Which letter shall i use?

needuradvice

hi guys,

i've recently sent a statute barred letter to 1st Credit and have today received a reply from Mackenzie Hall asking me to contact them to discuss this further. Of course i'm not going to contact them and i've been told that i need to write a formal complaint letter.

National Debtline have a letter and so does moneyexpert, so which of the two letters below is the correct one to send?

************NATIONAL DEBTLINE************

SEND THIS LETTER TO YOUR LENDER IF YOU HAVE A COMPLAINT BEFORE CONTACTING THE FINANCIAL OMBUDSMAN SERVICE.

(Your home address)
__________________
__________________
Date:______________

To: _________________
____________________

Dear Sir/Madam
Account no: _____________________________________
I/we would like to make a complaint against your company. The details are set out below.
(Explain the nature of your complaint. Set out the facts clearly and in a logical order. Say what you are not happy with and what you want the lender to do about it. Enclose a copy of any paperwork that you feel supports your complaint.)
I/we understand that you must send a written acknowledgement of my/our complaint within 5 business days of its receipt. If you are unable to resolve my/our complaint within 4 weeks you must send a holding response, explaining the reasons why and indicating when you will make further contact.
If you fail to resolve my/our complaint within 8 weeks, or if matters are not settled to my/our satisfaction, I/we will have no alternative but to escalate my/our complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. This could result in you being ordered to pay compensation if my/our complaint is upheld.
I/we look forward to your reply.
Yours faithfully

(your signature)

************MONEYEXPERT************

I do not acknowledge any debt to you or any other company or organisation that you claim to be representing.

Acc/Ref No: *******************

FORMAL COMPLAINT under the complaint procedures set out by the Financial Ombudsman.

Thank you for your letter dated xx/xx/2008, the contents of which are noted.

On xx/xx/2008 I wrote to <Name of debt collector> regarding a debt that was alleged to be owed by myself. That letter was received and signed for on xx/xx/2008 as confirmed by Royal Mail tracking.

In this letter I pointed out the following items:

1) Under the Limitation Act 1980 Section 5 "an action founded on simple contract shall not be brought after the expiration of six years from the date on which the cause of action accrued".

2) The OFT say under their Debt Collection Guidance on statute barred debt that "it is unfair to pursue the debt if the debtor has heard nothing from the creditor during the relevant limitation period".

3) The last correspondence/payment/acknowledgement or payment of this debt was made over six years ago and no further acknowledgement or payment has been made since that time. Unless you can provide evidence of payment or written contact from me in the relevant period under Section 5 of the Limitation Act, I suggest that you are no longer able to take any court action against me to recover the alleged amount claimed.

4) The OFT Debt Collection Guidance states further that "continuing to press for payment after a debtor has stated that they will not be paying a debt because it is statute barred could amount to harassment contrary to section 40 (1) of the Administration of Justice Act 1970".

Therefore it is clear that your original contact regarding this debt may well have been in breach of the Office of Fair Trading Guideline referred to in item (2).

Furthermore, your second letter is in breach of Office of Fair Trading Guideline referred to in item (4) and directly constitutes harassment.

As you are no doubt aware, breaches of the OFT's Guidance on Debt Collection are treated seriously by the OFT when considering your fitness to hold a Consumer Credit License.

In particular the OFT has recently stated that:

The Consumer Credit Act 1974 (the Act) requires debt collectors, businesses that offer goods or services on credit and/or are involved in activities relating to credit or hire to be licensed by the OFT. Following implementation of the OFT's new powers under the Consumer Credit Act 2006 on 6 April 2008, the companies could also have specific 'requirements' imposed on them by the OFT. If such a requirement was not complied with, the business concerned could be subject to a financial penalty of up to £50,000. The OFT can also refuse or revoke a licence if it decides that a trader is not fit to hold one. The OFT can take into account any circumstances which appear to be relevant when considering the fitness of an applicant or licensee, including evidence that the company has contravened the Data Protection Act 1988.

Furthermore, that the OFT has recently enforced their guidelines by placing a legal requirement on Mackenzie Hall Ltd to cease pursuing statute barred or disputed debts.

Therefore I wish to formally notify you that unless I received confirmation that this matter is now closed, then I will not hesitate to make a formal complaint to the 'Office of Fair Trading' and also to 'Trading Standards'.




Furthermore, any attempted contact (other than to confirm that this matter is now closed) by any:

• "trading style" of the <Name of debt collector> group
• constituent member of the <Name of debt collector> group
• a third party acting on your behalf
• a third party that claims to have been legally assigned this debt

will result in an immediate complaint to the aforementioned regulatory bodies.

Also please note that any legal action you may consider will be FULLY and VIGOROUSLY defended, and you will be put to a strict proof of the alleged debt and any payment or acknowledgement that you claim within the relevant limitation period.

Furthermore, you may consider this letter a FORMAL COMPLAINT under the complaint procedures set out by the Financial Ombudsman. If you wish to correspond with myself with any other purpose than to confirm that this matter is now closed, then I require you to supply me with a written copy of your complaints procedure and a "final response" that I may forward to the Financial Ombudsman with my complaint.

This COMPLAINT is not going to go away and ignoring this problem could potentially make your situation worse. I therefore strongly recommend that you send written confirmation that no further contact will be made concerning the above account and confirmation that this matter is now closed.

I would appreciate your due diligence in this matter.

DarkConvict

Go with the Money 'Saving' Expert one.

Copy it into word (special paste - unformatted) otherwise it will be full of bright colours

Format it up nice and neatly, filling in your details were suitable and send it off

needuradvice

thanks DarkConvict mate..just needed to make sure that i send the correct one as i noticed that many forum letters vary and national debtline's is totally different from moneyexpert.


Okay, so the debt was originally with lloyds, then 1st credit took over it and now Mackenzie have replied on their behalf.

1. Why is mackenzie contacting me and not 1st credit?

2. From their reply does it seem they might not have any ccjs on record, otherwise would they not have shown the prooff?

4. Since i've already done a statute barred letter to 1st Credit, but instead got a reply from Mackenzie on 1st Credit's behalf, which company do i send this complaint letter to? Mackenzie or 1st Credit?

needuradvice

surely some kind soul can help me on the above questions?

thanks