If I started a dispute over a credit account.....

[Russe11]

I have started a dispute with a credit company, now I have started this they say they are going to take me to court if i don't pay up etc.

 

are they entitled to do this ?

[Guest]

I have started a dispute with a credit company, now I have started this they say they are going to take me to court if i don't pay up etc.

 

are they entitled to do this ?

 

Can you give us any more background on your query? It's a bit hard to say without knowing why they want to take you to court.

[Russe11]

Sent letters ........no acknowledgement

 

since then a threat to default issued from one company

 

and other have issued a default notice....

 

 

 

I assume this is because they are trying to take control of the situation.

[Guest]

Quite possibly...

 

A tactic I use, and I've noticed an insurance firm using it on me, is a "time delayed acceptance" letter - which contains wording such as:

 

"Unless we hear from you to the contrary within 14 days we shall assume you are in agreement with these terms and proceed accordingly"

 

So when you contact someone like this with a bad record of responding to you, send it recorded so that you can prove that they got it, and include that sort of text within the letter so that you can claim that because they didn't respond they agreed by default.

 

It makes things a lot easier.

[BankFodder]

Sorry - but it doesn't work like that. A contractually binding agreement to any ofer or proposal must take the form of a positive indication that you accept all of the terms of the offer.

 

Silence cannot be an acceptance and nor will any situation which merely defaults to an acceptance.

You can't even agree between you that "if we don't hear each other within xx days then we've got a deal."

 

If you really do receive letters which say "... if we don't hear from you then we'll assume your acceptance ...." Then just file it and don't worry.

[gothicf0rm]

my bank actually tried to time acceptance letter in their only letter to me, i mentioned in the reply that there was nothing legally binding to any such paragraph and they should learn some law.

russell what i did with my credit card company was simply tell them that i wouldnt pay a penny in until they adjusted the balance to mirror their fees and they were welcome to take me to court. i would contest the sum owed in court by citing the penalty costs and the interest they had charged on top of them.

the advantage of this is the bank if it wants to try and get your money CANNOT go to court because it means their justification of the charges are opened up because you are contesting the precise amount you owe them.

when we sue our banks they owe us money so we have to do the action, but with a credit card company they have to sue you.

within six hours of telling the person on the phone i wouldnt pay another penny i got a call from a lawyer who at first threatened me with all sorts of stupid shit, i told the lawyer he had no legal remedies such as he described and he was breaking the law by making threats that were not legally valid and was harasssing me, should they take me to court i would enter these too and complain to trading standards.

then he started offering me money, 250, 450, and so on until it went up to what i wanted which was 975. every time the offer was not suitable i simply quoted a legal judgement on contract law at him.

once he'd done that i said "well what about the interest youve charged on my fees!" they agreed to make the entire remaining balance interest free forever and close the account converting it into an interest free loan. no negative mark on my credit record either.

this is whats really funny though, they didnt send me anything except a direct debit agreement for the loan and a contract to sign for it which i have. i checked and nowhere is there a mention i wouldnt sue them for more money so now the balance outstanding is ring fenced with a loans contract and they cant threaten me with anything ive made a data protection act request.

ill be working out all the interest they charged me on the fees and then chasing that money in the small claims court. stupid them.

[BankFodder]

my bank actually tried to time acceptance letter in their only letter to me, i mentioned in the reply that there was nothing legally binding to any such paragraph and they should learn some law.

 

You don't want them to start learning any law. We might have to take them a bit more seriously then.

 

-

[gothicf0rm]

oh but its so funny listening to one of their lawyers spluttering down the phone in surprise that one of their customers has an idea about it. dave thought i was a lawyer with the first post i made on the mailing list. i found it all out by accident whilst drafting with my solicitor the contract for company dealing with late payment by clients.

[Russe11]

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