letter to debt collection agencies

tomterm8

LETTER IF DCA THREATENS A DEBT COLLECTION AGENT

YOUR ADDRESS

DATE

LOAN COMPANY ADDRESS,

Dear Sir/Madam,

With regard to your recent letter dated X, I welcome the prospect of meeting your agent, and inform you I am available on the X between Y and Z. I ask that you confirm this appointment in writing within 7 days of recieving this letter.

Please note I will only discuss personal business with your agent if he carries identification, and if you confirm the date of the appointment as I request.

I will not meet any expense incurred by the visit of your Agent.

I also ask that you send either your authorisation to pursue this matter for CLIENT or a true copy of the assignment of the debt, and inform you that I will make no payment to your company until I recieve this information.

Yours Sincerly,

YOUR NAME

tomterm8

IF A DCA/ORIGINAL CREDITOR REFUSES TO PROVIDE CREDIT AGREEMENT WITHIN 12 DAYS + 30 DAYS AND THEN PASSES DEBT ON TO ANOTHER DCA.

YOUR ADDRESS

DATE

LOAN COMPANY ADDRESS

RE ACCOUNT NUMBERS

Dear X

I write with reference to recent correspondance on the above account.

As you are well aware (if you have fulfilled your legal obligations by obtaining all information pertinent to this Account before embarking on intimidatory claims, contrary to Section 40 of the Administration of Justice Act 1970, the Malicious Communications Act 1988, the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 and the revised July 2004 OFT Guidelines for Debt Collection), [ DCA NAME] is currently in Default (as of DATE DEFAULTED) of the Consumer Credit Act as given above, due to the fact that they have failed to provide:

1. A true, signed (i.e. Properly Executed) Copy of the Original Credit Agreement for the above Account;
2. A current and fully up-to-date Statement for said Account
within the legally binding timeframe, as stipulated within the Act.

Additionally, they have failed to produce a signed, true copy of the Deed of Assignment or Notice of Assignment proving their legitimacy to deal with this Account.

Finally (in an apparent attempt to circumvent their legal obligations) they have attempted to pass the Account onto you (as referenced in your letter, dated as above).

In view of the above, I do not recognise any debt to your company, and must insist that you pass the details you hold back to (ORIGINAL CREDITOR or DCA) (whoever transpires to be the legal owner of the debt, as this fact is currently ambiguous).

Should you attempt to continue to condone (DCAs) actions by taking any action whatsoever against me, then I shall reserve the right to pursue you with the full weight of appropriate legal sanction (as stipulated elsewhere in this letter) without further reference to you.

Please note that you have no further lawful reason for processing my data, and I request that you comply with this Data Protection Act s10 notice to refrain from further processing my data.


Yours Faithfully

YOUR NAME

tomterm8

LETTER IF DCA FAILS TO RESPOND TO A CCA 12 working days + 30 normal days AFTER YOU SEND IT.

USE THIS IF IT FAILS TO SEND YOU A SIGNED COPY OF THE CREDIT AGREEMENT OR PRETENDS IT HAS THE RIGHT TO SEND YOU A BLANK COPY OF THE CREDIT AGREEMENT.




YOUR ADDRESS

DATE

LOAN COMPANY ADDRESS

In my letter XXX I made a formal request for a copy of the signed, executed credit agreement for the above numbered XXXXXXXX account under section 77(1) and section 78(1) of the Consumer Credit Act. In addition a statement of my account should have been sent along with any other document mentioned in the credit agreement.

The Consumer Credit Act allows 12 working days for this request to be carried out before your company enter into a default situation. If the request is not satisfied after a further 30 calendar days, Your company commit an offence. These time limits expired on XXXXXXXX and XXXXXXXX respectively.

As you are no doubt aware subsection (6) states:

If the creditor under an agreement fails to comply with subsection (1)—

(a) He is not entitled, while the default continues, to enforce the agreement; and
(b) If the default continues for one month he commits an offence.

Therefore as at XXXXXXXX this account became unenforceable at law and it is now my intention to refer this matter to the enforcement authorities.

Any default notices or adverse comments your company have recorded on my credit reference file should be immediately removed.

Failure to respond favourably to this letter within seven (7) days of receipt will result in immediate litigation being commenced against your company without further notice.

Please also note that you have no lawful reason for processing my data, and I request that you comply with this Data Protection Act s10 notice to refrain from further processing my data.


I await your rapid response.


Yours Faithfully

tomterm8

RIGHT OF APPROPRIATION

If you are afraid a bank will take your benefits from your account gere is a template letter to take or send to the bank to address this.
It is important to let the bank have this BEFORE you expect to have funds paid in by DWP or the Inland revenue

YOUR ADDRESS

DATE

BANK ADDRESS

Dear Sir/Madam,
ACCOUNT NUMBER: xxxxxxxxx

I am writing to inform you that I am due to have a benefit payment of £xxx paid into my account on xx/xx/xx, and I wish to use my first right of appropriation for this money, for the following purposes;

Rent £xx
Utilities bills £xx
Housekeeping money £xx

I will withdraw the money on the day that it is deposited for the above use, and I would be grateful if you would ensure that any other payments out of my account do not interfere with this withdrawal.

Yours faithfully,

[signature]

tomterm8

ASK CREDITORS TO HOLD ACTION ( From the National Debt Line website : http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk ):



YOUR ADDRESS

DATE

LOAN COMPANY ADDRESS

Dear Sir/Madam

Re:− Account/Reference Number AC NUMBER

We are writing to inform you that we are seeking advice and assistance regarding our current financial difficulties.

To this end, we would appreciate if you could hold any action on the above account for a period of at least 28 days.

Also, during this period, could you please freeze interest and/or any other charges accruing on the above account.

We look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible.

Yours faithfully
YOUR NAME

tomterm8

OFFER OF A PRO RATA PAYMENT ( From the National Debt Line website : http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk ):


YOUR ADDRESS

DATE

DCA ADDRESS

Dear Sir/Madam

Re Account No/Reference No:− AC NUMBER

Since making that above agreement with you, our circumstances have changed.

We cannot now afford to agreed monthly payments because ... [YOUR REASONS HERE]

We enclose a Personal Budget sheet which shows our total income from all sources, and our outgoings. As you can see we have only £AMOUNT per month left for our creditors. The offers we have made to our creditors have worked out on a pro−rata basis, and we have written to all our creditors asking them to accept reduced payments.

In view of our circumstances, please would you agree to accept a reduced offer of £AMOUNT per month. If interest or other charges are being added to the account we would be grateful if you would freeze these so that all payments made will reduce what I owe you.

Should our circumstances improve we will contact you again.

We would be grateful if you would send a paying−in book to make it easier to pay you. Thank you for your assistance. We look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible.

Yours faithfully
YOUR NAME

tomterm8

When a creditor refuses to freeze interest on your account ( From the National Debt Line website : http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk ):




YOUR ADDRESS

DATE

DCA ADDRESS

Dear Sir/Madam

Acc/Ref No AC NO

Thank you for your letter of DATE concerning the above account. We are sorry that you feel unable to suspend interest charges on the above account.

The majority of our other creditors have agreed to the offer of payment and agreed to suspend any interest charges still accruing. They have accepted that to continue to charge interest would not assist us in our present financial difficulties, and can only serve to increase our total debt.

As you are aware, we have already paid considerable sums in interest to our account. If interest charges continue, the monthly installments we are paying will not even cover that interest. Also the co−operation of our other creditors who have agreed to freeze interest already would be put at risk.

We would therefore be grateful if you would reconsider your decision not to freeze the interest. This would mean that the monthly payments we make would actually reduce the balance outstanding to your company.

We look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible.

Yours faithfully
YOUR NAME

tomterm8

When a creditor has turned down an offer of payment, interest is still being added, and you want the creditor to take you to court. ( From the National Debt Line website : http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk ):




YOUR ADDRESS

DATE

DCA ADDRESS

Dear Sir/Madam

Acc/Ref No AC NUMBER

Thank you for your letter of DATE. We are very disappointed that we seem unable to reach a satisfactory compromise in this case.

As we have already explained, we can only afford £AMOUNT per month at the present time, and we feel that it is pointless paying this amount to you only to see the debt increase. We invite you therefore to sue us for the debt, when we shall have the opportunity of offering £AMOUNT per month through the courts. In addition, once judgment is granted we understand that further interest will be suspended in any event.

It seems that we can only achieve a reasonable outcome to this matter by allowing the courts to decide, although this will involve us both in extra expense and time wasted with court proceedings.

The offer of £AMOUNT per month plus suspension of interest is of course still open to you to accept.

Yours faithfully
YOUR NAME

tomterm8

When creditors have turned down an offer of payment, interest is still being added but you don’t want to go to court ( From the National Debt Line website : http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk ):

YOUR ADDRESS

DATE

DCA ADDRESS

Dear Sir/Madam

Acc/Ref No AC NO

Thank you for your letter of DATE. We are very disappointed that we seem unable to reach a satisfactory compromise in this case.

As we have already explained, we can only afford £AMOUNT per month at the present time. This is the only realistic payment proposal bearing in mind the enclosed personal budget sheet.

You have stated in correspondence your intention to commence proceedings in the county court against us. The commencement of legal proceedings under such circumstances could be counter to the ‘Overriding Objectives’ of the new Civil Procedure Rules. You will be aware that the Overriding Objectives underpin everything the court does. Moreover, paragraph 4 of the Protocols Practice Direction states that in cases not covered by an approved pre−action protocol, the court will expect the parties “to act reasonably…….. In trying to avoid the necessity for the start of proceedings”.

We would suggest that your refusal to accept our offer could be viewed as unreasonable and we would ask the court to consider this matter with reference to the Overriding Objectives.

The offer of £AMOUNT is of course still open to you to accept.

Yours faithfully
YOUR NAME

tomterm8

When a creditor asks you to agree to a voluntary charge against your home ( From the National Debt Line website : http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk ):




YOUR NAME

DATE
DCA NAME

Dear Sir/Madam

Acc/Ref No AC NUMBER

Further to our meeting of DATE, we are writing to confirm that we are not prepared to agree to a voluntary charge on our property as requested by you, in respect of the debt to your company.

As already discussed with you, we have a number of creditors, apart from yourselves. To allow you to obtain a charge on our property would be to grant your company preferential status, and could therefore prejudice the rights of our other creditors, all of whom have already accepted our proposals without any request for additional security.

In addition, whilst it is not our intention in any way to be unco−operative, we are not prepared to allow a debt which is currently unsecured to become a secured debt and therefore put our home at risk.

As you will see from the Personal Budget which we have already submitted an offer to your company is still open for you to accept. This is based on our income and expenditure, and a pro rata of equitable distribution of available income. We would therefore hope that you will follow the lead taken by the other creditors, and accept our proposals without attaching unnecessary conditions.

Furthermore, whilst of course we wish to avoid county court action, we are aware that were your company to pursue this debt through the county court, the court would look at our circumstances and order a level payment which we could afford, and in addition would freeze interest on the account.

We would bring to your attention that following the case of Mercantile Credit Ltd−v−Ellis and others in the Court of Appeal on March 11th 1987, if we were to maintain payments as ordered by the court, your company would be unable to obtain a Charging Order against us. This is further reason why we do not wish to allow a charge on our home.

In light of the other creditors agreeing to our repayment plan, please would you reconsider our offer. We will be making the payments in line with the offer to our company, on a monthly basis, as a gesture of goodwill.

May we take this opportunity of expressing our sincere hope that we can come to a mutually acceptable arrangement, that will allow repayment to our creditors at a level which is affordable based on our circumstances.

We look forward to your co−operation in this matter.

Yours faithfully,
YOUR NAME