direct legal collections

katiek_3

wondering if someone could give me some advice

i have recently been unfortunate enough to encounter DLC.

They will not negotiate a monthly fee with me they say i have to pay the full; balance and then question why i can't pay the full amount.

I am not disputing that the debt is mine- it sure is.

i didnt make the last monthly payment of over £150 and now they want to increase the payments.

do i have the right to hang up when they call me at work and ask them to correspond with me only by letter?

can you explain what a CCA is and how i owuld go about sending them a cca?

RAS

katiek wrote: »

wondering if someone could give me some advice

i have recently been unfortunate enough to encounter DLC.

What is the debt for?

They will not negotiate a monthly fee with me they say i have to pay the full; balance and then question why i can't pay the full amount.

The OFT Guidelines are quite clear on this; they must pass on any reasonable offer to the original credsitor. If it went to court, you would have to do an income and expenditure questionnaire and the court would decide how much you had to pay. This would be binding on both you and the DCA.

I am not disputing that the debt is mine- it sure is.

OK, but let's make sure the CCA and letter of assignment are in place.

i didnt make the last monthly payment of over £150 and now they want to increase the payments.

This suggests that the amount you are paying may not be reasonable, although without seeing your Statement of Affairs it is hard to tell.

do i have the right to hang up when they call me at work and ask them to correspond with me only by letter?

Calling you at work directly contravenes OFT Guidelines, unless you have specifically request them to call you there? It may also contravene the data protection Act, if they were to leave a messsage with a colleague for instance.

Under the OFT Guidelines you can require them to contact you only by letter and they have to oblige.

can you explain what a CCA is and how i owuld go about sending them a cca?

A consumer Credit Agreement, without which they cannot enforce the debt.

Hi

Some links and template letters to follow.

katiek_3

thanks for the advice - haven't received the links or templates yet?

RAS

Dear Sir/madam

Re: Request for true copy of the alleged agreement

Ref:

I do not acknowledge any debt to your company.

I am writing to request that you supply the following documentation regarding the alleged account. Account no:

1. You must supply me with a true copy of the alleged agreement you refer to. This is my right under your obligation to supply a copy of the agreement under the legislation contained within s.78 (1) ConsumerCreditAct 1974 (s.77 (1) for fixed sum credit) - your obligation also extends to providing a statement of account. I enclose £1 in payment of the statutory fee.

2. A signed true copy of the deed of assignment of the above referenced agreement that you allege exists.

3. You are notified that you are obliged to supply these documents, whether you are the original creditor or not under S189 of the CCA 1974.

Non-compliance with my request is a criminal offence under the above Act and will result in a report being submitted to the relevant statutory authorities, therefore if I do not receive evidence that I owe your company any monies by , I will have no hesitation in passing your details to the Office of Fair Trading.

As you are aware, a credit agreement that is not properly documented and signed by the customer is totally unenforceable under the CCA and therefore is a complete defence to any court claim that is issued. In the meantime and until this information is supplied I maintain no knowledge of this debt.

Take note at this stage, that any legal action you may contemplate will be both vigorously defended and contested.

Further, following numerous telephone calls to my home and work, I require ALL communications in writing and are addresed to ........

This letter states quite clearly to you that I require ALL communications in writing for future Court use. Do not telephone me again - remove any telephone numbers you hold for me from your systems. Failure to do so will consititute a breach of the Data Information Act.

Your repeated communications are in breach of the Office of Fair Trading guidelines. If you continue with them after the receipt of this letter an official complaint, together with a log recording the times and frequency of the calls and copies of all correspondence will be passed both to that office, the Data Information Commissioner and to the Trading Standards office. For your information note that ALL telephone calls are now taped.

This type of debt collection method is contrary to the ‘Administration of Justice Act 1970’ in that it is intended to cause alarm and distress to the recipient. Your methods will not be tolerated. A formal complaint, containing copies of all correspondence including yours, will be submitted to the relevant authorities. This will be relevant to questions of your fitness to hold a licence under the Consumer Credit Act, whether or not it results in a prosecution.

Take further note that continued telephone calls after the receipt of a request not to call may constitute a criminal offence under Section 127 of the Communications Act 2003.

Communicate in writing and ONLY in writing. Any further haressment WILL TRIGGER COMPLAINTS TO THE REGULATORY BODIES.

I trust that I have made myself understood on this matter,

Yours sincerely


Copy of OFT Guidelines - read this lot and keep a copy to hand. Then you can quote chapter and verse if they ring you.

Following link will take you to a downloadable pdf version of the Office of Fair Trading Debt Collection guidelines, to which DLC should adhere:

http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/bus...dit/oft664.pdf

(thanks rog2)

Thanks fermi for this but I will edit the letter above to make if hybrid

Dear Sir/Madam,

Ref. Your payplan DMP number
Following recent phone calls from your company, I require ALL communications in writing and are addresed to ........

This letter states quite clearly to you that I require ALL communications in writing for future Court use and that you will communicate with my nominated representative. Do not telephone me again - remove any telephone numbers you hold for me from your systems.

Your repeated communications are in breach of the Office of Fair Trading guidelines. If you continue with them after the receipt of this letter an official complaint, together with a log recording the times and frequency of the calls and copies of all corrspondence will be passed both to that office and to the Trading Standards office. For your information note that ALL telephone calls are now taped.

This type of debt collection method is contrary to the ‘Administration of Justice Act 1970’ in that it is intended to cause alarm and distress to the recipient. Your methods will not be tolerated. A formal complaint, containing copies of all correspondence including yours, will now been submitted to the relevant authorities. This will be relevant to questions of your fitness to hold a licence under the Consumer Credit Act, whether or not it results in a prosecution.

Take further note that continued telephone calls after the receipt of a request not to call may constitute a criminal offence under Section 127 of the Communications Act 2003.

Communicate in writing and ONLY in writing, with our nominated representative.

Any further haressment WILL TRIGGER COMPLAINTS TO THE REGULATORY BODIES.

I trust that I have made myself understood on this matter,

Yours faithfully,

RAS

Send the top letter - hybrid CCA/telephone demand to them, recorded delivery so you can track it and enclose £1 fee for the CCA.

You might add a sentence saying you enclose the fee at the end.

As soon as they sign, any further contact is haressment and they cannot take any further action against you until they produce the CCA. In fact, once they have the letter, even ringing you whilst the account is in dispute is a no no.

katiek_3

thanks fior the letter and links, copy of letter in post tonight!!!!!!

katiek_3

OK so i put the lette in the post on friday evening and they are saying they haven't received it and they have just called me again - do i have the right to put the phone down on them?

RAS

There is a bit of a backlog in the post. Expect it to take a couple of days to work through their systems as well.

Did you send it recorded delivery?

Just tell them that you have requested the CCA and that they cease phoning and check when it was deliverted.

katiek_3

i haven't expereinced any further problems - i had a personal letter dated thursday that was deliveed friday - so i am not using that as an excuse.