Lost agreement - what are my options

buzz1804

My wife took out an 0% loan to have her eyes lasered over 6 months ago and the company have written to us that they would like us to sign a new agreement. We basically ignored the first letter and now they are saying that if we do not send back this new signed agreement they will pass it onto the debt collection agency and this will affect our credit etc etc.

The agreement is with Hitachi Finance.

I was wondering what our options are as I personally worry about where this first agreement is.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Buzz

Astaroth

I assume that it is you that have lost the original agreement and not them? If it is then you can ask for them to provide a copy of it, if needs be under the data protection act - they are entitled to charge up to £10 for a release under the DPA

buzz1804

Nope - they have lost it - we have not paid a penny yet. They are asking us to sign another freshly filled in and dated one.

Thanks

Buzz

Astaroth

The law is currently in the process of being changed to explicitly state that a signed credit agreement isnt necessary to enforce a debt but the creditor has to go to court to get a court order.

As it stands at the moment it is a little less clear but certainly the opinion of others on here is that a creditor can go to court on other grounds to enforce it without a credit agreement.

That said and done, if they can prove that they have provided a service and you cannot prove that you have paid then they can take you to court for a breach of contract and ignore the whole credit agreement issue.

buzz1804

Thanks very much for the reply - best just cough up then - oh well !

Ta

Buzz