Stopping Payments to Stepchange and going it "alone"

[blondiegirl]

I finally faced up to my huge debt problem and

went through the CCCS to try and get life back on track.

A repayment plan was made

 

Everything's been great so far, apart from the Halifax who only let you have 6 months before they default you and send to DCA.

So, I have now have defaults (through the Halifax) which I would love to get removed from my credit file.

 

Having sent signed CCA requests to each of the credit card companies,

so far, they've sent agreements just printed out (no signature) or application forms.

They say that they don't have to send true copies with signatures on at all as per the act.

 

My question is, as they don't seem to be able to provide signed ccas, how do I get rid of them?

 

 

Did i just stop paying them?

 

I don't want to take the easy way out,

but life (as I'm sure you all know!) has been so stressful with these people

and if something's been done wrong, it should be put right!

 

Any help would be much appreciated and sorry if this has been done incorrectly but I can't start a new thread

[supasnooper]

Hi there,

 

Welcome to CAG, I'm sure you'll get some great advice here.

 

As you are with CCCS, they will be very stubborn in not letting you pick and choose which creditors you can stop paying.

 

However, you can set up your own repayment plan by using the template letters provided here on CAG.

 

CCCS will provide some templates and the addresses of your creditors if you decide to handle your own DMP.

 

CAG letter templates can be found here - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general-debt-issues/20758-creditors-dcas-letter-templates.html

 

 

 

To start a new thread have a look at post 1 of this thread -

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/welcome-consumer-forums/107001-how-do-i-dummies.html

[blondiegirl]

Please can someone help?

 

After getting into massive debt,

we've paid of a third over about 6 years, a

nd over time, all the credit card companies have sold our debts.

 

I've always been one to think that we should pay off what we owe (£20k so far)

but all the debts have now been sold,

we are absolutely skint,

new 'owners' of the latest credit card sold (by MBNA)

write constantly so say we're in arrears even though they've accepted our lower offers.

 

I tried once before with all the credit card companies to get the original agreements,

some we got,

some we didn't.

 

We didn't get anywhere,

and I don't know where we stand with these new debt collection agencies.

 

One company did offer to all contracts check and see if they were unenforceable but the business ceased to exist.

It's got to breaking point now!!!

 

Can anyone advise please?

 

Have these debt collection agencies, who have presumably bought these old debts, legally make us pay?

 

We've never signed anything with any of them. Thank you :0)

 

Please can someone help?

 

After getting into massive debt, we've paid off a third over about 6 years

 

 

over time, all the credit card companies have sold our debts.

I've always been one to think that we should pay off what we owe (£20k so far)

but all the debts have now been sold, we are absolutely skint, new 'owners' of the latest credit card debts sold (by MBNA)

write constantly so say we're in arrears even though they've accepted our lower offers.

 

I tried once before with all the credit card companies to get the original agreements, some we got, some we didn't.

I wrote to say that we have no knowledge of any agreement etc etc,

but we didn't get anywhere, and I don't know where we stand with these new debt collection agencies.

 

A while ago, one company (Contract Checker) did offer to check all contracts and see if they were unenforceable but the business ceased to exist.

 

 

It's got to breaking point now!!!

Can anyone advise please?

Have these debt collection agencies, who have presumably bought these old debts, the right to legally make us pay?

 

 

We've never signed anything with any of them.

I don't seem to be able to find out what we do

- do we ask for the original signed agreement,

and if it doesn't turn up stop payments??

Thank you :0)

[Old Cogger]

Look:- just start a thread for each credit card by company name, state amount, if you requested a CCA1974 and when |& if you received a response, and when the last payment/acknowledgment took place then any update . that will give an indication of the actual situation?

[blondiegirl]

Hi, thanks for replying.

 

It would take a lot of searching to find, if any, the letters I had from the original cc companies.

 

I think I'd have to request the whole lot again.

 

However, I do know that one or two sent back an agreement, with my signature on,

a lot didn't (10 credit cards companies in all i think).

 

All cc companies agreed reduced payments, we were/are on a debt payment plan following advice from a debt charity, all interest etc held.

 

But slowly over time, the credit card companies have sold the debts and I wondered if the same applied with them

- if they don't have an agreement with us, can we challenge it??

 

I don't want an eay way out, but it's going to take at least another 10/15 years at this rate to pay the debts off,

and I just want a life!! My own fault, I know.

[dx100uk]

HI BG

 

own thread created

 

have you ever looked at your CRA file?

 

see below

 

noddle is free

 

dx

[Old Cogger]

well those you have no paperwork from then maybe send CCA request to, and start again but keep to the different threads for each and see what transpires, but also to give up to date information on each as and when it happens, the peeps can see then if cca!s are enforceable or not, also on each one state last payment etc, if you give details make sure personal details are omitted on this site! is what I suggest, others I am sure will also comment?

[blondiegirl]

OK, thanks

 

 

I'll re-start the process then and see if anyone can help.

 

 

Do I sent the CCA request to the dca or the original cc company??

 

 

DX100uk - I have looked at our credit files before, not pretty reading but it all looks pretty accurate.

 

 

Thanks guys x

 

Urgh! Noodle doesn't work - they can't verify me lol!!!

[dx100uk]

well make SURE they all show

and

if a dca DOESN'T own a debt

 

DONT pay them, pay the OC

 

and dont forget reclaiming.

 

dx

[blondiegirl]

Hi. Urgh! Another letter from DCA who state arrears!!!!!

So I'll start again requesting the CCAs and try and kickstart all this again.

 

3 questions:

 

1. Do I send the CCA letters to the original CC companies, or the 'DCA' companies??

2. How do I know if a debt has been sold?

3. What's 're-claiming'

 

Sorry to sound thick - this is a minefield!! And it's hard to know where to start so thanks in advance for anyone's help :0)

[dx100uk]

blondiegirl said:

Hi. Urgh! Another letter from DCA who state arrears!!!!!

So I'll start again requesting the CCAs and try and kickstart all this again.

 

3 questions:

 

1. Do I send the CCA letters to the original CC companies, or the 'DCA' companies?? - whomever is demanding money from you

2. How do I know if a debt has been sold? - check your CRA file

3. What's 're-claiming' see links below.

 

 

Sorry to sound thick - this is a minefield!! And it's hard to know where to start so thanks in advance for anyone's help :0)

 

reclaiming is getting back ALL the unlawful PENALTY charges [£12 fees for late/over/letter/phone call/failed DD/debt management ... anything the says FEE

 

and PPI,

 

if you cant sign up online:

 

 

citizenB has just replied to a thread you have subscribed to entitled - Help! - Natwest have instructed capquest - large debt - in the Debt Collection Industry forum of The Consumer Forums.

This thread is located at:

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=330724&goto=newpost

Here is the message that has just been posted:

***************

not all the creditors/dcas report to ALL of the CRAs.. so to obtain a full check, you really need to contact the 3 main players.

 

Company Secretary

Equifax Limited

Capital House

25 Chapel Street

London

NW1 5DS

 

 

Company Secretary

CallCredit Limited

1, Park Lane,

LEEDS

West Yorkshire

LS3 1EP

 

Company Secretary

Experian Limited

Talbot House

Talbot Street

Nottingham

NG80 1TH

 

You can either complete the forms online or send a letter (below) with a £2.00 postal order.

 

---Quote---

All of the three Credit reference agencies offer a paper version and they only cost £2

 

Noddle (who are part of CallCredit) off free online credit reports but as they are the smallest of the threee, they may not have all the info

 

Experian paper app.

http://www.experian.co.uk/downloads/consumer/cfa.pdf

 

Call credit

http://www.callcredit.co.uk/media/53...itfile-app.pdf

 

Equifax

http://www.equifax.co.uk/Products/cr..._file_0310.pdf

 

Send with a £2 postal order.

 

You can use Experians online free trial. just make sure you cancel before the trial runs out

 

Address

 

Company Secretary

CallCredit Limited

1, Park Lane,

LEEDS

West Yorkshire

LS3 1EP

 

Dear Sir or Madam,

*Limited Data Subject Access Request

s9(2) The Data Protection Act 1998*

I hereby request a copy of my Statutory Credit Report, served under s9(2) of The Data Protection Act 1998.

I enclose the Statutory Fee of £2 paid via Postal Order, number: 123456.

For the purposes of confirming my identity, I can confirm the following details:

*My full name*:

*My Maiden Name: *

*My Date of Birth*:

*My current Address*:

 

I have lived at the above address for XX years.

 

I note that under s7(3) of the above Act, a data controller is not obliged to comply with a request under this section unless he is supplied with such information as he may reasonably require in order to satisfy himself as to the identity of the person making the request and to locate the information which that person seeks.

However, I feel the above information identifies me sufficiently to discharge your obligations to establish my identity before posting my Credit Report.

I am aware that you have 7 Working Days to post the Credit Report to me, commencing the day after this s9(2) Statutory Request has been delivered to your Company.

*This letter must not be regarded as granting your Company any Data Consent*.

Yours faithfully,

*Enclosures:

*1 x Statutory £2.00 Fee via Postal Order Number: 123456

*Notes*:this letter is being sent via Royal Mail Special Delivery service

---End Quote---

there is also

www.checkmyfile.com

....ends

 

 

 

 

 

 

dx

[blondiegirl]

Hi, this is such a minefield isn't it? I don't know if I have the energy to challenge them all!!

 

One of the DCAs imply that an MBNA debt was sold on to them.

I have asked for confirmation of this.

I can't make the original higher payments that were agreed by MBNA.

 

In the mean time I've had an annual review and the payments have gone down.

 

They say that accept my 'new' offer, but that it will show in arrears because this was the original agreement.

This was on the email, can anyone comment please?:

 

The payment was set by MBNA, based upon, I assume a previous Income and Expenditure form at the point of being 'charged off' which means no further interest is applied to your account but it does mean that this is your 'normal monthly payment'. This can not be amended now as it was sold on this way. It is also less than the 5% normally applied to credit card accounts.

 

And so, we are happy to accept your offer of payment but as it is does not meet your contractual payment the arrears will continue to accrue.

 

We have a legal obligation to reflect accurate data to the Credit Reference Agencies, which also includes arrangements, missed payments and arrears and so your data entry at the credit reference agency will be updated with this information.

 

Quick question:

I remember years ago I asked for records of our bank account where we had been charged so many times £12 here, £12 there

and I, like many others, wrote to them and took out a county court judgment.

 

Then the whole thing was a waste of time because it was ruled that the banks were allowed to do what they did.

 

I was gutted having spent £80 or so through the courts.

I remember getting all our Halifax bank statements,

high-lighting the charges and started legal proceedings to try and claim back hundreds of pounds.

 

How come I can now do this with the banks/credit card companies again?? )

[dx100uk]

it ONLY EVER was in regard to bank accounts - nothing else.

 

there are quite a few successes on bank account charges now using BCOBS.

 

see this thread:

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?353395-Letter-to-send-if-you-are-being-charged-bank-fees-whilst-on-benefits

 

your CRA file will sow you the owner.

 

i think you need to be starting new thread for each debt

rather them all in the same one.

 

dx

[blondiegirl]

Thanks for replying. I am beginning to get stressed again! Is it ever worth it?? I will first try and get the original CCAs and post from there.

 

Hi,

We managed, stupidly, to get ourselves into £60k's worth of cc debt.

 

Bad habits, using the whole of our salaries just to make minimum payments on all of our cards, using the CCs to live.

 

One day I realised how much debt we were in (the £60K), and how much interest we were paying.

 

After contacting the CCCS, we were put onto a plan, and have so far, paid off 1/3.

 

However, our financial situation has changed (less money),

we have children now and we're living like paupers.

We were defaulted on some (probably all) the cards, but we have no CCJs.

 

We can't even think of moving house, or take out a loan, we're broke, living in 2nd hand clothes and have only been out 4 times in a year.

Yes I know this is our fault, it's our horrible secret :0( nobody knows about it, and I've always been one to believe that we should deal with

- we accrued the debt and we should pay it off. But enough is enough and I cry myself to sleep thinking about our pathetic 'life'.

 

I wanted to ask whether there is any point pursuing a legal route with all the CCCs or DCAs??

 

I have requested signed agreements, SAR etc in the past but never knew what to do with them.

 

Is there chance that any of my balances could ever get written off??

 

I cannot stand the thought of another 15/20 years of this crap and having zero money.

 

I know this is my/our fault but it's crunch time.

 

I have to do SOMETHING! Thanks in advance to anyone replying x

[havinastella]

Hi BG,

 

You need to break each CC/loan down into who you owe the money too. So example Capital One. Lloyds, etc etc. Get a binder for each debt you owe as there will be lots of paperwork for each debt.

 

You can then send the CCA request for each card/loan and if need be, the SAR request. This will show any PPI or late payment charges. This will also show what agreement and whether it's enforceable.

 

In the meantime, you can look in the library for letters to stop the interest.

[dx100uk]

YES VERY WORTH IT

 

could save you LOTS of money

 

dx

[blondiegirl]

YES VERY WORTH IT

 

could save you LOTS of money

 

dx

 

Am I being realistic in thinking that I might be able to get rid of some of this debt?? I will tackle the £12 default/fee etc charges which I know were applied which might bring some balances down, but looking at what we owe, it's going to take 20 odd years to re-pay. I don't want to go down the IVA/bankrupt route because we have a house/mortgage & we could lose the equity, but if there was a chance some could go it'd be a weight off my mind! Thanks so much for your advice

 

Hi BG,

 

You need to break each CC/loan down into who you owe the money too. So example Capital One. Lloyds, etc etc. Get a binder for each debt you owe as there will be lots of paperwork for each debt.

 

You can then send the CCA request for each card/loan and if need be, the SAR request. This will show any PPI or late payment charges. This will also show what agreement and whether it's enforceable.

 

In the meantime, you can look in the library for letters to stop the interest.

 

Hi, thanks for your reply. We're on a DMP so no interest.

 

 

But I know that before all the debts went to DCAs we had a lot of fees/default charges so I'd like to try & get some of that back.

 

 

Will I be able to find out how many fees were added & when through a SAR?

 

 

Please can you explain about it being enforceable?

 

 

Is this through requesting a CCA??

 

 

Thank you

[Boltmaker]

First of all stop panicking there is always someone here to help and guide you.

 

£60K of debt is a lot of money, but others of us have or have had massive amounts of debts to deal with also.

 

As for DCA's I have found that most of those I have had to deal with do not own the debts they are chasing,

they are just trying to collect on behalf of the original creditor.

 

I have written back to most of the low lifes that they are saying I do not deal with DCA's and will only deal with the original creditor.

 

Any further correspondence from them gets returned to them as NOT KNOWN at this address.

 

Deal with each original creditor firstly asking for a True and SIGNED copy of the agreement and see what you get. Use letters from this site.

[dx100uk]

no bother

 

it might seem daunting, bit its not

 

just have a wee browse around

 

if you like

 

type sometime like Baclaycard success

 

or those words in to our search top right

 

you#'ll get the idea

 

we are here to help every step of the way.

 

dx

[blondiegirl]

I guess it's the stress that makes it daunting & the stress of no money & no way of accessing any! I will type in success - would be nice to think there could be some for us

 

Hi, thanks for your reply.

 

I'll try not to panic! It's 'nice' to know that there are people in the same boat.

 

We are on a DMP through the CCCS and the debts have been automatically transferred to the DCAs by the CCCS (regardless of who owns the debt).

 

I only ever get statements from some of the CCCs/DCAs which I believe they're meant to do.

 

The debt is slowing coming down, and we can make monthly payments, but as our financial situation has changed greatly from when we first started the plan,

I can't see us getting out of this situation for 15/20 years which is a thought I cannot stomach.

 

I really want to do something about it.

 

I can't really tell the DCAs that I won't deal with them can I?

 

I don't really have anything to do with them.

 

I am hoping that if I start requesting the signed copies of the agreements (as you say the true and signed copy) I can see if any are unenforceable.

Does that make sense?

I have used letters from this site before, got some agreements, didn't get others and went round in lots of circles so I gave up! :0)

[dx100uk]

CCCS or stepchange or whatever they call themselves will not tolerate any 'one' debt being removed

from the whole plan

 

its prob better to dump them & do the DMP yourself.

 

you are also incorrect in saying CCCS automatically transfer debts to dca's

they don't.

 

IMHO you need to start getting data as stella says together.

 

get your CRA file also

 

and match your debts against that

any debts that dont show

 

you need to SERIOUSLY investigate WHY you are paying them.

 

dx

[blondiegirl]

Hi, thanks do replying.

 

When I say the CCCS automatically transfer the debts,

i mean that they update their records with me doing nothing.

 

Their records show the DCAs who are either collecting (in my case on behalf of Halifax) or firms who appear to have bought the debts.

 

I did look at my CRA file last night; so I know where I've been defaulted (all effin Halifax) & where they've been sold. The amounts look right.

 

What do you mean that I need to investigate why I'm paying them?

 

Do you mean why am I paying all the companies through the CCCS?

 

I guess because they dealt with this horrible mess in the beginning and it's been easier to just go along with it.

 

[dx100uk]

i said why are you paying so much on non priority debts?

 

there is no need to pay any of your creditors that amount.

 

as with all your debts.

 

write out a list with columns

 

who was the original creditor

who owns the debt now from your cra file

does it even show on your CRA file?

are there any penalty charges ?

is there any PPI ?

[you might have to SAR each original creditor for the last two]

 

if a DCA is shown as the owner of a debt - you need to CCA them.

 

in the meantime i'd write to CCCS and cancel the DMP.

 

as if you find you want to remove a debt or reduce its payment or reclaim

CCS will not allow that whilst in their plan.

 

like most of these DMP companies

in the early days

they did little to actually CHECK the debt out with regard to legal assignment or reclaiming.

they just took all the debts, and advised pro-rate payments.

 

when did you start the DMP?

 

dx

[blondiegirl]

Hi,

we started the DMP 6 years ago when we simply couldn't make the monthly payments.

 

CCCS seemed an easy option & we could afford 1 monthly sum, and in turn the stressful letters stopped. We could then see the debt coming down.

 

I tried to CCA everyone a few years ago having discovered this site,

but then 2 kids came along and I haven't had the time until recently MBNA sold our debts with them.

 

If I cancel the DMP I'm so scared that the letters will start, and our debt won't be going down at all. I didn't think that £200 was that much.

 

Of the ones I owe, 3 are still owned by Halifax, the rest are DCAd so I will CCA them.

 

What would happen if I cancel the DMP?

 

How can we clear the debt if we stop paying and won't this take longer to improve our (horrendous) credit score?

 

Thanks so much

[dx100uk]

ok your CRA file and your future....

 

all debts that have been defaulted, will be removed from your CRA file on the defaults 6th birthday, regardless to if you are paying them or not.

 

it concerns me that original creditors have sold debts on

that usually means something is up with them.

 

your debts must soon be coming to defaults 6th birthdays if you've been with CCCS 6yrs+

 

dx