debt. Not a template a bespoke letter from you detailing all the disputes you have.

 

If they havnt cashed your PO then I would get another CCA request sent off and again signed for. I would even do these letters seperate so if it came to court you could if they get them all signed for show a company that is being choosy in what it replies to.

 

Like I said your choice but for me they have wrested control from you and you need to be proactive to get it back. Bombard them with CCA requests each referring them to the previous one. You have 21 days to push them back into normal collections like everyone else who is waiting for CCA requests. Some will be lucky and get nothing some will am sure get pretty good recons like we did.

 

Marlin for whatever reason have selected your account to go for. The pressure is increasing hoping for the client to crack as many will have already. You need to get unselected.

 

Good luck.

[slick132]

Hi HPMum,

 

We are still in the learning stage about how Marlin and their solicitors (there are more than one that they're using) are dealing with these BC, ex-Egg accounts.

 

The way they're dealing with your case here suggests to me that they are simply using a templated system to deal with the hundreds, maybe thousands, of such accounts.

 

All you need do is send a letter to Mortimer Clarke saying:-

 

In the absence of a response from Marlin to your CCA request of xxdate, you should make no further demands regarding this account.

 

Any further contact from you will be reported to The OFT and the FOS.

 

It's time folk started reporting the aggressive nature of Marlin and their "legal" friends. Although The OFT will not intervene in your personal case, they will stack up the complaints and take notice if there enough. It could lead to a review of Marlin's credit license.

 

We'll also keep an eye on the action of the solicitors acting on Marlin's behalf. It may lead to complaints to the SRA if the sol'rs are:-

 

1. Acting blindly on instructions from Marlins.

 

2. Failing to check that they or Marlin have the documents to pursue the debts.

 

3. Failing to take account of CCA requests and demanding payments regardless.

 

4. Acting wrongly in any other ways.

 

Edited April 17, 2013 by slick132

[BEC01]

I called one of the law firms they are using. I think I mIght have got the office junior. They couldn't see anything on their system, but were expecting a bulk of accounts.

 

My question is what can we do about this intimidating action?

 

Are there any guidelines in term of the severity and timing of these threats?

 

I'm sure it will be having an effect on people's wellbeing, what are the consequences of this?

 

HpMum, a good bit of advice I have received on here is to SAR Canada Square. I haven't received mine yet, but having reviewed old paperwork, there are a lot of things that don't appear to add up.

 

The more I look into this, the more I think they know they have a limited time before they are successfully challenged, hence this very aggressive behaviour.

 

All we can do is take the excellent advice on here and take a diligent approach.

 

That is what I am doing. If they take me to court, then I will defend, and probably in a way they have not foreseen.

[slick132]

I should have said above, if Marlin act wrongly in any way, a complaint should be made to the FOS.

 

Also, we'll keep an eye on the solicitors working for Marlin, in case a complaint can be made to the SRA about their actions.

[BEC01]

I should have said above, if Marlin act wrongly in any way, a complaint should be made to the FOS.

 

Also, we'll keep an eye on the solicitors working for Marlin, in case a complaint can be made to the SRA about their actions.

 

Hello Slick, what sort of things would constitute acting wrongly?

Would an example be sharing data with a 3rd party?