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CCCS_Sue

BellaFiga wrote: »

About three years ago Nationwide passed a debt of £1,900 to a collection agency. I sent a letter asking for a copy of the agreement and the agency passed the debt back to Nationwide. Just before Christmas I got a letter from Nationwide saying that they had sold the debt. I then received two letters from MKRR asking me to contact them. I wrote two weeks ago asking for a copy of the agreement. Yesterday I received a further threatening, albeit standard, letter from them saying if I don't contact them they will send an agent here to visit me.

How do I get them to acknowledge that I have asked them for the credit agreement, and that they have not responded? I refuse to phone them; I only respond to these types of companies by letter. I am very worried about a visit, not for myself, but there are times that my 14 year old is here on her own.

Hi bellafiga and thank you for your message

They could be in breach of the OFT's Debt Collection Guidelines if they are still pursuing a debt that is in dispute.
If you have sent a CCA request with the £1 fee, then they only have 12 working days in which to reply and provide the information.

Below is a copy of a template letter you could use to follow up your first letter.

From:
Name:
Address:
Postcode:
Date:
To:
Creditor’s Name:
Account/Agreement No:

Without Prejudice

Dear Sir / Madam
With reference to the above account:
I wrote to you on (date) requesting a copy of the above agreement
together with the relevant information under Section 77-79 of the
Consumer Credit Act (CCA) 1974. I enclosed the £1.00 fee. This letter was
delivered and signed for on (date).
I have not yet received the information requested.
The CCA allows 12 working days for this request to be fulfilled. The 12
days ended on (date) and you are now therefore in default of the CCA.
I understand that under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 creditors are
unable to enforce an agreement if they fail to comply with the request for
a copy of the agreement and statement of account under these sections of
the Act. This means this debt is now unenforceable.
Yours faithfully

Hope this helps

Kind regards
Sue

sickasachip13

CCCS_Pavan wrote: »

Hi SAAC13 and thanks for your post.

It’s good to hear that your DMP is up and running well.

If your income increases, you are right that your entire surplus will still be used to repay your debts.

However, it sounds like you would need to review your budget anyway if you are struggling. One option could be to update your income once you are back on your feet like you have suggested, or you could look at increasing some of your expenditure in areas such as clothing and spares and servicing. This would have less of an impact on the term of your DMP if your income has increased.

I hope this answers your questions but if you’re unsure it’s always best to give our support team a call so that we can discuss your options with you.

Kind regards,
Pavan

Hello again,

So if I get a job could I let CCCS know but maybe delay the review until after my first pay packet? I don't want to annoy CCCS, or worse, annoy the creditors as I'm not trying to 'get away' with anything it's just we'll really be playing catch up for that first month (plus I'm going to have to borrow money from someone to get to work for the first month).

BellaFiga

CCCS_Sue wrote: »

Hi bellafiga and thank you for your message

They could be in breach of the OFT's Debt Collection Guidelines if they are still pursuing a debt that is in dispute.
If you have sent a CCA request with the £1 fee, then they only have 12 working days in which to reply and provide the information.

Thank you for this draft letter. I will send it today.

natlai

Hi,

I got a loan from Capital Credit Union in July/ August of 2010 with the repayments to be made by direct deductions from my salary which I signed an agreement too and they were to set up.

They failed to set it up and the first I heard was in October 2010 which I e-mailed about and they said that I had to pay the arrears and that they would increase the deductions from my salary.

I got another letter in January about the arrears to which I e-mail stating why haven't they increased the deductions and they told me it was because of the arrears on the account and I stated that I wanted to arrange a payment plan and I heard nothing else.

They have now increased the deductions to my salary and also charged me £12 in lawyers fee's when I heard nothing about it and have only had one letter.

I am unsure about what I should do now.

Any advice appreciated

farradn

Hi Sue,

Thanks for the reply. I made the call to CCCS yesterday. If anyone is reading this forum who is yet to call them DO IT, you'll feel fantastic like a huge weight has been lifted, it may only last a short while but it's worth it.

We went through a basic break down of my income, my priority debts and all of my other problem debts. The guy on the phone was fantastic he gave me a reference number and told me that if anyone calls me chasing the debts I was to tell them my reference number, that I had sought advice from you and that we would be in touch soon to discuss my financial situation and how to settle my debt with them. He then went on to tell me that I should stop worrying, and that now I had made this call we would get these problems sorted as painlessly, and as quickly as possible whilst leaving me with enough money to live on. He said it with such confidence that I couldn't help but believe him, and for the first time in a long time I wasn't worried (it only lasted a few hours though). He arranged a consultation for next week (offered me earlier ones, but I had work).

I then remembered the payday loan of £300 which I'd forgotten to tell him about when I was listing our debts and which is due to leave my bank account on Monday 28th (payday). He told me I should withdraw all of my money on Monday morning before it leaves the account and put my money in my girlfriends account, then contact the bank and cancel all direct debits and call each of my priority creditors and pay them over the phone.

This is the bit I'm worried about, if I withdraw all of the money my bank will apply charges to my account for not having the funds in there to cover the direct debit increasing my debt to them. Also as the payday loan company always takes their money on payday I maybe too late when trying to take the money out. My girlfriend and I are going to the Co-op bank to set up a new joint current account on Monday as I mentioned in my earlier post, (my CCCS consultation is on Tuesday).
Are we to both move all of our money out of our accounts into the new account asap and not pay any of our non priority creditors until after this consultation? (I think that's the plan).

If so wouldn't it be better for me to defer payment of the payday loan rather than try to just withdraw the money before they can and risk further charges from the bank (the payday company offer defferal, I just checked and all I pay is the interest this month with the principle carried over to next month). The interest is £75 which is higher than the charges for non payment from my bank, but if I don't get the money out in time I will only have to ask them for another £300 to get through the month, basically requesting more credit a day before I talk to you guys about how I don't pay them on time (It's one thing setting up a DMP because your struggling with payments, but I don't feel good about signing a credit agreement knowing I intend to break it the next day).

So do I:
-A: Try to withdraw all of the money, take a hit from the bank and risk being too late with £375 less in my account meaning I can't get through the month again.

-B: Just pay it and take out another loan on the same day so that I can get through the month. (this is pretty much the same result as A, if I am too late to withdraw the money.

-C: Defer the payment to next month by paying the interest giving me time to contact them and everybody else about my finances and putting forward my DMP to them.

(multiple choice, can you tell I used to be in teaching).

farradn

Just realized that there is an option D.

If I am too late to withdraw the money from my account on Monday, then the payday loan is paid off in full and I am thus one debt down.

As I have been taking out payday loans to cover the non-priority debts, if they take their money leaving me -£375 this month then I don't have enough to pay any of my creditors, so I still withdraw my money (so the bank can't take theirs this month) and pay all of my priority payments then write to each of my creditors explaining I don't have any of their money this month and will contact them soon when I have an idea of how much I can pay them to start clearing these debts.

I have a feeling option D is the right answer, and that I have just reached a moment of clarity usually reserved for those Zen masters who have reached Nirvana.

Xsive

Dear Wendy,

This post is old, am i writing in the correct place?

Xsive

I'm losing it. LOL

Dear Wendy,

I am currently in talks with my partners bank about an oustanding account of £5,800 pounds. My partner froze the account (it's a joint name flex account) when she split up with her husband. The Nationwide informed her that the account was frozen but the Husband continued to write a total of 37 cheques. Not for any massive amounts but nationwide are chasing her for the debts. This was 5 years ago btw.

Would you be able to tell me if it's a black and white as to whether my partner is liable for this debt?

The husband has buried his head in the sand and is full of false promises etc.....

Regards Nathan

StepChange_Pavan

sickasachip13 wrote: »

Hello again,

So if I get a job could I let CCCS know but maybe delay the review until after my first pay packet? I don't want to annoy CCCS, or worse, annoy the creditors as I'm not trying to 'get away' with anything it's just we'll really be playing catch up for that first month (plus I'm going to have to borrow money from someone to get to work for the first month).

Hiya,

I’d really recommend that you give us a call so that we can discuss this with you properly. Our support team can outline the options that are available to you - and don’t worry, you won’t annoy us if your honest and update us with your situation!

Kind regards,
Pavan

StepChange_Pavan

natlai wrote: »

Hi,

I got a loan from Capital Credit Union in July/ August of 2010 with the repayments to be made by direct deductions from my salary which I signed an agreement too and they were to set up.

They failed to set it up and the first I heard was in October 2010 which I e-mailed about and they said that I had to pay the arrears and that they would increase the deductions from my salary.

I got another letter in January about the arrears to which I e-mail stating why haven't they increased the deductions and they told me it was because of the arrears on the account and I stated that I wanted to arrange a payment plan and I heard nothing else.

They have now increased the deductions to my salary and also charged me £12 in lawyers fee's when I heard nothing about it and have only had one letter.

I am unsure about what I should do now.

Any advice appreciated

Hi Natlai and thank you for your post.

I’d recommend that you contact them to discuss your situation. It sounds as though it’s partly their fault for not setting up the direct debit properly but they could argue that you didn’t get in touch to inform them straight away.

You could tell them that you really want to repay the debt but the arrears are down to their administrative error and in light of that you could ask them if they would waive the £12 fee.

Send them a copy of your income and expenditure to show them what you can realistically afford to pay each month and set an arrangement in place. Provided that you maintain this from now on you shouldn’t have any more problems.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Pavan