Scare tactics from Link Financial Ltd

[mummybird]

I had a phone call from Link last night. I resited the urge to say anything and very politely told them I was unable to discuss the matter on the telephone and would they address all communications to me in writing. Did I do the right thing?

When they send the application form their letter said

"you have recently made a request under Section 77/78 for copies of various documents.

Please find enclosed a copy of your agreement as requested. Thank you for your patience.

Please contact us to discuss the repayment of your outstanding balance"

 

Should I wtite now a request the correct documents?

[ODC]

Wait until they write asking for money and then there is a nice letter you can send them regarding non compliance as well as reporting them to TS. They are so called professionals and as such are well aware that what they sent you is useless.

[mummybird]

Thanks ODC

Just want to make sure i don't make any mistakes. Much appreciate all your "hand holding"

[ODC]

No worries. Just bide your time with these people.

[mummybird]

Letter from Link today.

"We have tried unsuccessfully to contact you in regards to your account.

Although you have not reurned our telephone calls, we do have to make certain decisions on your account.

As the owners of your account we must advice you that we expect to recover the balance from you. Our intentions are not to allow you to leave the account unpaid, even if our recovery action takes longer that we first anticipated.

Maybe you cannot afford to clear the balance today, but you do need to contact us to discuss your circumstances, only then can we attempt to structure a payment plan of your debt.

In an attempt to help you,we would like to make an informed assessment based on your current circumstances. In essence if you were to tell us why you have not paid your account we could help you avoid paying back more.

One way we could help is to give you the opportunity to pay back the £...........at an interest rate of 0% APR.

Please telephone our office today....................

 

What do I do next please everybody?????

[robcag]

Letter from Link today.

"We have tried unsuccessfully to contact you in regards to your account.

Although you have not reurned our telephone calls, we do have to make certain decisions on your account.

As the owners of your account we must advice you that we expect to recover the balance from you. Our intentions are not to allow you to leave the account unpaid, even if our recovery action takes longer that we first anticipated.

Maybe you cannot afford to clear the balance today, but you do need to contact us to discuss your circumstances, only then can we attempt to structure a payment plan of your debt.

In an attempt to help you,we would like to make an informed assessment based on your current circumstances. In essence if you were to tell us why you have not paid your account we could help you avoid paying back more.

One way we could help is to give you the opportunity to pay back the £...........at an interest rate of 0% APR.

Please telephone our office today....................

 

What do I do next please everybody?????

The following letter by pt2537 (which you will have to amend to suit your circumstances) seems to be a suitable reply:

 

Dear Sirs,

 

Account no xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

Re: my request under the Consumer Credit Act 1974

 

Thank you for your recent letter sent to me, the contents of which are noted. I appreciate your quick response to my original letter. However, the reply received by me does not fulfil your requirements under the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

 

The Act demands that I be supplied with a true copy of any properly executed credit agreement that exists in relation to the above account. I may ask for this on demand providing that a fee of £1.00 is paid. This fee was sent with my original letter.

 

My request remains outstanding. An application form which does not contain the prescribed terms laid down in Consumer Credit (Agreements) Regulations 1983 (SI 1983/1553) and Consumer Credit (Agreements) (Amendment) Regulations 2004 (SI

2004/1482)does not constitute a true copy of any credit agreement that may or may not have been signed by me on the opening of this account. A application form neither confirms that I am liable for any alleged debt to you, nor gives me any chance to evaluate whether any original agreement was ‘properly executed’.

 

I still require you to send me a true copy of the original credit agreement that you allege exists. As you will know, under the Consumer Credit Act 1974, a judge is not permitted to make any enforcement order unless the creditor can provide a true signed copy of the original credit agreement. This means that unless you can produce such an agreement, this alleged debt is not enforceable in law.

 

You had until xx/xx.2007 to provide me with the true copy I requested. You are now in default of my request. Any account I hold with you is now in legal dispute. Whilst the account remains in dispute, you are not permitted to ask for any payment, nor am I obliged to offer any payment to you. Furthermore, whilst the dispute remains, you are not entitled to charge any interest on the account, nor make any further charges to the account. Additionally, you are not entitled to register any information on this account with any credit reference agency.

 

To register information with a credit reference agency, you must have written consent from the customer to collate and share such information. This consent is given in the form of a signed credit agreement, so until you produce such an agreement, you may not do this.

 

The requirement for consent to share data is a clear requirement of the Data Protection Act 1998. any such attempts to share my data without my consent will be met with a complaint to the Information Commissioners Office

 

The time limits, which are laid down in the Consumer Credit (Prescribed Periods for Giving Information) Regulations 1983 are clear. You must supply an executed credit agreement within 12 + 2 working days of a proper CCA request. If you fail to comply with a legitimate request the account enters a default situation and if you fail to comply after a further 30 days you commit an offence. If you continue to try to enforce this debt without complying with my original request you will have committed a criminal offence and your conduct will be reported to the Office of Fair Trading, the Financial Ombudsman and Trading Standards. Any investigation undertaken by them may affect your ability to offer credit in the future.

 

To sum up, I will not be making any further payments to you until you provide me with the document I have requested. Whilst you remain in default of my request, you are not permitted to take any action against this account. This includes adding further charges and passing any information to the credit reference agencies.

 

Should you not have any signed credit agreement in relation to this alleged debt, please confirm this in writing to me.

 

 

I look forward to your reply.

 

Yours faithfully

DON'T SIGN YOUR REAL SIGNATURE

 

Unless anybody says different, that would be what I would send them!

 

HTH

Rob

[ODC]

Link should know the law regarding the CCA. On the principle that Less is More you could send them this.

 

Dear Link,

 

You have failed to comply with my legal request for a copy of my executed CCA agreement. I will not be entering into any discussion with your company until such times as my LEGAL request is fulfilled.

 

yours etc.

[mummybird]

Thanks Robcag and ODC. My better half and I discussed it and decided to go for the long letter. He thinks its pure genius. Without your help my son would be in a bad way. I shall enjoy posting it tomorrow and now looking forward to my Sunday lunch and a couple of glasses of wine to celebrate!! My BH is now playing his guitar. Thats a good sign!

[mummybird]

Hi

Another letter from Link following My Request under the Consumer Credit Act 1974, using the letter on Post 81 above.

They reply

"I refer to your notice under the Data Protection Act 1998.

Your MBNA Europe Bank Limited Account was assigned to Link Financial in July 2004. The responsibility to manage the information placed with the Credit Reference Agencies by MBNA was also passed at the time of purchase and the decision to process your information to the Credit Reference Agencies is not based solely on automatic means. Therefore we no not believe we are in breach of our responsibilities under the Act with regard to your details"

 

As far as I can see this doesn't comply with my request. Has anybody got any thoughts for me please? Did you spot the deliberate mistake in the last sentence - "Therefore we no not believe....................."!!!!!

Look forward to your comments

luv

mummybird

[mummybird]

Re: my post above.

Should I write to Link and acknowledge their letter, but tell them they have not complied with my CCA request?

Advice please,please,please

[ODC]

Link are the so called professionals and as such should know their duties and legal requirements under the CCA. Its not your job to remind them. If they make a demand for money whilst in default of your CCA request then report them to TS otherwise sit tight and give them enough rope

[mummybird]

Thanks ODC

Will keep you posted!!

[michellefromessex]

Hi

Another letter from Link following My Request under the Consumer Credit Act 1974, using the letter on Post 81 above.

They reply

"I refer to your notice under the Data Protection Act 1998.

Your MBNA Europe Bank Limited Account was assigned to Link Financial in July 2004. The responsibility to manage the information placed with the Credit Reference Agencies by MBNA was also passed at the time of purchase and the decision to process your information to the Credit Reference Agencies is not based solely on automatic means. Therefore we no not believe we are in breach of our responsibilities under the Act with regard to your details"

 

As far as I can see this doesn't comply with my request. Has anybody got any thoughts for me please? Did you spot the deliberate mistake in the last sentence - "Therefore we no not believe....................."!!!!!

Look forward to your comments

luv

mummybird

 

Thanks to rob for posting this link to me, I have had exactly the same letter sent to me yesterday, even down to the "word mistake" ha ha how funny!.

[ODC]

Obviously just a standard template letter from the ZX80 Threatomatic. They are in default of your CCA request and MUST be reported to TS if they demand money

[victim_of_barclays]

I'd be more tempted to S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) the original creditor - they're more likely to have all the statements.

 

Although, that said, Link's response to my Subject Access Request was rather amusing. I'm currently waiting for a court date

 

 

Good advice about the signature - I've got a "special" sig I use on letters like these

LINK REFUSED ME SO PAID FOR COURT ACTION TO ENFORCE SO THEY STILL REFUSED . JUDGE ADJOURNED UNTIL CASE SETTLED!

TWO YEARS LATER AND STILL AWAIT SAR AS LINK SETTLED OUT OF COURT> THEY NOW SAY DO NOT NEED TO SEND SAR> WRONG BUT I NOW NEED TO RETURN TO COURT

[robcag]

....... AS LINK SETTLED OUT OF COURT> THEY NOW SAY DO NOT NEED TO SEND SAR> WRONG BUT I NOW NEED TO RETURN TO COURT

 

Hi v_o_b

 

It would be interesting to hear the nature of Links out of court settlement. Was this a negotiated level of payment, or maybe acceptance of a full and final offer?

 

Thanks

Rob

[noomill060]

victim- could you provide more details of your case?

[noomill060]

Two years later and youre still waiting?

 

You need to make an official complaint to ICO for compliance with your SAR!

 

(Complaint form on the ICO website)

[victim_of_barclays]

Hi v_o_b

 

It would be interesting to hear the nature of Links out of court settlement. Was this a negotiated level of payment, or maybe acceptance of a full and final offer?

 

Thanks

Rob

 

Did not intend to mislead you but out of court settlement was AFTER judge had heard my complaint against them and adjourned case for exchange of documents. Settlement was FULL & FINAL payment of entire sum Barclays had claimed and I was disputing. Link had added interest since they OWNED disputed debt and court costs. settlement was FULL amount of original barclays claim. Link withdrew their own amounts added. I got the court to CONFIRM the settlement that same day (hour after it had been adjourned) Glad I did as LINK kept the WRONG data on credit reference files that I was still oweing. Sorted now but neighbours and accountant that were phoned never say hello any more. Told Barclays they were NOT INTERESTED as they had SOLD DEBT to link

[victim_of_barclays]

Two years later and youre still waiting?

 

You need to make an official complaint to Information Commissioners Office for compliance with your S.A.R - (Subject Access Request)!

 

(Complaint form on the Information Commissioners Office website)

complaints were made to CO & others but trust me no one is really interested. initially they claimed as it was part of court action they would not get involved FSA then as it was SETTLED they were not interested.

[victim_of_barclays]

Hi v_o_b

 

It would be interesting to hear the nature of Links out of court settlement. Was this a negotiated level of payment, or maybe acceptance of a full and final offer?

 

Thanks

Rob

court recorded settlement of full & final offer to pay entire disputed Barclays debt. not much soul to continue the fight of dispute after phone calls from link to neighbours and employee and work friends etc.

Thought need simple life so just payed up disputed amount and all.

[mummybird]

I,m back again

JB Debt Recovery.

 

After first demand from them, I wrote on 24/10/07 using letter posted by Curlyben for me on Post 37 above.

No reply, but letter from Asset Collection on 23rd January offering to reduce debt to 60% of original.

I then sent Letter N from the templates headed I DO NOT ACKNOWLEDGE THIS ALLEGED DEBT.which they received on 7th Feb.

 

Both letters were signed for and I printed down electronic proof of delivery.

 

Now letter from Mcdonald Rankin & Partners acting for Asset Collection, saying they are considering issuing legal proceedings and I quote"This has happened due to your failure to address the outstanding liabilty.If your continued avoidance of this issue continues then you are significantly increasing the possibiltyof us being instructed to issue Court proceedings"

 

They haven't acknowleded my letters or complied with my request. What should I do next please?

Shall I send them copies of my requests and copies of proof of deliveries.

They given me seven days

 

Help Help

[ODC]

Send them this

 

ACCOUNT IN DISPUTE

Dear Sir or Madam,

Account number: XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX

 

Frankly I must admit that I am rather bemused as to why this I should have to remind a firm of solicitors of the LEGAL obligations of their clients as this ALLEGED DEBT is in dispute with the **original creditor/DCA** and has been since DATE 2007.

Not only is this a breach of OFT collection guidelines, but also in breach of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 and Data Protection Act 1998

 

My last letter from **original creditor/DCA** was DATE and intimated that my complaint would be

resolved on **DATE**, this obviously hasn’t happened.

As **original creditor/DCA** are now in default of my Consumer Credit Act request, OFT Collection Guidelines, *Subject Access request and have also breached *s10 Data Protection Act request , I consider this account to be in SERIOUS DISPUTE.

 

As you are aware while my Consumer Credit Act request remains in default enforcement action is NOT permitted, under s127 this constitutes a complete defence at law.

 

Consequentially any legal action you pursue will be averred as both UNLAWFUL and VEXATIOUS.

 

Now I would respectfully suggest that this account is returned to the **original creditor/DCA** for resolution of these defaults and breaches, as **New DCA** cannot lawfully pursue any enforcement activities.

 

If **New DCA** chooses to ignore my dispute and attempt enforcement, I will initiate legal action and file reports with the appropriate authorities, including, but not limited to, Trading Standards, Office of Fair Trading, Information Commissioners Office, Financial Ombudsman Service and possible court action.

 

After taking advice, I am of the opinion that any continued pursuit is in violation of the Administration of Justice Act 1970 section 40 as well as breaching a number of the OFT Collection Guidelines

 

I hope that this will not be necessary and an acceptable solution can be accomplished.

 

I would appreciate your due diligence in this matter.

I look forward to hearing from you in writing.

 

Yours faithfully

[mummybird]

Thanks ODC

Will get started now!

[mummybird]

I'm back again. I send off ODC template as at post 98 to Mcdonald Rankin & Partners on the 9th April. All quiet until letter from some new solictors - Geofrey Parker Bourne- giving us the usual 7 days blah blah,

 

Is it now time to make complaints to the various bodies as my Consumer Credit Act request is still in default and who should I begin with.

 

Shall I write to this new lot and tell them that's what I'm going to do?

Regards

mummybird