CCA questions.

redmel1621

Hi,

2017 is going to be the year I get my debts paid off. I don't owe loads maybe £3000 max of my own and my husband owes around £3000 so not huge amounts, but it has been increasing over this last year and I want to put a stop to it now.

My questions are relating to some of the old debts that I have, that have been sold to one debt company after another....

I am aware I can send them a letter asking them to provide a CCA and they must do this within a certain time frame, so my first job will be to do this. So once I have a reply (or not) where do I go from there?

If I get a letter back and they do produce the CCA I am aware I am liable for the debt, but can I at that point offer a F&F amount? Or do I ask them to provide one? Or am I out of luck and have to just pay the full amount owed?

If they aren't able to provide a CCA what happens? Do they stop chasing the money or is it a case I ignore them? Or do I send their letter back to them?

Thank you for any advice.
Mel x

sourcrates

Good afternoon,

I`ll try and answer your questions for you.

Making a CCA request can be of benefit to you in a number of ways, but bare in mind CCA only applies to running credit agreements such as credit cards, loans, catalogue accounts etc, it does not apply to mobile phone contracts or bank overdrafts.

Firstly, no matter when your agreement dates from, if they are unable to produce anything in response to your request, then the account becomes irredeemably unenforceable, which means you cannot be made to repay the debt through the courts.

Next, if your original agreement dates from before April 2007, then slightly different rules apply, any copy agreement that is sent to you must also contain the prescribed terms for that account, how and when to make payment, credit limit applicable, interest rate etc etc.
Without these terms, again, the account is unenforceable in court (after this date the law changed so is not applicable to later dated agreements).

A normal response for an account dated after April 2007 will be a reconstituted copy of your agreement, made up from information held on the creditors systems.

No matter when an agreement dates from, it does not need to be signed, also making a CCA request has no effect whatsoever on any other rights you may have, you can make settlement offers at any time, they are much more likely to accept if no agreement exists.

If they are not able to produce the CCA, all that does is remove the option of taking you to court, the debt is still due, they can still ask you to pay, they just cant use the courts to make you do so.

When making your request, you must use the template letter in this link, and dont forget to include the £1 statutory payment with it, you can pay by cheque or postal order :

https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/sampleletters/Pages/Information-about-your-agreement-under-the-Consumer-Credit-Act-%28sole-name%29.aspx

redmel1621

Thank you for your reply.

My husband thinks we are better off just ignoring the debts he says they are 'written off' after 7 years. Now I am pretty sure he is wrong about that, but I have heard that something happens to them after the 7 year point.

I wasn't in any great rush to pay anything to any of them, but one has now been transferred to court and I have received a CCJ letter. (my husband doesn't know about the CCJ letter) I will be making an offer of nominal payments as we do not really have much of an income to speak of.

I just have a feeling that once I do this the others will see I have made contact and will all decide to do the same.

Can I request a CCA after a CCJ has been issued?
Can I make offers to the debt company of how much I am willing to pay to clear the debt?
What can I do with regards to a mobile phone debt, as one of them is to O2? Make them an offer?

sourcrates

redmel1621 wrote: »

Can I request a CCA after a CCJ has been issued?
Can I make offers to the debt company of how much I am willing to pay to clear the debt?
What can I do with regards to a mobile phone debt, as one of them is to O2? Make them an offer?

Is it a claim form you have received ?

If so Legal Beagles is the place to go for advice :

http://legalbeagles.info/forums/forumdisplay.php?105-Received-a-Court-Claim

The creditor may still be open to offers yes.

I think you were referring to the Limitations act 1980 in your opening sentence, if no payment or written acknowledgement has been made in any period of 6 years (5 years in Scotland) then the account will most probably be statute barred, and you wont have to pay it.

In Scotland the debt is written off, but in England and Wales the debt still exists.

You must inform the creditor the account is statute barred, if you fail to do that, they can still take you to court.

Does this apply to the debt you have received the claim form for ?

As statute barred is a full defense to any court claim.

Mobile phone debts dont have signed agreements, but you should still ask for proof, in the form of airtime bills, if only to prove they have the right to ask for payment of the debt.

redmel1621

sourcrates wrote: »

Is it a claim form you have received ?

If so Legal Beagles is the place to go for advice :

http://legalbeagles.info/forums/forumdisplay.php?105-Received-a-Court-Claim

The creditor may still be open to offers yes.

I think you were referring to the Limitations act 1980 in your opening sentence, if no payment or written acknowledgement has been made in any period of 6 years (5 years in Scotland) then the account will most probably be statute barred, and you wont have to pay it.

In Scotland the debt is written off, but in England and Wales the debt still exists.

You must inform the creditor the account is statute barred, if you fail to do that, they can still take you to court.

Does this apply to the debt you have received the claim form for ?

As statute barred is a full defense to any court claim.

Mobile phone debts dont have signed agreements, but you should still ask for proof, in the form of airtime bills, if only to prove they have the right to ask for payment of the debt.

Yes I believe it is a claim form that I have received. They want me to return it with my income details. I will check out legal beagles

Ah right - statute barred. So the debt will still exist, which is would be worse on my credit rating than if I paid it off? I am kind of hoping to (start to) rebuild my credit rating as I am due to start work after Easter and this is basically my first job in my newly trained for career. Hopefully this is the start of a better life for my family and I, after many years of struggling.

Thank you for taking the time to reply.

sourcrates

redmel1621 wrote: »

Yes I believe it is a claim form that I have received. They want me to return it with my income details. I will check out legal beagles

Ah right - statute barred. So the debt will still exist, which would be worse on my credit rating than if I paid it off? I am kind of hoping to (start to) rebuild my credit rating .

If the debt were over 6 years old it would not show on your credit report anyway.

Defaulted debts only stay on your file for 6 years, they then drop off, paid or not.

So if the debt is statute barred, it will make no difference to your credit file if you decide not to repay it.

redmel1621

sourcrates wrote: »

If the debt were over 6 years old it would not show on your credit report anyway.

Defaulted debts only stay on your file for 6 years, they then drop off, paid or not.

So if the debt is statute barred, it will make no difference to your credit file if you decide not to repay it.

Ah ok.
So for any really old debts I suppose I may as well just declare them statute barred. We don't have much money so although I do want to get debts cleared, I don't really want to pay them unless I absolutely have to. I know this might sound like I am trying to dodge what I owe, but I am just trying to get us on track now for a brighter future

I will look at legal beagles and I will look more into statute barred, CCA's and F&F offers. Hopefully I can come out of 2017 with most of the debt cleared one way or another.

sourcrates

redmel1621 wrote: »

Ah ok.
So for any really old debts I suppose I may as well just declare them statute barred. We don't have much money so although I do want to get debts cleared, I don't really want to pay them unless I absolutely have to. I know this might sound like I am trying to dodge what I owe, but I am just trying to get us on track now for a brighter future

I will look at legal beagles and I will look more into statute barred, CCA's and F&F offers. Hopefully I can come out of 2017 with most of the debt cleared one way or another.

Ok,

Good luck with it !!

Any further questions, feel free to ask.