My debt diary - february17

[February17]

Hello from a new member.

I have been lurking the various debt forums for a full year as I am in a real mess and decided to join this one as I like the advice Niddy gives and this looks a friendly place.

Some background.
I am self employed IT contractor.

Always managed OK while work was busy and I had lots of cards and kept up with the payments.

Problems started in 2016 when the death of someone close to me caused depression and I was struggling to find more work and was borrowing on one card to pay the next card, you know how it is...
The big problem and turning point was when a direct debit to MBNA bounced and MBNA cancelled my 'for life' promotional low interest rate and put me on standard rate.
my minimum payment on this one card then doubled to more than our mortgage payment. Also at this minimum payment this would never be paid off.

I was in a mess with nearly £50K on cards and not meeting payments and receiving dozens of phone calls to my mobile from card companies collections department while working on site at customers premises and even on a Sunday morning at home, they would phone every number they could find...

I started googling for help and realised the only way out was to stop paying and get defaults to stop the interest as the balances where increasing each month with missed payments.

I was inspired by forum posts by member ' January 2015' I think the name is, a real inspiration to me.

I chose my forum name February17 as that is when I stopped paying most of my cards as was inspired by reading user January 2015 forum posts

The first year of my battle has been interesting with initially lots of calls and letters and then mainly silence for the last few months.

I will add post for each of my cards as I need some help.

[February17]

Card 1
MBNA - Credit card
Account opened in 1997
balance approx £19000 , yes nineteen thousand pounds.
last full payment made in August 2016 as I could not afford and they kept collecting big direct debits from my bank that bounced.
January 2017 - reduced payments agreed with MBNA and I paid each month until late July 2017 when MBNA sold the account to PRA.

19/07/2017 - requested credit agreement from MBNA
25/07/2017 letter arrived saying account sold to PRA group.

01/08/2017 requested credit agreement from PRA
10/08/2017 received credit agreement from PRA

December 2017 - Sent SAR request to MBNA now that I know PRA have finished asking for stuff from them.
January 2018 - Received lots of information from MBNA about my SAR request, dozens of pages received many with redacted information.

6/02/2018 Email agreement to Niddy for advice.
9/02/2018 - Niddy replied saying missing prescribed terms so is unenforceable

Early March 2018 - phone calls from PRA wanting to agree some payments, I delayed them again as told them seeking advice on the agreement.
PRA put the account on hold until later in March.

June 2018 - I received a letter from PRA that says "We have enclosed the copy documents as requested and contact our office within 10 days"
with about two years worth of MBNA card statements included, I didn't ask for these copy statements ? So maybe they are gathering more information as I didn't ask for these copy statements.

September 2018 - regular phone call on weekday evenings between 8pm and 9pm that I don't answer - and a letter received again offering a slight discount to settle - filed away.

Also in September 2018 a new search appeared on my Credit File with an entry " MACKENZIE HALL - KILMARNOCK (BAT for Other "
I guess this is something to do with PRA ?

05/02/2020 - Received a letter from PRA offering 40% discount, pay 60% - not enough to tempt me.

June 2020 update - nothing changed, daily phone calls and an email offering discount of 40%. Not enough discount to tempt me.

December 2020 update - same as usual, phone calls and the occasional discount offer email or letter.

[February17]

Card 2
Barclaycard 1 - was an Egg card
Account opened in 1998
balance approx £9000

I paid reduced payments between March 2017 and December 2017 to Barclays until Barclays sold the account to PRA in early December 2017 so I stopped paying.
December 2017 - requested CCA from PRA
February 2018 - received details from PRA that they had obtained from Barclaycard. No signed agreement, just terms and conditions and what looks like some copy statements.
14th March 2018 - scanned and emailing to Niddy for his opinion.
23rd March - Niddy replied - this is unenforceable as no signed agreement

May 2018 - email received from PRA offering 10% off

September 2018 - regular phone call on weekday evenings between 8pm and 9pm - I don't answer.

October 2018 - Received a letter from Barclaycard with a small refund to my account.

It says 'Following a recent review of our operating procedures we have identified that for customers who had fallen behind with their payments we did not always meet our expected standards'

A refund of a few hundred pounds has been made to the balance that PRA group have.

Makes me suspicious as to why Barclaycard would be looking at my accounts again when sold on ages ago to PRA.

May 2019 - I requested SAR from Barclays and the information in the SAR shows that PRA where told by Barclays that there is no copy of original agreement on microfilm
The last response to PRA on the SAR clearly states ' RESPONSE: INFORMED PRA THAT COPY APP IS NOT AVAILABLE "

February 2020 update - nothing to report, phone calls from PRA that I ignore, the occasional discount letter.

June 2020 update - nothing to report, daily phone calls that I ignore.

December 2020 update - nothing to report, I ignore the phone calls and not had a letter or email about this one since July.

[February17]

Card 3
Barclaycard 2
account opened 2008
balance approx £7000

I paid reduced payments from March 2017 until December 2017 when Barclays sold to PRA, I then stopped paying.
December 2017 - sent CCA request to PRA
December 2017 - reply from PRA that they will request information from Barclays.
March 2018 - Not received any copy agreement or anything for this account yet from PRA.
PRA phone Monthly, I politely remind them I am still waiting for my CCA request and they put the account on hold again, they have been pleasant so far.

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May 2018 - Still no agreement.
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September 2018 - Still no agreement received for this one.
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October 2018 - Received a letter from Barclaycard with a small refund to my account.

It says 'Following a recent review of our operating procedures we have identified that for customers who had fallen behind with their payments we did not always meet our expected standards'

A refund of a few hundred pounds has been made to the balance that PRA group have.

Makes me suspicious as to why Barclaycard would be looking at my accounts again when sold on ages ago to PRA.

Also still no agreement of any kind obtained by PRA to my CCA request
----------------------------------------------------

Update March 2019:
PRA have now sent a reconstituted agreement. Took 15 months to produce it.

Basically a blank piece of paper that says ' YOUR RIGHT TO CANCEL: Once you have signed etc,etc', No signature just that blank page and then two separate terms and conditions from 2007 and 2014.
I will email this to Niddy for checking.

February 2020 update - nothing to report, phone calls from PRA that I ignore, the occasional discount letter.

June 2020 update - nothing to report, same old phone calls that I ignore.

December 2020 update - nothing to report, I ignore the phone calls and no recent letters or email activity on this one.

[February17]

Card 4
Nationwide - Credit card
Account opened in 1998
Balance approx £12000

May 2018 update - I have been paying this at a reduced rate of £75 each month for the last year to keep nationwide quiet while I get life back on track.
This reduced payment is up for review this month so this will be when I ask for the CCA and then don't pay or agree something depending on what they provide.

September 2018 - Still paying a reduced £75 monthly payment to nationwide, debt still 'in house' and they are happy with reduced payments. I will probably challenge this one in the future.

February 2020 update - This is still with Nationwide and I am paying a reduced amount to Nationwide each month. When I have PRA sorted from other cards I will tackle this one.

June 2020 update - Still paying a small amount to Nationwide each month as the debt is still in house.
Paying it to keep them quiet while I get PRA dealt with then it will be time to CCA Nationwide and see what happens.

December 2020 update -Still paying a small amount to Nationwide until I have PRA/MBNA etc dealt with.

[February17]

Card 5
TSB - Credit card
balance approx £900 - the smallest one !
Account opened 2004
I am still paying this one at slightly more than the minimum payment each month to keep it alive and not defaulting. The reason for this is that my business bank account and a personal bank account are with TSB.

May 2018 - I am still paying this at just above minimum payment and it is not defaulted or late.

September 2018 - paying this one off slowly and it is not defaulted, I have business and current accounts with TSB so dont want to rock the boat with TSB just yet.

February 2020 update - chipping away at this, not defaulted and nearly paid off as I had to keep this one on track.

June 2020 update - chipping away at this still, its only small.

December 2020 update - I paid this off eventually, no default and I actually have a clear credit card with a small credit limit, not that I will use it.

[February17]

I think those are all my cards, more later as I find more details.

[cymruambyth]

Hi and welcome to AAD. You have started your UE journey, by listing everything you are regaining financial control. You will have seen that we have various template letters which are excellent. Post here with any queries and we will do our best to help. Good luck.

[Joanna Connolly Solicitors]

I chose my forum name February17 as that is when I stopped paying most of my cards

The first year of my battle has been interesting with initially lots of calls and letters and then mainly silence for the last few months.

Hello February 17th

It's almost the first anniversary of the last payment to most of your creditors. Only another five years or so to go and they'll be Statute Barred. If you've been reading the Unenforceable Diaries you'll see plenty of this forum's members have made it past the finishing post (I'm one of them).

I expect by now most of your debts will have been assigned to one of the debt purchasers such as PRA, Cabot, Arrow, Hoist and Lowell who sometimes use solicitors to chase the account but don't let that daunt you.

I can see all the ones you've listed so far pre-date April 2007 which may proved to be helpful.

Post up anything and everything you receive to get guidance on the next step.

I look forward to helping you.

Di

[Susiebling365]

Welcome. and you re in the right place, no debt too big or too small , AAD will tackle them all.

I can never get my head around why the finance companies hike up repayments when people get into a bit of trouble, or keep throwing credit cards at people to the point at which they are really hooked into the debt.

You re here to take a stand and chuck them back, good luck ,

[February17]

Thanks everyone for the welcomes

I will update the forum posts about accounts as I go through my spreadsheets and files as I keep everything

Today I have emailed a MBNA credit agreement that I received from PRA to Niddy for advice

I will keep this updated with everything I can

I fell so much more positive and more in control already

[February17]

Can anyone help me with the correct email address to send Niddy a credit agreement for checking ?
Thanks

[The Tech Clerk]

webmaster@all-about-debt.co.uk

[February17]

Thanks
sent it again.
Can you ask Niddy to look out for it as I need to respond to PRA group soon

[Joanna Connolly Solicitors]

Can you ask Niddy to look out for it as I need to respond to PRA group soon

Is this the £19k ex-MBNA debt in your post # 2 ?

If so it says you sent a s 77-79 CCA Request to MBNA in July 2017 but seem to have got a reply from PRA the following month.

Before you respond to PRA's latest letter can you tell me what it says. It may not require a response unless it's a Letter Before Claim when it may need careful consideration.

PRA can be litigious. They issued a claim against me for two old MBNA credit cards but they lost in court.

‘“RECONSTITUTED AGREEMENT” – IRREDEEMABLY UNENFORCEABLE”
“UNREDACTED DEEDS OF ASSIGNMENT – NO ASSIGMENT PROVED”


So, held Recorder Bellamy in PRA Group (UK) Limited v Mayhew at Central London County Court on 22nd March 2017, at the end of a 3 day multi track trial, when dismissing PRA’s claim against our client.


Stale debts sued for on the back of 2 ‘reconstituted’ MBNA credit card agreements (May 1999 and October 2000) were held irredeemably unenforceable under CCA 1974. The evidence of an honest witness was preferred to that of so called “reconstituted agreements”.


After 3 days of close forensic examination of, and legal argument about, evidence and documents from both PRA and MBNA stating that our client’s specific debt had been assigned, the court held that no assignment had been proved.


Efforts, over many months, in earlier cases to force PRA into disclosure of un-redacted deeds and deep and sustained forensic challenge to the provenance of documents needed to prove regulatory compliance, finally drew back the veil. The reality behind bulk debt purchasing was revealed.


This decision shows that just saying an agreement is enforceable and producing a “reconstituted” copy does not prove that it is enforceable. Just saying an agreement has been assigned and producing a notice saying it has been assigned does not prove legal assignment.


Debt purchasers need to provide proof. If that means the pitifully few pence in the pound they pay for stale debts will increase because banks will now have to start keeping original evidence complying with regulatory consumer protection measures, it is hard to imagine many tears being shed, outside the City of London.

Di