CCA requests....... finally

Blackhawk79

Hello everyone, been a long time follower of the forum but this is my first post.
Been reading for years the advice about CCA requests so after many years I've finally got round to doing it.

I got seriously into debt about 20 years ago but it all came to a head in 2010 when I had a serious RTA and could no longer work so I contacted step change for help. By that time I had racked up credit card debts of £75,000.
They told me to send a budget sheet to all my creditors, explain that I could not work and to offer token payments so they would stop piling on the obscene amounts of interest that was spiraling out of control.

Luckily they all agreed and I have been paying token payments to my creditors ever since!
The lowest are £1 a month and the highest is £20.
Recently my biggest creditor Cabot have been hassling me for an updated budget sheet so I thought I'd finally take the forums advice and ask them all for CCA's.

I have 4 accounts with Cabot totalling £39,800 so contacted them first with the CCA's. Within a week they replied saying "unfortunately we haven't been able to obtain the information you requested from the original lender so until we can supply this your account is unenforceable".
They also said that as so much time had elapsed they will no longer appear on my credit file.
This was for all 4 Cabot accounts.
They asked me to contact them to discuss payment of the accounts which I have no intention of doing!

To say I was shocked is an understatement, I've been paying these for the last 14 years, all be it only token payments of between £1 and £10 a month when they've probably been unenforceable all that time.
These credit card accounts date from 1981 to 2004 and have been sold on multiple times!
Now I know why Cabot have been offering me 70% discounts for the last 2 or 3 years!
That's also probably why they cashed my £1 cheques, guess they're not expecting to get much more out of me!

I've also sent 3 other CCA requests to PRA Group, Capquest and Lowell but I'm still waiting for them to reply.
These 3 credit card accounts are also all at least 20 years old and have also been sold on multiple times so I'll have to wait and see  whether they can supply the correct paperwork!

I know there is still the possibility that they may eventually manage to produce sufficient paperwork work but for the moment I have decided to make no more payments to Cabot and ignore any letters they may send me.

I'll have to wait and see if the other 3 can produce the CCA's but if they can't I'm going to stop paying them also!

So I just wanted to say a big thank you to all on the forum that give such great advice because without you I probably would never have done this!👍

JadedAngel88

Well, that is some good news for you.

I wouldn't have thought the others would have cca's after 20 years but you never know.

I also would not be paying them another penny, they can and probably still will write to you but not much else they can do. Just be aware they could be sneaky and send a letter before action or send actual court documents. They probably won't but you never know.

Rob5342

That's great news. There is never any guarantee but it's unlikely they could produce the CCA for a 20 year old debt that's been sold multiple times. Personally I'd stop paying them all now and only start again if they do produce the CCA.

Make sure you read the replies very carefully as they often word things to try and fool you, for example describing an unenforcable debt as "valid and collectable". They really do push it to within a millimetre of lying.

RAS

There's a quirk of English (& Welsh?) law that once a consumer credit debt has not been paid or acknowledge in 6 years, any legal action a creditor takes can be defended on the ground that it is "out of time". 

But the debt still exists and if you don't defend they can get a CCJ by default.  So the debt is unenforceable (subject to defence) but collectable. If you fancy paying £1 for every halfpenny the debt collector paid for the debt.

In Scotland, the time period is 5 years, after which the debt is extinguished.

Blackhawk79

Thanks for your replies guys, much appreciated.
So today I received letters from my other 3 creditors.

Lowell say they have requested the documentation from Capital One and will send it to me as soon as possible.
Until they do my account is on hold and they will not contact me or request payment.
They cashed my £1 cheque.

PRA Group say they have requested the documentation from LLoyds TSB and placed my account on hold and will not contact me until they receive it.
So I'm guessing I can stop paying them for now also.
They returned my £1 cheque.

But I don't know what's going on with Capquest, they say I asked them to close my account as Statute barred which they can't do as I made a payment in October.
Obviously I never asked them for that and only requested the CCA.
What do you thinks going on here, are they just messing me about?
Do I need to send them another CCA request?
Shall I carry on paying them for now as it's only £1 a month?
They also returned my £1 cheque.

What's your thoughts guys?👍

sourcrates

Clarify things with Capquest, obviously some clerk fresh out of nursery, has a weekend job there.

Blackhawk79

Is it ok to phone Capquest, obviously I will withhold my number, they don't have it and I don't want them hassling me with phone calls?

Grumpelstiltskin

You do realize if you phone Capquest you will get someone on minimum wage working in the call centre who only knows what is written on the script, the chance of getting anyone who a) knows what they are doing and b) has authority to do anything is virtually zero.

sourcrates

Send another letter, explain what your original letter requested, and what it didn`t.

Remind them they are obliged to comply with consumer credit act legislation.

The guidance is here:

CONC 13.1 Application - FCA Handbook

Blackhawk79

Thanks very much, I'll send them another letter as you suggest but I will make that £1 payment until I hear back from them.

Blackhawk79

So I finally got a reply to my CCA request from Capquest.

It says "Following the investigation into your CCA request we regret to inform you that we have been unable to speak with the previous account owner to obtain the relevant documentation.
We acknowledge that until we can provide such documents, your account is unenforceable."

This original account was with Barclaycard, then sold to Arrow Global and now it's with Capquest, it's now 24 years old. The amount outstanding is £8,180.

So at this time none of my 4 creditors have been able to produce the CCA's and the total amount outstanding on the 7 accounts is £63,408.

These are all very old accounts and I know they may be able to produce something in the future but for now I am not going to contact them or pay any more to any of them.

I can't quite believe that none of them have been able to provide the required paperwork and I might just have been very lucky and saved myself a small fortune!🤞