CCA's How do I do it?

mstopham

A friend mentioned to me last night that I can request a CCA (I think he said it stood for Consumer Credit Agreement) for £1 from the credit card and loan companies I owe money to and if they cannot produce one then I am not liable for the debt or it is not legally binding or something.

Can anyone shed any light on this?

I am in 2 minds morally on this one as I did have the money and feel bad weedling my way out of owing any of it. (This is offset by being screwed in the past on charges and things so I am not totally against it).

My only concern is can it come back to haunt you on your credit record?

Any help or guidence appreciated.

LilacPixie

National debt line have template letters for it.

A CCa request can be a useful thing but it will not wipe away debt. The debt will still exist. I have seen posts about companies that have been unable to supply a CCA at the time, the poster has then stoped paying the debt and the company has then taken them to court and produced the CCA then.

Stapley is the CCA master so hopfully they will post soon.

What do you hope to achieve by requesting a CCA?

mstopham

Well I was/am unsure exactly how a CCA works.

If I can totally avoid paying a debt then great (financially at least)

If I can delay it for a while until the debt company has located the CCA or done whatever is necessary to prove I need to pay it back and extra interest is not incurred during this period meaning I can pay other debts and reduce the overall amount of interest I pay then also great.

If I run the risk of getting a black mark on my credit record then I am not interested as I am paying off my debts.

My friend hinted that CCA's are risk free and go one way or the other eg they produce it and job done carry on, or they don't and until such time as they do you are not legally obliged to pay.

Whilst a magic wand being waved would be lovely, as I said to him last night, it sounds too good to be true that you could just wipe away debts because someone can't produce a bit of paper.

rayday2

You do run the risk of having your credit report marked. If they don't produce them all it basically means is the chance of you being taken to court is limited. They can still mark your history and still get other debt collection agencies to to chase you. That chase can go on until legally after 6 years when they can't chase you anymore.

It is not a legal loop hole or easy fix some of the people who recommend them on here admit they have defaults resulting from this course of action.

mstopham

Thanks for that, I shall not persue this then.

When my friend was suggesting it as a "you might as well, nothing to lose" type senario I figured there must be the risk of getting the credit record tarnished and my aim is to be debt free in about 45 months and then buy a house with my partner, I don't want something like this jeopardising my financial future.

rayday2

You mentioned in your first post being screwed on charges, have you claimed any back and also have you ever taken any PPI out?

mstopham

I haven't claimed back charges or taken a PPI out as far as I am aware. I have incurred charges on late payments after asking to have DD setup and on one card lost the 0% because of this. Was partly my fault in that I should of kept on top of it and made manual payments until the DD was setup but I thought this was going to be from the get go.

What is the PPI thing?

RAS

Hi

It does not necessarily jeopardise your future.

If the DCA does not provide the CCA, you can stop payig legitimately. In fact warrencarr was able to wipe out a CCJ debt because the DCa had not CCA. In the absence of the CCA, marking your credit record would be a serious breech of regulations.

The problem arises in that if they find the CCA much later, you will be in arrears and then they could mark your credit record. Legally, they should go to court to pursue the debt at this stage, which could well afect your credit record.

So if there is already a default on your record, it is worth doing the CCA. If any debt is passed to a DCA, always do a CCA to confirm that they have the right to collect the money.

So basically 99 percent of people who ask for a CCA which is not provided are OK but the odd one is problematic.

For people who are already up the creek without a paddle, it can be a life saver but if your credit record is excellent, it might be wiser to post an SOA and ask people how to pare down your expenses and pay it all off quicker.

Also if you are not acquainted with the snowball see https://www.whatsthecost.com

Gemmzie

It seems to be something that's being kicked around as an easy solution but it doesn't seem to be.

rayday2

mstopham wrote: »

I haven't claimed back charges or taken a PPI out as far as I am aware. I have incurred charges on late payments after asking to have DD setup and on one card lost the 0% because of this. Was partly my fault in that I should of kept on top of it and made manual payments until the DD was setup but I thought this was going to be from the get go.

What is the PPI thing?

PPI is payment protection you tend to find it on loans and credit cards, it turns out that a lot of the time you can't claim on it something like 70% profit in selling it which is higher than other insurance products. SO if you have any it may be worth claiming it back - for example I did it on a secured loan and from one letter got back £4000.

Late charges etc comes under the banking recharges claiming there is more about it on other parts of the forum but these won't jeopodise your finance history but will if successful knock a bit off. The bank charges can take longer than the PPI claims.

fermi

From the main site:

PPI Reclaiming Guide: Free template letters to get £1,000s back on loan insurance

Anyone who’s got or had a loan, credit card or store card may be able to reclaim £1,000s. For years the insurance products sold alongside these have been missold. This is a full guide, including template letters on how to check if you were missold and get your money back.

CCA request ≠ easy option.