Debt Collectors Help!

outdriveman

Hi
I am confused regarding debt coleectors
My girlfriend had a letter that was sent to her from a debt collector saying she needed to contact them ASAP which we did they informed us that she owed them £600 form an old Credit Card Debt. We refused to pay anything until they gave us a breakdown of the account. I put this in a letter which is as follows:

Dear Sir/Madam

I DO NOT ACKNOWLEDGE ANY DEBT TO YOUR COMPANY

Ref: xxxxxxxxxx

I am presently striving to organise my personal information and can find no reference to the alleged debt and/or agreement on you appear to have been assigned to collect.

Therefore, please supply me with a true copy of the original agreement.

You will appreciate that this is my right and your legal obligation under the legislation contained within section 77 (1) and section 78 (1) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

I also understand that it is your obligation to provide me with a statement of account and I look forward to receiving that as well.

Since you are a Debt Collection Agency, please also supply a signed true copy of the deed of assignment of the above referenced agreement.

Again, this is you will appreciate a statutory obligation, whether you are the original creditor or not, under section 189 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

Please find enclosed my £1 statutory fee, this fee is not to be offset against any alleged debt.

I look forward to hearing from you within the statutory time limit.

Yours faithfully,

We did not sign this letter as this is the advice we have read. anyone no why?

The responce from the debt collector was
We acknowledge receipt of your request under section 77 and/or 78 of the consumer Credit Act 1974

The xxxxx Finance Group is not obliged to provide this information but we are pleased to help and have already requested the documentation for you from the original lender.

xxxxx financial does not accept the statutory fee required under section 77 and/or78 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 and as a result Cabot has returned the fee for £1.00 that you have sent.

Although they do go on to say "We anticipate that they will be able to provide the information within 12 days. In the event we are unlikely to obtain this information within those time limits, we will write to you again"

What does this letter mean do they have to provide the information or not?

I understand that the debt collectors have 14 days to provide this information which they havent! As I understand this debt is now in dispute and they can not legally pursue this debt until they have provided this information and if they have not done this within 30 days they are breaking the Law. What does this mean for us do we have to pay the debt off if they have not provided the info within 30 days?

I dont want to avoid paying the debt but at the same time I dont want to chase debt collectors up so I can give them money.

What is my next step bearing in mind it has been 14 days since I have sent the letter?

Thanks in advance for any advice given

Steve

Numpty_Monkey

Just giving this a bump

We did not sign this letter as this is the advice we have read. anyone no why?
well done on that:T

It has been suggested that some DCA's copy your signature ontoa CCA:eek:

shinyhead

You've done the right thing.

They've replied with a load of mumbo-jumbo to try and confuse you. If xxx agency is chasing you for a debt then it must be able to prove they have the right to do so. This means they should have a deed of assignment and other paperwork such as the CCA passed to them as part of the deal with the original creditor.

Thing is a lot of the time the paperwork doesn't get passed on. This puts the DCA at a disadvantage and they then try to squirm their way out of it when they get a letter such as yours. There was a thread titled 'Standard letters to creditors' or similar that had a template of a 12+2 letter. I've just spent nearly an hour looking for it but I think basically I'm knack'ed.

You can send a letter telling them that their time is up and the account is in dispute. After another 30 calendar days with no CCA turning up then you can send another letter telling them they've defaulted. I believe at this point you can stop payments if you wish.