Can I ask for proof of contract from DCA?

dimpy23

I have been reading on other debt advice sites that there are ways to get the debt cancelled with DCA if you ask them for certain pieces of information which they (hopefully) are unable to provide.

Obviously I trust MSE the most, hence I'm here, but wonder if anyone can tell me whether the information given on another site as follows, is something I should do - all their letters are written in rather a strange language and I wonder if there is an MSE equivalent procedure which I can follow, and understand?

I would be happy to settle any financial obligation I might lawfully owe, as soon as I have received the following documentation from you:
1. Validation of the debt (the actual accounting);
2. Verification of your claim against me (a sworn affidavit or a hand signed invoice in accordance with The Bills of Exchange Act (1882) );
3. A copy of the contract signed by both parties and therefore binding both parties.
4. Please also provide me with a true and certified copy (NOT photocopy) of the Original Note (Credit Agreement), under penalty of perjury and with unlimited liability and confirm that this Note, has never been sold. Please also confirm the name of the individual who is the duly authorised representative from your company, who has carried out due diligence under The Money Laundering Regulations 2007 and what actions s/he has taken in relation to this account.

I hereby give you ten (10) days to reply to this notice from the above date with a notice sent using recorded post and signed under full commercial liability and penalties of perjury, assuring and promising me that all of the replies and details given to the above requests are true and without deception, fraud or mischief. Your said failure to provide the aforementioned documentation within ten (10) days, from the above date, to validate the debt, will constitute your agreement to the following terms:

1. That the debt did not exist in the first place;

OR
2. It has already been paid in full;
AND
3. That any damages suffer, you will be held culpable;
4. That any negative remarks made to a credit reference agency will be removed;
5. You will no longer pursue this matter any further.
6. You agree to pay all fee schedules.

Please Note: I wish to deal with this matter in writing and I do not give your organisation permission to contact me by telephone. Should you do so, I must warn you that the calls could constitute ‘harassment' and I may take action under Section 1 of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 and the Administration of Justice Act 1970 S.40, which makes it a Criminal Offence for a creditor or a creditor's agent to make demands (for money), which are aimed at causing 'alarm, distress or humiliation', because of their frequency or manner.

Yours sincerely,

By:

By: Sovereign of the family:

Authorised Agent and Representative for

stevemLS

Those letters you have seen are utter nonsense, legally.

sourcrates

Hi,
You cant get a debt "cancelled". Most of the info you have there is just opinion, not legal standing.
You can ask a DCA to provide proof that they are entitled to collect a debt, for instance, provide you with a notice of sale/assignment, or provide you with evidence of the debt, again, either statements or credit agreements.
You can also ask for a copy of your credit agreement (CCA request) if it was a loan, credit card, or catalogue/store account. If they are unable to provide the original, for accounts opened after April 2007, a substitute copy is acceptable, prior to this the law required a copy of the original.
If a creditor is unable to provide the paperwork at all, then they are not permitted to obtain a CCJ against you in court, until such time as the required paperwork can be provided.
Any advise you see such as the advise you provided in your post is one persons opinion, but has no real basis in law.

fatbelly

I hope those 'other debt advice sites' were not reputable ones!

FireWyrm

Wow, that is some serious utter rollocks there.

Go with sourcrates.

You can and must demand proof that the debt belongs to you i.e, it isnt fraud or mis-association. You must do this in writing. Proof consists of a statement of account showing how much is owed, how much has been paid and how much is outstanding. It ought to contain the original account number and references as well as the name of the original lender and type of debt. If it was a mobile phone, there wont be an actual contract or agreement and shockingly, they are not required to provide it, but anything else ought to have some actual paperwork attached to it which you can ask for.

You cannot have the debt 'written off' via some dubious legal weevil drivel like you have seen, if you legitimately owe it, then you pay it. The only time a debt MAY be written off is in the case of extreme hardship usually brought on by such things as a terminal illness etc meaning that you would never be able to pay the debt and you'll die before you do. In those cases, lenders have been known to write it off on compassionate grounds, but you pretty much have to be dying first.

dimpy23

Thanks all for the posts, pretty much as I thought but I was getting sucked in by this other site that seemed to be saying that if the agreements couldn't be produced then the debt could be written off.

As soon as I saw the gobbledegook in their letters I felt uncomfortable. I do have some legal training but not in these matters.

Shame I wasted £7 to view these awful documents but glad I decided to stick with MSE.

dimpy23

stevemLS wrote: »

Those letters you have seen are utter nonsense, legally.

I agree, don't know what they were on when they wrote them. :beer:

dimpy23

sourcrates wrote: »

Hi,
You cant get a debt "cancelled". Most of the info you have there is just opinion, not legal standing.
You can ask a DCA to provide proof that they are entitled to collect a debt, for instance, provide you with a notice of sale/assignment, or provide you with evidence of the debt, again, either statements or credit agreements.
You can also ask for a copy of your credit agreement (CCA request) if it was a loan, credit card, or catalogue/store account. If they are unable to provide the original, for accounts opened after April 2007, a substitute copy is acceptable, prior to this the law required a copy of the original.
If a creditor is unable to provide the paperwork at all, then they are not permitted to obtain a CCJ against you in court, until such time as the required paperwork can be provided.
Any advise you see such as the advise you provided in your post is one persons opinion, but has no real basis in law.

My debts are 3 credit cards and 1 store card - is there a standard letter to use? All of them are using DCA to contact me, so I presume the debts have been sold on.

rizla_king

I wonder if you could please edit the awful nonsense from that site out of your first post if you don't mind? Or start a new thread instead. Correct legal approach is here https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/factsheets/Pages/39%20EW%20Credit%20agreements%20-%20getting%20information/Default.aspx

stevemLS

These are the same lot that inspired this legal argument http://www.bailii.org/cgi-bin/markup.cgi?doc=/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2011/2270.html&query=Governor+and+of+and+HMP+and+Liverpool&method=boolean

See how far it got him!

fatbelly

I would leave the original post as it stands so that others can see the comments on it.

On the harassment issue, correct guidance is here:

https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/factsheets/Pages/03%20EW%20Harassment%20by%20creditors%20and%20debt%20collectors/Default.aspx

s40 AJA has been superseded.