Cabot and Citi Card debt

[alanfromderby]

It is important to stress that many DCA's will threaten actions in the knowledge that merely the threat will get results. They will use key phrases and words that are intended to frighten, such as; court action, attachment of earnings, bailiffs.

 

In the circumstances where they have sent a blank agreement, I would write to them saying that they have failed to provide a properly signed agreement, and that they are now in default. If they take any enforcement action before providing a signed agreement then you will contact Trading Standards. No further correspondence will be entered into on this matter unless the original paperwork is provided.

[ecobabe]

thanks for that alanfrom derby. i will write to them, out of interest is the consumer credit regulations stuff a load of baloney?

[alanfromderby]

The CCR cannot override the CCA - they are just trying it on.

[ecobabe]

phew, thanks for that alan. i will now write to them and advise them that they are wrong and am taking letter to trading standards(?). will also ask them why they are responding to request for CCA when i never wrote to them or had any knowledge of them and why was i not informed that they were managing my account. thanks again

[ecobabe]

hi, just had another thought (and it's getting lonely!). This debt was originally with JD Williams, and I have discovered that First Credit Ltd are at the same address. I have had contact from JD Williams, Connaught Collections, Robinson, Way & Co, Debt Help Services and on looking up JD Williams i discoverd they have exact same address as First Credit. So I sent CCA requests to all 4 of them (put JD Williams/First Credit on address of 1st one). 2 of them responded immediately saying they had handed debt back to First credit. Then out of blue came this letter from Reliable collections(never heard of them before) saying all that crap about the consumer credit regulations and also saying that debt had been passed to outside agency, First Credit and all future correspondence should be with them.....confused or what!!!!! I have now done a CCA request and sent it to Reliable and one to First Credit, even though JD Williams one was addressed to First Credit as well. Are they deliberately being obtuse and making this increadibly confusing? and how can i make sense of this?

[alanfromderby]

Don't get sidetracked. If a company chases you then request the information, and if it is faulty deal with that. If you try to follow the debt back to the original creditor yourself you will just end up going round in circles.

[nearlyoldwoman]

so sorry for barging in this forum, have had something posted in general but no replies and am getting stressed. i'll try an be very brief, DCA called scott and co, claiming council tax, i've been paying it back and forth when i can, when i've been working etc, is a joint debt but as the ex has moved to englad scott and co say they cant enforce their scottish law on him! nice eh, i'm thinking of moving! anyway, they did an earnings arrestment, which suited me actually as i never noticed i was paying it, but as my work is seasonal if stops for a few months every year, so it stopped in jan, so their payments stopped, they phoned and i agreed to pay £6.00 per fortnight!! wow! well i wasn;t earning anything and not entitled to benefits, didn;t pay owt, then i get a letter last sat saying they've issued a funds arrestment and i might not have access to my bank account!! totally out of the blue, no reminders etc, been a bit frantic, then i got out letter to re read it and noticed it says to contact them to prevent further action blah blah, i only contact them by email as i refuse to sit on the end of a phone all day, not getting anywhere with them, dont know if its been executed or not, dont know much really, thought they have to send a default notice first? not sure...can some clued up expert please give me some advice? all i get from them via email is that i'm to wait for my bank to send me a mandate? any help will be sooo much appreciated. thankyou

[chrismc]

so sorry for barging in this forum, have had something posted in general but no replies and am getting stressed. i'll try an be very brief, DCA called scott and co, claiming council tax, i've been paying it back and forth when i can, when i've been working etc, is a joint debt but as the ex has moved to englad scott and co say they cant enforce their scottish law on him! nice eh, i'm thinking of moving! anyway, they did an earnings arrestment, which suited me actually as i never noticed i was paying it, but as my work is seasonal if stops for a few months every year, so it stopped in jan, so their payments stopped, they phoned and i agreed to pay £6.00 per fortnight!! wow! well i wasn;t earning anything and not entitled to benefits, didn;t pay owt, then i get a letter last sat saying they've issued a funds arrestment and i might not have access to my bank account!! totally out of the blue, no reminders etc, been a bit frantic, then i got out letter to re read it and noticed it says to contact them to prevent further action blah blah, i only contact them by email as i refuse to sit on the end of a phone all day, not getting anywhere with them, dont know if its been executed or not, dont know much really, thought they have to send a default notice first? not sure...can some clued up expert please give me some advice? all i get from them via email is that i'm to wait for my bank to send me a mandate? any help will be sooo much appreciated. thankyou

Marciag

 

I think this is one of those situations where emails don't work, unless they reply with exact answers to your questions how do you know what is happening behind the scenes, things could be getting worse because they think you are ingoring them??

 

In your position I would call them immediatley and get the exact position off them, once you have done that report back here and we can advise you accordingly, but without all the facts it is hard to give proper advice.

 

Also read my thread it has a lot of relevant info on Council Tax and Bailiffs etc HERE

another thread worth reading is Bailiffs and Sherrifs

 

 

Chris

[nearlyoldwoman]

thanks for that, i'll phone em today, just takes so long to get through, always at least 15/20 mins i'm sure they do it on purpose! i'll report back with their info. ta for quick response

[ecobabe]

okay, next instalment of the farce. (from above postings) received a letter from 1st credit (i believe the original creditors). In it was a with compliments slip with "as requested" written on it, in response to CCA request. The letter was a computer printout about 12 lines in total. stating my name and address with "legal report-creditsolve-live. PreSue"" at top of page. it has the total they say i owe £200 and have taken the £1 postal orders off as payments. should i reply to this?

[alanfromderby]

okay, next instalment of the farce. (from above postings) received a letter from 1st credit (i believe the original creditors). In it was a with compliments slip with "as requested" written on it, in response to CCA request. The letter was a computer printout about 12 lines in total. stating my name and address with "legal report-creditsolve-live. PreSue"" at top of page. it has the total they say i owe £200 and have taken the £1 postal orders off as payments. should i reply to this?

 

If that is all they have sent you then that is not what you asked for. I would not bother replying at this stage. However, should they send a letter demanding payment, then would be the time to state that they have failed to provide a copy of the original agreement and therefore you do not acknowledge that this money is owed. Any further attempts to enforce this debt will result in a complaint to Trading Standards.

[Seminole]

If that is all they have sent you then that is not what you asked for. I would not bother replying at this stage. However, should they send a letter demanding payment, then would be the time to state that they have failed to provide a copy of the original agreement and therefore you do not acknowledge that this money is owed. Any further attempts to enforce this debt will result in a complaint to Trading Standards.

 

Except that if they've treated the £1 as a payment towards the debt it restarts the clock for Limitation Act purposes. They may not be a problem right now but if the matter remains unresolved and the debt is sold on ecobabe may have the devil's own job in arguing that the payment was a misapplied CCA request. This is a favourite and particularly nauseating DCA dirty trick.

[ecobabe]

thanks for that speedy reply. i shall ignore the letter then

[alanfromderby]

The problem that I have found with DCA's is that they will argue with everything. If you sent them a letter saying that "the sky is blue" they will reply with a denial, and a threat that if you dare to suggest that again they will come round and break your legs!

 

Silence often sees your file gradually getting pushed back behind other cases to be forgotten in favour of easier targets - however, you have to be ready to assert your legal position when necessary.

[ecobabe]

just read your post seminole. I will write to them stating that the £1.00 p.o. was the statutory fee for the requested info under the CCA and NOT as a payment towards the disputed account. I sent everything registered post and kept copies and it very clearly states in my CCA request that the £1 is the fee.

[Martyn68]

I actually managed to get a £200 refund from Drakes after I was over-charged for collection on a parking fine. If anyone wants a copy of my correspondence, let me know and I'll post up the contact names and fax numbers I used together with my fax/letters when I am back in the office (where I have everything saved on my work PC) on Monday.

[MARTIN3030]

I sent 2 Dca CCA requests and neither have replied.Reading the other forums this usually gets them backing off......I want to report them but am unsure as to the specific legs anyone know here.......I know the complaint is to the Oft and local trading standards but have been unable to find the non compliance to produce a true copy of agreement bit.

 

[thunderpuss2k]

I sent 2 Dca CCA requests and neither have replied.Reading the other forums this usually gets them backing off......I want to report them but am unsure as to the specific legs anyone know here.......I know the complaint is to the Oft and local trading standards but have been unable to find the non compliance to produce a true copy of agreement bit.

 

Was the CCA request to the owner of the debt? What did you write? If you sent the CCA letter to the DCA and they don't actually own the debt, then it all comes a bit unstuck - and you really need another letter for that.

 

Just written a rather snotty letter to a DCA who now owns a debt from someone else, they've failed to produce any of the info I asked for and are now in breach. Will post it tomorrow when I get a sec..

[elsinore]

We are indebted to malcontent for this

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general/14977-reporting-harassment.html

 

Elsinore

[Donel261]

I have sent the exact same letter above, they cashed the £1 cheque last week, I've heard nothing yet, they can take as long as they like given the circumstances. I bet the caseworker has kicked his or herself for picking up our files, LMAO.

[SaudiMail]

Hi,

 

My son has received a letter from Lowell Financial stating they have bought his debt from the HSBC, and they are demanding he repay the full amount.

 

I sent a Data Protection Letter to them and they returned a signed copy of the original agreement but nothing else.

 

I have read somewhere on the forum that these debt collecting agencies buy the debt for 10-12% of the original debt amount. Been looking for this information but can't find it.

 

Anyway, can my son refuse to pay the £1100 they are asking for and offer to pay the amount they bought the debt for.

 

Also have read that as my son is not party to the contract made when selling the debt that he can do something about it, again been looking on the site but can't find the information.

 

Not sure what steps to take next and would appreciate some advice.

 

Thanks

[alanfromderby]

Anyway, can my son refuse to pay the £1100 they are asking for and offer to pay the amount they bought the debt for.

 

Also have read that as my son is not party to the contract made when selling the debt that he can do something about it, again been looking on the site but can't find the information.

 

Not sure what steps to take next and would appreciate some advice.

 

Thanks

 

Did you send the Consumer Credit Act letter - this asked for a copy of the deed of assignment as well. If you sent a DPA request then that would not be supplied.

 

On the other point, no, it makes no difference how much they paid for it, they are entitled to claim the full amount.

 

However, they will usually settle for a reduced amount in full and final settlement - start at about 10%, and you may find they will settle for somewhere between that and about 50%.

[SaudiMail]

Thanks for that Alan,

 

I did send the Consumer Credit Letter (have pasted copy below to confirm). They did not send a deed of assignment, and I don't know what one is or what it does. Should I write and ask for it? What do I do if I receive/don't receive it?

 

Thanks

 

I do not acknowledge ANY debt to your company. I require you to supply the following documentation before I will correspond further on this matter.

 

1. You must supply me with a true copy of the alleged agreement you refer to. This is my right under your obligation to supply a copy of the agreement under the legislation contained within s.78 (1) Consumer Credit Act 1974 (s.77 (1) for fixed sum credit) - your obligation also extends to providing a statement of account. I enclose a £1 postal order in payment of the statutory fee, PO Serial Number ………………………………..

 

2. A signed true copy of the deed of assignment of the above referenced agreement that you allege exists.

 

3. You are notified that you are obliged to supply these documents, whether you are the original creditor or not under S189 of the CCA 1974.

 

Non-compliance with my request is a criminal offence under the above Act and will result in a report being submitted to the relevant statutory authorities.

 

As you are aware, a credit agreement that is not properly documented and signed by the customer is totally unenforceable under the CCA and therefore is a complete defence to any court claim that is issued.

 

Take note at this stage, that any legal action you may contemplate will be both vigorously defended and contested.

Yours sincerely,

[alanfromderby]

The deed of assignment shows that they have the right to be collecting the debt. It should show the date of assignment, and who it was assigned from. It may be worth contacting trading standards to say that you have requested this, and that they have failed to provide it.

 

Are you aware of any unlawful charges applied to the account before it was sold, if so then you can claim those back from HSBC.

[MARTIN3030]

Was the CCA request to the owner of the debt? What did you write? If you sent the CCA letter to the DCA and they don't actually own the debt, then it all comes a bit unstuck - and you really need another letter for that.

 

Just written a rather snotty letter to a DCA who now owns a debt from someone else, they've failed to produce any of the info I asked for and are now in breach. Will post it tomorrow when I get a sec..

 

No I didnt use any of the temps letters.I basically said on checking my credit files that I had become aware of defaults on my file and they were listed as being the collector.

I asked for a copy of the agreement.

I also said I had not been given a copy of any default notice nor details of the account transfere from bank to them.I quoted the cca legislation and sent them a quid p.o. I reminded them as the accounts were the subject of current dispute any recovery action should be suspended.

I also informed them to confirm it was/was not them who had the default entered and told them I would at a later stage be challenging them as to the legality of entering the dispute.

The 14 days expired on July 5th. I am a little concerned at reading that the OFT and local trading standards are not acting as they should.

I am wondering if it would have been better now to send a S.A,R instead as they would have faced certain wrath for not replying to that !