DMP & CCA Help Required

jassasblue · 2 January 2014 at 4:47PM

Item removed.

Tixy · 2 January 2014 at 5:13PM

You could certainly request a copy of the CCA for any of your debts that are covered by the consumer credit act (e.g. personal loans/credit cards/ store cards etc), you may also have debts that were not covered by the consumer credit act (e.g. overdrafts / mobile phone contracts etc).

It is possible that some of your creditors may not have had an enforceable CCA for their debt, and so yes it is possible that some may not be enforceable.

I would think it is unlikely that all will be unenforceable, but obviously it does depend on who the creditors are/who the debt collectors are and what records they have.

If after requesting a CCA you believe any are unenforceable and decided to stop payments to them then you would need to let stepchange know that you want to remove that debt from your DMP. They would then change how your monthly payment is split to divide it between the remaining creditors.

Tixy · 2 January 2014 at 5:40PM

If you believe they are not enforceable then you could simply stop paying.

If the creditor/debt collector disagrees with you and thinks they are enforceable then they only way for them to force you to pay would be for them to take court action against you and then a judge would decide if they were enforceable or not - if they are then you end up with a CCJ and can offer a monthly repayment. If you do not pay the CCJ in full within a month it would appear on your credit file for a further 6years.

The creditor may decide not to take court action if they agree its unenforceable, or if they think it is not worth the cost of taking you to court.

I think all your debts apart from the overdraft would be covered by the consumer credit act. For the cost of £1 a debt you could certainly try writing to ask for a copy of the consumer credit agreement for the other debts.

Your creditors/debt collectors will likely either
-send back a reconstituted version of the original credit agreement
-send back a copy of the original credit agreement
-write back to say they are requesting the information from the original creditor or from their archives
-write back to say they cannot find the agreement and that they will take no further action regarding the debt until they are able to produce a copy of the agreement.
-ignore your letter.
-offer you a reduced/discounted settlement figure for the debt.
If you get any credit agreement back then you then need to decide if it is enforecable or not. There are some websites around that will help advise you on what presribed terms the agreement should include for you to check against what you receive back.

cynicalgit_2 · 2 January 2014 at 5:44PM

I'd CCA the lot of them and save £300 a month.
Use the money saved for possible f&f offers in the future.
I would think most pre2007 are unenforceable.
You've nothing to lose.

happy_bunny_2 · 2 January 2014 at 5:54PM

CCA each one.

If nothing after a month, I would stop paying. You do risk a default if not already. What's the status of your non defaulted accounts on your credit file?

If they send you something back that's not a photocopy with your signature on, get it checked as its likely rubbish. Why would you reconstitute one and risk unenforceability arguments when you can photocopy the original as much easier.

If its got your signature on it, then it needs checking by someone who knows what they are looking for to see if its got everything it should have.

happy_bunny_2 · 2 January 2014 at 7:56PM

jassasblue wrote: »

Another question. If they are NOT enforceable, what happens to them, and what shows on my credit file?

I really don't want to start adding CCJ's this late in the game to my file. Or messing around going to Court etc, I work local Government and it wouldn't be viewed kindly I feel.

If they are enforceable can I restart a DMP?

(more research required on enforceable and not enforceable - not sure how I'll tell the difference!)

Thanks for the replies so far.

They will drop off your file 6 years from default date, paid or not. Arrangements hang around for ages, 6 years after the account is fully paid up. So screwed for longer than a default.

Once unenforceable, they would be less likely to try court, as the defence is straight forward, especially if they have no signed original. So no CCJ.

The majority of enforceable debts don't end up in court.

Best bet, is keep paying, send of a CCA request to each ASAP. Signed for. Then see what comes back and post back for help.

Even if you want to pay, you can usually get a good full and final settlement once they know you know its unenforceable.

rizla_king · 3 January 2014 at 12:06PM

Whoever told you that is an idiot.

Creditors and debt collectors may be more familiar with dealing with the requests, but the law still applies whether they like it or not. Especially for 2007 and before agreements.

rizla_king · 3 January 2014 at 12:14PM

To reinforce that point, StepChange the main advised DMP provider here includes a CCA request as one of their standard template letters on their moneyaware advice site.

http://moneyaware.co.uk/template-letters-court-forms/template-letters/

The call it a "right of information request" but if you read the letters it is a CCA.

National Debtline which is the other main recommended advice service here also has the CCA templates on their site.

http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/factsheet.php?page=39_getting_information_about_your_credit_agreement

If it was a bad idea neither of those would have them there.

happy_bunny_2 · 3 January 2014 at 5:38PM

Creditors may ignore your request.

If they do, you stop paying, as chances of having it are slim.

You can then just reply to any letters disputing the debt until the cough up the CCA.

Or you can submit a formal,complaint about ignoring the CCA request and ask for it. If they ignore that, you refer to FOS, they gave to respond and they get hit with the £500 FOS referral fee. This has got me two letters admitting they can't find it.

You can also submit a SAR. It should come with a copy of the signed original. If it doesn't, that's in your favour also.

So that's not what I would call a waste of time