Old Debts

[kazz04]

Hi
I got debts which were on default ,1 or 2 CCJs etc, around 2004. I bought a house and moved without paying any of them. Creditors found me and chased me for debts. So I decided to go with a Debt management plan. Although I wasnt consistant with keeping my payments, since 2008 I started paying regularly through a debt management company till 2 months ago. As my total debts amounts to £29K, and the DMP didn't reduce the debt amount or did not help me much, the DMcompany decided its not the best solution for me and stopped the plan saying I should look into some other option. As I don't want to do an IVA, I am left to face the DCA,s now. As all debts are dealt with DCA now and not the original creditors, I have sent CCA request to some DCA's. But there are few DCA's & barclays still threatening me to enfoce an exisisting CCJ or take me to court after all these years. Can they do it? Can a DCA still take me to court after 10years. Note debts are not statue barred bcoz i was paying all these years thru DMP. But my credit files cleared bcoz all default & CCJs are more than 6yrs now. Can my file be affected again by these DCA's??? where do i stand???

[Debt Camel]

Re: Old Debts

Can a DCA still take me to court after 10years.

If the debt isn't statute barred - and yours won't be because of the DMP payments as you say - then yes, it doesn't matter how long ago the debt started.

But my credit files cleared bcoz all default & CCJs are more than 6yrs now.

The defaults not appearing is irrelevant - the creditor can still take you to court for a CCJ.

If you hadn't made any payments to the CCJs, then the creditors would have to get permission of the court to try to enforce it after 6 years. But as you have been making payments, this won't apply and the creditors may well try bailiffs or go for a charging order over your house if you have stopped paying the CCJ.

Can my file be affected again by these DCA's???

if they take you to court for a CCJ, that will appear on your credit file for the next 6 years. If you have lots of creditors, you may be able to defeat some CCJ applications with CCA requests, but it only takes one to succeed for you to have a wrecked credit file for another 6 years.

where do i stand???

You need to find a way of dealing with your debts. the DMP may not have been getting anywhere but at least it was keeping your creditors quiet. Now you have stopped paying they have woken up and are trying to decide what to do next.

You too need a complete rethink to decide what you should do next:

- How much equity is there in your house?
- how much were you paying to the DMP each month? could you have paid more?
- how could you improve your financial situation - could you get a lodger? a second job?
- have you tried to reclaim PPI? You may not even have realised you had any... see http://debtcamel.co.uk/ppi-out-of-debt/. If you can get any back from this, you could use it to settle a lot of debt with full and final settlement offers, see http://debtcamel.co.uk/debt-options/...on/full-final/

[kazz04]

Re: Old Debts

Thanks for all the replies. Sorry I couldn't come back here sooner. Yes, now all DCA s are trying to contact me. I have sent CCA request to all of them. So far none of them have replied. After about 10 years I doubt the DCAs will have all documentation. Let's see.
Thanks for your advice.
kazz

[nemesis45]

Re: Old Debts

Thanks for all the replies. Sorry I couldn't come back here sooner. Yes, now all DCA s are trying to contact me. I have sent CCA request to all of them. So far none of them have replied. After about 10 years I doubt the DCAs will have all documentation. Let's see.
Thanks for your advice.
kazz

May sound a silly question but did you send each request with the £1 statutory fee? It quite often happens and requests are ignored.
nem

[kazz04]

Re: Old Debts

Hi, Yes I did send postal order £1, with each request.

[charitynjw]

Re: Old Debts

The CCA letter ought to go to the 'owner' of the debt, surely?
(Either the original lender or an assignee)

DCA's are often just paid to chase the debt; they're oily rags, not the engineer!

[kazz04]

Re: Old Debts

Today Robinson way has replied saying" please find enclosed we have returned £1 &we have requested ur documents and will reply ASAP, no signature just correspondence department. I think the debt may be with moorcroft DCA, maybe. I don't know why they have returned the £1, though!

[kazz04]

Re: Old Debts

14 days has expired since I sent CCA requests now. D o I just wait, or send them another letter saying the debts in dispute etc.and therefore I won't be making any payments, etc. I have already stopped paying these DCAs since I came off DM plan, except barclays. Reason being barclays was the only non DCA,and I thought they have more chances of getting the CCA. Thinking of stopping barclays payment too!!
Good idea or bad????

[kazz04]

Re: Old Debts

I have received 2 replies from Pra group saying " I am in receipt with ur request and have requested our client the required information. Untill this is received I have placed ur account on hold which will cease further collections". That's the standard reply I guess. But they have returned the £1, postal order too saying it's not needed to carry out ur request. Is this right? ?
Also sent a information page abt what we should provide etc,etc,& what we can still do even if we didn't provide this info;which follows as: we can contact u by letter,
transfer ur debt onto subcontracted debt coll,agency
sell ur debt to someone else.
continue to report this account on ur credit.
pass information to CRA,which might affect ur credit record.
send you default notice if u miss payments.
So I thought they can't do the above. As far as I know they can't put defaults on defaulted account. So the above is wrong isn't it. They shouldn't claim something which they can't do!
But I suppose I don't care untill they come up with my request.
Will update if they come up with anything else.
thanks for all ur advices.

[kazz04]

Re: Old Debts

Can anyone tell me why the DCA s are sending me the £1 postal order back , saying it's not needed for my request, . That's for sending CCA requests! ??

[PAWS]

Re: Old Debts

I am not very clever when it comes to this but I have picked up bits from reading other threads and my own personal experience.
Do the DCAs own the debt or are they collecting on behalf of the original lender (OK not in the case of Barclays) did you ever get letters of assignment saying the debt had been sold to these DCAs?
I think they may be returning the £1 because they cannot provide the info. However…if you read some of the old cases on here their not producing the original agreement does not mean they cannot pursue the debt.
From what I have seen of the advice given by the clever people on here Legal Beagles is about helping people to understand the process and fight unfair claims and bully boy tactics. It helps people to defend themselves. To be aware of laws and legislation that protects them and spot when the creditors are abusing those laws. There are websites that will tell you no agreement means no repayments and they will tell you to wave two fingers at your creditors or give you all sort of tactics from the cranky to the ridiculous –well I am afraid many of those people end up in court or on this website the night before court.
As said above it is time to take stock and now that you have a clear credit reference do all that you can to avoid another CCJ.
As the debts are not statute barred I would think you would be fairly safe to check out your PPI and see how much you can reclaim. This can be offset against the balance owed. You may get a decent reduction in the overall balance owed seeing as these ae old debts. So if you can scrape a bit of capital together divide it up and start your settlement offers at 15 -20 % of the total outstanding.
Get proactive and see just what you can afford and find a payment you can stick to. TELL THEM WHAT YOU CAN AFFORD NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND. Be honest and put everything in writing. Then if the pursue this in curt you can show you offered them as much as you could afford and they will look like greedy idiots. They cannot get blood from a stone!

Finally, don’t let this take over your life. You will get through this and to steal a line from you know who…coming out the other end is ‘Priceless’. The day you wake up and realise you owe nothing is remarkable but do not put your happiness on hold until then.

[kazz04]

Re: Old Debts

Thanks paws. Well, as the debts are old & I was making payments through DM plan, iam not sure whether all DCAs own the debt or not. But am sure lowell own it. Think others own it too, coz on my credit file (@2012), it says settled under most of the original creditors. Well DCAs on reply say either they are dealing with my request or we have asked our clients.
None of them cashed the postal order.

- - - Updated - - -

" letters of assignments ", no idea. I didnt get any communication coz I was goin through DMP for last 7 years. Now I have stopped, so getting letters .

[charitynjw]

Re: Old Debts

It may be that some of the £1 payments are being returned because those particular debts are not covered by the Consumer Credit Act.

It might be an idea to list them all.

(ie original creditor/new 'owner'/representative-DCA or solicitor/ amount)

[kazz04]

Re: Old Debts

Hi, well they are all credit cards, except 1 overdraft. But the letter says ::
PRA group says" we are in receipt of ur correspondence in relation 2 the above ( req,for copy of agreement ) and have requested from our client the required information. Untill this is received I have placed your account on hold which will cease any further collections activity until further notice.
I have also enclosed ur payment of £1 as this was not required to carry out the request.
we will contact u to provide an update asap but if u have any questions please telephone us on,,,,,.end.
Robinson way also says something like this.
But the £1,came back in another envelope saying not required for the request.
I did write DCAs name , on PO pay, to .(how they ask cheque s payable to)
I hope that's correct ,.
thanks

- - - Updated - - -

Some are lloyds tsb, credit cards,overdraft, mbna, barclayard, Halifax cc,

[kazz04]

Re: Old Debts

Hi all, I have received a letter from barclayard, saying we refer to ur req,for documentation under sec78 of con,credit act 1974,,....etc,etc. We need to advice u that regrettably we are currently unable to fulfill ur request. As such we are not currently able to enforce our agreement with you & agreement will remain unenforceable untill such time as we are able to fulfil ur request. Then it goes on 2 say where required we will report to CRA, etc, etc. Can they actually report it? ? Or put a default notice as they claim??
Plus they have sent me a cca agreement of egg card, conditions ::: refrred to on the back of egg card as prudential banking plc,,it has few pages,,, I need some advice on how to reply to this.
If anyone tells me how 2 upload it, I can scan & upload it.
thanks in advance.