HSBC & 1st Credit

[Mike70]

Hi there, Ive been looking at this site for advice for a while now and wondered if anyone had a solution to an issue Im having with a pre 2006 HSBC credit card that I was paying but stopped in 2014 after I had asked HSBC to provide me with the original CCA so I could see the interest rate that I had disputed as they raised it and my track record with them had been 100% paying on time. They have lost it.

HSBC sold the alleged debt to 1st Credit (Finance) Ltd who have appointed 1st Credit Ltd as serving agent. But the former company doesn't an have FCA license?

How can 1st Credit (Finance) Ltd then appoint 1st Credit Ltd (which does have FCA Interim approval)?

I got a letter from 1st Credit Ltd - Lesbourne Rd RH27JP (with FCA Interim Permission) saying they've passed it to 1st Credit legal dept and then a letter sayingit's been forwarded to a solicitor. The solicitor then sent a letter stating client expects full response within 14 days but if they don't get the £6k they MAY issue court
proceedings.

Don't they have to write a letter stating the exact time in days before they WILL take court action? Don't they have to issue a Default Notice?

HSBC couldn't find the original contract despite my DSAR request to HSBC - they don't have it, not that it stopped them passing the debt around before it ended up with 1st Credit (Finance) Ltd who HSBC say they are the legal owners of the debt, although I have never had a letter from 1st Credit (Finance) Ltd only 1st Credit Ltd.

If 1st Credit don't have the original contract can they take it to court with what they purport to be a contract? I was informed by the previous DCA that the date of the credit card being opened was a decade before I actually opened it? (mine's pre the 2006 legal) but a solicitor told me last year that in itself doesn't mean they can't collect on it - it's 50/50 how a judge will treat it.

What will be the next letter that the solicitor sends, a county court proceeding letter?

Is a County Courts Pre Action Conduct - Request for Further Information letter to the solicitor the only way to stop this going to court or can that County Courts Pre Action only be sent to the court?

I'd really appreciate any info you may have on how best to precede? The whole thing looks odd not least because so many 1st Credit companies have had lapsed FCA authorisations.

Thanks

[daisy102]

Re: HSBC & 1st Credit

Hi, Sorry I cant help you, I don't know enough about the law to advise, I'm sure someone will be able to help, good luck and hope you get sorted soon

[Amethyst]

Re: HSBC & 1st Credit

Thanks for bumping Mikes post Daisy, and apologies Mike for missing your post before now.

HSBC will have defaulted your account before selling the debt to 1st Credit. There's been a few of these not authorised companies popping up lately, the way authorisation works seems to have changed and companies can act for other companies willy nilly it seems at the moment. There is another thread about 1st Credit's licence in particular somewhere about the place ( will have a look in a min )

So you have had a letter before action ( 14 days and MAY is fine ) for a debt of £6k for a credit card opened pre 2006. It isn't statute barred as you were paying until 2014.

You haven't received a default notice to the best of yoru knowledge. Have you received notice of assignment of the debt from HSBC to 1st Credit ?

Yes you can ask for pre-action information from the (potential) claimant and I would also send a request for a copy of the credit agreement directly to 1st Credit and cc'd to the solicitors firm. You should respond to the LBA - so asking for copies of documents, information about the debt and informing them if you are seeking advice ( from Citizens Advice or legal advice etc ), which should hold things for a short while.

In the meantime you can consider your position and consider whether to let them take you to court and defend the case or to try and come to some kind of arrangement to pay at this stage ( so either a full and final of say 50% of the debt or installments at an affordable amount )

But I would do the requests for information and documents, and particularly the CCA request, first.

CCA Request

[Mike70]

Re: HSBC & 1st Credit

Hi, thanks for getting back to me Amethyst and for Daisy bumping this post.

Yes, if by Notice of Assignment you mean this: I got a letter from HSBC and 1st Credit saying they (1st Credit) are now the legal owners of the debt. I checked with the FCA and 1st Credit Finance Ltd (owner of debt) assigned 1st Credit Ltd as the agent to collect before 1st Credit Finance Ltd's FCA authorisation lapsed, so the ownership and assignment of the alleged debt is legit.

Am I allowed to find out what 1st Credit paid for it?

If 1st Credit don't have the original contract (nor HSBC) can they take it to court with what they purport to be a contract even if that "contract" (reconstituted I expect) has a completely different account opening date? I made a Section 77 Request under the 1974 Consumer Credit Card Act and a DSAR request to HSBC, all to no avail. I have tried repeatedly to get my original contract in 2014 - HSBC say they have "lost it."

Isn't it HSBC that have a legal duty under the 1974 CCA to keep the original contract and supply me with all the terms of the contract?

I was complaining to HSBC about them hiking my interest rate despite having had an exemplary payment history and never missing a payment - that's why I asked to see the credit agreement, I had taken the matter up with my MP about HSBC and Halifax and how they kept increasing my credit limit even though I never asked and the card had been 90% maxed out on the total available credit limit and I'd paid thousands in interest paying minimum payments - my point being interest rates were (are) 0.5% and I'm having to pay more because of a credit card rate hike. But HSBC just said we don't have it, thereby stopping me from complaining further and then they passed it to another DCA and I asked them for the contract and that's when I realised they have a credit card account opening date that is a decade out and they said (as acting agents for HSBC) that they are "unable to produce a copy of the CCA as their client is not required to keep documents that are older than 6 years." ?

What about the lost contract and the breach of my data privacy? Or the fact that if they don't know where the contract is any DCA with a photocopier can pursue me claiming legitimate ownership? I've already experienced two DCA's pursuing the same debt in the 1990's. How am I now protected from that kind of shenanigans?

Thanks for the advice about asking 1st Credit (and the solicitor) for the original contract, I understand it has to be original and not reconstructed, is that right?

Re stalling the case I am actually so annoyed by all this that I am referring HSBC to the FOS and will tell them I'm getting legal advice (and good advice from here!).

What is your experience with banks that lose contracts and tru to enforce them, how do courts deal with this typically?

Cheers for the CCA link and I've signed and shared the court fees petition.