Snakebite v DCA & Hired Solicitors

[Snakebite]

Hey, Im in the process of dealing with a DCA and am now a little confused with how to proceed. Any input/advice/support would be appreciated. This is how things stand at the moment:

DCA contacted me regarding Phone debt, I sent them a "Willing to pay - proof of claim" letter (Which I've pasted below) after their second letter arrived. Their solicitors letter arrived the day after, threatening court action and extra fees, if I didn't settle the debt with the DCA.

Dear Sir/Madam,

I refer to your letter dated the XX of XX in which you allege there is an outstanding balance of £X owed by me to your company.

I do not acknowledge any such debt to your company..

You have ten (10) days from receipt of this letter to state that you comply or intend to comply with my request. Should you not comply or intend to comply, you are to state your reasons as to why.

Please be aware that I will regard any further approaches other than in writing as harassment under S40 of the Administration of Justice Act 1970, and any inappropriate written contact as harassment under that Act or S1 of the Malicious Communications Act 1988.

As such you are now to cease any telephone calls to my residence or workplace. Furthermore, should it be your intention to arrange a "doorstep call", please remember that there is only an implied license under English Common Law for certain people to visit me on my property without express permission; the postman and people asking for directions etc (Armstrong v. Sheppard and Short Ltd [1959] 2 Q.B. per Lord Evershed M.R.).

Please therefore take note that, I revoke license under English Common Law for you, or your representatives to visit me at my property and if you do so without my permission, you will then be liable to damages for a tort of trespass. You would also be conspiring in a trespass if you sent someone to visit me nevertheless.

Please provide verification of your claim with full disclosure of the alleged debt and evidence of a lawful contract; a hand signed affidavit or invoice sworn under oath or attestation in accordance with The Bills of Exchange Act 1882, under penalty of perjury and upon your full commercial liability; a deed of assignment number and proof of agency within ten (10) days from the above date so that I may settle any financial obligation I might lawfully owe. Your said failure to provide verification of your claim constitutes your agreement to the following terms: that you are a third party interloper; you have no lawful standing; no first-hand knowledge of this matter; your claim is fraudulent; the alleged debt is now null, void and non-existent; any damages I suffer; you will be held culpable; that any negative remarks made to a credit reference agency will be removed and that you will no longer pursue this matter any further.

I must say I didn't send this recorded/special delivery, which I now regret, as I have no proof they received the letter.

DCA replied, seems they completely ignored my proof of debt letter. They say:

"Despite a recent letter form our solicitors you have failed to discharge your debt with our client. We are prepared to offer you one last opportunity to pay before instructing our solicitors to issue a claim at (my address.) At this late stage and as a gesture of goodwill we are prepared to accept a full and final settlement on this account provided that you contact us on (phone #) within 48 hours of receipt of this letter."

According to the "Dealing with DCA's" guide on this forum, I should just Ignore any other threats from now on, unless they provide the info I seek or take me to court.

Have I gone about this the right way? Is there anything anything extra I should be doing? [Sending a brief letter to solicitors perhaps?]

Cheers.
SB. :beagle:

[Kafka]

Re: Snakebite v DCA & Hired Solicitors

If anyone threatens you with legal action, you must immediately send them a CPR letter, demanding copies of all evidence that thye would seek to rely on in the court action they have threatened.

It helps to know which DCA it is, whether you owe the money claimed, and whether you have all the data on the account that you need if you may be facing legal action. Without full background details its hard to give the best advice.

[Snakebite]

Re: Snakebite v DCA & Hired Solicitors

If anyone threatens you with legal action, you must immediately send them a CPR letter, demanding copies of all evidence that thye would seek to rely on in the court action they have threatened.

It helps to know which DCA it is, whether you owe the money claimed, and whether you have all the data on the account that you need if you may be facing legal action. Without full background details its hard to give the best advice.

Cheers for the reply. The DCA is Fredpay collections, I do owe the money to the phone company I owe nothing to the DCA, FPC claim they have been instructed to collect the debt from their client, but were asking for payment directly to them - FPC, all of this they stated in their first letter.

I ignored the first letter. Their second letter, they threatened me with "immediate action" if I did not make good on the debt within 7 days. They stated:

Should it be necessary to issue proceedings in the county court (or sheriff's Court as may be appropriate), further additional costs will be to the balance outstanding. (interest, court and solicitor costs.)

If a judgement or decree remains unsatisfied a bailiff or sheriff's officer may be instructed to recover assets to discharge the outstanding debt. Judgement debts are registered by the court. A judgement debt or decree against you would seriously affect your ability to obtain credit in the future.

I replied to their second letter, with my proof of debt letter, just after the deadline they set, [as it was bank holiday.] Anyway, their solicitors [Bryan Carter] sent me this letter below, which arrived a day after I posted mine.

"...Payment must be made in full within the next fourteen days, failing which we will recommend to our client that the proceedings be issued without further notice. Should proceedings be issued, additional charges will be added to the existing balance [court and solicitor fees.]"

They go on to say...

"Before the account is referred to us to litigate, you still have an opportunity to contact DCA with your payment proposals..."

FPC replied to my proof of debt letter within my given timeframe. Stating:

Despite a recent letter form our solicitors you have failed to discharge your debt with our client. We are prepared to offer you one last opportunity to pay before instructing our solicitors to issue a claim at (my address.) At this late stage and as a gesture of goodwill we are prepared to accept a full and final settlement on this account provided that you contact us on (phone #) within 48 hours of receipt of this letter.

I don't have all the details of the account as they ignored my proof of debt letter asking for full dislosure/lawful contract. They and their solicitors have only threatening me with with legal action so far, no service as yet. By a CPR letter, you mean "Civil Procedure Rules" right? Which is this template here >>> http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...3&postcount=11

Do I still need to send this CPR letter to the DCA even though they haven't officially started court action?

Cheers,
SB.