Is now the time to move in on DCA's for wrongful defaults???

[Bankers Reform]

In light of the supreme court ruling on Richard Durkin's case I think now might be a good time to make a move on DCA's for their misuse of the DPA and the filing of defaults.

I will keep this brief and to the point.

I had an account that Lowell purchased from Vanquis.
Lowell issued a county court claim in 2013, I was able to prove that there was no debt residue left over from my account and Lowell dropped the claim.
Lowell have from the outset been updating my credit file with a default, even after dropping the court claim.
I have enough evidence to take them to court for this and I wish to pursue compensation, my problem here is that I am unsure where to start and the correct wording for the claim, points of law etc.

I would appreciate help on that score if anyone is able.

[Bankers Reform]

Re: Is now the time to move in on DCA's for wrongful defaults???

Having slept on it I have decided to go for it.
I wish to send a letter before action to Lowell seeking to get a false default removed.
I would appreciate it if someone could help me with the compiling of such a letter or at least look over one that I write myself.
It is more a clarification of quoting the correct DPA sections and of course raising the Durkin v DSG case from the supreme court.

Would someone with a better knowledge than me be prepared to help?

[Amethyst]

Re: Is now the time to move in on DCA's for wrongful defaults???

Hiya,

Presumably you've had a nosey through this rather gigantic thread on the Durkin judgment http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...gment-26-03-14

On the debt you had with Vanquis was your position that there was a zero balance on the Vanquis account before it was sold to Lowell ? So therefore Vanquis shouldn't have defaulted you, or that you paid the debt off at the time off default with Vanquis before the sale to Lowell, or after the sale to Lowell.

Possibly a link to your CAG thread might be of help to people looking in to assist to get a bit of background and the reasons for the default being wrongful, as that will be a key part in your complaint.

Sharon
xx

[Bankers Reform]

Re: Is now the time to move in on DCA's for wrongful defaults???

Hi Sharon, thanks for the response.

Yes I have read just about everything there is on Richards case and I have been following proceedings for a while on the CAG forum.

I have added links to two threads below from the CAG forum on my case.

The gist of the story is that Vanquis sold on the account to Lowell claiming there was an outstanding balance, as far as I was concerned there was no debt residue and after Lowell issued a court claim I sent a SAR to them for a breakdown.
It was clear to me that a number of payments I had made to Vanquis had not been credited to my account.
Vanquis never notified me of any possible addition of a default neither did Lowell, the first time I became aware of the situation was when the court claim dropped through the door.

Lowell dragged there feet all the way through even to the point that the day before my first court hearing they tried to ambush me with information from the SAR I had requested some 7 months previously, thus giving me no time to prepare a proper defence.
I attended court and the judge was non too complimentary with Lowell and adjourned the case.
I was then able to prepare a proper defence which I sent to the court but once again Lowell waited until just a few days before the case to withdraw their action.

I have a copy of my witness statement available should anyone need to see it which gives a fuller picture.

I'm sorry if this is a bit long but it is hard to shorten too much without leaving out vital info.






http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...iscontinued***


http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...get-it-removed

[Guest]

Re: Is now the time to move in on DCA's for wrongful defaults???

HI

When you say that there was no residue. Can I ask if you were ever over three months minimum payments in arrears on your account ?

I presume the OC issued a default notice and terminated the account before they sold it on to the DCA ?

[Bankers Reform]

Re: Is now the time to move in on DCA's for wrongful defaults???

HI

When you say that there was no residue. Can I ask if you were ever over three months minimum payments in arrears on your account ?

I presume the OC issued a default notice and terminated the account before they sold it on to the DCA ?

Hi Andy,
The account was never in any arrears, some months after the minimum had been paid I even made one or two extra payments.
Vanquis never issued me with a default notice that I received, after checking my credit file the defaults have been added by Lowell only, at least that is the name listed as reporting, incidentally they cannot prove that they sent a default notice and I certainly didn't receive one.
Like I said in an earlier post, I had absolutely no idea about any of this until the court claim papers dropped through the door.

[Bankers Reform]

Re: Is now the time to move in on DCA's for wrongful defaults???

I am looking to make a claim for this and need a little advice on how to go about it.
Do I send a court claim directly and if so what poc is appropriate, if I just ask for a default to be removed then the cost of issuing is relatively low but if I ask for damages then the cost escalates.

I am just not sure how to go about this.

[Guest]

Re: Is now the time to move in on DCA's for wrongful defaults???

Hi Andy,
The account was never in any arrears, some months after the minimum had been paid I even made one or two extra payments.
Vanquis never issued me with a default notice that I received, after checking my credit file the defaults have been added by Lowell only, at least that is the name listed as reporting, incidentally they cannot prove that they sent a default notice and I certainly didn't receive one.
Like I said in an earlier post, I had absolutely no idea about any of this until the court claim papers dropped through the door.

I would gather your evidence first, have you SAR statements which show a continuous payment history, or can you evidence by your own bank statements ?

[Bankers Reform]

Re: Is now the time to move in on DCA's for wrongful defaults???

I have both although the SAR statements do not show all payments I made to them I have bank statements which gives a full list of all payments made.
When I compiled my witness statement for the court hearing I got everything together then.

To give a better idea I can pm you a copy of the witness statement if you wish to look it over.

[Amethyst]

Re: Is now the time to move in on DCA's for wrongful defaults???

You have to complain to Vanquis and the CRA first, send an LBA then go to court if you get no joy. If you have already complained and had no joy responses you will need to use those in your claim but you still must send an LBA.

Going to have a nosey at your threads on CAG.

So Drydens discontinued....well done

I can't read the other thread unfortunately as I don't have an account on CAG that is useable.

[Bankers Reform]

Re: Is now the time to move in on DCA's for wrongful defaults???

Hi Amethyst,

The defaults have only been added by Lowell, nothing from Vanquis.
I have written to the CRA's and their response has been to contact Lowell, this I did two weeks ago.
As of yet I haven't had a reply.
I am about to send off a lba because Lowell have been updating the CRA's since the discontinuance with false information, they are therefore, in my opinion, in breach of their duty of care.
Also, for at least 12 months they have known that the account has been disputed and during this time they continued to update my credit file with a default.

I think the Durkin case is of major significance and sets a precedent for future cases that involve duty of care, in that companies should take all steps to insure that the information they supply to CRA's is accurate and fair, and if they do not then they are in breach and the courts should offer damages of £8k plus interest for injury to credit.


Going to court holds no fears for me, the only concern is making sure I do everything correctly so as not to jeopardise things further down the line.
I have been fighting these people Since April 2013 so another few months is not a concern.

[Nibbler]

Re: Is now the time to move in on DCA's for wrongful defaults???

Slight niggle in the back of my head says that perhaps you should exhaust alternate complaint/arbitration methods first before launching court action. FOS, ICO etc. They do take time though, so if you are not prepared to let it stand while that pans out then court action is your right if you feel justified. However, if there is no reason not to try the alternate dispute methods first then it may look better to the court if you have at least tried to go via them first?

[Amethyst]

Re: Is now the time to move in on DCA's for wrongful defaults???

FOS should agree with you and there's something in the new CONC's from the FCA about how CRA's must handle decisions from FOS so you don't have to rely on Lowells actually taking it off your file...

[ncf355]

Re: Is now the time to move in on DCA's for wrongful defaults???

ICO expressly state they cannot award damages and even show you on their website how to take court action, so you don't need to do anything regards them

Also I would imagine FOS won't cover data related damages awards

[Amethyst]

Re: Is now the time to move in on DCA's for wrongful defaults???

Well I suppose it depends on your primary objective.