CCA requests - advice please

dfw128

Hi There,

I got myself into money troubles about 12 years ago. I had just turned 18 and my partner at the time was a few years older and financially wiser, or so I thought. While we were together I amassed almost 21k of debt and when we split up I was left with it. Over the years I've had earnings arrested to pay council tax (which he was supposed to be paying) and he moved on and into and IVA so as to clear his feet of debt he built up before we met. We don't have any contact now and I still resent the situation I was left in.

Initially I was in denial about doing anything about the debts, I stopped making payments and didn't contact the companies involved. When I eventually started tackling my debt I looked to CCCS (now step change) for support and they helped me put together a DMP which I've stuck to since it started. I'm about 12 years into my DMP with about 10 to go. I started off with about 21k owing and now owe about 10.5k with 5 debts with balances between 245 and 4100 outstanding (a little less than half of the original totals).

I've been reading things on the forum today about CCA requests of creditors to provide original credit agreements and I've seen posts explaining that if the creditor cannot provide it then the debts are not enforceable. The down side appears to be as I've been reading through the pages on debt line and I see it mentions that when creditors provide this, they can start court action.

I think most if not all of my debts were defaulted when I stopped being able to pay all of those years ago so there doesn't seem to be any information on my credit file when I look at clear score. I recently managed to apply for a new current account with first direct which I thought I'd have no chance of getting with my debt history but I was accepted (I declined to have an overdraft facility on the account so maybe that's why?). Also, I think all but one of my debts have been passed on to various DCAs over the years so only one debt is with the original creditor (Barclaycard).

I've now met someone else and we're planning to get married in the next few years. My partner has a good job and has always been financially sensible. We live together and he looks after his own finances. I pay towards bills and other living expenses. In the coming years I would hope that we might be in a position to make full and final offers to my creditors but we're not there yet. Thereafter we would probably look to buying a bigger house together so I'm trying to look at my outstanding debts and also consider what I can do to make sure my credit file is in good order.

It may be important that I'm in Scotland.

The questions I have are as follows:
1. Should I write to the DCAs asking for proof of the agreements?
2. In some of the threads I've seen that people are not keen to sign the letters, I've not been able to work out why?
3. If I do that, are the creditors or DCAs likely to start taking further action (including court action or re-registering defaults) against me?
4. If they are unable to provide them and the defaults have dropped off my credit file, is stopping paying going to result in them going back on?
5. If I am in a position to offer full and final settlements, if the information is no longer on my credit file, will it go back on with the partial payment flag?
Sorry for asking so many questions, just trying to work out what to do!

Pandora_2

Hi,
I can't really help but your situation sounds VERY similar to mine and I'm contemplating similar questions at the moment so I will be keeping a close eye on this thread to see if any of the advice you get can help me as well. Hope that's ok?!

I'm in England so the rules will be slightly different but at least it should give me some idea of what to do to sort my situation out as well.

Good luck getting everything sorted and I'm sure someone will be along soon with some good advice

sourcrates

Hi,


Ok, a few questions for you.


The statute of limitations in Scotland is 5 years, has there ever been a period of 5 years or more, where you have not paid anything to these accounts ?


Dependant on your answer to the above, CCA requests are an excellent idea, making the request will have no bearing on whether a creditor takes further action or not, it is your right under sec 77/79 consumer credit act 1974.


I am assuming most, if not all of your accounts will date from before April 2007, that is the point in time the law changed regarding what constituted a correct response to a CCA request, for agreements made before this date, creditors must produce a document with all the correct terms and conditions in force at the time, known as the "prescribed terms", and it must be signed, some DCA`s in the past, had been known to copy and paste signatures on to credit agreements, but this is unlikely to happen now.


Once defaults have gone from your file, nothing that you, or anyone else does will bring them back, and settlement offers will not show on your file if the default has already gone.


It is very unlikely they will still have paperwork from 12 years ago.


So, first you need to determine an answer to my first question, if the answer is yes, then all your accounts would be statute barred under Scottish law, they would no longer exist, and you would not have to pay them, if the answer is no, do the CCA requests, and see what comes back.

dfw128

sourcrates wrote: »

Hi,
The statute of limitations in Scotland is 5 years, has there ever been a period of 5 years or more, where you have not paid anything to these accounts ?

Thank you very much for your detailed response.

No there has never been a period of five years where no payment was made so I'll take your advice and get the CCA requests sent this week.

I'll update this thread as and if I make progress.

dfw128

That's 4 of the 5 CCA letters sent off. One I'm waiting on Step Change confirming which DCA is dealing with it as it's listed as NCO Lowell so I'm not sure which one. I've been reading more up on this on various different sites and it seems fairly par for the course for them to send a reconstituted agreement even though that doesn't satisfy my request due to the actual date of the account. Just wondered if that's people's experience or if it's very much pot luck. Most of my creditors are large organisations like HBOS, Barclaycard looking after Egg etc.
Thanks again for the help so far!

sourcrates

dfw128 wrote: »

That's 4 of the 5 CCA letters sent off. One I'm waiting on Step Change confirming which DCA is dealing with it as it's listed as NCO Lowell so I'm not sure which one. I've been reading more up on this on various different sites and it seems fairly par for the course for them to send a reconstituted agreement even though that doesn't satisfy my request due to the actual date of the account. Just wondered if that's people's experience or if it's very much pot luck. Most of my creditors are large organisations like HBOS, Barclaycard looking after Egg etc.
Thanks again for the help so far!

When they respond, let us know what they have sent you, and the approx date each account was opened.

Pandora_2

sourcrates wrote: »

Once defaults have gone from your file, nothing that you, or anyone else does will bring them back, and settlement offers will not show on your file if the default has already gone.

Ohhhhhh!!!!! I asked this question on the credit file/ratings board and got nothing but nasty, sarcastic replies instead of an answer to my question, so thank you very much for answering this.

You've helped restore my faith in the people on this forum

sourcrates

Pandora wrote: »

Ohhhhhh!!!!! I asked this question on the credit file/ratings board and got nothing but nasty, sarcastic replies instead of an answer to my question, so thank you very much for answering this.

You've helped restore my faith in the people on this forum

Lots of keyboard preachers around unfortunately.

People come here for advice, not judgement, I tend to stick to the former.

dfw128

Ok, so today I received two letters. The first is from cap quest, I'm unsure as to who the original creditor is for this one but their client appears to be Arrow Global Receivables Management Ltd. They have advised that they have forwarded my request to Arrow and will send the documentation to me as soon as they receive it.

The second was from Akinika who are collecting for a BOS credit card. They have said the matter has been referred to their client and on receipt of their response they will contact me to advise accordingly.

I sent all of the letters recorded delivery so have signed for dates. Am I right in saying they have 12+2 days from receipt? Is there anything I need to send back to these two at the moment or do I wait until the 14 days are up? Once the 14 days expire do I do anything or hold on for a response?

Thanks

dfw128

sourcrates wrote: »

When they respond, let us know what they have sent you, and the approx date each account was opened.

The BOS card would likely have originally been opened around 2001/2002. When I know what the capquest debt is I might be able to advise when it was opened. All of my debts are definitely pre-2007 if this is the key date.

sourcrates

dfw128 wrote: »

The BOS card would likely have originally been opened around 2001/2002. When I know what the capquest debt is I might be able to advise when it was opened. All of my debts are definitely pre-2007 if this is the key date.

Yes a very key date.

They have acknowledged your request.
Don't expect to hear anything now for at least two months, these things take time.

You dont need to do anything for the moment.
The accounts are now unenforceable in court until such time as they respond correctly to you.

Keep us updated.