Wescot cannot supply signed agreement

rhhmunro

Hi - advice needed and gratefully received!

I wrote to Westcot, a DCA, six weeks ago asking for a copy of the credit agreement for a Halifax credit card taken out in 2004 which they have now taken on (third DCA so far) They replied after two weeks saying they were looking into the matter. A month later they sent a statement of the card's activuty and demanded payment in full. I wrote back saying that since they had not supplied the agreement, the debt was not enforceable. They have now sent me a standard agreement that looks like it has been cut and pasted from a Halifax application form that is undated and unsigned. They are now demanding payment in full within seven days. Any ideas as to what to do now?

Thanks!

McKneff

Do you actually owe the money.

Burlesque_Babe

if they haven't followed the correct procedure and can't provide a CCA within the set timeframe, they can't enforce the debt.

Westcot are known to be pretty scummy lowlife amongst DCA's and will try anything to get you to pay in full for something they bought for pennies.

rhhmunro

Re first reply - the point is that I'm not in the habit of handing out money to people who send me letters and cannot provide proof that I owe them anything.

McKneff

I note that you did not answer my question It was a simple question and did not warrant the defensive reply from you.

If the answer is yes then i would answer as follows:-

The point is, the moral point is is that if you have borrowed and spent someone elses money and you know you have then you should pay it back.

stapeley

Do bank worry about morals ? I think not ! If they fail to keep good records , that is a signed Consumer credit agreement , then as stated in the CC Act , a debt can not be enforced .
The CC Act is there for protection on both sides., it is a legal document showing the agreed terms. Without the signed document there is NO PROOF . What is to stop them saying you agreed to being hassled day and night, threatened with bailiffs , bankruptcy and the plague ? Morals have absolutely nothing to do with it !

phil80

without the cca the debt is unenforceable and just ignore McKneff if you make a mistake the bank are quick to jump on your back and charge you outrageous charges so when they make a mistake and dont document things properley or keep proper and legal records that is an error on their behalf not yours so why not jump on their errors as theuy do customers.

McKneff

stapeley wrote: »

Do bank worry about morals ? I think not ! If they fail to keep good records , that is a signed Consumer credit agreement , then as stated in the CC Act , a debt can not be enforced .
The CC Act is there for protection on both sides., it is a legal document showing the agreed terms. Without the signed document there is NO PROOF . What is to stop them saying you agreed to being hassled day and night, threatened with bailiffs , bankruptcy and the plague ? Morals have absolutely nothing to do with it !

i dont give a flying fox about banks morals, i bother about my own.
and morals and honesty have everything to do with it. Thats why we have turned into a greedy grasping race because there are too many people who are morally bankrupt, dishonest and greedy.

DrScotsman

First, McKneff, I am not a DFW. However I still respect Martin's wishes not to judge on this part of the board, I think you should still do the same.

Secondly, what phil80 is right. In our society we have responsibilities to allow us to mitigate our losses. Here's an analogy for you, sorry if it's a bit poor. You buy a digital camera from Comet in cash. They take down your details. You come home and it doesn't work, and gah, you've lost the receipt. You go back to Comet and they legally ignore your requests as you do not have proof of purchase, even you know that THEY do.

The cases in which something is morally wrong and legally right are to hopefully be avoided, but sometimes we cannot do that without creating another even worse moral wrong/legal right, so we just have to let these things balance out. If a receipt wasn't required then someone would buy a broken one off of eBay and try to take it back to Comet. Likewise if producing the CCA wasn't required, Wescot would get money off of people who never owed money to them in the first place! That's a lot less fair than the other way around.

GeorgeUK

I wrote to Westcot, a DCA, six weeks ago asking for a copy of the credit agreement for a Halifax credit card taken out in 2004 which they have now taken on (third DCA so far)

If you sent the £1 fee with the CCA request, then they have a lefal obligation to supply the required documentation.

They replied after two weeks saying they were looking into the matter. A month later they sent a statement of the card's activuty and demanded payment in full. I wrote back saying that since they had not supplied the agreement, the debt was not enforceable.

Was this the 12+2 day letter?

They have now sent me a standard agreement that looks like it has been cut and pasted from a Halifax application form that is undated and unsigned.

Does it have your name and address on it? Are the prescribed terms reuired and are they on the document?

shayshay

Even if the document they sent has the name and address on it, doesn't it still have to be a signed document? Otherwise they could just have a template made up and a name and address added on stating it was an original.

My sister is experiencing the same probs with Aktiv Capital, formerly Thames Credit. Her finances are poor and has no immediate recollection of the debt and was pressured into paying £10 over the last 2 years just to get them off her back. When she asked me to help I sat with her paperwork stored away in a 'I wont look at it' box and couldn't find any agreement and they still dispute that as they are not the original creditor they do not have a legal responsibility.

Conveniently have ignored the fact an official request complete with the £1 was sent so a recorded delivery has been sent although they claim because she has paid some she has admitted liability, mind you she is a dizzy brunette at the best of times so getting her to agree to thing is quite easy (I was a good big brother honest ) but apparently having paid some is not as bad as it sounds so the credit agreement is still applicable.