Help!! Solicitors threatening legal action

[Razpag24]

Hi All

 

Got some great advice reading through this site.

 

I'll give a brief explanation of my situation.

I took out an unsecure loan approx 9 yrs ago... for £8k over 4 yrs... I made monthly payments for over 3 yrs. My mother died and due to my very poor health, I had to give up work. I contacted the creditor and made an arrangement for payments to be reduced for a 6 month period.. after the initial six months, I was not contacted again as promised and no further payments were made by myself. Over 4 yrs later in Jan 06 I received a letter from a collections agency chasing payment of just short of £8k.. I requested a copy of my credit agreement (unfortunately did this over the telephone and not in writing), i was told they would request it but i heard nothing until 2 weeks ago (over 12 months later) when I received a letter chasing payment again.. I again rung and requested credit agreement, to be told yet again they would request it.. I have today received a solicitors letter advising me they will accept £5800 as full and final settlement if i wish to avoid legal proceedings. After reading this site, I have now typed out a letter requesting credit agreement under CCA s77/78 and enclosed £1 fee and advised of 12 working day deadline.

 

Does anyone have any further advice? Is there anything else can i do?

 

Any help would be much appreciated.

[PriorityOne]

You could write to their solicitors (recorded delivery, keep a copy) to advise them of the CCA request made to their client and therefore, that the account is now in dispute.

 

That should stop them from sending out any more threatening letters, but if not... come back for further advice.

 

[Razpag24]

Thanks Priorityone.... I was going to send letter requesting credit agreement direct to the solicitors, should i send it to collections agency instead?

[PriorityOne]

Yes... CCA request to the DCA (Debt Collection Agency). They may not inform their solicitors that the account is in dispute (mine didn't), so a letter from you will cover you if they continue to harrass you after the CCA request has been sent to the DCA.

 

Just re-read your post. Do not make any requests over the 'phone ! Do not do anything over the 'phone ! Always communicate in writing. Do you know where the CCA template is ?

 

[PriorityOne]

Creditors and DCAs - Letter Templates & Budget Planner

 

Scroll down to Letter N.

[Razpag24]

Just been to get letter from collections agency and have found the letter I received over 12 months ago. There is also a letter from them dated 16 Dec 2005 with title REQUEST FOR COPY AGREEMENT. Content of letter: I refer to your communication asking for us to provide you with a copy of the relevant agreement. We will shortly be advising our client of your request. This document will be sent to you as soon as possible. This process may take at least one month.

Once you have received a copy of this agreement we would expect you to contact this office immediately to arrange settlement of this debt.

Surely the fact that I have to date not received a copy of the agreement means it is unenforceable and the letter I should be writing should inform them as such... Is this correct??

[PriorityOne]

Tricky one...

 

You and I both know which agreement you refer to, but the template letter is very specific with what it asks for, under which Acts, etc.

 

For the sake of £1 (+ recorded delivery fee), I would send the template request. If they didn't produce it then, then it is unlikely to be produced now. Also, by sending the template CCA request, you can then inform their solicitors that the account is in dispute.... I am not sure if your original request is worded specifically enough to do that.

 

Any thoughts on this anyone ?

[Laiste]

My view would be send the CCA request using the template. For the sake of £1.00 and the cost of the paper and envelope, I would strongly urge you to send the specifically tailored letter. If this matter did get to the point of legal action being taken against you, the last thing you want is a lawyer pulling apart the original letter for being vague/agreement not requested under CCA provisions. A case really can be lost over such apparently trifling issues! Be meticulous in everything you do, it decreases the possibility of mistakes!

 

Regards,

 

Laiste.

[Razpag24]

Thanks for the reply Laiste.. I have written the letter using the template, along with a letter as priortiy one suggested to the solicitor to advise the matter is 'in dispute'. I will send it recorded delivery and see what happens.. I'll keep u posted.

[lookinforinfo]

Razpaq, the other thing you need to do is send an sar to the company you

got the loan from. Did you have PPI added to it?

 

This will show you what charges and interest have been added to the loan

since it started. Some of the charges added will probably have been unlawful

and can be reclaimed, to reduce the debt. You will also be told how much the

debt was on transfer to the DCA. Thus when you receive the statement from

the DCA of payments due etc. you should find out if they have added extra

charges to the debt [they shouldn't have].

[Razpag24]

Thanks for the advice. Didn't have PPI. I'm hoping due to the fact that they couldn;t find the agreement when i asked for it over 12 months ago that they wont be able to find it now, and the 30 days will pass.... just not sure what happens then, and whether they can still take me to court... Shoudl I be sending the SAR now or wait until the 30 days have elapsed??

[lookinforinfo]

Good point Razpag. If you think they might have problems delivering on time

[ie 12+2+31 days] it might be worth holding off. But if they do come up with it in time, and the S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) hasn't been sent, they might manage to sneak through

a Court summons before you can get started on the S.A.R - (Subject Access Request). and although you

will be able to get a delay until all the info comes through, it might be a

worrying time for you.

 

If it doesn't worry you too much, and you would rather not run the risk of

wasting a tenner, hold off.

 

If they don't send it within the above time scale, they commit an offence

which means they will have to get a Court Order to restart claiming the debt.

to get that Order, they will have to admit the offence and pay a hefty fine-

not as big as your debt though, which may encourage them to go after you.

 

The advantage of gettting your S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) through, is that you will see how your

loan has escalated way back up to £8000 again, when it would have been

down to around £1500 or so at one time. Even if interest makes up a fair

amount of the debt, you may well be able to claim that it is inequitable to

charge ineterest for such a long time when they appear not to have made

attempts to contact you for a long time-almost as if they didn't want the money. And of course there will probably be unlawful charges to reclaim, and

the interest on the unlawful charges too which all helps.

 

So if the CCA is complied with in time, and you know even roughly by how much you can reduce the debt, you may be able to show the DCA the futility

of going to Court. [They will have to pay a fine of around £2500 for non

compliance, so if you can get your debt down by a couple of thousand say,

it is not worth going to Court since they gat a criminal record into the bargain,

with no 100% guarantee that the Judge will grant them leave to pursue you.

[lookinforinfo]

I stand corrected-thankyou Karnevil.

 

PS I have decided to alter the amount to the correct figure of £2500

just in case some one misses your correction and gets the wrong

figure. Sorry if your post now seems confusing.

[Razpag24]

Thanks for all the advice and links guys... you've all been a big help. Have received a letter today from the collections agency 'without prejudice' stating that they have noted the contents of my letter, but write to inform me that their files have been closed and returned to the creditor. They ask that all future correspondence be forwarded to the office of the creditor. They finish by saying "after numerous attempts to provide the original credit agreement our client cannot produce it within the said 12 days". They advise that to speed up the process please contact them direct. My payment of £1.00 has been allocated to my account.

Do i now leave this and see what happens? Any suggestions would be greatly received?

[PriorityOne]

It means that you should get no more hassle from the collection agency because they can't find your CCA.... which should mean there will be no more hassle from their solicitors either.

 

The "without prejudice" bit bothers me though..... anyone got any thoughts ? Would they be trying to cover their backs here ?

[Razpag24]

Does the 12 days (and subsequent 30 day) deadline still count when the £1 fee has been used towards my outstanding balance and the same request has not been made direct to the creditor... what i dont want to do is what the collection agency suggested and 'speed up the process' by contacting the creditor... not sure whether to wait it out and let the 12 days pass.... i just dont want this to continue year after year.

[PriorityOne]

It's not up to you to "speed up the process". If they don't comply with your CCA request within 12 days from receipt, then they default. It is up to them, not you, to make sure this doesn't happen.

 

Non-compliance with a CCA request is a complete defence against any court claim that may be issued against you. If the account has been passed back to the original creditor, then they will contact you themselves.

 

[Razpag24]

.... and if they do, the original request posted to the collections agency for a copy of the credit agreement still stands??

Just dont want them to say that I have never requested a copy of the agreement... surely the collection agency would have notified them of my letter. Hope this would still count as a request even though it was not sent direct to the creditor.

What if they find the agreement a few months or even longer down the line.. whats to stop them getting in touch with me again and demanding the oustanding balance be paid or legal proceedings will be taken.?

 

Lots of questions, I know but I was not expecting this to rear its ugly head again over 12 months after they initially contacted me... i would like to get it sorted one way or another for peace of mind knowing that they cant contact me again.

[PriorityOne]

If I have read the thread correctly, the threat of legal action was coming from the DCA and not the original creditor. If the original creditor has not come up with an agreement, then it is doubtful that they would commence court proceedings, since the CCA would need to be produced in court.

 

If you are worried though, it would do no harm for you to CCA the original creditor as well.... a quicker result than a S.A.R - (Subject Access Request), as it only takes 12 days for them to produce or default.

 

[indebtstudent]

Where does the original creditor stand though? If they can't provide the document does that mean they can't claim it? If so this is an absolute bombshell.

[PriorityOne]

Where does the original creditor stand though? If they can't provide the document does that mean they can't claim it? If so this is an absolute bombshell.

 

 

Not really sure... am dealing with this issue with one of mine right now. A CCA request was sent to them as a bit of a joke really. The DCA didn't have it and they had messed me around so much, I wanted to check.. but the original creditor hasn't produced it either !? In my case, I assume it must have been archived/destroyed.... as it has been an ongoing debt for years.

 

What a shame...

[debt_mountain]

when the £1 fee has been used towards my outstanding balance

this is beleived to be a ploy by these people to keep the debt active as the 6 years statue barr is reset everytime a payment is made. Just to wind them up a little you could always ask for the cheque to be returned as it was not used for the purpose it was sent for.

[Razpag24]

Hi again guys... have done as advised and have written same letter requesting credit agreement and sent another cheque of for £1 to creditor. The reply I got was the same standard letter I received over 12 months ago headed: REQUEST FOR COPY AGREEMENT. The contents of the letter are the same word for word and they have advised me that it will take at least one month to obtain the agreement.

 

I'm in the same position I was in 12 months ago... only this time the request I have made is in writing. Is there anything I can send to the creditors after the 12 day and subsequent 30 day peiod elapses, advising them of their 'criminal offence' so that I do not find myself in this same situation in another 12 months time when they decide to send me another letter threatening legal action?

[PriorityOne]

If you find yourself in the same position in another 12 months Raz, you can either ignore the threats... because you know that they are emply ones... or remind then that, as they did not comply with your legal request for a copy of your CCA 12 months ago, no payments will be forthcoming.

 

Oh and by the way, I do not acknowledge any debt to your company !!.

 

 

Whatever you do, don't lose that recorded delivery receipt... your proof that it was sent !

[Razpag24]

Hi all, I'm back again. After sending the letter to the agency working on behalf of creditor in february, and hearing absolutely nothing (all timescales now past), I have today had a knock at my door from a guy working for the credit agency, chasing full payment. I have advised him of the action I have taken and the fact that no credit agreement has been received. Are they allowed to just turn up on my doorstep like this?? Any suggestions on my next move??:?