Reclaim Fees When Sold Onto Debt Collection Agency ...

HopefulJen

Hi everyone,

I got into a very big financial mess a few years ago, which the Consumer Credit Counselling Service has been dealing with on my behalf with various creditors ( I can thoroughly reccommend the CCCS - you can find them on the web, they saved me from financial disaster and are brilliant for relieving worries ).

I have an agreement to pay off my credit card balances via the CCCS. One creditor is Co-Op visa. Having read this site, I am planning on claiming back unfair charges and have started by requesting details of the charges for the last 6 years from Co-Op Visa using Martin's draft template letter.

Since the letter ( and the 10 pound postal order ) has been received by them, they have passed the full amount onto a Debt Collection Agency. This is BEFORE they have replied to me within the 40 day deadline for returning the information.

The CCCS will deal with the debt collection agency but I still want to reclaim charges. Can anyone help with how this process works when your original credit card debt has been sold on to another agency, within 6 years, and you want to reclaim your charges ? I am in this situation with another creditor as well and want to make sure that anything I am paying back is the correct amount that I owe.

The other complication is that since I had the card originally, I have got married and have a different surname. I do not have any accounts still open with my maiden name. Can I negotiate a reduction in the total amount owed as opposed to getting a cheque for the remainder amount, for instance ?

I really appreciate anyone's help and advice about this...thank you very much,

Hopefully !

Jen

Curlyben

Easy enough.
Continue with your reclaim and throw a dispute notice at the DCA.

This should do the trick:

ACCOUNT IN DISPUTE

Dear Sir/Madam,

Your ref:


Thank you for your letter of **DATE**, the contents of which are noted.
I refer to my letter of **DATE** a copy of which is enclosed for your perusal and ease of reference.

As holders of a Consumer Credit Licence you are obliged to comply with the Office of Fair Trading Guidelines on Debt Collection. I would therefore be obliged if you would provide me with an explanation as to why you are attempting to collect on an alleged debt which was disputed with **BANK ** prior to your first contact with me, and has yet to be resolved.
As per OFT guidelines Section 2.8k "not ceasing collection activity whilst investigating a reasonably queried or disputed debt."

Since this is considered an unfair practice and contrary to the OFT guidelines, you should consider this letter as a formal complaint, and provide me with a copy of your complaint resolution procedure.
I also require you to confirm that you will now comply with the OFT guidelines, and will not attempt any further collection activity whilst the dispute is unresolved.

Should you fail to provide me with the required undertaking within 7 days, I shall report your breach of the OFT guidelines to Trading Standards and the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Take notice that I will not discuss this matter on the telephone, and all further communication must be in writing. Any further telephone calls will be perceived as harassment, and dealt with accordingly.

I hope that you will enter into a sincere dialogue with me about this matter and I am writing this letter to you on the assumption that you would prefer to do this than merely respond with standard letters and leaflets.

I would appreciate your due diligence in this matter.

I look forward to hearing from you in writing.

Yours faithfully

As for reclaiming while it's with a DCA, oh course you can.
After all the charges have been applied to your account and therefore means the amount the DCA are after is incorrect.

NEVER talk to the DCA's on the phone or even acknowledge anything.
Your account is with Co-Op and as such they are the only people you should deal with.

HopefulJen

Hello CurlyBen,

That was extremely useful information and I'm sending a copy of your letter to the DCA and to Co-Op (who are already harrassing me with sometimes up to 10-15 phone calls per day). You've obviously had a lot of experience with this and I wanted to say a very very big thank you for the effort you've taken to help - good luck with your own fight and I will post here to let everyone know what happens next ..

As an aside, although it's been Xmas, I still haven't had a response from Co-Op regarding the DPA request for charges...let's hope this situation hurries them along as they realise I'm not going to roll over and play dead !!!!

Now More HopefulJen !

Curlyben

No worries there Jen.

I'd throw a reminder letter at Co-Op for the SAR.

I've dealt with more DCA's and snotty OC than I care to mention, as it's quite embarrassing.
To give you some idea, I use the same ID all over the various reclaim sites

Toffee_Penny

Hi Jen

Don't know too much about anything but learning everyday on here! I too am on a DMP with CCCS and am starting to reclaim ppi and charges.

As far as I have read there is a difference if the debt has been passed on to a DCA to deal with, usually in house or some connection to original creditor just different address to catch you out OR been sold on to a DCA. It doesn't matter who they pass it on to/sell to as they gave you the loan/credit card so it is the original creditor you claim from.

If you reclaim successfully and the debt has just been passed on then I think any monies due goes directly to debt to bring balance down.

BUT if the debt has been sold to another company then this is usually for a small percentage of what the debt was for and therefore you should have the money directly refunded to you. Why should the DCA get it? It's yours. You could then use the money to do a full and final settlement to the DCA.

I hope I haven't waffled on but this is how I understand it. I have read on here about reclaiming whilst on a DMP and an IVA and people have asked the same question. It's probably quite an old thread but I did see it on here.

I hope this helps

militantconsumer

Hi HopefulJen

Have you made an agreement with your creditor and then stopped paying in line with that agreement? Although you are entitled to reclaim charges I would suggest treading carefully before stopping ALL payments, as this is what triggers action by the Banks - no communication combined with no payments. Are you sure the charges are likely to be more than the alleged debt they are chasing you for? Otherwise if the charges will only reduce the debt then you really have to carry on paying what you can afford until the debt reaches zero. (while reclaiming charges at the same time)

Requesting copy bank statements is not the same as disputing the debt, and so the Co-op are in my opinion allowed to have passed the account onto a debt collector.

I think the other posters are right in that Co-op are unlikely to have actually sold the debt to the DCA and are just using them as a scare tactic. So don't be scared!

However, once you get the statements you can certainly challenge them. I have just helped a friend to do this with an Abbey account, where Abbey had passed it onto the debt collector. As soon as we added the charges up we realised that, once you add 8% interest (see Martin's calculator) it was actually Abbey who owed us money rather than the other way round! So we stopped paying, wrote to Abbey and the DCA saying it was ALL in dispute, and we just heard that the DCA have sent the account back to Abbey. Hopefully Abbey will pay up soon.

Good luck against the Co-op.

HopefulJen

Hi everyone,

My debt is around £9,000 with Co-Op and I am still paying the amount that's been agreed with the CCCS but wanting to reduce the amount owed accordingly with the unfair charges removed. I have not yet heard from Co-op about the details of charges but the 40 day deadline has not yet come and gone. This site and your advice and stories of beating the system is so useful and empowering - having gone from being terrified generally a few years ago and practically quaking in my boots about the thought of what might happen with my overall debt and not being able to pay it, I now feel completely different.

How I could end up with 5 credit cards because of trying to Rate Tart and failing to keep up with the payments or moving money around is incredible to think about in the Crunch climate; I will pay what I owe, but I won't pay what they've added on simply to screw me for more money !!!

On an aside, I've queried some charges made through A&L and have had a standard letter saying that this can't be taken forward until the results of the test case are decided. I'll keep people informed.

Good luck with your fights !

Hopeful Jen

HopefulJen

Hi everyone,

A bit of an update.

It's now 16 days until the 40 day deadline. Letters have gone in the post to Co-op following Curly Ben's format ( ta Curly Ben ! ) . Today I received a standard letter from Co-op (in a Smile envelope, interestingly, maybe the Crunch means they are having to borrow stationary ?? ) saying that they are sorry I'm unhappy with the service and they'll respond to my complaint in due course.

At the same time, the flurry of letters I've sent, seems to have brought the phone calls to a reasonable level i.e. 1 per day. When you return this call you go through to an automated service which tells you that Co-Op " May phone you back on this matter ".

I have sent a follow up letter reinforcing that I will be sticking to the 40 day deadline. I have sent a letter to the DCA saying that I'm disputing the amount owed and I'll deal with Co-op only. I've also made sure that CCCS are aware of the situation and they have confirmed that they'll carry on paying amounts agreed in the DMP.

I was thinking today that you have to become borederline obsessed and determined to continue to win and don't waver from the path ! Everyone's advice is amazing here. Knowing that so many people are there, half way there or starting out getting there gives you the incentive to take all the crap and tactics and stick to your guns !

Thanks Militantcustomer and Toffeepenny - will write again to let you know what's happening ...

Jen

HopefulJen

Another update.

I sent a letter to the Co-Op DPA address informing them that I would complain to the I.C. if I did not hear within 40 days. I also wrote to the Debt Dept. saying that this was an ongoing process and that I fully intended to comply with my CCCS agreement whilst it was being dealt with.

I have a letter from Co=op saying that they acknowledge receipt, my cheque is with the right department, I will have a response within 40 days and that if I do not have this response I am entirely entitled to complain to the I.C.

They also say : " as a gesture of goodwill in this situation " that they will agree to cease collection activities for a period of one month whilst this situation is resolved. No mention of the fact that as it is a disputed claim they are obliged to cease collection activities for as long as it takes to resolve the dispute. I will reply to this letter formally.

It is reassuring that they have acknowledged receipt of the postal order and the DPA request. If they do not give me a breakdown in charges by the 30th then I will complain to I.C.

Getting there slowly....

Jen