Me Vs Abbey and DCA- Time to fight back!

BenS1

Hi all,
Apologies if this is in the wrong section, as it does fall under both bank charges and a debt I owe.

A little background information on my debt first before we proceed. The account was a student account, which had an interest free overdraft that was eventually maxed out. I had also changed banks while the account was running, and the bank I changed to knew about my Abbey account and they said they would close it. I forgot about the account in a sense, and I didn't open any letters from Abbey (silly I know). In June 2007, Abbey decided to ask a DCA to collect the overdraft on their behalf and I have since then been making payments to pay off the debt.

I have, however moved house without notifying Abbey or the DCA as I did not like the harrassment being given to me. I have also changed my mobile phone number, as I am seeking employment and I did not feel comfortable answering private number calls in case it was the DCA or someone acting on behalf of Abbey. I would like to re-interate: I have always had the intention of repaying this debt and have done so but I would like to do it under my terms without the harrassment.

Last night, I remembered that I had kept my Abbey statements and realized that there could possibly be charges on it. I have found out that indeed there are charges, totalling £245.I currently owe Abbey £390.10, so therefore if I was to get all of these charges reclaimed then I would owe them £145.10 and will make it easier for me to sleep at night as I would like to get this repayment done as soon as possible.

I have also opened the letters I had not opened earlier, where Abbey did make several attempts to arrange repayment. However, if all the letters that I have are the only ones that were sent to me then I do not recall any mention of a Default Notice. However, my understanding is that a Default Notice is made when an account is refered to a DCA and that the debtor is notified in writing that a Default Notice has been made. Is this correct?

I have started editing the template letter for reclaiming charges, which I am going to claim without financial hardship. This should also allow me to save the remaining £145.10 I owe to this account, if as is the normal case nowadays Abbey decides to wait until the outcome of the test case.

I would like advice on the possiblity of the removal of any Default Notices for this account and also my strategy for dealing with repaying this debt.

Tixy

You should receive a letter notifying you of the default. This not always the same date as the debt is sold on to a DCA, in some cases it will be substantially earlier - e.g. some creditors will default after 6m but not sell the debt on for 12m.

As you have moved house without telling them its possible (although perhaps not that likely) that they have obtained a CCJ against you as the court papers would go to your last known address.

If you feel you are being harrassed for a debt there are various letters you can send, some dealing with telephone harrasment others with general harrasment, but you would need to check the OFT guidelines to see if what they were doing would be considered harrasment or an attempt to recover a debt.

If no default notice was sent to you (at your last known address) then you would have grounds to have it removed. You may want to consider doing a SAR under the data protection act (cost of £10) to find out whether a default notice was sent.

BenS1

Thanks for the reply.

I've decided to make a bold move and notify them of the address change, but certainly not the new mobile number. I figured that they would find it out anyway since I'm reclaiming the bank charges.

I've got a letter drafted that I am planning on sending the DCA. Should I also tell them on the phone about my plan of cancelling my direct debit with them? I also have an issue with the DCA where they took out my monthly payment amount twice in one month.

In the meantime, I'm getting hold of my credit report from Experian to see what demage I have.

Could someone check that this is all good before I send it on Monday?

[FONT=&quot]ACCOUNT IN DISPUTE[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
I am writing with regards to the payment plan I have in clearing my debt with Abbey National plc. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
After new information has come to light regarding bank charges, the debt is now in dispute and the majority of the outstanding debt is made up of unlawful charges. These charges are disproportionately high and therefore they are contrary to the Unfair Terms in Consumer Regulations 1999. In addition I believe that the charges are a Penalty. Penalty charges are irrecoverable at common law. The precedent for this was Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co Ltd v New Garage and Motor co Ltd [1915] AC 79.along with Murray v. Leisure play [2005] EWCA Civ 963 It was held that a contractual party can only recover damages for an actual loss or liquidated losses. It is clear that these charges do not reflect any actual and or real loss.

For your information, I will not be making any more payments to yourself until this matter is resolved. Therefore, I will be cancelling my direct debit setup for the repayment of this debt. Currently the amount due is £390.15 and on the resolution of this matter the amount refunded to myself, on initial calculation charges incurred on this account amounts up to approximately £245.00, will be transferred to your account to offset the amount due, I will then resume making payments on any outstanding sum. I will contact Equidebt Limited to arrange repayment on the outstanding debt.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
Your client, Abbey National plc, will be receiving a letter requesting a full refund within 14 days, for all charges incurred within the last six years, should they not honour this request the dispute will be taken to court.

I would also like to make you aware of The Office of Fair Trading Code of Guidance in which it states: putting pressure on debtors or third parties is considered to be oppressive This includes: Ignoring disputes about whether money is owed and refusing to freeze action if the debt is in dispute. I therefore hope to receive your full co-operation in this matter and would like to request a written response to that effect.

Yours Sincerely[/FONT]

Cheers,