Original credit agreement

tallyhoh

Hi, due to your help so far my friend has had several debts she was struggling with closed. One that she is having problems with is Intrum. She asked for copy of original credit agreement which was JD Williams. This debt has passed through the hands of 3 collection agencies till it reached Intrum. Intrum eventually sent her a copy of the paperwork from previous debt collectors that had handled it which I believe boils down to assignment letters. No mention of JD Williams & original agreement at all.

Intrum are claiming this is all that is required & she should now commence paying them.

Is this correct? due to her circumstances she has little recollection of the original debt.

Thank you

Rob5342

They have to supply the original credit agreement or a reconstituted copy of it, if they don't the debt is unenforceable.

Being unenforceable means they can't take take legal action to make her pay, but they can still ask her to pay it. Have you seen exactly what Intrum said? These companies tend to word things carefully to try and imply an obligation to pay.

tallyhoh

Thank you, this is what Intrum have sent:

"I am sorry to read of your continued concerns regarding the above account. The copy agreement which we sent to you is a copy of the agreement for the above account. There was no new credit agreement created when N Brown Group sold your account to Debt Managers (Services) Ltd, nor when Debt Managers (Services) Ltd sold your account to us. You may wish to seek free professional independent legal advice from reputable sources for further clarification of this point.

We have fulfilled your request made under Section 78 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (amended 2006). Your account will remain on hold for a further 21 days to enable you to submit your repayment proposal to us. I look forward to hearing from you in this time, however please note that we may start contacting you again if we do not receive your reply."

There is no mention of the original creditor JD Williams at all.

Cheers 

sourcrates

The devil is in the detail, what exactly did they send her ?

It would be helpful to know, as they do mention a "copy agreement" being sent to her?

Brie

"There was no new credit agreement created when N Brown Group sold your account to Debt Managers (Services) Ltd, nor when Debt Managers (Services) Ltd sold your account to us." 

So they are admitting they don't have a credit agreement - not that one would be created when selling on a debt (as I understand it).  

I'd be writing back and saying that sight of the original credit agreement is required so that the T&Cs can be confirmed.  And that it needs to be the copy that your friend signed, not a cut and paste of what JDWilliams might currently issue.  

tallyhoh

sourcrates said:

The devil is in the detail, what exactly did they send her ?

It would be helpful to know, as they do mention a "copy agreement" being sent to her?

Thank you. the only letters they attached were 2 previous assignment letters stating that the original creditor was N Brown Group. I assume they are trying to pass these off as agreements

fatbelly

They are allowed to reconstitute an agreement, which is what their letter suggests they have done.

But if you have not received this then this is a false claim

Assignment letters are not relevant to a s77-79 request

I think you should wait until they start a court claim, then defend it. It will probably never happen. You can ignore everything unless you get a formal 30-day preaction letter

Rob5342

JD Williams is a brand of N Brown Group, so the original credit agreement may be N Brown Group.

If they have only sent assignment letters and no agreement then I'd follow fatbellys advice. Tactically it would be better to let your account fall to the bottom of their pile than tell then what they need to do to correct it.

tallyhoh

thank you all, your help is much appreciated