Debt written off due to Carers Allowance?

[davey77]

Link Financial: As suspected this morning another letter from Link Financial exactly the same as the one above but for the other account.

 

Debt Managers Ltd (Barclays) We have requested a copy of the signed agreement from our client and will revert to you once this is to hand.

Also from Debt Managers:

 

Dear Mr x,

 

YOU CALL MAY BE RECORDED FOR TRAINING PURPOSES

 

Account Due To: Masterloan

 

Our Reference: ********

 

Amount Due: £5188.16

 

Client Reference: **********

 

Settlement Opportunity - up to 25%(discount available)[/

CENTER]

 

Your overdue account has been identified as qualifyinf for a discount.

We hav negotiated a range of special settlement terms with a number of or clients.

We are pleased to be able to offer you - without prejudice - a significant reduction

Call us immediately to confirm the amount and date you expect to make payment.

A dishonoured cheque will make this offer void and the full balance becaomes due immediately.

Credit and debit car payments will secure this offer on the day of your call.

Settlement of this overdue account may help to improve your financial status.

 

And directly from HFC Bank: although passed to DLRS in May: Please be advised that your account is now in arrears due to failure to make your contractual repayments and the total balance as shown above is now due in full.... trained advisors... like to assist etc etc

and from Cahoot:

 

Dear Mr x,

 

DMRS (debt management & recovery services ltd) have been instructed by Cahoot to obtain immediate settlement of the above debt.

 

Please arrange to pay this amount by return of post. If this is not possible, please call this office today on 0845 6001618 to discuss your proposals for future payments.

 

DMRS

 

I'll be CCA'ing DMRS first thing Monday morning.

[davey77]

A reply from DLRS (HFC Bank), CCA:

 

Dear Mr x,

 

Thank you for your recent letter, the contents of which have been noted.

 

We refer to your section 77-78 Consumer Credit Act request, please note this was issued to you on the 23 June 2007 by special delivery.

 

We therefore return your cheque for £1 and enclose a copy of the recent request.

 

Sarah Smith

Senior Payment Advisor

HFC Bank

 

and what they sent was the same documents that i received before: priority application form, statements & T&Cs dated 06/06. (Card applied for June 2004). My reply was then that it was an application form and non-compliant etc. Looks like a letter to the Ombudsman and a reply to DLRS that i consider documentation incorrect and that the account is in dispute.

 

ALSO, a reply from the ombudsman after complaining about Mint and Crap1:

 

Dear Mr x,

 

Acknowledgement

 

Thank you for your correspondence, which has been received safely.

 

We are currently receiving very high volumes of enquiries and we will provide you with a full response as soon as we can.

 

If you need to contact us in the meantime, please quote reference number ************

 

I am not sure which creditor they are refering too though, Mint or Crap1 but i guess i'll find out when they write again.

[davey77]

My reply to HFC Bank:

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

Thank you for your letter dated 9 July 2007 and received 10 July 2007 in relation to the recent CCA request to DLRS (HFC Bank).

 

As I have previously stated in my letter to you of the 27 April 2007, I regard the documentation you have supplied in regard to any CCA request to be non-compliant and have never accepted your assertion that said documentation was a properly executed agreement as laid down in the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

 

The above account has certainly been in dispute since you received my letter dated 27 April 2007 and it could be argued from the date you received the original CCA request dated 16 March 2007. Since then, you have threatened a default notice, asked for payment relating to the account number above and passed on the alleged debt to your recoveries section; DLRS. All this while the CCA request, non-compliance and dispute has been ongoing.

 

I shall now be informing the Financial Ombudsman Service with a view to resolving this matter expeditiously.

 

Please be aware that, in the meantime, i consider the account to formally still be in dispute and according to OFT Debt Collection Guidance it is an unfair practice for a creditor to continue collection activity on a debt which is being disputed.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Me

 

CC: DLRS, Birmingham

 

Prepared a report today for the FOS about HFC (DLRS) and will pos tthat tomorrow!

[davey77]

Trading Standards, Cheshire:

 

Dear Mr x,

 

Re: MBNA Europe Bank Ltd

 

I write further to the receipt of your letter dated 29 June 2007 (23 actually) regarding the above company.

 

Trading Standards Service across the UK operate a 'Home Authority Principle' where any complaints or enquires which are received about a company can, if appropriate, be referred to the Athority where the Head Office of the company is based.

 

Unfortunately, as a consumer based outside of our area I am not in a position to offer you individual advice and assistance. If this is required, you would need to contact your local Trading Standards Service.

 

I believe your local Trading Standards Service is:

Torbay Council

Roebuck House

 

I have forward your documentation to them on your behalf. Thank you for drawing the matter to our attention.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Alison Nuttal - Trading Standards Officer

[davey77]

Cahoot:

 

Dear Mr x,

 

Returned Cheque

 

Please find enclosed a cheque recently sent to us to be deposited in a cahoot account. Unfortunately we are unable to process this due to the following reason:

 

Post dated/Out of date

One cheque for several accounts

Ta voucher not a cheque

Signature required

Customer surname does not match account

Do not charge for CCA: X

No cheque enclosed

No payee Stated

Name on cheque does not match to name on account

Cheque in joint name but account is single

Cheque to accepted for Cahoot savings account

Cheque to accepted for Cahoot fixed rated loan account

 

King regards

Cahoot

[davey77]

From cahoot (DMRS).

 

Dear Mr x,

 

You have failed to respond to our previous letter.

 

If you cannot make the payment in full immediately (what have i been saying for the last 8 months!), it is essential you call us on 0845 6001618 as we can help.

 

This matter will not go away, please do not ignore this letter.

 

pp Kerri Popple

Team manager

[davey77]

From Debt Managers Ltd (Barclays.)

 

NOTICE OF PROCEEDINGS - PURSUANT TO THE COUNTY COURTS ACT, 1984:

 

Despite our eariler corrspondence relating to your debt due to Masterloan in the sum of £5188.16 in relation to Debt Managers Reference: ******* we have not received payment in respect of this debt.

 

We therefore give notice pursuant to the County Courts Act, 1984, that porceedings to recover this debt, together with Solicitors fees and costs will be instigated immediately in the Rotherham County Court.

 

Details of any judgments obtained in reation to this debt may be supplied to credit referening organisations and may impede your ability to obtain credit in the future.

 

Should you wish to avoid this action IMMEDIATE payment of the full outstanding sum of £5188.16 should be made payable to Debt Managers Limited and sent to the above address. The reference number ****** should be quoted in all correspondence.

 

Should you have any queries to this matter or an alternative method of payment, telephone our Recoveries Department on 0870 050 1042.

[davey77]

 

"You have recently made a request under Section 77/78 for copies of various documents.

 

As you are aware Link Financial purchased your debt from MBNA Europe Bank Ltd on 21 May 2007 and as such we do not always hold this documentation. We have requested a copy of the agreement and the most recent terms and conditions your account was operated under from MBNA and look forward to sending this to you in the near future, however please be advised that this can take up to 30 days to provide.

 

In order for us to progress your request for copies of statements we require some additional information from you. Please can you either write to the above address or fax to 0207 793 2660 the calendar months of the statements you would like to see and we will then proceed with ordering them from the original creditor. If you would prefer to call and verbally request the statements please contact us on 0202 793 2658.

 

No administration charge has been applied to your account at this time and therefore any payment made with your request has been applied to reduce your outstanding debt. However, where cost is incurred by Link Financial for the provision of any statements by the Vendor we will pass these charges on to you.

 

You account has been put on hold for the next 14 days for you to contact this office with further details as requested above.

 

Link Financial."

 

 

My reply to the above letter from Link:

 

Dear Sir/ Madam,

 

In relation to your previous letter I am afraid you seem to be under some misunderstandings as to your legal duties and obligations specifically in relation to the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

 

To assist you in clarifying your position: You state that you purchased the above alleged debts from MBNA 21 May 2007 and 20 June 2007 respectively. These accounts were formally in dispute at that time therefore it was very poor business practice of you to purchase any debt that would have been in dispute and without clarifying it’s enforceability.

 

You also state you do not always hold the documentation relating to the accounts you purchase and, again, surely it would be more prudent and ethical if you ascertained the legality of any debt through careful study of the documentation before you purchase it. And not afterwards?

 

You also seem to be confused about your legal obligations in respect to a Consumer Credit Act request. Sections 77-79 requires the creditor/owner to provide the debtor with a copy of a properly executed agreement and a statement of account on request. This includes all statements from application date to the present.

 

If a creditor/owner fails to comply with a valid request within a period of 12 days (not including the date of receipt of the request) he may not enforce the agreement at all. This prevents enforcement with or without a court order. If a default lasts for a month (for example a calendar month) it constitutes a criminal offence. The statutory fee for said request is £1 only and a debtor is not required to pay further amounts in relation to this.

 

As MBNA have been unable to comply with a previous request under the above act then I will be most interested to see what will be forthcoming from my recent request dated 28 June 2007.

 

At this time please be aware that the statutory time limit has now passed and the following is in effect:

 

*Link Financial is in Default

*According to OFT Debt Collection Guidance it is an unfair practice for a creditor to continue collection activity on a debt which is being disputed. Nor am I obliged to offer any payment to you relating to the above alleged accounts.

* The above accounts are formally in dispute.

 

I hope this clarifies your position and If you require any further information regarding the Consumer Credit Act or OFT Guidelines the please don’t hesitate to write to the above address.

 

Yours sincerely, Me

[davey77]

From Debt Managers Ltd (Barclays.)

 

NOTICE OF PROCEEDINGS - PURSUANT TO THE COUNTY COURTS ACT, 1984:

 

Despite our eariler corrspondence relating to your debt due to Masterloan in the sum of £5188.16 in relation to Debt Managers Reference: ******* we have not received payment in respect of this debt.

 

We therefore give notice pursuant to the County Courts Act, 1984, that porceedings to recover this debt, together with Solicitors fees and costs will be instigated immediately in the Rotherham County Court.

 

Details of any judgments obtained in reation to this debt may be supplied to credit referening organisations and may impede your ability to obtain credit in the future.

 

Should you wish to avoid this action IMMEDIATE payment of the full outstanding sum of £5188.16 should be made payable to Debt Managers Limited and sent to the above address. The reference number ****** should be quoted in all correspondence.

 

Should you have any queries to this matter or an alternative method of payment, telephone our Recoveries Department on 0870 050 1042.

 

My reply to the above:

 

Dear Sir, Madam,

 

Please be advised that Debt Managers Ltd are in receipt of a Consumer Credit Act 1974 request dated 29th June 2007 and sent by recorded delivery relating to the above alleged debt.

 

As of the 19th July 2007 Debt Managers Ltd will be in default as the CCA request, to date, has not been complied with.

 

If a creditor/owner fails to comply with a valid request within a period of 12 days (not including the date of receipt of the request) he may not enforce the agreement at all. This prevents enforcement with or without a court order.

 

According to OFT Debt Collection Guidance it is an unfair practice for a creditor to continue collection activity on a debt which is being disputed. Nor am I obliged to offer any payment to you relating to the above alleged account while said account is in formal dispute.

[davey77]

The post:

 

Another FOS 'acknowledgement' letter.

 

From Mint:

Dear Mr x,

 

I am disappointed to note that you have failed to comply with our agreement.

 

Unless I receive an immediate payment to your account and regular repayments thereafter, as arranged, I will have no alternative but to place your account in the hands of external debt collecting agencies without prior warning.

 

If a money advisor is assisting you, you should bring this letter to their attention.

 

Yours Sincerely, D.L Munn

 

From Crap1:

Dear Mr x,

 

Thank you for writing to me about the default notice we've sent for your account.

 

I've sent to you again a copy of your signed application form, which also serves as your credit agreement. I've also requested a copy of your terms and conditions, which you'll receive separately.

 

We've issued a default notice on your account as it's seriously behind with payments. We also haven't received the documentation that we asked for.

 

I notice that you've notified Financial Ombudsman Service. Financial regulations require me to advise you that this is my final response in relation to this matter.

[davey77]

The post today:

 

Russel Aitken, Solicitors (Debt Managers/Barclays)

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

Creditor: MASTERLOAN

Client Ref: ******

Ref: ******

 

Balance due £5188.16

 

We write to advise that we have received instructions from Debt Managers Ltd to proceed with immediate Court Action in respect of your account. It is our intention to issue County Court Proceedings for non payment of the above account.

 

We are sure you will wish to avoid this action bearing in mind the extra expenses and the fact that your credit rating could be seriously affected.

 

We are therefore writing to you in advance of a County Court Claim to give you a final opportunity to contact Debt Managers Ltd immediately if you want to avoid the action referred to. You may telephone them on 0870 050 1042. It should also be noted that if you are in a position to pay in full a discount for immediate settlement may be considered.

 

Also:

 

A bright yellow page;

 

**** Urgent message from Cahoot regarding your loan account****

 

On Receipt of this message please telephone:

 

0845 600 1618

 

Opening hours:

 

Monday - Thursday: 8.30am to 7.00pm

Friday : 8.30am to 5.00pm

Saturday : 9.00am to 1.30pm

 

Minicom users please dial via Typetalk on 18001 0845 6060482

 

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

[davey77]

From Crap1

Dear Mr X,

 

Thank you for your recent enquiry. I have enclosed a copy of your agreement for your credit card account. Please keep these details for future reference.

 

The document attached sets out the current terms of your agreement with us. It also includes information under the headings 'APR' and "Total Charge for Credit' which do not reflect your current terms and were the case at the your account was set up.

 

That's interesting because they sent me T&Cs referring under 'key information' to the £12 charge although i applied for the card 09.2003. It's all one document so i don't know what they are on about.

Just noticed the interest rate as well... 35.93%!! No wonder creditors are all rich!

[davey77]

Standard printed ticked box type reply from Debt managers today:

 

We refer to your corresondence of 18/07/07. We write to advise that we are not in Default as we acknowledged your request for a copy of the signed agreement on 05/07/07 (copy attached). We are still awaiting a response from our client and will revert to you as soon as this is to hand.

 

The 12 days for CCA expired on the 12th June. I guess they are saying that if they acknowledge the request then the law's timescale doesn't apply to them?!

[davey77]

Also today from MBNA (at the bottom of this page) in response to the following letter of 22 June:

 

Thank you for your letter dated 11 June 2007.

 

In reference to the selling of the alleged debts to Link Financial and other matters included in your recent letter you seem to have ignored the detail of my previous correspondence regarding several clearly specified points. For ease of reference:

 

19 April 2007 I sent a request for the Credit Card Agreements under the terms of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (S77/79).

 

8 May 2007 I received a letter stating that one of the alleged debts (whose account number i did not recognise on the letter) had been sold to Link Financial. Up to this point I had not received any documentation relating to the CCA request of 19 April therefore putting the account in dispute and rendering the alleged debt unenforceable.

 

On the 12th May I wrote to Stewart Johnson raising my concerns that no CCA documentation had be forthcoming, stating that a debt cannot be sold to a third party if the account is in dispute and asking, again, that the CCA’s be complied with or written confirmation that MBNA were unable to do so.

 

On the 18 May 2007 i received documentation in reference to my original request under the Consumer Credit Act. My reply to this dated 19 May stated that i did not consider those documents to constitute a properly executed agreement and that the alleged debts should not be sold while an account is in dispute.

 

On the 7 June 2007 i received a letter stating that a debt had been sold to Link Financial and again, with an account number i did not recognise.

 

As you will clearly see MBNA have not acted properly in regard to this matter or given a satisfactory explanation for the delay/inability in supplying any documentation relating to a properly executed agreement or supplied a satisfactory answer as to the legality of selling a debt to a third party while an account is in dispute.

 

Therefore, a report will be compiled and sent to Trading Standards and the Financial Ombudsman and as a consequence the accounts are still formally in dispute and I do not acknowledge any debt to MBNA or any third party and will await the outcome of any investigations by the above mentioned organisations.

 

 

Yours sincerely, me

 

AND THEIR REPLY:

 

Dear Mr x,

 

Thank you for your recent letter regarding the above accounts. I was sorry to learn that you did not feel our earlier response adequately answered all of the points you raised. I would like to take this opportunity to clarify matters further.

 

Firstly, your letter states that you no longer acknowledge the sums owed by you to MBNA under your credit agreement. We would like to clarigy that the debt is certainly still owed and payable by you.

 

The copy of the credit agreement which you receive with your credit card actually serves as your copy of that agreement for the purposes of Section 85 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. This is sent to you in the form of a credit card mailer and comprises a credit card which is physically attached to the copy of your agreement.

 

I have today ordered a copy of your credit agreements and these will be issued to you shortly under separate cover. You may note that the copies of your credit agreements do not include a signature by or on behalf of MBNA. The signature has been deliberately omitted, as MBNA is permitted by law to serve you a copy of the credit agreement without including the signatures and certain other specified information. This does not affect the validity of the credit agreement or the copy we have served for you.

 

If a lender did fail to comply with S.78, that lender may be prevented from taking certain steps to enforce a credit agreement (until such time as S.78 was satisfied) - but the underlaying credit agreement itself, together with the borrower's obligation to repay, remains valid and intact. For the avoidance of any doubt, we would like to confirm that MBNA has responded in full to the request you made under S.78; and in any event, your credit agreement remains valid and your obligations to repay remains intact.

 

Your letter does advise that you consider the accounts t be in dispute. I trust you note we have fulfilled our obligations in regards to S.78, and that we do not accept that the accounts are in dispute. I must advise that it is the responsibility of the customer to maintain contractual payments even when as account is in such a position.

 

I would also like the clarify the issue of the unrecognised account numbers. When an account is sold, we autmatically create a new account number for the agents purchasing the debt. The account numbers given on the letters sent confirming sale of the debt relate to the original account numbers as follows:

 

Account number xxxxxxx is related to account xxxxxxx

Account number xxxxxxx is related to account xxxxxxx

 

Unfortunately, I can only reiterate our previous position in regard to the sale of the debts to external agencies. We had already fulfilled our obligation in regard to section 78 and although the copies of the agreements were not issued when your original letter was received, the issue of these would not have prevented your accounts defaulting and being sold. The terms and conditions of your dredit card clearly state that we are permitted to take this action.

 

I must inform you that this is our final response. If you remain dissatisfied, you may refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service, within six months of the date of this final response. Their address is:

 

FOS

South Quay Plaza

London

 

I have enclosed the FOS leaflet for your information. We will not enter into any further correspondence regarding this matter, unless instructed to do so by the Financial Ombudsman Service.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Gail Powell

Vice President - MBNA

[davey77]

MBNA:

 

Dear Mr x,

 

I write further to our letter 20 July 2007. I enclose a copy of your application form for the above account as advised in that communication.

 

Yours sincerely,

Kate Baldwin

Customer Advocate Case Officer

 

What they have sent is again the single page marked 'credit card agreement regulated by the consumer credit act 1974'.

 

Also from Cahoot today (debt management & recovery services):

 

Dear Mr X,

 

FINAL NOTICE

 

As you have note paid the money you owe, I am serving you with notice that your loan account is being returned to Cahoot. This will result in further action being taken to recver the debt.

 

Please note that we are now able to offer you a dsicount to the above balance, if you are prepared to make a single partial payment.

 

I would ask you to call this office on 0845 6001618, where we can advise you of the specific discount that we can offer you, and agree a mutually acceptable date on which this payment is made.

 

This offer is valid for 10 days from the date of this letter.

Yours sincerely,

pp Kerri Popple

Team Manager

 

Debt Management and Recovery Services is part of Abbey National plc

[davey77]

Keep going

I will be watching with interest

fantastic reading and i'm sure others will learn from you

 

Thanks Gill5blue! Appreciate the comment and will continue til i see that light at the end of the tunnel!

[davey77]

The post today:

 

From Debt Managers: (Barclays/Russel Aitken)

 

You have failed to respond to our previous communications. therefore our doorstep agents have now been instructed to call at your address to collect the full amount owed.

 

You have a final opportunity to prevent this happening by simply calling the above number. You may even be entitled to a discount of up to 30% (without predjudice) for an immediate settlement.

 

Failure to respond to this letter will result in our agent calling.

 

The last I heard from Debt Managers was the letter stating they were not in default of a CCA request and that they were awaiting those documents from their client - Barclays.

I did receive the letter also from Russel Aitkens stating their intention to start court proceedings after receiving instructions of the same from Debt Managers! Well, get on with it then and take me to court if you are going to! geez

[davey77]

The post today:

 

From Debt Managers: (Barclays/Russel Aitken)

 

You have failed to respond to our previous communications. therefore our doorstep agents have now been instructed to call at your address to collect the full amount owed.

 

You have a final opportunity to prevent this happening by simply calling the above number. You may even be entitled to a discount of up to 30% (without predjudice) for an immediate settlement.

 

Failure to respond to this letter will result in our agent calling.

 

My reply to the above letter:

 

Dear Sir, Madam,

 

Thank you for your letter received today 30 July 2007, (dated 25 July 2007). I am at a loss to understand your recent communications though as it was my understanding that it was your intention to take this matter to the County Court as per the detail of your letter of the 11 July 2007.

 

My reply to that letter dated 18 July 2007 was to state that Debt Managers Ltd were already in receipt of a Consumer Credit Act 1974 request (s77-79) that was sent to your office 2 July 2007 by recorded delivery. You had 12 working days to supply said agreement (19 July 2007) before the law stated you were in Default and thereby making the alleged debt unenforceable under the terms of the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

Your letter seemed to indicate that simply by acknowledging the above request you were somehow exempt from obeying the law:

 

“We refer to your correspondence of 18/07/07. We write to advise that we are not in Default as we acknowledged your request for a copy of the signed agreement”

 

This is, of course, is incorrect and the law is quite specific in this regard as you are no doubt aware subsection (6) states:

 

If the creditor under an agreement fails to comply with subsection (1)—

 

(a) He is not entitled, while the default continues, to enforce the agreement; and

(b) If the default continues for one month he commits an offence.

 

Your letter of the 23 July 2007 confirmed receipt of the above request and also clearly confirmed you were awaiting the relevant documents to be passed to you by Barclays.

Several of your previous letters in point of fact have given the clear impression that imminent Court Proceedings were to be engaged in relation to this matter and a letter from Russel Aitken - Solicitors around the 18 July 2007 confirmed your instructions to them to initiate immediate Court Proceedings.

 

I have therefore been awaiting the relevant Court Papers in regard to this but have to date received nothing from you in this respect.

 

Of course, your actions currently contravene OFT collection guidance of which you have been made previously aware of in my letter to you dated 18 July 2007 which states:

 

"It is an unfair practice for a creditor to continue collection activity on a debt which is being disputed."

 

Not only is the account in dispute but unenforceable due to the CCA non-compliance in the statutory timeframe given within the Consumer Credit Act 1974 but it certainly seems you have been unaware/ miss-informed as to the above Act and your legal obligations and responsibilities therein.

 

Your latest letter received today contains your intention to instruct your agents to call at my address. This action of course would be unlawful due to the reasons stated above in regard to the unenforceability of the alleged debt and therefore you would have no legitimate reason for visiting my address or accessing my property. Any such attempts, on legal advise, would be met with a police presence, possible litigation as to unlawful harassment and also possibly Fraud as i understand the new Fraud Act 2006 in that:

 

"(3) Fraud by failing to disclose information

A person is in breach of this section if he—

 

(a) dishonestly fails to disclose to another person information which he is

under a legal duty to disclose, and

 

(b) intends, by failing to disclose the information—

(i) to make a gain for himself or another, or

(ii) to cause loss to another or to expose another to a risk of loss."

 

Perhaps Russel Aikens - Solicitors, would be able to offer you legal advice pertaining to your current position in law and i suggest that you seek this information as soon as possible thereby enabling you to contact me in writing as to your immediate and true intentions and if it is your intention to proceed to Court regarding this matter i suggest you initiate such action at your earliest convenience.

 

Yours sincerely, Me

[davey77]

From crap1:

 

Dear Mr x,

 

IMPORTANT - YOU SHOULD READ THIS CAREFULLY

 

STATEMENT OF DEFAULT

You account is now offically in default.

 

As of the 27/07/07 you have defaulted and you owe us £1,491,42.

 

1. We have terminated your account. This means you have permanently lost your account and all spending privileges on your card.

 

2. We have the right to demand that you pay your full balance immediately. We may add any reasonable costs we incur as a result of recovering the amount owed.

 

3. We will nofity the credit reference agencies that you have defaulted on your agreement. This may affect your ability to obtain credit from other lenders.

 

4. We may place your account with, or sell your account to a debt collection agency, which may use door-to-door collections or begin legal proceedings to recover all sums owed to us.

 

Our nominated representative will contact you shortly.

 

Yours sincerely,

Valerie Lipton

Director of Collections

[davey77]

Hey Humbleman. Sorry for the late reply. Yes i totally agree. The law is there but it only seems to work for the creditors. I know and you know they shouldn't issue a default on an account that is in dispute or without a properly exectued agreement. There doesn't seem to be anybody out there to stop them. My complaints to TS have gone practically un-answered and the FOS haven't contacted me yet either.

[davey77]

In the post today were 2 replies to my letter below to Debt Managers (Barclays).

 

Printed in 'tickbox' style:

 

Others your letter of 30/07/07 refers. We have to advise that our letters of 18/07 and 25/07 were issued in error and no court action is being rasied by us in respect to this account. As you are aware we did request a copy of the application from Masterloan and as we have not been provided with it to date we we have closed our file and returned it to them. We confirm that no further action will be taken by us. We apologize for the confusion regarding our letters and hope this now clarifies the position.

 

And also....

 

We refer to your recent request for additional documents/information and write to advise our Client MASTERLOAN are unable to provide any furhter details.

 

In these circumstances, we have closed our file and returned it to them.

 

We can confirm no furhter action will be taken by Debt Managers Limited in realtion to this account.

 

Signed 'squiggle'

 

 

My reply to the above letter:

 

Dear Sir, Madam,

 

Thank you for your letter received today 30 July 2007, (dated 25 July 2007). I am at a loss to understand your recent communications though as it was my understanding that it was your intention to take this matter to the County Court as per the detail of your letter of the 11 July 2007.

 

My reply to that letter dated 18 July 2007 was to state that Debt Managers Ltd were already in receipt of a Consumer Credit Act 1974 request (s77-79) that was sent to your office 2 July 2007 by recorded delivery. You had 12 working days to supply said agreement (19 July 2007) before the law stated you were in Default and thereby making the alleged debt unenforceable under the terms of the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

Your letter seemed to indicate that simply by acknowledging the above request you were somehow exempt from obeying the law:

 

“We refer to your correspondence of 18/07/07. We write to advise that we are not in Default as we acknowledged your request for a copy of the signed agreement”

 

This is, of course, is incorrect and the law is quite specific in this regard as you are no doubt aware subsection (6) states:

 

If the creditor under an agreement fails to comply with subsection (1)—

 

(a) He is not entitled, while the default continues, to enforce the agreement; and

(b) If the default continues for one month he commits an offence.

 

Your letter of the 23 July 2007 confirmed receipt of the above request and also clearly confirmed you were awaiting the relevant documents to be passed to you by Barclays.

Several of your previous letters in point of fact have given the clear impression that imminent Court Proceedings were to be engaged in relation to this matter and a letter from Russel Aitken - Solicitors around the 18 July 2007 confirmed your instructions to them to initiate immediate Court Proceedings.

 

I have therefore been awaiting the relevant Court Papers in regard to this but have to date received nothing from you in this respect.

 

Of course, your actions currently contravene OFT collection guidance of which you have been made previously aware of in my letter to you dated 18 July 2007 which states:

 

"It is an unfair practice for a creditor to continue collection activity on a debt which is being disputed."

 

Not only is the account in dispute but unenforceable due to the CCA non-compliance in the statutory timeframe given within the Consumer Credit Act 1974 but it certainly seems you have been unaware/ miss-informed as to the above Act and your legal obligations and responsibilities therein.

 

Your latest letter received today contains your intention to instruct your agents to call at my address. This action of course would be unlawful due to the reasons stated above in regard to the unenforceability of the alleged debt and therefore you would have no legitimate reason for visiting my address or accessing my property. Any such attempts, on legal advise, would be met with a police presence, possible litigation as to unlawful harassment and also possibly Fraud as i understand the new Fraud Act 2006 in that:

 

"(3) Fraud by failing to disclose information

A person is in breach of this section if he—

 

(a) dishonestly fails to disclose to another person information which he is

under a legal duty to disclose, and

 

(b) intends, by failing to disclose the information—

(i) to make a gain for himself or another, or

(ii) to cause loss to another or to expose another to a risk of loss."

 

Perhaps Russel Aikens - Solicitors, would be able to offer you legal advice pertaining to your current position in law and i suggest that you seek this information as soon as possible thereby enabling you to contact me in writing as to your immediate and true intentions and if it is your intention to proceed to Court regarding this matter i suggest you initiate such action at your earliest convenience.

 

Yours sincerely, Me

[davey77]

Well done Davy,

 

Your letters are excellent, may I pinch bits of them for my battle.

 

Thanks HHNF! Sure thing.. help yourself to anything in my thread. Copy and paste as you like certainly.

Hope things are well with you! D

[davey77]

Hello.. sorry haven't been about much. The letters really have only just started coming in again after a break it seems but also i have a bit of a romance on the go and that has been a (welcome) distraction!!

 

So... to catch up a bit. CAPITOL ONE have gone back to sending computer letters after the personal response to my assertion that an application form was non-compliant. So i have sent them this:

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am in receipt of your recent letter once again asking for payment relating to the above account.

 

It was my understanding that, after your acknowledgement of my complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service in your letter dated 16th July 2007, that you were therefore fully aware i consider the above account to be in dispute. Therefore your current stance in asking for payment contravenes OFT guidelines in that “According to OFT Debt Collection Guidance it is an unfair practice for a creditor to continue collection activity on a debt which is being disputed.” A statement i have brought to your attention which you have previously also not taken into account.

 

As you have confirmed your understanding of my complaint to the FOS it is off great concern and disappointment that you continue to pursue the alleged debt whilst an account is in dispute and in so doing completely ignoring OFT guidelines and the Consumer Credit Act.

 

I suggest before you continue to write in such a manner you consult your legal department and reaffirm yourself with your obligations and my rights as a consumer before you continue to flout these regulations so blatantly.

 

Once again, I should like to remind you that the account is currently in dispute. That, as far as i am concerned, and also after advice from several legal and well respected organisations including the RT Hon Ian McCartney MP - Minister for Trade Investment and Foreign Affairs, the CCA request has not been complied with in full of which you have been made aware on several occasions.

I hope you are also aware that Capitol One cannot pass a debt to a third party whilst an account is in formal dispute.

 

You have given me your final response in this matter which i understand enables the FOS to investigate fully. I hope this permanently clarifies the situation for you regarding the above alleged debt, your responsibilities as a legally abiding Creditor and your obligations towards consumers. I also trust that in the mean time you dissuade from inappropriate requests for payment and harassment to that effect in which time the FOS can proceed at their discretion.

 

Yours sincerely, Me

 

[davey77]

As for Barclays... Debt managers wrote to me the other week (i think i put that on here?!) to say they could not supply the agreement and were giving the account back to Barclays. Then i had a strange letter directly from Barclays which said:

 

Dear Mr x,

 

Reference: SECTION 78 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974

 

I write to further to your letter dated 29 June 2007 requesting information regarding your Barclaycard Account under the above Act.

 

Unfortunately at present I am unable to deal with your request, as you have not supplied us with sufficient information.

 

Therefore, please can you provide further information, for example, current and previous accounts numbers and also should you have recently moved, please provide details of your previous addresses.

 

I apologise that i cannot be of further assistance to you at present, however i look forward to receiving the information required.

 

In the meantime, should you require any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Helen Gould

Court Orders and Disclosures Clerk

Legal and Regulatory Compliance

Dept LRC

 

My reply to this was:

 

Dear Sir, Madam,

 

Thank you for your letter dated 14 August 2007 re my request for information under the Consumer Credit act 1974 (s77-79) dated 9 June 2007.

 

I am somewhat confused as to what ‘sufficient information’ is needed for you to complete said request. I have been in full written communication with Barclays and, until recently, Debt Managers Ltd and each time given my name, address and account number in every correspondence. These details, to clarify, are above and correct.

 

I understand that Debt Managers have closed their file in this matter and confirmed in writing no further action will be taken by them due to their inability to comply with the above request and have since passed the alleged debt back to Barclays.

 

Please be advised the under the terms of the Consumer Credit Act a creditor has 12 working days to supply said information in full before a default occurs. Following that, a one calendar month time limit applies after which a creditor has committed a criminal offence and as of the 18 August 2007, by my calculations, Barclays have committed such an offence as prescribed within the terms of the above Act.

 

Would you therefore please reply at your earliest convenience and in doing so include all relevant information under the above request or confirmation of your inability to do so.

 

Yours sincerely, me

[davey77]

Halifax, who have been ignoring me since i CCA'd Blair, Oliver and Scott and whom neither have ever sent me any documents since my original request to them in March have written although it looks rather a computer letter and not really to me personally. Actuallly i wrote to them a couple of days ago but our letters have crossed in the post. My letter first:

 

THIS LETTER REQUIRES YOUR IMMEDIATE ACTION

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

I hereby serve you with this letter which should be accepted as a LETTER BEFORE ACTION as it is my intention to proceed with County Court Action in relation to a Consumer Credit Act 1974 (s77-79) request that has not been complied with by Halifax Plc or Blair, Oliver and Scott Ltd.

 

The original request was sent to Halifax plc 21 March 2007 by recorded delivery and the cheque for £1 as the statutory fee payable under the above act was cashed 4 April 2007. Cheque number 000565.

A second request was sent, again by recorded delivery to Blair, Oliver and Scott Ltd 28 June 2007. This second request also has been ignored.

 

As you are no doubt aware If a creditor/owner fails to comply with a valid Consumer Credit Act request within a period of 12 days (not including the date of receipt of the request) he may not enforce the agreement at all. This prevents enforcement with or without a court order. If a default lasts for a month (for example a calendar month) it constitutes a criminal offence punishable by imprisonment and/or a fine of £2500.

 

If i do not receive a reply within 7 working days of the date of this letter including either:

 

1. A properly exectued agrement, statement of account and terms and conditions fully compliant to the above act

 

OR

 

2. Confirmation from Blair, Oliver and Scott that they are unable to comply with the above act

 

i shall immediately begin Legal Action and will include damages/costs in such action.

I will also be informing the Office of Fair Trading of Blair, Oliver and Scott’s tacticks, communications, responses and blatant disregard for the Law.

 

No further correspondence will be entered into unless the reply recived complies with either 2 points stated above and no further time will be alloted for a response other than the 7 days stated.

 

 

Yours sincerely,