Closed Card Account

Reggie256

Have something of a problem which would appreciate some advice on:

Yesterday received a letter from 'Barclaycard Collections' (also listing 1st Credit as the company to contact) reference a Barclaycard account with an outstanding balance of £1218.52. The letter claims that the account was passed over to 1st Credit in 2005. I have admittedly moved address twice in recent years due to marriage breakdown.

Now, I cleared my Barclaycard account earlier this year as quieried the amount and had been paying instalments, but found myself in the position to clear the balance. It was with HFO collections and had an outstanding balance of £1131.36. I subsequently received a letter from HFO confirming that the account was paid in full.

The account number quoted on the letter from Barclaycard Collections doesn't match that of the one that I cleared via HFO. Am therefore assuming that the more recent letter pertains to CPP.

Do I have a leg to stand on here? Again, assuming that this does related to CPP (which I strongly suspect) the charges must pertain to a period covering the time when the card was unusable (with debt collectors) - are they really allowed to charge insurance on an unusable product?

Reggie256

Nothing?

izools

Send them this one (read it in full and edit where required):

To Whom It May Concern:


Your Reference: xxxx

I DO NOT ACKNOWLEDGE ANY DEBT TO YOUR COMPANY


With reference to the above account, I request that you send me a true copy of this credit agreement before I will correspond further on this matter.


This is my right under the legislation contained within section 77 (1) and section 78 (1) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, and I am entitled to receive a copy of my credit agreement on request.


Your obligation also extends to providing me with a statement of account. I enclose a £1

postal order, which represents payment of the statutory fee payable under the Consumer Credit Act. I understand that a copy of my credit agreement should be supplied within 12 working days from the date of this letter.


I understand that under the Consumer Credit Act, creditors are unable to enforce an agreement if they fail to comply with a request for a copy of the agreement under these sections of the Act.


Also, since you are a Debt Collection Agency, I would also ask that you supply a signed true copy of the executed deed of assignment for the above referenced agreement. This is an obligation, whether you are the original creditor or not, under section 189 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974.


Non-compliance with my request is a criminal offence under the above Act and will result in a report being submitted to the relevant statutory authorities.


In summary, I DO NOT ACKNOWLEDGE THIS DEBT AND THEREFORE REQUIRE YOU TO SUBSTANTIATE THIS BY PROVIDING THE FOLLOWING DOCUMENTATION BEFORE I CORRESPOND FURTHER :


1.True copy of original credit agreement
2.Statement of account
3.Copy of the executed deed of assignment from (Argos) and (Moorcroft)
4.Fair Processing Notice.

As you are aware, a credit agreement that is not properly documented and signed by the customer is totally unenforceable under the CCA and therefore is a complete defence to any court claim that is issued.
Take note at this stage, that any legal action you may contemplate will be both vigorously defended and contested.


Further to the above, please ensure that any contact by yourselves is made in writing only to the above address. Telephone calls and personal visits will not be accepted and viewed as harassment.


As this account is now in dispute, I would also draw your attention to The Banking Code section 13.6:-
We may give information to the Credit Reference Agencies about personal debts you owe us if:
·The Amount Owed is Not in Dispute.
·The Office of Fair Trading provided a Code of Guidance that is in relation to Debt Collection: OFT 664 Response to consultation paper and final guidance on unfair business practices dated July 2003
Deceptive and/or Unfair Methods-
2.8 Examples of unfair practices are as follows:-
k. Not ceasing collection activity whilst investigating a reasonably queried or disputed debt.


If you continue in your pursuance of this account I will have no other alternative than to report you to both, The Information Commissioner and The Office of Fair Trading.



Furthermore, I shall submit a Consumer Credit Act 1974 complaint to the OFT upon the basis that you have failed to comply with the OFT's direction of 5 April 2006 and are therefore not a 'fit and proper person' to hold a consumer credit licence under the 1974 Act. If you do not understand what this means then seek advice from your legal department.


I look forward to hearing from you within the statutory time limit.


Yours faithfully

Reggie256

Thanks for the advice - much appreciated!

Would that letter be applicable if the debt IS for CPP?

izools

To be honest from here on out it's largely going to be a game of bluff.

Doesn't matter what it's for, I doubt 1st credit will be able to substantiate their claim to your money - and that's what is important

Reggie256

izools wrote: »

To be honest from here on out it's largely going to be a game of bluff.

Doesn't matter what it's for, I doubt 1st credit will be able to substantiate their claim to your money - and that's what is important

True enough, though am still concerned as this could be for card protection and not for a card itself.

Reggie256

izools wrote: »

Send them this one (read it in full and edit where required):

Stupid question, but would there be a credit agreement for Card Protection?

izools

It'd be integrated into the original Credit Agreement, and as such would be integrated into the contractual minimum payments and be governed by the same regulations.

They shouldn't be able to split the credit card balance and PPI into separate default balances AFAIK.

My guess is Barclaycard passed the debt to one DCA and didn't bother telling them to stop chasing you before passing it to another. It is very commonplace.

Reggie256

izools wrote: »

It'd be integrated into the original Credit Agreement, and as such would be integrated into the contractual minimum payments and be governed by the same regulations.

They shouldn't be able to split the credit card balance and PPI into separate default balances AFAIK.

My guess is Barclaycard passed the debt to one DCA and didn't bother telling them to stop chasing you before passing it to another. It is very commonplace.

Thanks again for the advice.

Am very confused about the whole situation. Firstly, as mentioned in the inital post, the account numbers don't match - I think I recognise the first one as the number of my old credit card, but the second one (quoted on the letter I received this week) doesn't match it and does not contain enough digits to be a credit card number (is 13 digits rather than 16 that were on the old account and card).

And I remain confused about the balances - disregarding, for the moment, the fact that there are somehow two account numbers (and that I have paid one of them in full) I owed £2354.83 for a credit card with a £400 credit limit?!
Doesn't seem quite right!

Reggie256

And now receiving calls from what I think is one of their numbers

Reggie256

Today received a letter from 1st Credit stating account with them. Guess should send them a 'what the hell is this for' letter?