1st Credit

[babybear39]

If they do come up with a CCA and fully comply with your request they may take you to court for a CCJ. The costs would then be added to the debt, but if that happens you must defend it as you can then prove to the court how much you can afford to pay and the payments will be set by the court. If you're on benefits, that would normally be £1.

 

However, the courts are getting increasingly fed up with DCAs doing this as it wastes the courts time, because you've already offered that amouunt and shown why, and it adds to your debt. 1st crud would have to pay the court fees but if the CCJ is granted then they would add them to your debt.

 

IMO the courts should throw these kinds of cases out and make an order at the token payment and tell the DCA off for going for a CCJ.

[questioner]

Many thanks

 

1st crud would have to pay the court fees but if the CCJ is granted then they would add them to your debt.

 

If I am reading this right then I would have to pay more even though I have shown that with the CAB- approved FS that all I can aford is the quid.

 

That seems highly unfair and unjust .

 

because you've already offered that amouunt and shown why, and it adds to your debt.

 

Yes I have several times so why would a court penalise me for being honest about my situation?

[babybear39]

That's why you need to defend and get a judge to listen and NOT grant a CCJ given the attempts you've made and can justify. Tell the judge face to face that their CCJ atempt is nothing more than a sneaky underhand way of increasing the alleged debt you tried to pay

[questioner]

Good points Babybear39 - thanks.

 

They should not be allowed to do such things as push up debts and the facts speak for themselves.

[babybear39]

A court will only order what you can afford to pay. If that's £1 per month, THAT'S what they'll order

[trevor33]

Well I never!!!!!! I had a letter from 1st Crud this morning. Quote "admin fee returned as account has now been closed with us and returned to OC".

They retuned my PO but I cant cash it. Oh well, it was worth the £1

[babybear39]

MH and BCW did that to me...What a waste of £3

[ODC]

Well I never!!!!!! I had a letter from 1st Crud this morning. Quote "admin fee returned as account has now been closed with us and returned to OC".

They retuned my PO but I cant cash it. Oh well, it was worth the £1

Frame the letter and the PO. Yet again CAG defeats Worst Credit:D

[trevor33]

Letter and PO is now in pride of place on my wall.

[questioner]

They retuned my PO but I cant cash it.

 

You should hammer them for that one.

 

Nice work nevertheless.

 

 

If that's £1 per month, THAT'S what they'll order

 

As a matter of interest - what actually happens if you cannot afford to pay anything at all?

[babybear39]

I'm not sure to be honest

[questioner]

I have had an edited copy of the signed agreement off them now which they want me to confirm and to give my comments about. Its a pretty bad scan but it is the agreement. The letter with it was rather nice. they want my proposals to settle the debt but all I can give is the stated quid. CAB say they will help me again with a latest Fanancial statement etc.

 

.

[ODC]

It is possible that they do NOT have the original agreement and what they have is a scan from a microfiche. If they intend going to Court they would need the ORIGINAL

[babybear39]

Indeed they would

 

Ask them if the document they've shown you is the one they'll rely on in court

[hajclark]

Hi everyone.

 

I have joined today beacuse i have noticed all the posts about 1st Credit. It seems I am not alone with my dealings of them. I recieved a letter from them stating that they were trying to recover my debt from Powergen of £300 from an old address that i moved out of 4 years ago. I rang them up and spoke to a very rude Indian lady who at first asked me a lot of questions regarding my finanical and perosnal status. When i queried this, she told me she had to ask those questions by law. When i did finally discuss the debt with her, she could not give me the dates or details of the bill and told me if i did not pay the bill today, their solicitors would take legal action and i would end up at county court.

I kept asking to speak to her supervisor to which she would not allow and in the end she said if i faxed over a statement that day from my previous landlord saying i was not a tenant at that time, then they would not take action.

I then got in touch with Powergen, who also said they would need a statement from the landlord. The bill was for April 2004 and i moved out in Feb 2004. I have not received any notification of this debt in the last four years and have no contact with the landlord (who i think is now in NZ)

 

Please could someone advise me. Am i responsible for the debt? I wrote to powergen to say i was no longer living there. They have no record of this. Also, has anyone complained about 1st credit? surely these bully tactics are not legal. If all calls are recorded surely something can be done?

 

Any help in this matter would be much appreciated.

 

Helen

[babybear39]

Hi Helen,

 

As utility debt doesn't come under the CCA, I'd be inclined to send them a 'prove it' letter:

 

Dear Sir/Madam

 

Account no:

 

You have contacted me/us regarding the account with the above reference number, which you claim is owed by myself/ourselves.

 

I/we would point out that I/we have no knowledge of any such debt being owed to (insert company name).

 

I am/we are familiar with the Office of Fair Trading Debt Collection Guidance which states that it unfair to send demands for payment to an individual when it is uncertain that they are the debtor in question.

 

I/we would also point out that the OFT say under the Guidance that it is unfair to pursue third parties for payment when they are not liable. In not ceasing collection activity whilst investigating a reasonably queried or disputed debt you are using deceptive/and or unfair methods.

 

Furthermore ignoring and/or disregarding claims that debts have been settled or are disputed and continuing to make unjustified demands for payment amounts to physical/psychological harassment.

 

I/we would ask that no further contact be made concerning the above account unless you can provide evidence as to my/our liability for the debt in question.

 

I/we await your written confirmation that this matter is now closed. Otherwise I will have no option but to make a complaint to the trading standards department and consider informing the OFT of your actions.

 

I/we look forward to your reply.

 

Yours faithfully

 

 

 

(Your Name) Print do not sign

 

Amend to suit, send recorded, keep copies of everything.

[hajclark]

Thanks babybear, thats a great help and i have sent it off today.

 

Would you also recommend that i send a letter to Powergen as well? I would hate to pay the bill that i am not responsible for! Is it my fault that they dont have the letter to say i was moving out? am i still going to be held accountable as my name is on the bill?

 

Thanks again for any help with this matter

 

Helen

[ODC]

In future DO NOT SPEAK TO THESE PEOPLE ON THE PHONE.

 

You have discovered at first hand their 'highly trained' staff. You are under no LEGAL OBLIGATION to even speak to them let alone give them any information whatsoever.

 

Its up to them to prove you owe the money not up to you to prove you dont.

 

If they were foolish enough to take it to court you could very easily prove you were not living at the address in question on the date they allege.

 

Should any of these oxygen theives have the temerity to phone you again just refuse to speak to them

[questioner]

Yes - it could be that they do not have the original aggrement. However I do not really want to get into mentioning the word 'court' at this stage. Funny too that they asked for my comments. How polite. They do ask me to confirm that it holds my signature so that they can, they say, send me a copy of the relevent doc.

[veryweary]

I've had problems with this outfit too, very aggressive, threatening all sorts, listed under a seperate thread.

One reason why they love to deal on the phone is so that they can enter lots of nice interesting info you happen to tell them in conversation onto a sophisiticated software system developed by SAS.

 

http://www.sas.com/offices/europe/uk/solutions/customers_successes/1credit.html

 

I read they proudly claim that they were able to double the profits of Connaughts in a year using this sytem:evil:

 

Explains the robot letters, and advisors who never answer anything you ask.You're really dealing with a software sytem:o

And they seem to go for CCJs on low instalment payers as it secures their debt quite nicely for them and it doesn't cost them anything

 

They've got me down as a timid regular payer with a conscience, but as they've defaulted on my CCCA request will stop paying them. See what their SAS sytem thinks of that:).

Already got them recorded (advisor kindly gave me his name) contacting me while account is in dispute. Waiting to record a few more , then it's off to OFT and TS.

Edited June 14, 2008 by veryweary
url mistake

[dannyboy660]

Good Morning VeryWeary,

 

That link you provided doesn't seem to go anywhere.....it says the page may have been moved or deleted.

[veryweary]

Hello Dannyboy,

Had tried to edit , but couldn't have worked. There should be an underline _ between the words customer and successes in the link , not ...

 

Hope that makes sense!!

[veryweary]

Will try again

http:1st Credit succeeds with SAS

[dannyboy660]

That's the one thanks, a very interesting read.

 

Good luck in your dealings with the parasites.

[questioner]

I have noticed that I am still paying the agree quid a month to the OC who passed this debt off to 1 cred.

 

Can I use this fact? Surely the fact that the OC was at first happy with this arrangment stands for something. I am also quite certain that no one told me that the debt was passed on to the nasties either.