Question:- CCA agreement Vs Debt Liability

oscar52

Before anyone jumps on me, this is a question out of curiosity.

Ok - scenario is you owe money to Credit Card A (or whoever).

Now, you happen to find, by whatever means that they do not have your original signed and executed credit agreement.

So question is, even that you know this debt happens to be yours, and you have been paying it on a regular basis, are you still bound to pay it in the absence of an agreement.

Morally I know the answer is yes, but what is the legal perspective?

PS - this is not a situation I am in, or anyone else I know - am just curious

immoral_angeluk

uh... well I know that if someone starts chasing you for a debt without a CCA they haven't got a leg to stand on but not sure about how it'd work if you'd already been paying?
Someone should be along soon to answer that for you.

Crown

Interesting question. I dont know the exact answer but should think that if you have acknowledged the debt by making regular payemnts any Judge in the land would see you were trying to wriggle out of your responsibilities if it went to a court hearing.

If they didnt take you to court then they couldnt do anything. I too now would like to know the answer to this!

oscar52

Been a while since i asked - anyone know the answer or is it a bit of a grey area?

moonlightpjs

All I know is that I have requested CCA's but only to be able to have the account passed back to the original creditor, ie CC Company.

All I wanted was the option to pay what I could afford without the DCA constantly on my back, threatening and hounding me. I have been *lucky* if you could call it that, that one of the DCA's that bought a debt could not provide a CCA so stated that they would write the debt off and the default be removed from my CR - which has happened and I've got it in writing.

Morally, yes I think you should pay your debts but I also think that Credit Companies should not be so quick as to send the debt off to DCA who I sometimes think they think they are above the law. I am quite willing to pay my debts but would prefer that my creditors take on board my circumstances and arrange for repayments to be made with themselves. DCA's are a law unto themselves.

Edit: Sorry forgot to say but if a DCA does not supply you with a CCA then, yes they can take you to court for non-payment but by doing so and not supplying the above they can incur a fine of £2500.00. If the debt is for less than this is it really worth them doing it? Also, I have not requested any CCA's from credit companies who are accepting our repayments.

CLAPTON

the wording of the act says that ...


........ If the creditor under an agreement fails to comply with the provision he is not entitled, while the default continues, to enforce the agreement, and if the default continues for one month he commits an offence"

(the provision in this case being the copy of the signed agreement etc)

trainee_debt_buster

Hi Weller

If your debt's been sold to a debt collection agency and they can not produce a copy you signed ofthe CCA upon request (there's a fee payable of £1-2 for the copy), the debt collection agency would be unable to enforce the debt until the signed CCA can be produced.

If they can produce the signed CCA it may still be worth getting it looked over to make sure it's valid, it has to have the correct interest rate, show when instalements are due etc, as it may still be unenforceable.

If your debt is back with the original credit card company, the same rules apply.

If your debt is unenforceable and you don't want to pay it off, you could stop payments. The debt will remain on your credit rating for the next six yrs from the date of your last paymentthough so it's hardly getting off scot-free.

Hope that clears it up for you

moonlightpjs

Thanks TDB
I was aware of the points you mentioned and whilst I do think that certain companies act unlawfully by not providing you with the correct credit agreement, personally I want to pay my debts back if they are handled correctly as I spent the money and would feel great satisfaction in paying them off and to be honest, it is making me think about the money we have spent and more determined not to get into that situation again.

If the creditors do not have a valid CCA, the, yes, of course, they should have supplied me with one but as to taking the actual CC Company on, I'm not too sure. We'll wait and see as most of our debts are now with DCA's and itsthem I have the problem with. They think they are above the law and can make people ill (like myself) with their relentless hounding and threats.

I appreciate your comments.

trainee_debt_buster

Hi again Weller

If the DCAs are harrassing you, report them to the financial services ombudsman. They do it most the time because people feel ashamed about being in debt and don't feel they can complain.

You can and you must, cos it'll help you and should prevent them doing it to someone else as well.

Good luck

TBD

oscar52

Seems I have opened a right can of worms here!:rolleyes:

out_of_cash

hi there

there have been many cases where a creditor can not supply the cca and the debts have been completely written off the idea being no cca= no debt even if you have been paying it on a regular basis it can only be forced by a court order which is why so many banks etc are reluctant to go to court with this as the cca 1974 act clearly states no debt can be enforced without the proof of the cca being supplied by the creditor.thats my understanding any way.

good luck to all.

p.s somone got £60.000 wiped out using that as a defence. the law would need to be changed on this act i think for it not to apply that is why some creds and dcas are currently wipeing debts out when they cant supply that bit of pape.