advice on halifax unsecured debt

DEBT_23

from the advice of some of you i have spoken to the DM company and told them i no longer needed them and their fees. and i have decided to try and contact my creditors myself and arrange a monthyl fee to them.
the problem is most of my debt is with halifax ,i have 2 credit cards and personal loan total of £14,000
i have with them was taken out nearly 5 years ago and i defaulted on them 4 years ago i dont have a account/ref numbers if i was to ring them would they deal with me..? im currantly getting letters demanding payment from CHASE DEBT COLLECTORS part of the london scottish bank plc.

would you recommend me taking this route?
also would it just be the normal halifax number i ring?

GeorgeUK

Are CHASE chasing you for the halifax debt?

I would try contacting halifax on their usual number. If they've passed it on to a DCA, the will tell you and hopefully be able to tell you which one.

If it is passed to a DCA, then i would suggest requesting a copy of the cca, notice of assignment and statement of accounts from them before agreeing to any payments.

DEBT_23

chase are chasing me for all of my debt with halifax, they send me letters with my balance plus interest on and a ref number.
would halifax deal with me even tho the debt has been sold on to a DCA?
what do i make my offers to as chase and the other DCA they use are all under the bank.

do i just ring chase and ask for NoA and CCA, will they be funny with sending them to me?

GeorgeUK

Alot of DCA's buy debts chaply from banks etc. It can be about 15p in the £1. If they are unable to produce a copy of the CCA on request, the debt could be unenforcable as they cannot prove who the debt belongs to. So yes, they could be funny sending it to you. According to the Consumer Credit Act 1974, they have 12(+2) working days to provide a copy - after this time you do not need to make payments as the debt is not enforcable. If they are still pursuing the debt after another 30 days, they have committed a criminal offence.

Alot of people do this so that they can deal with the debts that are enforcable and concentrate on these so that they don't get taken to court or losetheir home. After these debts are settled, some go back and make offers of repayment for these debts even though they are not enforcable,(and until they are enforcable payment need not be made). Others wait until no payment has been made on these debts for 6 years and inform anyone chasing the debt that it is now statute barred and unenforcable even in court (although you would need to notify the court that it was statute barred).

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=578486

Edit: Note - the £1 payment is required for them to be legally bound under the conditions of the Act.

DEBT_23

thanks for the info george i didnt know that. If i ring them asking for a copy of the CCA they may start asking for payment etc. how do i ring them without them nagging for a payment? i suspect they will be nasty like most DCA's are .

all the debt letters state clearly on each which bank i owe what too , so i persume they will know whao the debt belongs too.
Is it work me speaking the the DCA and working our some sort of repayment agreement with them ..they would get more than if i was to go thru the iva route wouldnt they?

GeorgeUK

NEVER phone a DCA. Once they get your number, you'll have nothing but hastle. When writing to a DCA, NEVER sign anything - letter or cheque. You want to see the documents they have with your signature before you provide a copy of your signature.

I would send the template letters from that link requesting a copy of the CCA. Just because they know who they bought the debt from doesn't mean they have a copy of the CCA. Do the letters say if they are acting on behalf of the bank? Make sure to ask for the notice of assignment and statement of accounts too.

If they can provide a valid copy of the CCA (not just an application form), then the debt is enforcable and you will need to pay it. You should be able to make a repayment agreement with them. If not, they will take you to court and ask the judge to make a judgement in their favour - where you will then be required to repay a certain amount to them, so as long as your repayment offer was fair in the first place, you probably wouldn't go to court.

DEBT_23

thanks, so i just write them a letter asking for a Notice of Assignment and statment of accounts?

so i know what info will these hold ? and if they ask why i want them what reason do i say?
I persume i dont make any arrangment with them unless i have these documents sent to me?
whats a cca that im asking for?
sorry i dont have a clue what most of these mean.
the recent letters i have say ' our client' and at the top DUE TO- HBOS
so they are ascting on behalf of , does that make any difference? is it halifax i shud contact?

GeorgeUK

Notice of Assignment - permission from the original creditor that they are allowed to collect the debt on their behalf or that the debt has been sold to the DCA.

Statement of Accounts - should be the balance owed as well as any other relevent information, possibly also previous payment history.

CCA - customer credit agreement. When taking out credit, you would have signed an agreement. Many of the agreements do not meet the legal requirements by having the correct details and prescribed terms.

You are entitle to request a copy of your credit agreement at any time. You need no reason to do this. If you give the £1 payment for this, they are under a LEGAL obligation to provide the document. Saying we'll need 28 days to get this from our client is not good enough. They have 12(+2) working days to produce it before the have committed an offense.

STATUTE BARRED DEBTS
A debt becomes statute barred and unenforcable, even in court if you notify of the statute barred status, if you have made no payments towards the debt for 6 years (5 in Scotland) and not acknowleged the debt in writing.

DEBT_23

does the DCA acting on behalf on the creditor rather than buying the debt mean i should send my letter to the DCA or the creditor which is halifax

GeorgeUK

You send it to whoever is trying to collect the money. In this case it would be the DCA. If they are acting on behalf of the Halifax, it may be that the Halifax can provide this for them but even if they did, it would still need to contain all the correct details to be legally binding.

DEBT_23

ok thank you for your help i will send the letter off tomorrow nodoubt they will ignore it and i will no doubt have to send a few before i hear anything. i will update you when i recieve them.. thank you x