Follow up Letter to CCA Request

Janejh

Hi
I have several debts (due to unemployment) that have been passed to Lowell's. I've had the usual letters from them requesting payment etc. Some of the balances though, seem a lot higher than i remember so have written to Lowell's the standard letter requesting CCA. The letter I sent was dated 15th January 2016. I have had a couple of replies which read as follows:

"You have requested documentation under sections 77/78 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 for this former XXXX account.

We have asked XXXX to provide us with the requested documentation and will send this to you as soon as possible. We aim to provide this to you within 12 working days.

In the meantime this account is on hold and we will not contact you to request payment. If we have not heard anything from XXXX after 40 days we will send you an update."

I received the following letter as a follow up to the above one:

“We refer to your recent request under sections 77/78 of the consumer Credit Act 1974 for a copy of the documentation for this former XXXX account. We have requested a copy of the documentation but have not received this yet.

Your account will remain on hold while we await the requested information from XXXX."

My questions are:

1. In both letters they refer to the account as a "former" account. Does this mean the debt now belongs to Lowell completely or are they simply acting as an Agent?

2. I want to do a follow up letter to Lowell's about all the accounts but am unsure of the time scales within which they have to supply the requested information. I've tried looking this up but keep getting conflicting information. Am I correct in thinking that the first deadline is 12 days plus 2 (is this working days or just continuous days?)? They also mention a further 40 days’ time limit. From the research I've done I've only come across 30 days but again don't know if this is working days or not. Could someone please clarify the time limits and from which date each time limit should commence?

3. Finally could someone advise on a follow up letter or a template letter that i can use?

The original letter I sent made no acknowledgement to the debts.

Hope someone can help.

sourcrates

Hi,

Welcome to MSE.

Lowell don't act as agents, they are a specialist debt purchase company that buy delinquent debts.


The timescales given in the consumer credit act, are just guidelines, Lowell do not have this paperwork, they will of had to go back to the original creditor in order to obtain it, and this takes time, expect to wait up to two months for it, there is no point sending any follow up letter as yet, they have acknowledged your letter, and are acting upon it, now you just wait.


Remember, at present, your accounts are unenforceable until such time as you receive a response from them.

Janejh

Hi Sourcrates,

Thank you for the welcome and you prompt reply.

There are five accounts in all . Two of them I have had responses (as in previous post), two have had no response at all and the fifth I've had no response to my CCA request either but I have had a further letter asking for payment.
1. Should I send reminder letters to the two no response accounts?
2. Should I send a copy of my CCA request to the fifth account which they've asked for payment?

sourcrates

Janejh wrote: »

Hi Sourcrates,

Thank you for the welcome and you prompt reply.

There are five accounts in all . Two of them I have had responses (as in previous post), two have had no response at all and the fifth I've had no response to my CCA request either but I have had a further letter asking for payment.
1. Should I send reminder letters to the two no response accounts?
2. Should I send a copy of my CCA request to the fifth account which they've asked for payment?

Ah right, ok, apologies, your original post didn't make that clear.


Assuming the accounts are all accounts covered by the CCA, (that's anything except an old bank account basically) then yes, you should write again stating "I sent a formal CCA request on such an such a date, and have had no response from you".


Make them aware the accounts are unenforceable in court until such time as they do respond.


There is a template letter kicking around some were, but I`m on my old PC and it takes ages to open new windows on it.

Janejh

Hi,

Apologies for confusion. None of the accounts in question are bank or credit card related mainly catalogues.

I found this letter earlier and wonder if this will be appropriate. The only thing that isn't relevant in this letter is the reference to making no further payments. I have made no payments at all to Lowell in respect of any of the accounts. Do I just remove this sentence or amend it say something like

"no payment or offer of payment will be forthcoming"

---

Letter:-

Dear Sir/Madam

Re: Lowell References
Request under s77/78 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974

My request for a copy of my properly executed Consumer Credit Agreement remains outstanding.

The Act requires that I be supplied with a true copy or a reconstituted version, of any properly executed credit agreement that exists in relation to the above account. I may ask for this on demand providing that a fee of £1.00 is paid. This fee was sent with my original letter, dated **DATE**. Upon receipt of the original request the specified account legally entered into a disputed status.

My request remains outstanding.

As you will know, under the Consumer Credit Act 1974, a judge is not permitted to make any enforcement order unless the creditor can provide a copy or reconstituted version of the credit agreement. This means that unless you can produce such an agreement, this alleged debt is not enforceable in law.

You had until **12 days DATE** to provide me with the true copy I requested. After that date you entered into default of my request.

To sum up, I will not be making any further payments to you until you provide me with the documents I have requested.

I would appreciate your due diligence in this matter.


Yours faithfully

---

Should I be referring to payment etc at all? If so would this then be my acknowledgement to the debt?

Thanks again

sourcrates

They lose the right to enforce the debt after 12+2 days unless they produce the paperwork. Other than statute of limitations there's no other time limits for them to produce the documents, so if you have stopped paying its a matter of keeping fingers crossed for 6 years OR use their lack of compliance to negotiate a full and final settlement of the debt.

It really depends why you sent the CCA request - if it was so you can check the terms and that the paperwork is compliant so you can make a decision on how to act with the debt then chase them. If the paperwork isn't compliant, prescribed terms wise, then you might decide not to repay the debt in the knowledge they could not enforce through the courts. That might lead to a lot of hassle and passing around different DCA's, reporting to credit reference agencies , and your having to defend court action further along or it might lead to them just forgetting about it. If they just haven't sent anything then it's a lot more of a finger crossing exercise as depending when the inception of the account was they could just pop up in a few months/years with a reconstructed copy of your agreement and try to enforce the debt through court etc. Absolutely depends on your circumstances what you do now.

Maybe1day

Hi all, this is interesting as I am in a similar position right now, any further info I get with my CCA requests to Lowell, I'll let you know. So far I've had nothing from my requests.

Janejh

Hi Maybe1day,
look forward to hearing any updates you might have and I'll do the same. There is one other account I have with Lowell which has had a response and that is a credit card account. The agreement and statement of account were supplied direct from the credit card company. However in the space provided for my signature my name is just typed in capital letters, there is no signature so I'm wondering if this is valid, which was going to be my next question to post.
The other five accounts are mainly catalogue and one old mobile account which have had a couple of responses but some of them have had no reply at all.
Good luck with you quest.

sourcrates

Janejh wrote: »

The agreement and statement of account were supplied direct from the credit card company. However in the space provided for my signature my name is just typed in capital letters, there is no signature so I'm wondering if this is valid, which was going to be my next question to post.

How old is the account, what year/month was it originally opened ?

Janejh

Hi Sourcrates,

Thanks for replying - posted this question as new thread so hope i don't generate double work for anyone. Should I delete my new thread?

I've just been looking at the Credit Agreement & statement I received and it actually came from Lowell not direct from Capital One as I first thought. Looking at the statement I've been supplied the opening date is November 2008.

sourcrates

Janejh wrote: »

Hi Sourcrates,

Thanks for replying - posted this question as new thread so hope i don't generate double work for anyone. Should I delete my new thread?

I've just been looking at the Credit Agreement & statement I received and it actually came from Lowell not direct from Capital One as I first thought. Looking at the statement I've been supplied the opening date is November 2008.

In that case there is no requirement to produce a signed document, as the law was changed April 2007, however what they do send you must be legible, if it's not legible, then it's not compliant, it's that simple.

POST ON YOUR NEW THREAD !!