Is it time to complain to ICO?

barbiedoll · 21 October 2018 at 1:46PM

Hi all

Long story short......CC debt with Marbles, being paid off via DMP. Original debt was sold on in August 2016 to Hoist/Robinson Way.
RW continued to add interest to our repayments so I asked for a CCA in May 2017...to date, this has still not been supplied. Account collection activity “suspended” during the dispute.

I have since sent numerous complaints about the continued interest charges, adding that I want them reimbursed (back to the account) and always stressing that I want to pay back my debt, but until they supply the CCA and stop the interest charges, I will not continue with payments whilst the account is still in dispute.

They did finally send a notice (carefully hidden within a normal statement) declaring that no interest charges will be applied to the account balance, but still no sign of a CCA. They have also now applied a default notice to my husband’s credit record (the original account was in his name, but I sort out the money stuff now!)

The account originally fell into arrears in January 2010, when we sent two token £1 payments, we started our DMP in March of the same year.

Can I complain to the ICO about this late default? We would have been better off if we’d never paid anything, at least the default would be cleared from our credit reports by now. I’m so angry with RW, they don’t reply to letters, they don’t respond to complaints properly and if they’d been sensible about the interest charges, this debt would have been paid off by now. I’m sick and tired of having it hanging around, and I want them to do the right thing, by force if necessary.

Any suggestions would be welcome! We are happy to pay if we have to, but we’re absolutely not paying any interest charges and if we can get away without giving them another penny, then even better

sourcrates · 21 October 2018 at 3:19PM

Hi,

It`s becoming more of a trend to sell accounts on to debt collectors without the account actually defaulting, this means as the account did not default, the original agreement has not been broken, this then allows the new owner to continue charging interest in the same way as the original creditor did.

Defaulting the account means no more interest is added and the balance is frozen.

If you feel they should of defaulted you earlier, then by all means complain, are you also aware that non compliance with your CCA request means the account is currently unenforceable in court until they do respond to you ?

barbiedoll · 21 October 2018 at 3:52PM

Hi sourcrates.

Oh yes, I’m well aware of the CCA ruling...that’s why I asked for one!

Bloody Marbles should have defaulted the account when we first got into financial difficulties, they were the the only one (of four) that didn’t, and they have been a pain in the rear ever since.

We have worked very hard to repay all of our debts and restore our credit ratings, this default seems very unfair, especially as the account is still officially “in dispute” and I have 3 letters saying that collection activity has ceased until they can supply the CCA.

I received a small inheritance recently, is it worth offering a F&F on the condition that they backdate the default? Would they do this? How would I proceed....I don’t want to pay, say £500 and they then leave the default on my husband’s record!

sourcrates · 21 October 2018 at 5:16PM

I would suggest you go via the complaint route first, before offering money to them.

If you pay them on a promise, and they then renege on that promise (as has happened before) you will be back to square one again.

How_much · 21 October 2018 at 6:21PM

I am in a similar position, started a DMP in 2008, had a marbles card as part of this which was sold to Equidebt and then capquest, the only outstanding debt on my credit file is from capquest who have reported it as various things over the last 5 and half years, AR, DM etc, but no default, paying them £11 a month yet they still send statements saying minimum payment of £80 plus per month requests. I have opened a dispute with Experian and capquest have replied saying all is correct and to contact NCO Europe with any questions. Will CCA Capquest as I will be able to offer F&F next month, just want to get this off my credit file, not sure if Marbles ever defaulted it or not.

barbiedoll · 21 October 2018 at 9:23PM

They really are a nightmare, aren’t they? I had a Capital One CC debt of a similar amount, (around £5000) that is now paid off because they stopped the interest when I couldn’t pay. Marbles have never given an inch, we already had a complaint against them upheld by the Ombudsman, when they tried to charge us extra interest.

To be honest, I begrudge paying them a single penny more, especially as the debt is unenforceable at present anyway. But this late default has really annoyed me, we’ve always played fair with them but they’re just so greedy.

Sourcrates; When Hoist bought the debt, we received a letter to inform us, which states the balance and date sold, along with the line..

“Any payments made towards your account from XXXX will be forwarded to Hoist and will be deducted from the balance shown”

So why are/were they allowed to charge interest? Can I use this in my complaint?

How_much · 25 April 2019 at 3:24PM

I have finally received a CCA from NCO Europe for my Marbles card, the only thing is it looks really dodgy to me, the cover letter states my balance, the next page explains that they have sent me a copy (it does not say reconstituted) of my credit agreement, this also gives a balance of more than a £1000 of what it states on the cover letter, my address on the CCA is where I live now, not where I lived in 2000 when I took out the card, as well as referring to marbles in the agreement it also refers to NEW DAY who I understand did not take over marbles until 2007? The CCA also refers to going online....which not many of us could do in 2000, the whole thing looks very dodgy! What would you suggest I do?

Have just done a bit of searching and maybe this answers my question:

https://consumercreditlitigationanddebtcollection.wordpress.com/tag/unenforceable-credit-agreement/
What would you suggest I do next? Thanks

sourcrates · 25 April 2019 at 4:11PM

How_much wrote: »

I have finally received a CCA from NCO Europe for my Marbles card, the only thing is it looks really dodgy to me, the cover letter states my balance, the next page explains that they have sent me a copy (it does not say reconstituted) of my credit agreement, this also gives a balance of more than a £1000 of what it states on the cover letter, my address on the CCA is where I live now, not where I lived in 2000 when I took out the card, as well as referring to marbles in the agreement it also refers to NEW DAY who I understand did not take over marbles until 2007? The CCA also refers to going online....which not many of us could do in 2000, the whole thing looks very dodgy! What would you suggest I do?

Have just done a bit of searching and maybe this answers my question:

https://consumercreditlitigationanddebtcollection.wordpress.com/tag/unenforceable-credit-agreement/
What would you suggest I do next? Thanks

Ask on the allaboutdebt website, they know there stuff with regard to credit agreements.

From what you say, they have reconstituted this agreement, and not made a very good job of it.

How_much · 25 April 2019 at 4:22PM

Thanks for that I’ll have a look. I think they have sent me a CCA from around 2008 when New Day took over Marbles, I took out the credit card with HSBC in 2000.

sourcrates · 25 April 2019 at 5:01PM

How_much wrote: »

Thanks for that I’ll have a look. I think they have sent me a CCA from around 2008 when New Day took over Marbles, I took out the credit card with HSBC in 2000.

Sounds like it may not be compliant then, but double check with the above site.

How_much · 25 April 2019 at 7:01PM

The plot thickens a bit with this one, I have noticed that the cover letter that NCO have sent (supposedly?) from marbles with the dodgy looking CCA has my name and address as the person it has been sent to, now I have never received this from marbles and it’s dated last month, anyway I have just called marbles and they have told me that they have not exchanged any correspondence with me since they sold the account in 2012!! I can’t believe this letter and CCA have been fabricated....could it? Anyway I am going to CCA Marbles directly (I did CCA New Day who had nothing last October) and see if the same comes back.

I have also just found a sentence in the supposed CCA referring to payment registration 2017!, remember I took this card out in 2000.

Is it time to complain to ICO?

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