equidebt

[wigwam08]

hello i have recieved a letter of this company(equidebt) saying that i owe £3000 from a previous loan i had with a company i took this loan out 4 years ago and made payments by d debit but towards the end of the loan i moved house and lived at different addresses for a year or so and therefore wasnt recieving any bank statements so i thought the loan was paid off! but obviously not but i know for a fact that i was near the end of the payments probably about £300-£400 away from paying it off this company(equidebt) say that if i dont pay in full by monday 24th then court/baliff procedings will begin iam going away this weekend until tuesday so only have today to sort things out i just want some advice on what to do should i fone them? or go to citizens advice? i havnt got a clue what to do anybodys help will be much appreciated
thanks in advance
Dave

[LilDevil]

Can't help a great deal, I've read elsewhere in other threads about requesting a CCA as they cannot enforce it if they do not have a signed CCA from you. There are template letters somewhere. I'm sure someone with a bit more nouse about them (having a bad day and can't get my head round much at all at the moment!!!) will be able to post a link.

I think the general rule of thumb is also not to acknowledge any debt until the CCA has been received - if they fail to provide it within a certain timeframe (I think 12 days, but please correct me if I'm wrong), they are in breach of some regulation or other!

Hope it all goes well for you.

[rog2]

Hi Dave - First of all, don't worry - you have received a standard 'frightener' letter. The way that the letter is worded is intended to 'frighten you into paying, without checking. The mere fact that Debt Collection Agencies feel that they need to jump in using this type of threatening language is testament to the type of 'scum' that you are now having to deal with.
Whilst 'Equidebt' may threaten legal action within 7 days, even they are subject to the law and can not speed up due process. In order to take 'legal action' they must, first of all, issue you with a County Court Summons, which will give you a minimum of 14 days in which to either dispute the debt, or make an offer of payment that you can afford.
Niether can Equidebt 'send in Bailiffs' - only the Court can do that - and only if you default on a Court order.
In the meantime, you can, and should, request a true copy of the original signed consumer credit agreement, deeds of assignment and up to date statements, from Equidebt. They are legally obliged to provide you with these within 12 working days, and without them they can not enforce the agreement.
A 'template letter' requesting this can be found on the following link:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...html?p=4941606

Send the letter by recorded delivery. Once they receive this request, Equidebt can take no further action until they have provided you with the requested information. If they are unable to provide the information within 12 working days of reciept of your letter, then they are unable to enforce this 'debt' without a Court Order. If, after a further 30 days, they still have not provided you with this information, they will have, then, comitted a criminal offence.

[wigwam08]

thank you very much lil/rog i really appreciate your replys i had read elswhere about the origional agreement but was a bit confused now you have made it very clear thanks very much just one more question with it being a bank holiday weekend will it matter if they only recieve my letter to them about the agreement after the deadline date on the letter which is monday 24th? they will probably get the letter on tues/wed
thanks again
Dave

[rog2]

Originally Posted by wigwam08

just one more question with it being a bank holiday weekend will it matter if they only recieve my letter to them about the agreement after the deadline date on the letter which is monday 24th? they will probably get the letter on tues/wed
thanks again
Dave

It is 'working days' so allow 2 more days for the Bank Holiday.