"Write Off" your debt companies

The_Cappuccino_Kid

I'll do it for £800.

Tempted? Thought not!

Barge pole tec .....

RAS

piggypat wrote: »

Is this a scam.?

Not a scam but the Ministry of Justice have warned people not to use this sort of company.

Not least because you could do the same with a bit of advice from here for about £2.50 per card.

FraudBuster

The_Cappuccino_Kid wrote: »

I'll do it for £800.

Tempted? Thought not!

Barge pole tec .....

I can do it for £250 with cash up front.:D

Guaranteed success or your money back.;)

emmiekins

I am getting numerous phone calls from a company called Kerobo who say they are linked with the department of justice. They are claiming that they can legally wipe the debt off my credit card that I took out before April 2007. They say that I signed a consumer agreement at that time but that agreement is now obsolete, therefore my debt is unenforceable.

For this service they charge a fee plus a percentage of the debt, in my case the fee would be £1,000 for my £4,000 debt. They say they would charge their fee to the card then that fee would be wiped along with my debt. They also say that if their appeal failed they would refund the fee.

My questions are: is this a legal
would this affect my credit rating
can I trust this company ??
can I save the fee and sort this out myself ?

I can pay this debt but if this is a legal loophole I would like to look into it especially after all the interest they have had off me !

All advice would be really appreciated as this is a really tempting offer but I really don't want to get ripped off

pixiechick_2

Don't pay anyone for 'wiping' debts.

Have a look at Never-in-doubt's unenforceability thread https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2305463

He is VERY knowledgeable about unenforceability. The debts are NOT wiped but may be unenforceable. There is no guarantee that they will be unenforceable even if they were taken out prior to 2007. You will get a default on your credit rating so have a very good think before going down this route.

DarkConvict

The area is so dodgy, they are not linked to, but regulated by the ministry of justice. These firms appear in the media over and over. Stay away by a mile, they old call knowing there is good chance to ring a person in debt.

All they do is a £1 CCA request and some postage. As the topic points out it is only suitable for a few people.

GeorgeUK

The government were so concerned by these types of businesses that they are regulated by the ministry of justice as Darkconvict says. That should give you an idea of how risky it may be.

Is is legal? - barely and alot of the companies cross the line quite alot.
Credit rating - will be shot to pieces. No credit for 6 years at a reasonable rate anyway.
Trust the company? - I wouldn't.
DIY - You could do it yourself. Costs £1 to request a copy of the credit agreement, then you just need to check if it was properly executed (has all the required terms and is in the required form). Problem is your credit score would be shot.

That's why we generally only recommend it to people who have been unable to maintain payments. Their credit score is already heading south.

If you have more than one debt, you should pay the minimum to all and throw anything left at the debt with the highest APR.
If your credit rating is okay, you could try getting a 0% credit card to transfer your balances and save on the interest.

MS_Dolphin

For what its worth,

My situation was that I had several credit cards and due to wider circumstances was on the verge of going into an IVA. As a last ditch attempt to avoid this I challenged my Credit card agreements.

I initially did this myself, sending both CCA and SAR letters. I then used a claims company for dealing with some of my alleged debts.

The reason I used a claims agency was that I wasn't confident that I could do it all myself. I don't have a problem with the process but believed I needed expert help if it either went all the way to court stage and also to be sure that technically I had grounds under the act for not making payments.

First they sent out the CCA request letter and then if necessary the 12+2 letter. Then they examined the responses from the various CCC's and sent me a response - smiley faces and all - telling me how many 'breaches' of the CCA they believe were present.

When I had confirmed I wanted to proceed - who wouldn't when told they had grounds not to make payments - they passed me on to their solicitors. In effect then, the claims company are just middle men. They have charged me a fee (£50 per card) and will get a % from the solicitors if they ever get a result from the case.

On to the solicitors and they've taken the case on a no win no fee basis and will take costs from the other side if we get a result.

Fast forward 12 months and we are at the stage of the solicitors basically sitting on my cases - and presumably thousands of others, waiting on the results of test cases to see if I'll get any joy. They are not doing any work and not really progressing them at all. One case they have actually kicked back to me after a test case in December went the way of the credit card companies. The others I'm obliged to stick with them as one of the conditions was that if I pull out, they will bill me for their costs.

Of my cards that they didn't take on, I've setted a couple on the basis that I was made acceptable settlement offers and one is still in dispute given that despite the CCA and SAR letters, they still haven't sent me any form of agreement.

Looking back I 'probably' wouldn't have used the claims company. If I'd had more confidence I'd have used this board as a guide.

The upside of the situation is that it bought me breathing space at a time when I didn't have any alternative and couldn't have paid the cards anyway. It has trashed my credit rating, but then the alternatives would have done that anyway.

I think the better option is to do it yourself, but seek help here and other appropriate places. I've already settled a coupld of cards myself and believe the others that I still control myself will be wrapped up one way or another long before those still being dealt with by the solicitors.

A bit long winded I know, but hope it helps.

dazzler123

You can get debt help for free with help from CCCS and other organisations - [TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM], please don't agree to anything and seek free help from CCCS

king100

You serious they want to charge you £495 plus 10%.

[TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM].

Its basically very easy to do.

Get all your accounts together wotk out when you opened up each credit card, prefer before 2007

Then to each credit card company you need to send a letter under the Section 127 of the CCA 1974

They must send you a copy of your agreement within 12+2 days(working) with a sighned agreement stating these things

A Amount of credit
B Repayments
c Rate of interest
D Credit Limit

If they cannot send these after 12+2 working days then you send an account in dispute.

Personally head over to CAG DEbt Collection Industry and they have letter templates.

Aslo you will need to send £1 per request.

NEVER NEVER SIGN ANY LETTERS YOU SEND AS IT HAS BEEN KNOWN FOR THEM TO USE THEM.