Help! Link Financial F&F Offer Refused

tayajade

Hi all
We entered into a DMP with payplan in 2013. We had 8 creditors with a combined debt of £48000. We have been making token payments of £1 per month to all creditors for the last two years. 

We recently found ourselves in the fortunate position to be able to make partial settlement offerers to clear the debts. All creditors have accepted 30% (next pushed us to 50%) and these have been paid. All of these accounts had already dropped off our credit file.

We have two accounts purchased by Link Financial in 2016, they were originally Barclaycard credit cards. Both accounts are defaulted but still on our credit file, one drops off in October 2021 and the other in September 2022. 

Link didn’t respond to my offer letter so I have been negotiating via telephone. I have offered 30% and 35%, both offers were rejected and we were told not to bother submitting any more counter offers as they will only consider a 70% reduction. The max we can afford is 50%.

I have requested the CCA - Link confirmed that they don’t have it and have requested it from barclaycard, again this conversation took place on the telephone only. 

Any advice on what to do next?? Do we wait to offer again when they’ve dropped off our credit file? Do I continue to make £1 payments each month? 

runforlife

You need the CCA in writing. Send off a request using the template from National Debtline. https://www.nationaldebtline.org/sample-letters/information-about-your-agreement-under-consumer-credit-act/
As they have said verbally they don't have it, it's likely you'll not need to pay any more as it is not enforceable in law and you can't get a CCJ against it. 
They have 12 days I think, to send you a copy of the CCA. Without it, pretty much stuffed! 
I have just received a reply from one of mine today with Link/MBNA. They have said they have written to the original creditor to see if they have a copy. We'll see if it turns up. 
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6251268/link-reply-to-cca-give-us-6-weeks#latest

tayajade

runforlife said:

You need the CCA in writing. Send off a request using the template from National Debtline. https://www.nationaldebtline.org/sample-letters/information-about-your-agreement-under-consumer-credit-act/
As they have said verbally they don't have it, it's likely you'll not need to pay any more as it is not enforceable in law and you can't get a CCJ against it. 
They have 12 days I think, to send you a copy of the CCA. Without it, pretty much stuffed! 
I have just received a reply from one of mine today with Link/MBNA. They have said they have written to the original creditor to see if they have a copy. We'll see if it turns up. 
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6251268/link-reply-to-cca-give-us-6-weeks#latest

Thank you, I will get onto this tomorrow, I followed your link to your thread, sounds like your in a similar situation just ahead of me so would be interested to hear how you get on? Did you make a settlement offer first or request CCA first? 

We were trying to settle everything so that when the last one drops off our credit file later this year we could apply for a mortgage to buy a house again (currently renting). 

If the debt is unenforceable and I stop paying it, would it cause any issue for us getting a mortgage as it still ‘exists’? Would we still have to declare it as an existing debt to a potential lender? 

Suseka97

As said, you need to request this in writing and then sit back and wait to see what they return - if anything.  Stop paying the tokens and if the debts are UE then you have the option to just walk away, or go back with low F&Fs and you may then find them more amenable to your offers.

sourcrates

Debt purchasing companies never have the CCA.
Original paperwork never leaves the original creditor, they always have to ask them for it, so don’t celebrate just yet, as they may still provide it.

sammyjammy

Why are the two default dates  a year apart?  Did you cease paying at the same time?  You could look into complaining about the 2022 one if it should have been defaulted earlier.

tayajade

sourcrates said:

Debt purchasing companies never have the CCA.
Original paperwork never leaves the original creditor, they always have to ask them for it, so don’t celebrate just yet, as they may still provide it.

Yes they have requested it from Barclays, I guess if it turns up I’ll just keep paying £1 and keep going back every few months with settlement offers?

tayajade

sammyjammy said:

Why are the two default dates  a year apart?  Did you cease paying at the same time?  You could look into complaining about the 2022 one if it should have been defaulted earlier.

sammyjammy said:

Why are the two default dates  a year apart?  Did you cease paying at the same time?  You could look into complaining about the 2022 one if it should have been defaulted earlier.

sammyjammy said:

Why are the two default dates  a year apart?  Did you cease paying at the same time?  You could look into complaining about the 2022 one if it should have been defaulted earlier.

Payments ceased at the same time yes in 2014, I  don’t think that they were defaulted by barclaycard, I think they were defaulted by link when they were purchased.

Who do I contact to discuss changing the default date, Barclays? 

Suseka97

Yes, to get a default backdated you would need to make a complaint to the original creditor.

runforlife

My defaults were scattered all over the place. Using this letter and over a couple of years I got them to date within 3 months of the DMP starting. I actually got this default from 2016 to January 2014 despite asking for July 2014!  The sentences in italics are important. I seem to remember pinching these from a template letter I once saw. 

October 2016

Account Number 1234 5678 9000

Sir/Madam,

I refer to the above mentioned Barclaycard Account which is being reported on my credit reference files.

I propose that Barclaycard has used arrangement to pay markers in place of a default on the account. It is understood that the Information Commissioner's Office does not agree with this and states that this is indeed unfair practice.

Barclaycard first reported early arrears (AA) in October 2013 and November 2013. I had failed to meet the contractual payments in September 2013 and November 2013. This is when I entered into a Debt Management Plan (DMP) with Stepchange debt charity.  

The account was marked OK for December 2013.

From January 2014 through to August 2014 the account was marked with Arrangement to Pay (AR) and then in September 2014 to November 2014 as Early Arrears (AA – 2) followed by Early Arrears (AA-1) in December 2014.

Clearly throughout 2014 I had failed to meet the contractual agreement and had defaulted on the account. 

By entering into the DMP agreement you had sight of my income, outgoings and budget provided to you by Stepchange. This would have made it clear to you that I was not in a position to repay the outstanding amount in full and would be in a DMP for several years. 

The Information Commissioners Office guidelines state than an informal arrangement such as a DMP should not last for more than 6 months, after which either the account should be returned to normal or defaulted. 

I contest the account is incorrectly reported throughout the majority of 2015 as OK for January through December and for May as AA.

Even as recently as August 2016 it shows as AA-2. Also incorrect. 

For your consideration all of my other creditors have defaulted my accounts with them in 2014. All were part of the original DMP. I propose to you that this reflects the true position of my ability to pay my contractual agreement at the time, one which is not reflected by Barclaycard. 

If the current reporting of the account remains, then this places me at a disadvantage to those debtors who do not repay any amount to the creditor and have their account defaulted at the earliest opportunity. 

I therefore propose it is against the Information Commissioner's Office guidelines for my debt not to have been defaulted on or before July 2014.

I request that you place a default date on the account of July 2014 with all of the credit reference agencies you report to.  This will bring it in line with my other debts. 

I will continue to pay payments on these accounts until fully paid

I look forward to your reply. 

Yours faithfully,

runforlife

tayajade said:

 Did you make a settlement offer first or request CCA first? 

We were trying to settle everything so that when the last one drops off our credit file later this year we could apply for a mortgage to buy a house again (currently renting). 

If the debt is unenforceable and I stop paying it, would it cause any issue for us getting a mortgage as it still ‘exists’? Would we still have to declare it as an existing debt to a potential lender? 

I made settlement offers before requesting the CCAs which in fact I've only just done. 
We too are renting. We have just had a mortgage in principle offer and in the process of the formal application. We used a mortgage broker who is excellent. Happy to give you her details via PM in the future. 
There are lenders who will loan to those with a DMP. In our case all defaults have gone from the credit report but my token payments show on the bank statements so they'll know the debt exists. This hasn't been a problem and I've not even had to tell anyone what the outstanding amount is, but if you can clear those payment entries in the months before you start applying for a mortgage then that certainly won't be an issue. Of course applying for a mortgage to a previous creditor is unlikely to be successful, so we told our mortgage advisor where our original debts were from.