CCA by Coop/Equidebt/Heatons - refusal to accept payments

[oops]

Hi all. Much advice needed! I've had a County Court Claim issued against me for a £14,000 debt I have with the co-operative bank. This was being collected by (not sold on to) Equidebt / Heatons.

 

We had an agreed payment plan of £14 a month, which I have kept to. In January I got a letter saying payments had not been received and threatening court action. I wrote saying I was up to date. I then got a County Court Claim through the post rather than an answer to my letter. I phoned and again said I'd paid and sent them copies of my credit counterfoils. Equidebt accepted that I had made 2 payments but that the money hadn't been allocated to my account as it didn't have their reference number with it. The cashier at my co-operative bank branch had said she couldn't include the reference with the payment.

 

Equidebt have refused to stop the proceeding against me and instead made the grand offer that, if I admit the full amount claimed, they will continue to accept £14pcm payments and not request a CCJ. This would mean my debt going up £490 in fees and solicitors costs!

 

Obviously I'm not happy about this and feel I should contest at least part of the claim. The debt does include a small sum of excess charges but only about £150 as the co-operative bank were pretty quick and good about stopping interest etc once I told them about my difficulties.

 

Equidebt say the 'missed' payments don't count as having been paid until they had tied them up with my account and thus after the court claim was issued. This seems to me to be a refusal to accept payment on their part. Are their any legal ramifications to this?

 

If I admit part of the debt, and not their fees and solicitors costs and Equidebt / Heatons contest this, will this result in a CCJ against me even if found in my favour?

 

In submitting the admission form to the court, can I make a lower offer of payment? The £14pcm payments were agreed some 6 months ago and since then, whilst my benefits are the same, bus fares have gone up and I'm spending more than expected on posting silly letters to DCAs.

 

Thanks for your help

[ecobabe]

send a cca request to them now with the one pound payment. and reply to the court claim stating that you have requested proof of the debt and a copy of the original credit agreement as is your right in s 77-78 of the consumer credit act 1974. but send the cca request to whoever has issued the court claim. do not admit anything to anyone at this stage. if you request this agreement they need to provide it for the court case to proceed, they cant enforce the debt without it once you request it. but don't delay, send cca by recorded delivery to equidebt(?) and reply to court saying yopu've made request. a continuance will probably be granted to give them time to come up with it. but i think the fact that they are asking you to admit to the full amount indicates that they don't have the agreement and are relying on you to admit it.

[oops]

So as regards my court submission, I'd be disputing the entire claim?

 

Does the fact I have been making payments count against me? Are you saying I shouldn't even go into this side of things? Can I bring up issues regarding when payment were made later on?

 

I'd be somewhat suprised if they don't have any original paprerwork. The bulk of the amount is from a loan taken out about 3 years ago. This was then added to my current account balance (overdrawn) once I was unable to keep up the repayments. The current account was opened about 10 years ago.

 

Thanks again.

[ecobabe]

you don't need to go into payments you've made yet, you can do that later. all you're doing is asking them to prove that they are lawfully entitled to collect this money. the fact that you've been making payments will not count against you. try this one, it's basically the one from the library with bits added.

 

Your name & address

Dca name & address

Date:……………………..

Dear Sir/Madam

Your ref:…………………………………………….

I do not acknowledge these debts and require that you supply me with the following before I will communicate with you further.

Firstly, I require you to supply me with true copies of the agreements that you refer to in these matters. Under the legislation contained within sections 77-79 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, this is my right. You should also provide me with statements of accounts. I enclose £1 P.O. / cheque in payment of the statutory fee for each account.

According to the CCA 1974 a credit agreement that is not properly documented and signed appropriately is totally unenforceable and is therefore a complete defence to any court claim that is issued.

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

Take note that this matter is now “in dispute”. Any legal action you initiate will be vigorously defended and contested.

Yours faithfully,

Sign……………………………

Print……………………………

[oops]

Nice one, thank you.

I've been reading and reading on this site but can't quite find the answers I'm looking for.

 

The court defence needs to be filed before the time limit for coming up with the agreements expires. If I understand you correctly, I file a defence that I'm waiting for these documents? (its not contesting jurisdiction is it?) Should the original agreement be produced, do I then get an opportunity to provide a further defence and perhaps partial admission?

 

Ta

[ecobabe]

yes, you will get a chance to provide further defence. and if by chance they come up with agreement you can show all your payments etc to court and negotiate a payment that you can afford, really. the court willnot look favourably on a creditor trying to force you to pay more than you can. as for what you put on your court form, i am assuming it is similar to scottish ones. so you are not challenging the jurisdiction of the court, but you are disputing the claim and defending the action( option 4 on scottishform) ie under section 77 &78 of the consumer credit act 1974 you have requested a copy of the original agreement in the correct format including £1 payment. that they received it on xx/xx. make sure you send the CCA request and send it by special delivery if you can. it's guaranteed next day delievry and you get the name of the signatory. so when you complete the court form put the date that it was received by them. you will have a return date on the court form, which is when you need to have returned it by. i would imagine that the 12 working days will be up by then. what is the return date on your form? don't panic it's not as bad as it seems. that was my worst nightmare, but when it happened to me i did exactly what i'm telling you and it was liberating, you'll never be frightened by that stuff again.

[oops]

embarresed to say it but deadine for county court defence is 4pm today! oops.

 

Thanks ever so much for all this help. Its loads better than advice I've received elsewhere. I had got two different defences up and ready to submit - one as you've stated and just in case I'd got it all wrong, a partial admission just disputing penalty charges and court fees.

 

I'll hand deliver the credit agreement request to the bank so that it is done before the court filing and save any arguments there and cc a faxed copy to Heatons LLP, the solicitors acting for them.

[ecobabe]

how did you get on? did you get it all done on time? let me know

[oops]

Yes, all done, thanks; cca request hand delivered to local bank branch with a copy faxed through to Heatons Llp solicitors. County Court defence submitted with a few hours to spare. Not last minute at all

[oops]

A payment of £14 is now due according to the payments agreed that Heaton's claim I haven't kept to. Given I am waiting for the CCA and the court action they started is in progress, should I still pay? I don't want to undermine my defence re waiting for CCA but I also don't want to jeopordise my position by not making regular payments.

Thanks.

[pmhcfc]

A payment of £14 is now due according to the payments agreed that Heaton's claim I haven't kept to. Given I am waiting for the CCA and the court action they started is in progress, should I still pay? I don't want to undermine my defence re waiting for CCA but I also don't want to jeopordise my position by not making regular payments.

Thanks.

 

Bump anybody?

[ecobabe]

unless they have gone past the 12 working days i would pay the £12.

[oops]

I've finally received an illegible copy of what may be a credit agreement from Heaton's. The only things I can actually read are 'Brittania Current Account Application Form' and my name. There is nothing to show any transfer to the co-operative bank. There are also a year or so of bank statements but not including recent payments (after a default notice was served?).

 

Accompanying this is a form to withdraw my defence and consent to the full amount including costs, and if I don't do this they'll refer the matter to a judge for further consideration.

 

Given their treatment I don't feel able to do this. I don't mind paying what I owe (over time) but the court case was very much down to their not accepting payments.

 

Any thoughts on what is best to do - ask for a better copy and proof of transfer to Co-op? wait for a judge to decide? File a new defence?

 

Thanks

[sequenci]

well an application form is unlikely to be an agreement in accordance with the cca, they have also not supplied you with a FULL statement of account.

 

you're currently sitting on a total defence.

[gizmo111]

You say application for a current account - what is the debt for?

[sequenci]

You say application for a current account - what is the debt for?

 

good spot!

[oops]

It is a current account debt - I had a loan too, same account number, so once I stopped being able to pay that, co-operative bank merged the balances, stopped interest and charges and then sent out default notice.

 

The form may have been countersigned, there are a couple of squigles in a box under the one containing my name. Hard to tell as illegible.

About a third of the page is what looks like it could be terms and conditions but one can't make out a single word.