DCA continuing to persue me after CCA request

Wagonwheels

Hi everyone,

This is my first post, though I have been reading here for some months now, congrats on a truely excellent and informative site, its very interesting.

I wondered if anyone could give me some advice on this query, (I did search the forums for previous cases but couldn't find any that were totally relevant, sorry if this has been covered before).

Anyway, the issue is this, a few months ago I received a letter from a DCA claiming that I owed money to a client of their's. Now I did have a debt with this creditor a number of years ago, however it was for a totally different amount, and was cleared a good while back.
So, I sent them the template letter from this website, stating that I don't acknowledge the debt, and requesting a copy of the signed credit agreement, I also enclosed a payment of £1 to facilitate this.
A few days after sending this, I recieved a reply from the DCA acknowledging my request, and saying 'Thank you for your query, we will look into it and get back to you'.
After that there was nothing for a few weeks, then just before christmas I recieved another standard threatening 'pay or we'll take you to court' letter about the debt, with no mention whatsoever about my previous request, or their subsequent acknowledgement of it.

My question is, what course of action should I take now? Do I need to write to the company and re-iterate my original request for a copy of the credit agreement, or do I just goto trading standards and the like? I'm concerned that they may instigate court proceedings which, whether justified or not, will be harder to reverse at that point than just preventing it from happening in the first place.

Anyone got an idea what I should do? Your thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Snaggles

Hi Wagonwheels, I don't know the answer, sorry, but didn't want you to think no-one was replying. There aren't many people signed in at the moment, but hopefully someone will be able to answer your question in the morning. I know there are quite a few members who are experts at doing battle with DCAs.

smashedbooboo

Hi hun. No do not write to them again. Can you let us know who the DCA is and hen you sent off your request. Did you send via registered post. There is a certain time frame in which they have to reply. And if they dont then you can report them. Have a pop over to https://www.consumeractiongroup.com . They have a whole forum on DCA and there are lots of people on there in the same position as you. You will get DCA specific advice. They are a friendly bunch over there. Just like here. I am not snding you to a rival site as such as martin and the CAG support each other on the bank reclaim issue. Please come back here though. And welcome to the site.

smashedbooboo

Also what was the debt for. And do you have proof that it was paid. It sounds like they have defaulted on your request now but need to know the time frame. Please dont fret hun it can be sorted. You just need to find out if they have a legal right anyway to collect on alleged debt. I have had a number of requests for CCAs to DCAs and each time the debt was passed back to the original creditor. And please do NOT talk to any DCA on the phone. Papaer trail only. If you dont want to post on here the details of the DCA then you can PM me.

Wagonwheels

Hi guys, many thanks for replying so soon.

Snaggles, thank you for bumping the thread, as you were saying, it was quite quiet when I first posted it, but I couldn't believe it when it had slipped to the lower end of page 4 when i checked it this morning, this is indeed a very busy forum!

Smashedbooboo, cheers for your words of advice and encouragement! I'll check out that other site shortly and get the full details on where I stand with this, I'll post back whatever I find out, hopefully it will be of use to anyone else that finds themselves in this scenario.

To answer your question, the DCA is a small local solicitors firm, and is not one of the 'usual suspects' you often hear about in this forum (thankfully!), but I shall PM you their name none the less. Thankfully, all correspondance this far has been in writing, and I haven't had any phonecalls from them, which I could do without I'm sure

The original debt was for £130 odd and was paid off back in 2002/3ish, though stupidly I have no proof of this. The amount they're claiming I owe, is some £700, hence my querying it.
The initial payment demand I recieved from them was dated 01/11/07. Unfortunately though, the envelope was set on the fireplace for me, and it fell off and down the side of a book shelf, so I didn't find it until the last day in November. On 01/12/07, I immediately wrote to them and asked for a copy of the credit agreement, enclosing the £1 payment as per the details I found on this forum. Aproximately 2-3 days later, they wrote back acknowledging my request, and saying that they would respond to it in due course. I heard nothing more from them until a few days before Christmas (unsure of exact date, will find out when I go home), when they sent another standard 'pay us' letter. I would estimate that approx. 15-20 days passed between their acknowledgement of my CCA request, and them sending the second payment demand. I'll confirm that for sure later.

Thanks for this, I'll check out the other site and see what I can find out. Cheers again!

stapeley

HI , Theres a second leter you can now send them .After 12 working days and one month the are in breech of the CC act . There a template letter . Have a look at my post LETS ALL ASK FOR OUR CCA . I would not worry about the court threat , its a standard tactic , you,ve done the right thing . good luck