The Lewis Group & vanquis card 'debt'

[flynnsmum123]

If i offer to pay them £1 week/month do they legally have to accept it?

 

im a single mum of 2 kids under 3 and on benefits,so money is tight.

 

initially they hounded me for about £53ish a month i agreed to shut them up and managed 1 payment and then realized how short it would leave me every month.

[dx100uk]

tell us the full story

 

lewis are a dca they have NO legal powers to demand any money from you.

 

dx

[flynnsmum123]

i had a vanquis card april last year,with a £200 limit (i think)

maxed it out and

from what i was away from the info on their website minimum payment was 5% of the balance or £5 if it was under a certain amount.

 

on the premise of having a £200 bill and 5% of that works out around £10 but it started showing on my account they wanted 50 odds a month minimum payment.

 

i had phoned (i know now i shouldnt have phoned) to ask where they were getting this figure from

and every time they just kept saying something about it running over from the previous month.

 

i gave up trying to contact them and buried my head in the sand for a few months,

i had ended up ill and had really bad anxiety from being ill. (i had a close call with swine flu back in 2009 and ever since anxiety of being ill has consumed me) so i dealt with that.

 

i then had a letter from the lewis group saying they were in charge of the debt now and get in touch with them.

 

the agent i spoke to said they would accept the £53ish per month which i could not agree to at the second without going away and seriously thinking about it.

 

was getting 2-3 phonecalls a day on my landline and on my mobile and 1-2 letters per week

 

so i just gave up and agreed to it simply because i couldnt be bothered with them harassing me anymore.

 

i managed the first months payment and was left pretty short for gas&electric and groceries.

 

heard nothing from them til this morning saying that their client had instructed them to offer me a significant discount instead of paying 364 i could pay it off for£182.

 

i wish i could afford it but they way things are i cant.

 

i just want them off my back until i am in a better position to pay a little more so i thought the £1 would do this.

 

i want it paid off cause im trying to rebuild my credit report

,i would like a mortgage one day,

or if i finally decide to learn to drive id like to be able to get finance for a car.

 

after reading to many horror stories about dca's on here i didnt want to contact them without double checking things

[dx100uk]

something wrong here

 

they are offering a discount

 

prob loads of unlawful PENALTY charges

or

PPI

 

to reclaim.

 

if you've not got all the statements

 

then you need to SAR vanquis

 

and get relaiming

 

as for paying 'something'

 

if vanquis are still shown as the owner of the debt on your cra file

 

then just pay £1 by your internet banking portal

 

no need to bother with the dca at all. ignore them

 

and stay off that phone!!!

 

 

dx

[flynnsmum123]

i know there are some dodgy charges on it just not sure how many,i tried to log in to my online account to see if i could get an idea of what they were but i cant remember any of the details.

 

is it just a £10 postal order i stick in the with SAR request?

 

i never even thought about PPI as i didnt think i could claim cause it was with a DCA.

 

silly question,can i send a handwritten SAR or would it have to be typed up? my printer packed up a while ago and our local library is closed for months to get refurbished into some sort of community hub so cant even go there.

[dx100uk]

neighbour relative?

 

better to print it

 

yep just a £10 PO

 

dx

[flynnsmum123]

No. 1 Godwin Street, Bradford, West Yorkshire BD1 2SU

[flynnsmum123]

also,i cant find any original letters or anything from vanquis with my account number on it any idea where i would find it or would it be on the DCA letter?

[dx100uk]

you dont need any account numbers for an sar.

 

that address is ok

 

 

dx

[flynnsmum123]

oh good was worrying there.

 

hopefully get it posted off tomorrow but at the rate the rain in coming at i will need a dngy to get to the post office

[flynnsmum123]

Sent off today,first class recorded delivery.

 

Eager to know what the statements etc say,finally maybe get an explanation where the £50 minimum payment came from.

 

Should i send an account in dispute letter to the dca?

 

At least i dont have to worry about their fake baliffs coming to my door.

[dx100uk]

they'll come anyhow i bet.

 

i wouldn't send anything to the DCA

 

a SAR cannot put an A/C into disput sadly.

 

dx

[flynnsmum123]

I live in Scotland so they can't come.welcome to try though I have loads of pent up steam to let off.

[renegadeimp]

http://www.cccs.co.uk/InfoCentre/Scotland/Creditoraction/Debtcollectionagencies/Homevisits.aspx

[dx100uk]

dont you believe it

 

they'll farm it out to one of the locals

 

just remember, film them and get them to identify themselves

 

then its gameover as they know they should not be doorstepping in scotland

 

you'll get what my mrs got.

 

2 doorcalls, would not id themselves

just wanted money.

 

it was not until i pulled an old string from my ex works

and got the owner of the cars reg number i found out who it was.

 

had parked 3 streets away on a main road superstores carark

 

looked funny with me walking down the road filming him!

 

dx

[renegadeimp]

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?194103-Doorstep-Collections-in-Scotland]

 

Why cant we have laws like that in the rest of the UK :/

[flynnsmum123]

dont you believe it

 

they'll farm it out to one of the locals

 

just remember, film them and get them to identify themselves

 

then its gameover as they know they should not be doorstepping in scotland

 

you'll get what my mrs got.

 

2 doorcalls, would not id themselves

just wanted money.

 

it was not until i pulled an old string from my ex works

and got the owner of the cars reg number i found out who it was.

 

had parked 3 streets away on a main road superstores carark

 

looked funny with me walking down the road filming him!

 

dx

 

Anyone could turn up at ur door and demand money so if they won't id themselves how do they expect to get anywhere.

 

I'm half expecting someone to turn up for the people that used to live here,got fed up returning to sender to about 20 different company's a week so I just ignore them now.

[dx100uk]

just to clarify something, that know you know

but others might not......

 

wherever you are NEVER EVER pay ANYONE money on your doorstep

 

regardless to WHOMEVER they are.

 

EVEN A REAL BAILIFF with a warrant or LO.

 

...end off!!!

 

 

dx

[flynnsmum123]

SAR arrived today,loads of interest and late fees i'll list what they show up as

 

default fee plan interest

unpaid item charge

default fee interest

 

adds up to 138.71

 

there are also cash interest and purchase interest (these continue to show after i haven't used the card?) can i claim these?

 

what can i claim back and how do i go about it?

 

Oh and should my cca agreement have been in the SAR?

Edited August 2, 2012 by flynnsmum123

[flynnsmum123]

..

1.PDF

[dx100uk]

default fees [£12] ones only

 

dx

[flynnsmum123]

How do I go about claiming them back? I know it's not much but I could use the extra cash

[dx100uk]

below link 3

 

dx

[flynnsmum123]

just went to do my claim online and it will only accept england and wales postcodes?

[Jam_Buttie]

Bridgend - been playing bingo? Lol ;-P