PRA group no paperwork after 3 years

DjangoUnchained

Had a barclaycard debt sold to pra group over three years ago approx £5k..   following online advice i requested a copy of the paperwork and contracts etc. They have not been able to supply these. I got a letter from them about 2 1/2  years ago saying that they are awaiting the paperwork and meanwhile the account is deamed "unenforceable"  so since then a get an account statement about 4 times a year. I understand they have six years to find the paperwork and try and enforce it.  Meanwhile i will sit tight and not respond to anything from them.  Im just wondering what the likelihood now of them coming up with the paperwork after this time ? 

Suseka97

I'd say unlikely, but you can never say never until that magic 6 years arrives from the point at which you've last made contact or paid monies.  The most important thing to do is to make sure that you keep hold of the UE paperwork - you never know when or if you might need it.

DjangoUnchained

apart from a statement and an offer of 20% off every few months i hear nothing at all this year. Then suddenly 2 texts inviting me to contact them and then 3 phone calls, two of which i refused to answer security questions so they couldn't continue. The third call i confirmed the questions and spoke to a young guy. I sked about the CCA i requested 5 years ago and hadn't received. First he made out he didnt know what a CCA was. I told him that my letter from them had confirmed it was unenforceable until they had the paperwork., He asked me for further details, I said im not going to do your homework for you. He asked me to hold while he could look into it. I said im not going to hold, you can call me back when you have sorted yourself out.   Needless to say its been a few more days and nothing.
My question is, should i write to them reminding them that im still waiting for the CCA , or my instincts tell me its best to let them do the chasing, im sure they will call again. Originally i told them on their first call over 5 years ago not to call me , i will only deal with this in writing. Should i remind them of this again. I want to drag this out another year so its statute barred  so i dont want to be too bolshy in case someone decides to make efforts to get the paperwork and pursuing it. Interested in anyones experience whether they start pushing as it nears the 6 year  date.

sourcrates

Ignore them, they know its unenforceable, absolutely no point wasting a stamp.

In the majority of cases if they don`t find your original credit agreement, or are unable to produce a re-constituted version of it, within 6 months, then they never will.

The agreement you signed never left the original creditor, until they either removed it from there records, or it was lost, accidently deleted or thrown away.
If Barclaycard couldn`t find it 5 years ago, they sure as hell won`t be able to find it now.

These companies play a numbers game you see, it wouldn`t be that difficult for PRA to cobble together a re-constituted copy of your agreement, and try to pass it off as compliant, the question they ask themselves is, is it worth the effort, would you continue to dispute the debt, if it went to court, they may have to engage a solicitor to plead their case, you may be able to sway the judge to your way of thinking.

Even if they did win, can you afford to pay? would you pay without further enforcement action? these are all questions they ask themselves when reviewing cases such as this, is it worth the effort commercially to play this game, and a lot of the time its easier and cheaper to just say they can`t find your paperwork, rather than drag you through the courts.

They don`t require that much information to create a recon version of your agreement, and lack of a compliant credit agreement, although a defence, is a very tenuous one, when it comes to a court claim, a good solicitor could make a convincing argument in their clients favour.

It all boils down to whether or not its commercially viable to go down that path, or not, so my advice would be to not rock the boat, if they have said its unenforceable, leave it at that, and let sleeping dogs lye.

DjangoUnchained

Thanks Sourcrates. I do intend ignoring it and have absolutely no intention in paying them anything. If it did go to court id quite happily take my chances, worse case is id have to pay, maybe some costs , but id make it hard for them. Despite me telling them i dont wish to be phoned, they have now done it four days in a row. Should i carry on refusing to talk to them or maybe i should start playing how long i can keep them on the phone for until they get bored. I understand they are trying to intimidate me and others, although politely as possible, and to be honest i really dont care. They all sound like young kids who are doing the job and arnt really that bothered, suppose at some stage it might get passed to a more senior manager when i can start to have some fun with them.  i think next time they call i will tell them im not interested in talking to them unless they are telling me they have written off the debt  lol. 

Rob5342

I'd just ignore them completely, dont even answer the phone and block their number if you can. They have automated diallers and a team of people to handle calls and will keep trying. Keeping them on the phone will just waste your time and wont make any difference to them, you'll just get autodialled again and with the call being passed to someone else.

I have an Egg/Barclcaycard debt with them that is unenforcable and I get an email from them about it every couple of weeks and phonecalls every two days. I've just blocked the number and detete the voicemail whenever I get one from them. It's become an almost subconscious routine now, as soon I hear the woman with a scottish accent I press 3 to delete it.

You can never be completely sure they won't be able to produce the paperwork later but I would say it's quite unlikely now. Remember that they buy large numbers of debts at a fraction of their value, they know a lot will be unenforcable or unrecoverable for other reasons and they bank on making money from the ones that are paid. It's easy and  cheap to send emails or phone people and a lot of people will pay as a result of that, taking court action is much more costly and difficult.

backinbusiness

Rob5342 said:

as soon I hear the woman with a scottish accent I press 3 to delete it.

Lol Rob - as a woman with a Scottish accent myself, I do think there may be more than one of us . . . made me chuckle BiB x

DjangoUnchained

backinbusiness said:

Rob5342 said:

as soon I hear the woman with a scottish accent I press 3 to delete it.

Lol Rob - as a woman with a Scottish accent myself, I do think there may be more than one of us . . . made me chuckle BiB x

only one out of the four that called me was a woman with a scottish accent, sounded very pleasant too.

Rob5342

It''s a recorded message from their autodialler I get on my voicemail every 2 days or so. It's always the same saying please call us back.

DjangoUnchained

Rob5342 said:

It''s a recorded message from their autodialler I get on my voicemail every 2 days or so. It's always the same saying please call us back.

the way i understand it is if they want you to call them back its because they cant threaten you in writing, they will try and lie over the phone. The few letters ive had have requested i call them for a "special offer". If they want to offer me a deal they can put it in writing (Id still ignore it anyway lol).

Rob5342

They have sent me letters and emails saying they can help me by giving me a 15% discount, and hidden away under the help and support section they say the account is unenforceable.