Can i fight this legally?

alfieg40

Hi Guys and Gals,

I am looking for some advice on a situation that i may decide to go legal with, if i have a leg to stand on.

Basically, i took out a loan with Abbey about 12 years ago £4000, to be paid over 5 years. The long and short of it is that i defaulted on the loan as i tried to moves jobs and ended up unemployed for a while. Anyhow, i received the normal calls chasing for payment and being only 18 at the time, i ignored them until i got a letter from a collection agency. At this point i went to speak with my grandfather who was a very reputable accountant. I wrote a letter allowing him to act on my behalf, and he started to deal with the people for me. One of the things he did was to get Abbey to credit me back the payment protection amounts that i had made as he cancelled that as i had no call to claim on it at my age, and they mis-sold it to me. So these monies were basically subtracted from the outstanding balance on the loan. The next step was to get me onto a payment program that i could afford. This was set into place and i started paying the collection agency a monthly amount. However, from what i can read the collection agency had an outstanding balance of £8562.46. I had already paid them £2200 by the time my grandfather got involved. So with the payment protection rebate and various other charges credited back to me, the Abbey confirmed in a letter that the outstanding balance was incorrect, it was considerably less.

This is the problem. My grandfather died 6 years ago and i have only just got all of the paperwork from the dealing's he had with the Abbey and the collection agencies. I read through all the information and had a large surprise. There is a letter dated in Nov'98 from the Abbey to my grandfather confirming that the outstanding balance of my loan was £3417.55. I continued to make payments until Mar'99 reducing the balance to £3114.62. According to the correspondence, the collection agency changed, and they sent a letter saing that i still owed £6045.16. My grandfather forwarded on the letter from the Abbey stating the above lesser amount was owed and submitted a payment plan of £56.53 to be paid from Jan'00 to Sept'04 which would clear the balance. This payment was setup, but i have been paying it still to this day! I called the collection agency and they say that i still owe £1946, i couldn't believe it. When i told them that i have a letter here from the Abbey confirming that i only owed £3417.55 to start with, and had paid them way more than that up until now, how the hell did i still owe money. The person at the agency said that she needed to speak to someone, then came back on the phone and said that they have no record of any such letter or any dealing with my grandfather, to which i replied, how the hell did you start taking money from me for the amount he proposed without dealing with him? The conversation ended.

I then called the Abbey who quoted over the phone that at they have the outstanding balance on my account as £3670.90 before it was sold to this collection agency in 2000. I asked for that in writing but they refused to do it. When i then pleaded my case as the collection agency are still saying i owe, the women became very rude and just said that 'the collections agency can charge whatever interest they like and add whatever charges they want'. I was lead to believe that the interest is added on at the time the bank sell the debt, so if the total owed by me was only £3670 at the point of sale to the agency, how the hell did the agency start chasing me for £6045.

As far as i am concerned, i have paid this debt off nearly 4 years ago. So can i sue the collections agency for the extra money that they have taken from me over the past 5 years?! Sorry for the long post, but i wanted to be as clear as can be with the situation. I fully appreciate any help you can provide me.

jonesMUFCforever

Ask them to provide all the information in writing.
If they cannot they cannot persue you for the debt.

alfieg40

What information shall i ask them for?

I was going to ask them for a statement of account showing all the payments i have made and then return that to them with the letter from the Abbey, politely stating that it has clearly been paid. I was going to try and get the Abbey to confirm again that my balance was only £3670 at the time they sold it to Credit Security 8 years ago. My view of the collections agency is that they are being crooks and know it. How can they deny any contact from my grandfather if they agreed the payment plan that he proposed.

One thing the lady at Credit Security said was that by me paying then the monthly instalments, i thereby agreed to the £6045 they said i owed. Can i turn this back on them and say that the payment plan was sent with a letter stating that i only owed £3411, so they have agreed to that amount by taking the payments from me?

Many thanks for your help.

jonesMUFCforever

Ask them for the details of the debt. The debt collectors will have to go back to original lender and if they can't produce the paperwork they can't pursue it against you.

alfieg40

What shall i ask them for specifically and how long shall i give them?

Many thanks

alfieg40

Any ideas?

Thanks

Credit-Crunched

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

Ask them for the details of the debt. The debt collectors will have to go back to original lender and if they can't produce the paperwork they can't pursue it against you.

Not necessarily true, if the op has beneifted from the loan then he is still liable for the loan, agreement or not

petermb_2

Credit-Crunched wrote: »

Not necessarily true, if the op has beneifted from the loan then he is still liable for the loan, agreement or not

An opinion, not fact. The law categorically states under section 77 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 that should the lender not be able to provide a copy of the agreement within the prescribed period of 12 days, then the agreement becomes unenforceable.

If a Consumer Credit Agreement is deemed unenforceable then the lender loses the right to interest and capital as in the appeal decision of Sec of State v Wilson in 2000.

I understand your frustration at being affected by the down turn in the market and all but please state the truth on this site. It is here to help, not muddy the waters even more than it has been for years.

petermb_2

So back to the OP and his problem.

SARN both the lender and the Debt Collection agency.
It will cost you £10 to each of them but worth it.

Request a copy of the agreement
A statement of the account to date.
From the lender request details of commissions received when placing the PPI with the isurance company.
A copy of all correspondence regarding the account.
Please keep a copy of the letter you send. You may need it as evidence in any subsequent legal action against the lender.

There are template letters of SAR requests on here that will stand you in good stead but add in the precise information as listed above.

Once armed with this you should be able to assess your situation.

Good luck!

alfieg40

Thanks very much for your help.

I sent SAR to both companies two days ago, unfortunately before your reply, with the standard template letter from here. Shall i wait to receive that info first, and then if it's not complete ask for the additional you listed?

Also, can a company default you if you have been paying by an arrangement and never missed one? Capital One did this to me. I know that i was not paying the minimum, but i did not receive any correspondence from them, just a letter from the debt collection agents saying that they now want payment instead.

Just noticed on my credit report that a collections agency has registered a default against me for an account that i had with Goldfish. I was paying by arrangement with no missed payments for two years. I have started paying the debt recovery agency as the letter stated. How can they default me for an account that with them i have never defaulted on, or with the original lender?

Many thanks

petermb_2

These companies have a habit of continually defaulting in such situations. In some situation it appears that they have no right to do so. But then, they disregard the law in may cases anyway.

See what you get back from both parties. Then assess the situation then. If they do provide you with a copy of the agreement I will gladly look it over for you and see if there are any glaring errors that you can use to challenge.