Rossendales DCA chasing old legal aid 'debt' **WON!! revolked/cancelled**

[Dandilion112]

It says

 

'Proud to be professionals''

 

www .rossendales .com

[dx100uk]

they are acting as debt collectors

not bailiffs so have no legal powers in this instance

 

http://www.credittoday.co.uk/article/8405/online-news/rossendales-confirmed-for-lsc-contract

 

dx

[Dandilion112]

Should I ignore the letter??

What are the chances they will apply to the court for one of actions to be taken that's stated on the list and or turn up at my door requesting payment?

Do you think I should contact legal aid to see why I owe this?

 

Many thanks for your advice.

[dx100uk]

http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/59506.article

 

just remember that Rossendaleswill have acquired the figures from the land registry and experian credit agency!!

so are #making up' that you owe something.

 

you get lots of scary letters too.

 

contact legal aid

 

ask them to send you a breakdown of how THEY have calculated the CCO.

 

they'll say that rossers did it

 

tell them its WRONG for 2009 property value.

 

just be wary they CAN take it from the joint figure.

 

you also need to CAREFULLY seek to contact that solicitor

[Dandilion112]

I telephoned legal aid this morning who said thy were unable to give me any facts/figures or a breakdown as the file had been passed to Rossendales.

 

I telephoned the solicitors/the solicitor who dealt with my case has since left the firm

but they said legal aid were catching up on things and clawing back funds

and that I should speak with legal aid. Legal aid say that can't help and to get the info from Rossendales.

 

Not sure what do do next.

 

Does the contribution go on the date you applied for legal aid?

 

We made a payment of £2134.60 surely this was based on the assessment of our earnings/equity at the time of application,

to come back 3 years on and ask for more surely can't be right??

[dx100uk]

exactly

just remember rossers will say anything to get them to pay them DONT ...EVER.

 

talk to legal aid directly only

 

dx

[Dandilion112]

Took the morning off work to go to citizens advice,

they said write to rossers asking then to suspend further action whilst matter is resolved and to ask them for clarification of how the amount was decided and to put in the letter,

 

If they are not prepared to review their assessment we would like to make an offer of a monthly payment (I'm not keen with going straight in saying ok we will give you the £32406)

 

Would you advise me to write to legal aid asking them to suspend further action and for clarification on why we owe an additional payment and a breakdown of how the figure was reached/ should I copy this to rossers??

 

Many thanks for your continued help.

[dx100uk]

I would sidestep rossers and write to the legal aid people outlining your complaint and 'confusion'

 

just remember in this instance

rosser a purely a no powers DCA

 

dx

[Dandilion112]

Do I need to quote anything from a legal point of view or should I just keep it very simple?

[renegadeimp]

CAB are just playing it safe. For some reason they prefer you to start paying without questioning the validity of the debt.

[Dandilion112]

I've managed to find the details of a local estate agents valuation done on our home in April 2010, Ive requested a copy of the mortgage statement from 2010.

 

If this does show that I have anything more than £30,000 equity in the house does that mean I have to pay up regardless of the time that has elapsed? Do I take an amount off the equity to account for estate agents fees/solicitors fees as this would come out of the equity in theory.

 

Am really worried about ignoring Rossendales as am concerned that once the end of April comes they will apply to court for a piece of paper and end up at my door looking to take goods.

 

If I write to legal aid and not Rossendales can they instruct Rossendales to wait until we gather facts. If we owe it seems very unfair that they are asking for it over 2 years on/we haven't gone anywhere so could have asked 2 years ago when they asked for the £2000. Do you think they will let us pay it in small monthly payments.

[dx100uk]

as said before.....in this instance the rossers are acting as a dca they have no powers

 

if it goes to court you'd have ample chance to defend

 

but that's for LA to do not rossers.

they do not own the debt.

 

only the oc can do court.

 

.....

 

if the proof does come about that you did have EQ left

 

then yes you'd prob have to pay

but they'd give you time

 

 

dx

[Dandilion112]

I've have a couple of questions and wondered if anyone knows the answers.

 

Is there a time limit following the end of the court case you can be asked for capital contributions- I've read 6 months but not sure if that's correct. Over 2 years since end of cases seems a particularly long time to wait to be in touch.

 

Are you 'allowed' to take a percentage off the equity as in theory if you were to sell you would use equity to cover solicitors fees/estate agent fees.

 

is the equity/value of home assessed on date of application or the date rossendales sent the letter ? (I've requested a copy of the legal aid form as can't remember exact date we submitted it) Rossendales said it was based on a recent evaluation of the property.

 

Surely we were assessed for legal aid when we applied and were accepted and the contribution amount was decided based in our earnings/house. We paid the £2145.00 as requested.

 

Many thanks for any advice.

[dx100uk]

there is no time limit sadly AFAIK.

 

no

 

date you applied for LA

 

correct

[Dandilion112]

Thank you, I had been reading about something called mortgage disregard on citizens advice website and it said you can deduct 3% from market value of your home for sales costs... Wondering if this is out of date/incorrect.

 

Also have read about receiving the order more than 21 days after the end or proceedings denies the right to appeal??

[Dandilion112]

On 1st April 2014,

I wrote to Legal Aid asking for a full breakdown of what I owed and why.

 

I today received a letter from Rossendales stating that my letter had been passed to them to clarify matters for me.

 

Whilst the property value they state in the letter is probably correct for the time when I applied for legal aid,

the mortgage amount is incorrect and this is what I owe now rather than what I did back in 2010.

 

It doesn't state the date the application for legal aid was made

- so I cannot work out exactly what was owed on the mortgage at the point of application.

 

I telephoned legal aid and they were unable to give me this information

as said they no longer had any of my file,

 

Rossendales were also unable to tell me.

 

I telephoned the court last week and am hoping a copy of my application is with me shortly.

 

The citizens advice website states that 3% of the value of the property should be deducted (to allow for selling fees)

Rossendales have said as they aren't asking us to sell we cannot deduct the 3% and citizens advice are incorrect and do not make the laws

 

Rossendales letter also mentions about a payment plan

but are wanting a full breakdown of household income and expenditure.

 

When we paid them before for the income contribution order we had to pay a debit card payment charge with each payment.

 

Back in 2010 we were told by Rossendales that they wouldn't take into account any money spent on water/gas/elec.

 

The only outgoings they 'allowed' were mortgage/council tax and childcare costs hence the monthly payments were very high.

 

When I questioned about heating and food they said to put a coat on and eat at family members houses.

 

As this was back in 2010 and income contribution order rather than a capital one

I'm hoping that the allowed expenditure will cover more than the mortgage and council tax this time.

 

Many thanks for any help or advice.

 

 

[dx100uk]

clever letter

 

they say enforcement cost ,

but that will be their charges

 

I am not aware of any DCA being able to take a LA case to court themselves

 

LA would need to do it.

 

as they own the debt

 

its also interesting they make no ref to being a DCA or bailiffs in their letters?

 

bit misleading me thinks

 

dx

[Dandilion112]

What should I do?

 

Am I liable for it? Don't want LA taking me to court for it

 

Should I do an I&E and make them an offer?

 

The mortgage amount is incorrect for the date of application, on my calculations it only reduces the amount we have to pay by £200 but its still better. Shoul I send them proof of this?

[dx100uk]

copy the rossers letter

 

and write back to the LA

 

not rossers pointing out what is wrong.

 

dx

[Dandilion112]

Should I send a copy to rossendales aswell.

 

LA are passing the letters to them anyway.

 

If I have to pay could I pay direct to LA or could they insist I pay rossendales?

[dx100uk]

you pay LA direct.

 

can you not find a head honchos email address and by pass the std LA address?

 

dx

[Dandilion112]

I wrote to Legal Aid last week via recorded delivery ( it's not showing as delivered yet, I guess due to the bank holidays)

 

This evening my wife received a call from Rossendales asking for me,

when she said I wasn't in they said they were calling about the legal aid debt and wanted to talk with someone and would discuss it with her. She said we would prefer to correspond via letter, man from Rossendales said that we couldn't have letters going back and forth.

 

Guess I just wait for a reply from Legal aid?

[dx100uk]

told ya

 

they wanna make a 'deal'.

 

they know you are onto them for trying to spoof you

 

letters ONLY!!

 

dx

[Dandilion112]

Just got a letter from legal aid

 

 

[dx100uk]

well if you agree wit this then negotiate a small monthly payment.

 

if you don't agree wit the calc

 

write back and state why.

 

you DO NOT

have to deal with rossers whatsoever

 

they have NO LEGAL POWERS as they are a DCA in this instance

 

they do not own the debt.

 

dx