Suseka's Debt Diary

[Suseka]

We have been in a DMP since 2013 - started with 14 debt accounts (£85k) and now down to the last 6 (£11k). Three accounts have been reported as UE by the DCA holding those accounts (all Barclay loans related), three others we are playing letter 'ping pong' with the DCA (LINK) and these are the ones I will list here in my diary hoping for advice, but also in case my journey proves to be useful to anyone else in a similar position.

[Suseka]

MBNA Credit Card
Start 31/3/2009
Current balance = £834.13
Last FULL payment April 2013
Self Managed DMP / not currently paying (stopped July 2017 when I started the CCA process)
Account defaulted Jan 2014
Account with Link Financial


Pre CCA submission paperwork received from LINK were just the annual statement of accounts.

2017
July CCA request letter
Oct response enclosing: statement of account / copy of cover letter from MBNA with copy online agreement & what appear to be some T&Cs
Nov Letter stating LINK had not complied with CCA request for accounts
Nov complaint acknowledgement letter.
Dec final response letter stating complaint had been investigated and found no breach.

2018
Jun request to contact offices
Jul statement of account
Aug request to contact offices

Interspersed amongst the timeline to date have been a number of emails and phone calls to OH mobile number - despite the inclusion on all communications sent to Link stating they are only to contact us in writing. OH has now blocked calls but he is receiving them almost on a daily basis with the call transferring to voicemail. Sometimes the messages are from a 'real' person and others it is a computerised voice asking him to contact their offices.

Aug Niddy confirm account is enforceable, so next course of action if to offer an F&F and wait to see how Link responds.

[Joanna Connolly Solicitors]

now down to the last 6 (£11k). Three accounts have been reported as UE by the DCA holding those accounts (all Barclay loans related), three others we are playing letter 'ping pong' with the DCA (LINK) and these are the ones I will list here in my diary .

I notice from your other thread that the three debts with PRA are described as only currently unenforceable, presumably because things are on hold while they source (or not) the credit agreements.

Maybe it would make sense to include them on this thread (with the three Link debts) so their progress can be monitored if/when documentation is found. PRA tend not to walk away from collecting a debt unless it’s definitely dead in the water.

Di

[Suseka]

Barclaycard
Start 22/10/2010
Current balance = £1,263.15
Last FULL payment approx Mar/Apr 2013
Self Managed DMP / not currently paying (stopped July 2017 when I started the CCA process)
Account defaulted 30/7/2014
Account with Link Financial

Pre CCA request paperwork from LINK is mostly statements.

2017
July CCA request letter
Oct 2017 Response to CCA request. Documents enclosed from original vendor and includes:
- Cover letter from BC dated 2/8/17 listing enclosed documents as short form cancellation / historic T&Cs / varied T&Cs
- 2nd Cover letter from BC dated 2/8/17 prescribing what BC are required to provide under the "Act' and states it encloses a 'reconstituted copy of your credit agreement' (Aug18 reviewing paperwork to send to Niddy, I think I have found the recon amongst the pile of docs -sigh)
- Statement of account 'post assignment'
Nov Letter to named individual who issued the CCA response. Stated that whilst the pack claimed to include a recon agreement, no such document had been received. (Methinks I got that wrong, will wait to hear from NIddy)
Nov Letter setting out details of agreement between us and 'Asset Link Capital No.5 Ltd' from 30/9/2016. Advises breach of the payments clause of the 'agreement'
Dec Letter setting out current balance and arrears outstanding giving 7 days notice and demand to pay arrears otherwise agreement would be terminated and the full balance with then be due.

2018
Feb Letter asking to contact offices to make arrangement to pay.
Undated letter from LINK advising debt was sold to Asset Link Capital (No5) Ltd - advising that whilst they are entitled to immediate repayment of full o/s balance they write with an offer to clare teh debt by monthly instalments of £12.63 and enclose a direct debit mandate for that purpose.
Jun Letter which says (rather oddly) "We have not written to you for some time as we have had to validate your address. We would like you to contact us to confirm your intentions regarding the outstanding balance....."
Jul Email with a subject line of 'Urgent Contact Request' with contact number and account details.
Aug Letter with the following " we have previously written to you about this account.... we would like to organise a time to talk to you ..... it is important we understand your current financial circumstances so that we can help you to agree an affordable repayment plan... blah... blah...."
Aug Letter from the named individual who replied to the CCA on 16 Oct 2017 (Complaints and Dispute Resolution Team). Case closed.
Aug Niddy has confirmed account is enforceable so the next step is to offer an F&F and see how Link responds to that.

[Suseka]

I notice from your other thread that the three debts with PRA are described as only currently unenforceable, presumably because things are on hold while they source (or not) the credit agreements.

Maybe it would make sense to include them on this thread (with the three Link debts) so their progress can be monitored if/when documentation is found. PRA tend not to walk away from collecting a debt unless it’s definitely dead in the water.

Di

Okay, thanks DI. I'll do that next - it's taking a while to get the LINK stuff down But yes, PRA have sent letters at the beginning of the year for two of the three saying that "we have currently deemed this debt as unenforceable which means we are not able to take court of further enforcement action against you to recover the outstanding balance". They go on to stay that its not been written off and that they are legally entitled to contact me/us, pass my/our details onto a third party collections agent (but that's what I thought they were) and continue to report the account with the credit reference bureaux. Since then they've been sending a 'notice for information' with the account balances giving various options of how to repay (lump sum, instalments etc) and have been offering a 10% discount on the balances. The third of the three was reported as currently UE in July and interestingly the very next next letter sent is offering this one at a 65% discount. Go figure, but it is the smallest of the three.

[Suseka]

Barclaycard (Formally EGG)
Started 5/2/2010 (I'm not sure if that's when the EGG card opened or when it was transferred to BC - no previous records held)
Current balance = £796.30
Last FULL payment approx Mar/Apr 2013
Self Managed DMP / not currently paying (stopped July 2017 when I started the CCA process)
Account defaulted 30/7/2014
Account with Link Financial

Pre CCA request paperwork from LINK is mostly statements.


2017
July CCA request letter
July Letter confirming receipt of CCA request with advice that they have requested a copy of the agreement and the most recent T&Cs from Barclaycard etc. This is the only account LINK acknowledged the CCA request on.
Sept Statement of account
Oct Response to CCA request. Letter states documents enclosed from original vendor and includes:
- Cover letter from BC dated 31/7/17 listing enclosed documents as short form cancellation / historic T&Cs / varied T&Cs
- Cover letter from BC dated 31/7/17 prescribing what BC are required to provide under the "Act' and states it encloses a 'reconstituted copy of your credit agreement'
- Statement of account 'post assignment'
Nov Letter to named individual who issued the CCA response. Stated in letter that whilst the pack (and cover letter from BC) claimed to include a recon agreement, no such document had been received.
Nov Letter setting out details of agreement between OH and 'Asset Link Capital No.5 Ltd' from 30/9/2016. Letter also advises breach of the payments clause of the 'agreement' - usual blurb about paying arrears by 8/12/2017 with threat of further enforcement action.
Dec Letter setting out current balance and arrears outstanding giving 7 days notice and demand to pay arrears otherwise agreement would be terminated and the full balance with then be due.

2018
Feb Letter asking to contact offices to make arrangement to pay.
Undated letter from LINK advising debt was sold to Asset Link Capital (No5) Ltd - advising that whilst they are entitled to immediate repayment of full o/s balance they write with an offer to clear the debt by monthly instalments of £7.96 and enclosed a direct debit mandate for that purpose.
Mar Statement of account.
Jun Letter which says (rather oddly) "We have not written to you for some time as we have had to validate your address. We would like you to contact us to confirm your intentions regarding the outstanding balance....."
July Email with a subject line of 'Urgent Contact Request' with contact number and account details.
Aug Letter with the following " we have previously written to you about this account.... we would like to organise a time to talk to you ..... it is important we understand your current financial circumstances so that we can help you to agree an affordable repayment plan... blah... blah...."
Aug Letter from the named individual who replied to the CCA on 16 Oct 2017 (Complaints and Dispute Resolution Team). Case closed.
Aug Niddy confirms debt is enforceable. Whilst disappointing this is one of the lower amounts outstanding and this now informs my next course of action. I will be sending an F&F to 'test the water' - not sure whether Link are amenable to F&Fs, but we shall see.

[Suseka]

Okay, I think I've captured everything in the right chronological order -but have probably missed some less important communications (statements etc.) I also cannot recall the numerous telephone calls and hadn't thought to record them, but suffice to say that at times there's been quite a barrage of them. It goes in peaks and troughs, some weeks plenty and others not so.

So, can anyone advise what paperwork Niddy will want to see? I know things are to be sent without 'redactions' - which is fine, but of the three listed above the paperwork received on 16th October is a plenty. Does Niddy need to have sight, for example, of the full T&Cs paperwork? Also the covering letters etc.? It'll take a while to scan them all in and send, but I don't want to block up his inbox with unnecessary paperwork

[Joanna Connolly Solicitors]

So, can anyone advise what paperwork Niddy will want to see? I know things are to be sent without 'redactions' - which is fine, but of the three listed above the paperwork received on 16th October is a plenty. Does Niddy need to have sight, for example, of the full T&Cs paperwork? Also the covering letters etc.?

At this stage I would only send Niddy the credit agreement with any Ts & Cs which they say are associated with that credit agreement at inception.

In order to comply with your s 77-79 CCA Request in full they would need to send you other documentation, but at this stage you are only seeking an opinion on whether the actual credit agreement is likely to be enforceable.

Also remember even if the credit agreement is enforceable there are many other reasons for the debt to be unenforceable. And even if a credit agreement is unenforceable there may be ways to remedy any flaws depending on the reason it's unenforceable.

Things aren't always black or white - they need to be assessed in context.

Di

[Suseka]

At this stage I would only send Niddy the credit agreement with any Ts & Cs which they say are associated with that credit agreement at inception.

In order to comply with your s 77-79 CCA Request in full they would need to send you other documentation, but at this stage you are only seeking an opinion on whether the actual credit agreement is likely to be enforceable.

Also remember even if the credit agreement is enforceable there are many other reasons for the debt to be unenforceable. And even if a credit agreement is unenforceable there may be ways to remedy any flaws depending on the reason it's unenforceable.

Things aren't always black or white - they need to be assessed in context.

Di

Thank you again Di, I intend to scan my documents this weekend and email them off to Niddy.

The issue I have though is that they did not provide the credit agreement for 2 of the 3 accounts and I've told them this several times. They never reply specifically to that point, just respond with 'we are investigating your complaint...blah blah' and then finally with a 'we've investigated and found we are not in breach of anything and have provided what is required'. I just don't know how to get though to them, the fact they have not provided the agreements - it's beyond frustrating.

Anyway, I'll send what I have / one agreement and then the T&Cs for them all and wait to hear the advice.

[Joanna Connolly Solicitors]

they did not provide the credit agreement for 2 of the 3 accounts and I've told them this several times. They never reply specifically to that point, just respond with 'we are investigating your complaint...blah blah' and then finally with a 'we've investigated and found we are not in breach of anything and have provided what is required'. I just don't know how to get though to them, the fact they have not provided the agreements - it's beyond frustrating.

If they've not produced two of the credit agreements that's not frustrating, that's good news!

You don't want them to comply with your s 77-79 CCA Request because unless or until they do the debt will be unenforceable in court

The more you keep badgering them with complaints etc. the harder they will try to produce something which is compliant. Let them believe they've complied so they'll stop trying (in case they eventually succeed).

Di

[Suseka]

True.

I realise I've handled this the wrong way and working through the paperwork to scan I think I've now found the recon's (sigh), so now just need to wait on Niddy's response. Am having a nightmare trying to scan this stuff on my home printer... but will persevere.

Thanks

[Suseka]

Right... everything scanned (phew) and emailed to Niddy. Whatever the outcome, UE or not, at least I can get these ones moving one way or the other. Will post up the PRA information next week so I can track their timelines and activity. Now plan to spend some time doing fun things today regardless of the wet and windy weather

[Suseka]

Thanks to Niddy for getting back to me so quickly -and although the debts have proven to be enforceable, I can now move forward and tomorrow will be sending F&Fs for these accounts. I'm not holding my breath, but if they don't accept it then I'll be offering very low monthly payments - just enough to show willing

[Still Waving]

Personally I would not be rushing to make F&Fs. They will likely reject any first offer anyway. The longer they go on finding it difficult to get any monies from you at all, the more likely the chance of a more acceptable (to you) settlement figure.

(Even though Niddy has said the agreements look to be enforceable)

[Suseka]

Thanks SW - that's good advice. I haven't actually been paying them anything for over a year - they took months to respond to the CCA request and because I overlooked some of the documents they sent and thus disputed they'd sent all they should, that delayed payment until now. I guess I could hold off on the F&Fs for a while longer, but I want to avoid getting a 'letter before action' which I fear may follow in the not too distant future. They know the debts are enforceable and so I imagine they are unlikely to ignore the non-payment for much longer.