CCA letter and overdrafts problem

achilles1966

Hi
I am being chased by Lowells for a debt of approx £790 which they sent me a statutory demand for. I sent the £1.00 postal order and letter saying I have no knowledge of the debt whatsoever.
Yesterday I received this letter back from Lowells

'We refer to your request for a copy of your original credit agreement in accordance with the provisions of the section 77(1) and / or 78(1) of the consumer credit act 1974. Please find the £1.00 fee you sent returned to you.
This account relates to a bank account that you held with HBOS PLC. We would advise you , however that a bank overdraft is a running account credit and such is exempt from part V of the CCA 1974 relating to the form and content requirements of regulated agreements.There is no statutory requirement to enter into a formal credit agreement for the bank overdraft.

We have requested statements from the original creditor which will show how the outstanding balance was accrued.These will be forwarded to you upon receipt.

When Lowell Portfolio 1 Ltd Purchases a debt from a client we issue a letter of Assignment to the customer which fulfils our legal obligations under the law of Property act 1925. This letter was sent to you on August 22nd 2012 and we enclose a copy for your perusal and retention. We would not normall issue a specific Deed of Assignment unless the matter had progressed to court action.

Please be assured your account has been placed on hold until the requested statements have been received, at which point we will require your proposals for repayment.

That is the letter I received today from Lowells aong with the £1.00 postal order returned.

Any advice on how to proceed now. I have no knowledge of this debt. What letter do I send to Lowells in response to this ?

Any help much appreciated

Is it true they do not have to prove I owe this debt ?

Thanks

Tixy

Hi
They do have to prove you owe the debt. But there is no consumer credit agreement for an overdraft.

The letter to send when you do not know anything about the debt or do not know what debt is being chased is the prove it letter - Letter when you know nothing about about the debt - AKA "Prove it" letter

Or you could wait for them to send copies of the statements from the bank.

achilles1966

They have to prove it as in supplying a signed agreement of some sort ??

ValHaller

Why did you send a postal order for £1, when you deny all knowledge of the debt? If there is no debt, there will definitely be no signed agreement - so you are just wasting a pound and looking as though you do really owe something.

Tixy

Proof of an overdraft can take various forms.

There will not necessarily be a signed agreement of account terms for this debt.
Some people apply for an ovedraft on line - and so there is no signed agreement.
Or some people run up an unauthorsed overdraft on an account with no overdraft facility, again there wouldn't be a signed agreement of the overdraft terms, but it wouldn't prevent the debt from being vaild.

If you send the prove it letter then depending on what they send back you can then assess if that is proof, or ask for advice on it here.

If you don't believe you had a current account with halifax or bank of scotland that could have had an unpaid debt then it could be a case of mistaken identity, possibly them chasing you incorrectly for a debt belonging to someone with the same name as you. If that is the case it will likely become apparent when they send you documentary evidence of the debt. (i.e it could be linked to an address you never lived at, could be a different date of birth, could be a different middle name etc).

achilles1966

I sent the £1.00 as under the rules of the CCA is stipulates that is required. However I have now been sent the letter from Lowell as above.

Tixy

achilles1966 wrote: »

I sent the £1.00 as under the rules of the CCA is stipulates that is required. However I have now been sent the letter from Lowell as above.

A CCA request under the consumer credit act is what a debtor can send to get a copy of their consumer credit agreement. As you don't think its your debt, or at least don't know that it is then its best to stay away from a request under the consumer credit act.

So if you don't know what the debt is the first letter should always be the prove it letter, or similar wording.

ValHaller

achilles1966 wrote: »

I sent the £1.00 as under the rules of the CCA is stipulates that is required. However I have now been sent the letter from Lowell as above.

But if it is not your debt, you have no right to the CCA for £1 or even £1,000,000.

Essentially you have asserted a right over that debt - which is evidence that you consider it to be yours.

achilles1966

Surely the cca request is a form of prove it letter as i am giving them the opportunity to send me something that proves its mine !! Otherwise if whats the point of sending a cca request if tge debt is not in dispute !!! Surely if the debt us not in dispute it has to be paid !! Therefore my request was to ask them to prove it is my debt because i have no knowledge of the debt

achilles1966

Valhalla i have to disagree with your comment that a cca request amounts admitting liability for a debt !!!!! How can that be ? In fact very much to the contrary !! The opening line to the cca request states i have no knowledge of this debt so how can that be construed to acknowledging the debt ??? Baffles me

fermi

A CCA request is a request for information from the legitimate account holder. For example, where you may have lost copies of the terms of the agreement so need to check what the original and current ones were. Or if you want a statement of account on what remains payable and when under the agreement.

It is NOT and was never meant to be a "prove it" mechanism on a disputed debt.

See: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=57422683&postcount=2

As Tixy said, the better option is to simply ask for proof without reference to the CCA, referring instead to OFT guidelines, as that does not allow them to evade providing proof by quoting technicalities of the CCA, and means that they mess you around they can complained about to the OFT, FOS etc.