PRA Group Letter Before Claim

[MJWORRYFREE]

Hi,

I have received a letter from PRA Group informing me that an account has been transferred to the investigations and Litigation Department. They say it is a letter before claim as required by the Pre-Action conduct & protocols contained in the Civil Procedures Rule, and constitutes a formal demand for payment and to give notice of PRA Group's intention to issue Court proceedings against me. I've previously sent in a CCA and they returned my £1 postal order along with a 1 page form that isn't signed anywhere. I have scans of these if that will help.

Is the threat real? They sent a similar letter in September but this one follows up with a reply form and a request for details of my financial situation, saying I have 30 days to return the completed form or it could result in Court proceedings.

Any advice and help greatly appreciated, I'm not sure what my next steps should be - as they returned the £1 CCA fee does that mean anything? They haven't supplied any signed documents or details of the debt transfer to themselves.

[MJWORRYFREE]

Hi Diana, this is the post!

Diana M

[Diana M]

Do you recognise the debt PRA are chasing, if so who was the original creditor?

There can often be other issues with a debt which has been sold to a debt purchaser apart from the credit agreement. The circumstances surrounding the actual assignment are important.

Di

[MJWORRYFREE]

Do you recognise the debt PRA are chasing, if so who was the original creditor?

There can often be other issues with a debt which has been sold to a debt purchaser apart from the credit agreement. The circumstances surrounding the actual assignment are important.

Di

Hi Diana,

I believe it's from a Halifax credit card - I think it's been assigned previsouly to Moorcroft - I was paying Moorcroft through Stepchange up to a point, but personal circumstances meant I could no longer manage the monthly payments and since then it's moved to PRA. The last payment was Feb 2014.

[Diana M]

Hi Diana,

I believe it's from a Halifax credit card - I think it's been assigned previsouly to Moorcroft - I was paying Moorcroft through Stepchange up to a point, but personal circumstances meant I could no longer manage the monthly payments and since then it's moved to PRA. The last payment was Feb 2014.

It sounds like Moorcroft were acting as the Debt Collecting Agent for Halifax and then the debt was assigned/sold to PRA at some point perhaps without you knowing if they didn't serve you with the statutory notices (Notice of Assignment) but dealt direct with StepChange (which could cause PRA assignment issues).

If you were in a DMP with StepChange it may make sense to send a Subject Access Request to them so you can see what went on. You should receive all the information/data they hold on file about you so if/when any other debts surface at least you'll have that information at your fingertips.

How much is the ex-Halifax debt?

Di

[MJWORRYFREE]

£ 3,200 near as - last payment was actually June 2016, I was reading the statement the wrong way up! It's possible I recevied a letter stating PRA were taking over, since I've moved out of the marital home stuff like this still goes there so tends to get overlooked. I know I've recevied a few letters trying to get me to call them.

[Diana M]

it is a letter before claim as required by the Pre-Action conduct & protocols contained in the Civil Procedures Rule, and constitutes a formal demand for payment and to give notice of PRA Group's intention to issue Court proceedings against me. I've previously sent in a CCA and they returned my £1 postal order along with a 1 page form that isn't signed anywhere. I have scans of these if that will help.

Is the threat real? They sent a similar letter in September but this one follows up with a reply form and a request for details of my financial situation, saying I have 30 days to return the completed form or it could result in Court proceedings.

Any advice and help greatly appreciated, I'm not sure what my next steps should be - as they returned the £1 CCA fee does that mean anything? They haven't supplied any signed documents or details of the debt transfer to themselves.

Yes that threat is real. PRA tend to litigate.

You've sent a s 77-79 CCA Request and they have sent you 'something' in response. You say it is unsigned but s77/78 is for 'information' purposes not 'proof' purposes. The latter may need to be argued separately.

You need to return the reply form to the Letter Before Claim within the 30 day deadline. Without knowing the full facts it's difficult to comment but since you're not satisfied with the documents they've sent as being compliant with your CCA Request you could tick Box D stating you dispute the debt.

Returning the £1 statutory fee is not relevant only in that it serves to acknowledge that they received your CCA Request in the first place

Di

[Stompin]

Hi,

I have also received a letter before claim from PRA, for a debt(5k) I defaulted on in late 2010 after a head injury and have been on a payment plan ever since.

The debt was sold on to PRA and I have been paying the various DCA's but have not responded PRA's continually asking for income and expenditure. They also sent me a settlement figure in March and I said I could maybe borrow X amount but they rejected it and a follow up email contained this paragraph:

"Thank you for your recent reply.

We appreciate you advising us that you are not able to accept the settlement.

Please note that although we have been receiving a payments there is no active plan in place.

To enable us to ensure the payments are affordable and sustainable for you, please complete the enclosed Income and Expenditure form, ensuring you give us the most accurate reflection possible of your financial circumstances. You may submit the information via one of the following methods:"

Is this threat to be taken seriously as I have been making the monthly payments and they are just using a scare tactics?

thanks in advance

[Amethyst]

Have your circumstances improved at all since you first set up the payment plan ? It won't hurt to do a further IE sheet if not - it may help to get some help from stepchange or CAB doing the IE sheet to ensure you are including everything properly so it would not cause any detriment when it's reassessed for the payments. Or you can argue the case and risk ending up with a CCJ - which seems to be a shame after all this time keeping it at bay.

What was the original debt ? ( is it worth doing a CCA request for the agreement to see if that helps them opt for a settlement rather than potentially getting nothing )
Have you had any statements of the account over the years (8?) that you've been making the payments ? Is the debt actually reducing ?
And what was your settlement offer % wise of the remaining debt ?

Have you actually received a letter of claim now ? with the reply form?

[Stompin]

Circumstances changed slightly, find it stressful doing paperwork,. The debt was egg cc and the balance is reducing I might do a cca letter as it was taken out in 2005!

They offered a settlement of £1678 on £4793 but the wording was wrong in the letter not writing balance to zero, I counter offered £1250 and they came back with they would only accept £1975 so I never went ahead!

[pt2537]

Hi,

I have also received a letter before claim from PRA, for a debt(5k) I defaulted on in late 2010 after a head injury and have been on a payment plan ever since.

The debt was sold on to PRA and I have been paying the various DCA's but have not responded PRA's continually asking for income and expenditure. They also sent me a settlement figure in March and I said I could maybe borrow X amount but they rejected it and a follow up email contained this paragraph:

"Thank you for your recent reply.

We appreciate you advising us that you are not able to accept the settlement.

Please note that although we have been receiving a payments there is no active plan in place.

To enable us to ensure the payments are affordable and sustainable for you, please complete the enclosed Income and Expenditure form, ensuring you give us the most accurate reflection possible of your financial circumstances. You may submit the information via one of the following methods:"

Is this threat to be taken seriously as I have been making the monthly payments and they are just using a scare tactics?

thanks in advance

They do this alot, they say there is no plan in place as a precursor to issuing a claim, a rather unhelpful tactic.

If you can offer then 1250, why not go back and say ill give you 1250 now, followed by £50 per month for 5 months giving them a total of £1500, they may take that if thats doable

[Stompin]

Thanks for reply guys/girls,

I can email them to see if they will accept £1500 and see what they say.

Another debt I had the DCA threatened me with a similar thing and they did follow it up with going to court I missed the hearing as I was away for a long time with a family member being ill.

I had the ccj overturned on appeal but I agreed to a tomlin order prior to hearing for a monthly fee the judge did say there was no doubt I owed the debt due to making monthly payments etc .....

On another forum they said "sorry to hear you fell for the tomlin order" because they had not produced the original CCA but I applied for it only 10 days before the hearing so I was a bit panicky but to this day it the cca was never furnished to me !

[Amethyst]

Once they have a judgment there's no requirement on them to comply with the CCA s 77/78 request.

A Tomlin is sensible if you need to avoid having a CCJ and you only have a vague defence which could be overturned at any point by the provision of a reconstructed agreement. Normally I'd say wait till after Witness Statements have been exchanged as you know pretty much their case then but also risk them not having an inclination to agree a Tomlin when they could get the security of a Judgment straight off. So long as the Tomlin is actually affordable and you can stick to it until the debt is paid up - else you're just delaying when the judgment is applied.

[pt2537]

Thanks for reply guys/girls,

I can email them to see if they will accept £1500 and see what they say.

Another debt I had the DCA threatened me with a similar thing and they did follow it up with going to court I missed the hearing as I was away for a long time with a family member being ill.

I had the ccj overturned on appeal but I agreed to a tomlin order prior to hearing for a monthly fee the judge did say there was no doubt I owed the debt due to making monthly payments etc .....

On another forum they said "sorry to hear you fell for the tomlin order" because they had not produced the original CCA but I applied for it only 10 days before the hearing so I was a bit panicky but to this day it the cca was never furnished to me !

s78 ceases to apply once judgment is entered, so Ame is correct that they dont need to reply now.

[Stompin]

Hi Again,

I have received a claim form for my debt of £4793.79 from PRA stating I owed this to Barclaycard entering into an agreement on the 20/01/2005 but BC bought Egg the original credit agreement was with. They sent this letter on the 19th December so I have only just returned home yesterday to see this.

The debt was sold on and I have been making regular payments of £14.56 monthly but they say I broke the agreement in August 2015 with missed payments, this maybe because the debt was assigned to them and I never changed the bank details but the payments never stopped!

What is my best course of action considering I only limited time to apply ?

Thanks