Cabot/Restons Claimform - old HFC Goldfish card debt - Prob SB'd

[glennyboy]

After some very bad personal circumstances I ended up owing Goldfish £6025. I went through a nervous breakdown and couldn't cope, full stop. I ignored them , moved and tried to restart my life. Stupid I know but different people cope in different ways and debt doesn't always come to the top of life's priorities. I have now started to get a grip of things I am nibbling away at all debts. I have now realised that I am owed charges from all my previous cards and banks and I could clear a large amount of my debt with the help from this site and the brilliant people on it!

 

 Wescot contacted me in August 2006 and made various threats to take me to court for £6025 plus £350.00 legal expenses. 

I was badgered into paying £50 a month and have been ever since. It's a struggle to pay this. I now realise, since joining the site, that a good part of this debt is made up of unlawful penalty charges and the interest on them placed on the account by Goldfish. I take it Goldfish have sold the debt to Wescot?

 

Am I now hooked into this repayment or can I do anything to get the debt reduced. I am terrified they will send bailiffs around or lose me my house if I have a bad month and can't pay!!

 

Any ideas /suggestions?

 

Glennyboy

[kennyparkroad]

Send Westcot a CCA request - this will determine if they can legally chase the debt.

 

Send Goldfish a SAR request (with your £10) this will make them give you all the paperwork and statements on your account, then you can calculate what charges have been placed on your account and then claim them back! which will then reduce the balance of the debt.

 

Hope this has helped.

 

PS - DO NOT TALK TO THEM ON THE PHONE - DEAL WITH THEM ONLY IN WRITING!

[glennyboy]

Thanks Kenny. I thought that may be the best course. Just needed confirming. And am now not talking to anyone on the phone. always asking security questions etc. Not in this day and age!!

Going to need a new printer and hard rive at this rate!!

[kennyparkroad]

if you need any help, im here, i am not the best at this, but can help you as best i can, and will help you as best i can.

 

Kenny

[glennyboy]

Here goes, please bear with me.

In late 2002, I maxed out my Goldfish card. I had a few problems, lost my wife, house and kids and had a breakdown. This is not a sob story or an attempt to wriggle out of my debt. I moved address and rebuilt my life.

 

In September 2006, I was contacted by Wescot Credit Services, out of the blue, demanding full repayment of £6025, etc etc. I now realise this was a blanket letter sent to anyone with my name, using the voter's register or some other database. I contacted them and have agreed a repayment of £50.00 a month, even though money is very very tight. Since then I have found this site and realise that there a large amount of money owed to me ,in charges, which can ease the situation.

 

I sent S.A.R to Goldfish on 20.03.2007 and cca to Wescot on 20.03.2007. So far no reply from Wescot.

 

I have received this reply from Goldfish:

 

Goldfish

PO box 3598

Glasgow

G68 9YG

 

Dear Glennyboy

 

I write further to your recent contact with our offices.

 

I must advise you that on 17th February 2006, the ownership of the Goldfish business passed from LLoyds TSB plc to Morgan Stanley. As your account was closed prior to the acquisition date it was not included in the Morgan Stanley portfolio and as such we assume no such responsibility under the Data Protection Act or otherwise.

 

I must therefore ask you to contact LLoyds TSB directly in order to address any concerns you may have. Lloyds TSB have accepted that they are the data controllers in these circumstances and therefore, responsible for dealing with inaccuracies or queries.

 

The contact in Lloyds TSB is Mr David Bruce, Credit Risk, consumer lending, Lloyd TSB Bank plc, Third floor, Trafalgar House, Brighton, BN1 4FY.

 

I hope this will be of assistance to you

 

Andrea Monroe

 

Customer Liaison officer

 

My £10.00 S.A.R was sent back to me, in the form of a postal order made out to Goldfish!!

 

Now , I am confused. Am I dealing with Lloyds bank, or have they sold it to Wescot? What if Wescot ignore my C.C.A?

Sorry it's long winded, but I needed to get it all out.

[livelylad]

Send the SAR to Lloyds regarding the charges. Send them the same PO back. Once you have this information we can start to reclaim your charges. Read through the FAQS and the step by step instructions these are linked in my signature.

[glennyboy]

S.A.R sent with p.o.

Don't Goldfish have a duty under Data Protection Act to hold my personal info for 8 years?

[anabel]

hi glennyboy,

 

i sent my dpa to gold fish (morgan stanley) and just waiting for them to send my statments out.

i havent received a letter like your and been with them for years.

 

will let you know how i go on with my statments as the date is up on the 11 th april.

 

 

good luck

 

anabel xx

[glennyboy]

Well CCA sent to Wescot on 20th March and still no contact from them.Do I just sit tight?

 

Goldfish ( a.k.a Lloyds Bank)say they passed the Goldfish business to Morgan Stanley .

 

But:

"As your account was closed prior to the acquisition date it was not included in the Morgan Stanley portfolio" and then advised to contact Lloyds TSB direct, which I have done.

 

Credit Card run around or what?

[PriorityOne]

Sit tight over the CCA request.... no need to remind them. If they do not comply after 12 working days from receipt, then there is no enforceable debt unless the doc. is found and re-enforced in court. Did you send it by rec. delivery ?

 

[glennyboy]

Absolutely,

Checked on Royal Mail and its been delivered. I'll play the waiting game.

 

The thing that really p****s me off is Wescot only contacted me by trawling the voters register. Apparently it's a common tactic to blanket mail everyone with the same name and see how many people own up t6o the debt!!

 

Good job I am an honest bloke. Ha Ha.

[PriorityOne]

Absolutely,

Checked on Royal Mail and its been delivered. I'll play the waiting game.

 

 

 

Excellent ! You have covered yourself then...

[glennyboy]

Well, still nothing from Wescot after I CCA'd them on 20th March. Nothing in reply to S.A.R to LLoyds who took it from Goldfish.

 

Where do I stand with this now? Shall I send them a letter asking to write off the debt? Or will Wescot take me to Court?

 

Bearing in mind, until I have sight of my history I can't tell how much they owe me , but I reckon its at least £2,500.

[glennyboy]

Bump

[kennyparkroad]

i would send them the non compliance letter (sorry dont know where it is)

 

or perhaps send them a Letter Before Action letter with an estimated cost of charges?

[clutchingatstraws]

Make sure you have stopped paying and report them to Trading standards

[jubaxt]

hi glennyboy-pm'd you-i'm in same boat being pushed between hfc, lloyds nd goldfish-cant get any info at all for sar

[glennyboy]

Still no CCA from Wescot after requested on 20 th March, although they are still phoning three times a day for payment.

 

Goldfish/Lloyds have completely blanked my S.A.R, so it looks like they are struggling to find my details.

 

What's the timescale before Wescot commit a Criminal offence? Is it in working days?

[jubaxt]

hi glenny-i'm still running round in circles-goldfish say my account was sold to lloyds-they canyt trace anything without a card no but i no longer have this-

 

hellllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllp

westcot deny they have it-so do hfc-so do morgan stanley...............

[glennyboy]

Don't know what to suggest any more. What really gets me is the fact I have tried to do the right thing after losing the plot, and all these people just blatantly ignore legitimate requests and continue to harrass people on the phone. I wouldn't mind, but I fully expect any fees returned to come off the outstanding balance, and I am willing to pay what I can in instalments.

 

Being treated like something on the bottom of their shoe is driving me nuts. I am tempted to sit tight, shut up and see if they get me into court. My credit score is wrecked anyway, so they can't blackmail me with that one.

 

No wonder people go into hiding!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :mad:

[deedee1310]

Hi Glennyboy.

 

Have just been reading your thread. With regards to a CCA request the following holds true

 

After 12 working days the DCA is "in default", and cannot seek to enforce the debt whilst that status remains. Therefore you are under no legal obligation to pay them.

 

After one month, the DCA has committed an offence under the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

 

You should report them to Trading Standards, the Financial Ombudsman and the FSA.

 

Did your CCA request letter read similar to this

 

I do not acknowledge ANY debt to your company. I require you to supply the following documentation before I will correspond further on this matter.

 

1. You must supply me with a true copy of the alleged agreement you refer to. This is my right under your obligation to supply a copy of the agreement under the legislation contained within s.78 (1) Consumer Credit Act 1974 (s.77 (1) for fixed sum credit) - your obligation also extends to providing a statement of account. I enclose a £1 postal order in payment of the statutory fee, PO Serial Number*******

 

2. You are notified that you are obliged to supply these documents, whether you are the original creditor or not under S189 of the CCA 1974.

 

3. Non-compliance with my request is a criminal offence under the above Act and will result in a report being submitted to the relevant statutory authorities.

 

4. 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.

 

 

5. Furthermore you are reminded that under s78 sub section (6) whilst the default continues you are not entitled to enforce the agreement in law

I would request that this data is provided to me within the next 14 days. If you are unable to provide this data then I require all adverse information to be removed completely, including any defaults that may have been applied.

 

Have you had a copy of your most recent credit file? Don't give up with the CCA route. Remember a criminal offence has now been committed by Westcot for their failure to comply with your request. If you have not done so already, you should also send CCA requests to Goldfish & Lloyds. Seeing as they are having trouble complying with your S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) requests, I think they're going to have problems too with your CCA requests.

 

Leave them to default after 14 days and then commit an offence after 1 month, then report them to the relevant authorities too.

 

If you are being harassed by phone, write the following letter to the offending company - you can change the wording to suit - ie: your place of work telephone number etc.

 

 

Re: Harassment by telephone

 

 

ACCOUNT NUMBER:

 

Dear Sirs

 

I am writing in relation to the quantity and frequency of telephone calls that I have received from your company,which I deem to be personally harassing .

 

I have verbally requested that these stop, but I am still receiving calls.

 

I now require all further correspondence from your company to be made in writing only and I wish you to remove my telephone number from your database.

 

I am of the view that your continued harassment of me by telephone puts you in breach of Section 40 of the Administration of Justice Act 1970, and the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.

 

If you continue to harass me by telephone, you will also be in breach of the Communications Act (2003) s.127 and I will report you to OFCOM, Trading Standards and The Office of Fair Trading, meaning that you will be liable to a substantial fine.

 

Be advised that any further telephone calls from your company will be recorded or noted on a diary of calls sheet for future reference.

 

 

Yours faithfully, etc etc

 

 

Good luck with everything. I will watching to see how you get on.

 

deedee

[glennyboy]

Thanks Dee Dee

 

My CCA request was worded very similiarly, apart from the bit about not acknowledging the debt. The problem I can see is that I have agreed to pay £50 a month off the debt. Can they claim that as an acknowledgment?

 

Like I have said, I am not trying to avoid paying it, but if a large lump of it is charges owed, I could see a light at the end of the tunnel!!

[clutchingatstraws]

No CCA No Pay

 

If they owe you money tell them you want it!

 

Complain http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/debt-collectors-debt-collection/99239-hit-them-fos.html

 

All the best

 

Cas

[rory32]

Previous acknowledgement of the debt is irrelevant. You can choose not to acknowledge a debt at any time. As has previously been stated, once they are in default you can legally withhold all payment until they produce the agreement.

 

Personally I would not immediately go rushing off to TS to complain. The longer they are in default the worse for them. The more they try to pursue the debt while in default the more it looks like harassment.

 

Remember you are building a case against them.

[stadium_arcadium]

For non compliance of your SAR see here:

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/6986-data-protection-act-non.html