Thincat CCA issues

[thincat]

Hello,
It's quite amazing about these posts because I've contacted one or two of these firms
with a view to getting my CCAs checked out. Basically I have 2 credit cards and one other
card with another well known company. I'm in debt and am currently with the CCCS. I've
followed their advice (£1/month etc.),suffered INCREDIBLE harrassment and want to
get the CCAs scrutinised to see if they are enfoceable. I need to find out :-

a). What do I need to do to get my CCAs
b). Cost (I'm on benefits).
c). Can I get a Pro Bono legal advisor to scrutinise these for me.
D). Can anyone on the forum scrutinise these for me.
E).If they are found to be unenforceable what do I do next.

I've been fighting for over a year now and learnt a lot also I'm a refugee from Consumer
Action Group who are VERY good but don't seem to be very good when it comes to answering posts. As I mentioned before I did contact several firms that advertised that
they could clear credit card debts if they found CCAs were unenforceable and saying that
it wasn't possible for Joe ordinary to sort this sort of thing out. Also the costs were as
stated in the first post(up to £2000 in total). I did speak to one guy who was very, very
helpful who mentioned things I didn't know about (apparently if the amount owed on a
credit card is above £50,000 they sort everything out for free). I do need clarification about this because I'm getting a little uncertain about this. I've got a plan B if this
line of action fails. Also I'm going to reread the post again to get a clear understanding
of my situation. One of the lessons I have learned VERY painfully is that if you don't know
your rights you'll be killed!! The Banks don't give a toss, and the lack of a certain sort of
information about how to deal with these people is quite ghastly. It's websites like yours
that REALLY make a difference because it's VERY nasty out there. I do hope you can help
me because I would get a bit closer to sorting this out. Thankyou all for your kind attention.

Thincat

[Curlyben]

Re: Thincat CCA issues

Honestly these firms like to promise the earth in exchange for their fat fees and it sounds like they have been feeding you their normal hard sell sales line.

Not to worry lets see what can be done for you.

Firstly I'll answer your questions as posted.

a). What do I need to do to get my CCAs - Not mush as it basically a request quoting the correct section of CCA along with the prescribed fee.
b). Cost (I'm on benefits). - The prescribed fee is £1 per request/account
c). Can I get a Pro Bono legal advisor to scrutinise these for me. - What er no. It is more than possible to do this for yourself, with guidance.
D). Can anyone on the forum scrutinise these for me. - Yes indeedy some of us are well versed in CCA and it's requirements
E).If they are found to be unenforceable what do I do next.- Let the creditor know. To be perfectly honest with you they are unlikely to simply roll over, so be prepared for a fight

So I now have a few questions for you.
You mentioned 2 cards and another account.
Are these debt still with the original creditor or have they passed it on to a DCA ?
What have they been doing, some back ground would be helpful as it can temper how we can best assist you with this.
Basically the more information you can give the better we can assist.

There is one large cravat though and that is the moral argument.

Basically you have spent the money so you should repay the same. Simply using CCA as a debt avoidance tool is what these companies are attempting to do and in some high profile cases coming unstuck.

Now I strongly dislike unreasonable behaviour from creditors and I'd prefer they did the correct thing. The same goes for us as well.

So over to you...

[thincat]

Re: Thincat CCA issues

Curlyben,
Thank you very, very much for such a prompt reply, it really has helped. Re more info here
goes.
a).The 2 credit card debts have been passed to DCAs (both with Lloyds Bank).
b). As I understand it so long as you contact your creditors and explain the situation
they should be willing to be reasonable, however the bank rejected my letter from
CCCS straight away and refused my offer of payment (£1).
c). Because I complained about the unreasonable behaviour of these people(breach of
banking code, harrassment by phone EVERY day TWICE a day for nearly 3 months),
to my MP, etc they've backed off to some extent, but obviously a court case is not far
away.
d).The third card is with GE Capital and they have accepted the £1 a month payment
and they have been (so far) ok. That is with a DCA as far as I can tell but I had to fight to
get GE Capital to accept that I had problems.
I have always taken responsibility for my debts and have managed in the past to pay
off several loans taken from the bank. All I'm asking for is time to get to a point where
I can resume repayments and repay the amount I owe. What annoys me intensely is
fact that they don't listen and don't care about anyone so long as bonuses are obtained
,targets met etc.
Credit cards were first obtained in 1986/7 if I remember correctly from Lloyds Bank and
I'm sure the CCAs have been amended since then. The GE Capital Bank card was taken
out in, I think 1990ish(I need to check this). I hope this information answers your
questions.
One other thing I must mention to clarify things further. At the moment I have received
a letter from MHA Collections (DCA) in relation to one credit card account asking for a
reduced amount.This was after I sent a letter pointing out that harrassing me wouldn't
help and sending the CCCS letter. I am no longer receiving a monthly statement from them re this account.
With the other credit card account this is rather odd. I still receive monthly statements
even though I got a letter from the DCA re this account a while ago. I await developments
on this one.
I really want to keep this information as structured and simple and clear as possible
because so much has happened and I had to do so much to get to this point. If what I
have said needs clarification in any way, please tell me. Thank you so so much for your
help so far.

Thincat

[Curlyben]

Re: Thincat CCA issues

Thanks for that Thincat, I really appreciate your open and honest response.

Now for a run down of dealing with DCA's in a CCA environment you really should have a read of this sticky: Consumer Credit Agreements - A Guide - Legal Beagles

DCA's should ALWAYS be made to prove their legal rights to collect on any debt.
After all would you simply pay me if I said you owed a debt ?!

If you have any further questions, comments, etc, feel free to shout.

PS why not hang around after you have posted as you should find the rest of the site interesting.

[thincat]

Re: Thincat CCA issues

Curlyben,
Thanks for your reply. I had a few problems finding my post and your reply but I've got things suused out a little better now. Strangely enough I DID read the post you mentioned, I stumled on it while trying to find my posts. I'm going to go away and read this lot VERY carefully because I know I'm getting to a very critical phase with this. I've
already got some questions to ask but I'm saving them till I read and study a bit more.
I really want to prepare a structured response to this so I don't get confused and understand what is happening. Thanks again for your help.

Thincat

[Curlyben]

Re: Thincat CCA issues

Shout when you want.
There's always people about to help.

[thincat]

Re: Thincat CCA issues

Curlyben,

I've had a look at your CCAs-a guide section and I've got several questions:-
1) What is an OC?
2).I'm not clear about the charges side of this. Yes there have been unfair charges levied
against me in the past re the 2 Lloyds Bank credit cards that I have and late payment
charges levied by GE capital on the card they issued to me. However in the case of the
2 credit cards, I thought that the 6 year limit had been exceeded and I couldn't ask for
those to be refunded. I need clarification on that please.
Oops just seen the answer to my first question,OC stands for Original Creditor. Sorry.

So far what I've seen has really helped answer a LOT of questions, but I'm going to
study some more. I'll be back with more questions.

BTW I need to mention this in case it complicates matters. I have a current account
which I exceeded its O/D limit(not my fault they took money out to pay for money
owed on the credit cards) and I've left this out of the situation because AFAIK there
was no CCA involved in that only unfair bank charges. Now I know I could claim on them
because the 6 year limit is still valid, however that went to a DCA. Any problems with that?

Thincat

[Curlyben]

Re: Thincat CCA issues

1/ OC - Original Creditor.
2/ With CCA and charges it's either/or. IF we find that the agreements are "rubbish" then you can't really attempt a reclaim on the charges as that could be seen as unjust enrichment.
Of course if the agreements are good then we get the balance reduced by going for the charges.


Thery are "allowed" to do this where the card and account are with the same bank. Best advice, move accounts ASAP, as in yesterday !!

[thincat]

Re: Thincat CCA issues

Curlyben,
Sorry for the delay in replying. Thankyou for the VERY helpful answers and clarification. I actually opened another account with another bank quite some time ago so I don't have
certain other issues to consider.

Regards,

Thi

[thincat]

Re: Thincat CCA issues

Curlyben,
Thank you again for your help up till now it has been MOST helpful. The reason for my long
silence has been due to going away to think CAREFULLY about the next move ,now,however I am about to send off the CCA request letters. One question I'd like to ask is, in the light of recent pronouncements about CCAs and the court case concerning this, can I still send the CCA request letter with the £1?
Also another situation has arisen about which I need some guidance. I have received
a letter from a DCA for someone who doesn't live at my address but used it as a "C/O"
address. I opened a previous letter from these people and returned it "addressee Unknown". The 2nd letter I received is now addressed without the "C/O" but with the
name of the person and my address laid out in a way that conveys the impression that
the address is the proper address of this person(as I said this person doesn't live at this
address).
I opened the letter and read that the DCA intends to pursue legal action and Bailliffs
could come to the flat and remove items to repay the debt. I really don't need the
hassle believe me so I wondered if I can:-
1). Write to the DCA stating that I am the only one living at this address and to stop
harrassing me.
2). Try to contact this person and get them to send a "prove it" letter to the DCA.

Yet again your help would be greatly appreciated because everything else is going
quite well.

Thank you and Respects,

Thincat

[Curlyben]

Re: Thincat CCA issues

Curlyben,
Thank you again for your help up till now it has been MOST helpful. The reason for my long
silence has been due to going away to think CAREFULLY about the next move ,now,however I am about to send off the CCA request letters. One question I'd like to ask is, in the light of recent pronouncements about CCAs and the court case concerning this, can I still send the CCA request letter with the £1? Don't sweat it as the Judges comments where about certain aspects of CCA and not the whole thing. So get your requests sent, NOW !!
Also another situation has arisen about which I need some guidance. I have received
a letter from a DCA for someone who doesn't live at my address but used it as a "C/O"
address. I opened a previous letter from these people and returned it "addressee Unknown". The 2nd letter I received is now addressed without the "C/O" but with the
name of the person and my address laid out in a way that conveys the impression that
the address is the proper address of this person(as I said this person doesn't live at this
address).
I opened the letter and read that the DCA intends to pursue legal action and Bailliffs
could come to the flat and remove items to repay the debt. I really don't need the
hassle believe me so I wondered if I can:-
1). Write to the DCA stating that I am the only one living at this address and to stop
harrassing me.
2). Try to contact this person and get them to send a "prove it" letter to the DCA.
Don't bother doing anything with it. Simple send them back UNOPENED as Unknown At This Address and leave it at that. The threats in the letter about sending bailiffs round are normal DCA fair I'm afraid and are designed to scare people into paying. They will NOT be sending any one round, especially bailiffs without a court order. Even if they do you are completely safe as this does NOT concern you at all and you can prove it.

Yet again your help would be greatly appreciated because everything else is going
quite well.

Thank you and Respects,

Thincat

Comments in Blue

Basically, take a deep breath and proceed with the CCA plan and ignore the letters that aren't addressed to you. It's an offence to open mail that isn't addressed to you anyway, so don't. No acknowledgemnt is needed from you at all.

[thincat]

Re: Thincat CCA issues

Hi Curlyben,
Yet again many, many, thanks for your prompt answer. I've torn up the letter and binned it so I'm assuming that that's ok. Yes I'm going to send off the CCA requests asap and then wait and see.

Many, many thanks,

Thincat

[thincat]

Re: Thincat CCA issues

Hi Curlyben,
I've sent the CCA requests today using the specimen letter on this website with £1 postal order (costs £1.50- ripoff) and sent this lot by recorded delivery (It's called Recorded Signed For now). The people I've sent the CCA requests to are:-
1).MHA Collections.
2).BLS Collections.
3). CL Finance Ltd.

I am going to track these letters to make sure they arrive, however I do have a slight
worry about this. I sent another lot of letters to these people via the same method and
went to check on the Post Office website to confirm that they'd been "signed for". All
I got was in one case the fact that it had been delivered by the local sorting office and
in another case, there was only mention that the letter had been received by the office
I'd posted the letter at!! So much for the "Trace and Tracking" system!! I'm going to
phone the Post Office for clarification but I'm not optimistic.
My question is, how can I confirm that the DCAs have got my CCA requests?
Any light on this vexed question would be gladly appreciated. I do have to say that
the help I have received on these matters has been second to none and I'm trying to spread the word. The website is also VERY structured and tidy which is a great help
when one is confused and uncertain. The other website(Consumer Action Group)
which covers the same ground is also fantastic, however it seems harder to find the
stuff you need and they don't reply to posts or there is a delay before a reply which
is unhelpful when one feels(rightly or wrongly) under the cosh as it were. Please keep
up the good work, it's invaluable.

Thanks

Thincat

[thincat]

Re: Thincat CCA issues

Hi Curlyben,
Update . I phoned the Post Office and they did clarify everything. Idid manage to find out that I lost 1 letter I sent to a DCA but the others got through. I also
found out that Signed For Recorded Delivery only verifies the fact that the letter has been received and signed for and is NOT tracked as it goes through
the system. Only Special Delivery (which costs £4.95 ) allows that.
Further update on 16th June.
After a number of phone calls to Royal Mail I've confirmed that 2 CCA requests
out of 3 have been delivered and signed for these are:-
1).MHA Collections.
2).CL Finance LTD.
The 3rd CCA request to BLS Collections is the one causing the biggest headache.
Phone calls to Royal Mail have so far yielded that the item hasn't been
delivered i.e. wasn't signed for or lost. This the 2nd time this has happened
to an item sent to BLS Collections and I found a thread on:-
http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...t-details.html which seems to point out that mail sent to the
PO Box address on their letter gets redirected. I've decided to send
ANOTHER CCA request to the address suggested in that thread because
Royal Mail were generally only basically helpful and I've got to wait 15 days
before I can claim anything. If any of this is not relevant or you are aware
of this(which I suspect you are) please tell me because at least I know what's what.
What puzzles me a little is that BLS Collections sent me a letter asking for
1/2 the money asap (the sum I owed had "without prejudice" typed above it)
and gave the PO box address to send the money to and Royal Mail
have confirmed that the address exists. The letter was sent in march this year
so I cannot understand where the correspondence is going to.

I do have another question for you however and I'd be grateful if you could
help with this, can I send an SAR to reclaim bank charges on an account which
has exceeded it's overdraft limit and the bank are refusing to accept the £1
a month payment even though I'm paying it? Any pointers would be
appreciated.

Respectfully,

Thincat

[Curlyben]

Re: Thincat CCA issues

Honestly it doesn't surprise me about BLS as they are LTSB's in house monkeys..

I do have another question for you however and I'd be grateful if you could
help with this, can I send an SAR to reclaim bank charges on an account which
has exceeded it's overdraft limit and the bank are refusing to accept the £1
a month payment even though I'm paying it? Any pointers would be
appreciated.

Yes, definatly get the process running..