Consumer Credit Agreement 1974

coastalshots

I have just received a phone call from a company called Consortium who have said I may be eligible to have my credit card balance cleared. They said all credit cards taken out before April 2007 may be eligible. There were changes in the consumer credit agreement of 1974 which will not have agreed to and therefore may be entitled to have my credit card debt paid off.

They seem like a legitimate company however as with the previous PPI claims, is it possible to sort this out myself?

Having looked at their website they charge a fee of £450 +10% of the outstanding balance of your debt plus VAT.

dunstonh

I have just received a phone call from a company called Consortium who have said I may be eligible to have my credit card balance cleared.

I thought these write off credit scams had finished now. Obviously not.

They said all credit cards taken out before April 2007 may be eligible. There were changes in the consumer credit agreement of 1974 which will not have agreed to and therefore may be entitled to have my credit card debt paid off.

The court cases from around 2 years ago set some ground rules and the OFT followed up with information that killed off the claims companies acting on this basis. You only saw dodgy ones still cold calling on this since then.

It is a form of advance fee fraud. They entice you with a nice big payoff amount to appeal to your greed. However, to get that you need to pay an amount in advance. A couple of years later when you hear nothing, you find out that your complaint failed and you are £450 plus VAT out of pocket.

There are a small number of cases where credit can be made unenforceable. However, this does not get it written off. It means the lender cannot go to court to get you to pay. They can still show it as a debt on your credit file and show it in arrears or defaulted which will kill your ability to get credit for up to a decade (typically 6 years after term of debt. Things like credit cards can be held on record a long time potentially).

Bottom line, it is a scam.

coastalshots

Thanks for clearing that up - thought it was probably a scam!