D.C.A Correspondence?

[damjef]

I have recently recieved a letter from a collection Agent, The debt referred to is for an overdraft which is made up primarily of bank charges.

The bank closed my account and I came to an arrangement to pay this amount off at the rate of £50 per month. The bank sent me a letter with regards to this agreement and they basically tried to set it up as a loan agreement and asked me to sign paperwork with regards to the CCA. I did not sign this documentation because I was under the impression that it was a temporary arrangement, since then they have passed the outstanding balance over to Metropolitan Collection Services Ltd.

The account that the outstanding balance refers to is in dispute, I am currently in the process of preparing my claim through MCOL. I have followed the normal procedure prelim, LBA etc but now I am unsure what to do with regards to the collection agency. Should I contact them to let them know that the account is in dispute? or should I ask them for information with regards to the cca?

Can any one advise the best procedure as I'm quite out of my depth:confused: Many Thanks in advance...

[stivis]

Have you posted a dispute letter ? Think they are in the template section ... If not send one tomorrow (today)

[damjef]

Oops! No I haven't I wasn't aware that I was supposed to, I presumed that the bank would know this because of the prelim and LBA. Should I send the dispute letter to the bank or collection agent?

Thanks...

[kegi]

I would echo the last post i just told the bank that the acc is in dispute by letter

have looked in templates sec cannot see a dispute letter as such

a link would be nice

kegi

[sarahpp]

You need to notify the DCA that the alleged debt is "in dispute". There isn't a template as such. The easiest thing to do is just to write a very short letter asking them to accept your letter as official notification that you consider the alleged debt to be "in dispute" due to the imposition of charges on the account which you believe to be unlawful. You could also add " I am sure that you are aware of the Office of Fair Trading Guidelines

regarding legitimatley disputed debts".

 

What should happen then, is that they either pass the file back to the original creditor or put your file on hold "pending investigation" (usually for 28 days)That is, unless they claim to have bought the debt which I don't think is the case, it looks like they are just acting as agents.

 

Hope this helps

[damjef]

Thanks for the advice,

I'll get a letter sorted and see what progress's.

sarahpp, what difference would it make if they have bought the debt?

[stivis]

I'll pm you a dispute letter template

[sarahpp]

Thanks for the advice,

I'll get a letter sorted and see what progress's.

sarahpp, what difference would it make if they have bought the debt?

 

If they have bought the debt then, you will need to go through the process of sending them a cca request letter requesting the credit agreement etc. You may have to do this anyway if the "in dispute" letter is not enough to stop the letters etc. I think it is extremely unlikely that they own this debt (banks rarely sell on) and this short letter should be enough for the time being whilst you sort your claim out.

 

I never like to say what a DCA will do but, in my own experience the "in dispute" letter has resulted in the debt being passed back to the creditor in quite a few instances.

 

Keep us posted though, in case you need anything else.

[sarahpp]

I dug one of my old letters out, just in case it helps anyone

 

 

 

Official Notification

 

 

 

 

It has come to my attention that the debt alleged by ********* may contain a proportion of unlawful charges.

 

I have therefore sent a Subject Access request to ****** in order that I may examine my statements of account. A copy of this letter is enclosed for your records.

 

Please accept this letter as written confirmation that the account is “in dispute” until this matter is resolved. I am sure that you are aware of the Office of Fair Trading guidelines concerning legitimately disputed debts.

 

YF

 

 

[damjef]

Thanks for all the info everyone, I'll post back to let you know the outcome...

[damjef]

Hello everyone, Just briefly I've slightly modified (hope thats ok!) the letter to read as follows,

 

Official Notification

Your Ref: XXXXXXXX

(Debt Collection Services) ,

To Whom it may concern,

It has come to my attention that the debt alleged by (Bank/Creditor) may contain a high proportion of unlawful charges.

 

I have issued my concerns with (Bank/Creditor) regarding this account and now am in the process of taking the matter to court. Now as they are aware that this account is in dispute they should not have passed this account to yourselves for this act alone is in breach of the Office of Fair Trading guidelines concerning legitimately disputed debts; if you act on their instruction you may be party to this also.

 

Therefore please accept this letter as written confirmation that the account is “in dispute” until this matter is resolved.

Yours Sincerely,

 

Does this read ok ??

I tried to find what the actual guidelines where for disputed debts but couldn't find them, Does anyone know where they are on the OFT's site?

Also I would like to complain to the OFT regarding the Bank and charges, is there a set procedure for this? (should I post this somewhere else as a separate issue?)

Thanks everyone...

[hughes690]

HI: Have a look at the advice I followed on Post No 22 Thread Brooksdad v Woolwich re letter to DCA.

[sarahpp]

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general-debt/55579-oft-guidelines-debt-collection.html#post462113

 

From the general debt sticky

[damjef]

Hello Everyone,

I sent the letter to the D.C.A as outlined below and have received a reply, pretty sharpish at that! Basically it's raised a few questions.

 

The letter from the D.C.A basically reads....

we acknowledge receipt of your correspondence....

we have enclosed a copy of your statements for the above account. Please highlight all disputed charges and return to us so that your claim can be investigated.

Should we not receive a response within the ensuing 14 days we shall continue with our recovery procedures....

bla bla bla.

 

I can't quite get my head around this one!

I find it quite strange that they can acquire statements in such a short period of time especially when we have to wait 40 days when a S.A.R is issued. (incidentally the statements they sent to me were only for 6 months) If they are acting as an agent are they privy to this information?

Why would they investigate my charges? Are they 'all of a sudden' acting on my best interests or could there be an ulterior motive?

Should I entertain their requests? should I correspond with them at all?

To be honest I haven't a clue how to deal with this one so any help and advice would gratefully be accepted! Thanks...

[sarahpp]

The statements will only be from when they either took over management of the debt or were assigned the debt. You now need to send them a cca request in order to establish whether they have a copy of the Credit Agreement.

 

 

 

"Further to my previous correspondence, I have now to inform you that the disputed amount with ******* is now in the hands of the court.

 

I acknowledge no debt with London and Metropolitan and I therefore require that you supply me with true copies of the agreements you refer to in these matters. This is my right under the legislation contained within section 77 (1) and section 78 (1) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. I enclose a £1 postal order in payment of the statutory fee. . This fee is not to be offset against the amount allegedly owing under any circumstances.

 

I also require that you supply signed true copies of the deeds of assignment of the above referenced agreements.

 

You are reminded that you are obliged to supply these documents, whether you are the original creditor or not, under section 189 of the CCA 1974.

 

As you are aware, a credit agreement that is not properly documented and signed by the customer is totally unenforceable under the CCA and therefore is a complete defence to any court claim that is issued.

 

Take note at this stage, that any legal action you may contemplate will be both vigorously defended and contested. "

 

This should flush out whether they are acting as agents or claiming to own the debt.

[stivis]

sarahpp..is spot on that will at least get them thinking

[damjef]

Once again, THANKS very much:D

I'll get right on the case with the letter, I'm also just trying to sort the details out so that I can PM a mod for the litigation section so hopefully everything should come together nicely!

I'll post back with an update as soon as I receive any more correspondence, Bye for now...

[lookinforinfo]

Damjef, the letter that Sarah has posted is a good one to use with just the

one proviso. There is no requirement for the deed of assignment to be produced by the DCA, except when demanded by the Court. It is therefore

safer to erase that sentence to prevent yourself from thinking that by their

failure to produce the DoA that they have not fulfilled the terms of the CCA.

[sarahpp]

True. I always ask anyway but, they don't have to produce it. I have had it sent through to me before now and it is a vey useful reference

[damjef]

Hello, thanks for all the input, I've already sent the letter pretty much based on sarahpp template. I haven't heard anything yet not even a phone call so I will keep the thread up to date as soon as I hear from them...

hopefully I won't as I've just recieved my acknowledgment of service from MCOL. FD's solicitors state that they will defend the whole amount. If any body could help me with this it would be appreciated as I have seeked help here without any feedback unfortunately,

Thanks every body for all your input hopefully it will help others in the same situ.....