Hi everyone, I'm currently considering the option of taking my creditor to court over a £4500 credit card debt to which they have sent an unenforceable agreement in reply to my CCA request. Whilst I could ignore the balance and stop paying, I want this settled properly so I am requesting the enforceable agreement under CPR 31.16 - so I can assess if I have a case for the court which I beleive i have, and due to the complexity of the case I believe the claim would likely fall fast track as oppsed to small claims. I've googled fast track court costs to get an idea of what the total cost of taking my creditor to court would be, but haven't had much success in figuring out exactly which costs would apply to me and when they become payable. I beleive it's £75 if I need to make an application of disclosure if they fail to provide the agreement when I request it under CPR 31.16, but if it goes as far as court - which I doubt it will but if it does, what further charges apply? I've never had reason to go to court before so i've no idea as to total costs, and if i'll also have to incur the costs of a solicitor - i'm unsure as to what even they charge. I'm a little in the dark to court fees and processes at the moment, but i feel i have a good case against the bank, i don't fear the courts and i'm determined in wanting to take action. Please can anyone advise? Many thanks nawanda

Hi everyone, excellent thread, i've read it in depth this evening after someone suggested this was the place to get the facts - seems they were right. Not to hijack but a couple of points that I wanted to pick up on briefly relating to what's already been said: 1. Given the worst case scenario that it goes as far as a court application (£75 right?), and given that the application is successful - what total potential court costs would I be looking at to obtain a judgement (given that a judgement wasn't made for the bank to pay the costs), over what period of time would i be looking at to obtain a judgment and when would any costs be payable? (Paranoid moment: I'm guessing I wouldn't end up with a CCJ based on the fact i'm taking them to court and have maintained payments throughout in the meantime?). 2. From what I've read on here, it sounds like maybe going down the CPR 31.16 route (and obtaining a court order if necessary) is perhaps a more effective way than first spending 6-9 mths hoping for a result through the FOS? After reading some of the posts on here i'm uncertain anymore as to just how effective the FOS really are on CCA issues. i'm at the stage in the letter writing proceedings where I need to make a choice - FOS or court claim. If court is the better option i'll do it, but I'd appreciate the lowdown on total court charges (do I need a solicitor at all? I'm 29, never married or divorced or ever used one before so oblivious to what charges may be incurred). I'd appreciate any reassurance as to whether myself or anyone else who is thinking of going down the CPR 31.16 route wouldn't be wise to go through the FOS first. Many thanks nawanda (and welcome back pt2537 - the work you've done on here is excellent, it's reassuring to know there are people like you around, gives the rest if us some clarity)

It's a complaint I have with HBOS. Many thanks cerbausalert, the thread you've linked me to is really useful and has just saved me a lot of legwork going further down the CCA1974 route at this stage. It also puts their written response to my request into perspective a little more because effectively they're right in what they're saying. It seems they don't have to produce the true signed agreement under the CCA 1974. Until now I figured it was them being awkward. They've actually offered to supply the signed agreement as a goodwill gesture and i have this in writing from them (I beleive partly due to the fact I've kept my two letters to date very reasonable and fair - I beleive it's much better than going in guns blazing). I've into week 4 now and still no signed agreement, so I've made a brief phonecall today to request this info again. I'll allow a further two weeks (at that point i'll be 6 weeks into the 8 weeks I have to respond to the last letter they sent me), at which point i'll request the signed agreement, if still not recieved (I don't beleive it exists) under Civil Procedure Rules part 31.16 - as per the info on the link above. So given that an an original copy of a properly executed Regulated Credit Card Agreement isn't provided, even after my CPR request, and worst case scenario being I have to go through the court - given that they refuse to settle outside of court (which I feel is highly unlikely as their application form provided doesn't constitute an enforceable agreement), what costs am I looking at? Is it merely the £70 court issue fee or is there a lot more to it than this?

Hi everyone I’m wondering if anyone can help in relation to explaining in plain English the meanings of executed agreements and regulated agreements under the Consumer Credit Act 1974. I’m currently corresponding with a creditor in relation to an alleged consumer credit agreement (re. A credit card) that they are claiming it’s unecessary to provide. They claim they are not legally obliged to provide me with the alleged signed credit agreement unless they seek to legally enforce the debt against me in court. They go on to claim they only have to provide a true representation of the alleged agreement, and state all terms included on the alleged agreement they’ve sent were an abbreviated version of the historic terms and conditions. They have said they will send a copy of the signed agreement under seperate cover as a ‘goodwill gesture’ but 4 weeks on and I’m still waiting. Under section 71 of CCA 1974 it states that under the regulated agreement the creditor, upon request, must provide a copy of the executed agreement (if any) and of any document referred to in it. The definitions for ‘executed’ and ‘regulated’ agreements in the Act are as follows: “executed agreement” means a document, signed by on on behalf of the parties, embodying the terms of a regulated agreement, or such as to have them reduced to writing; "regulated agreement” means a consumer credit agreement, or consumer hire agreement, other than an exempt agreement, and “regulated” and “unregulated” can be contsrued accordingly; Do these terms make sense to anyone in laymens terms? Is there a difference between an executed agreement and a regulated agreement, or are they one and the same? Does the Act say anywhere they have to produce a copy of the regulated agreement or just the executed agrreement (as in section 71 above)? I’d appreciate any help anyone can offer on this, so I can go in with all the facts and state them clearly and fully. Given the nature of law it isn’t always black and white but I’d rather not leave room for error and get my head fully around how it works so i’m armed and ready. I’m determined and have every faith I will see a result from this, so hopefully i’ll be reporting a success story soon. Thanks for the advice i’ve been given to date on here – it’s been invaluable, step by step I’ll get there. nawanda

Apologies for the text, i've resubmitted in the above thread.

Hi everyone I’m wondering if anyone can help in relation to explaining in plain English the meanings of executed agreements and regulated agreements under the Consumer Credit Act 1974. I’m currently corresponding with a creditor in relation to an alleged consumer credit agreement (re. A credit card) that they are claiming it’s unecessary to provide. They claim they are not legally obliged to provide me with the alleged signed credit agreement unless they seek to legally enforce the debt against me in court. They go on to claim they only have to provide a true representation of the alleged agreement, and state all terms included on the alleged agreement they’ve sent were an abbreviated version of the historic terms and conditions. They have said they will send a copy of the signed agreement under seperate cover as a ‘goodwill gesture’ but 4 weeks on and I’m still waiting. Under section 71 of CCA 1974 it states that under the regulated agreement the creditor, upon request, must provide a copy of the executed agreement (if any) and of any document referred to in it. The definitions for ‘executed’ and ‘regulated’ agreements in the Act are as follows: “executed agreement” means a document, signed by on on behalf of the parties, embodying the terms of a regulated agreement, or such as to have them reduced to writing; "regulated agreement” means a consumer credit agreement, or consumer hire agreement, other than an exempt agreement, and “regulated” and “unregulated” can be contsrued accordingly; Do these terms make sense to anyone in laymens terms? Is there a difference between an executed agreement and a regulated agreement, or are they one and the same? Does the Act say anywhere they have to produce a copy of the regulated agreement or just the executed agrreement (as in section 71 above)? I’d appreciate any help anyone can offer on this, so I can go in with all the facts and state them clearly and fully. Given the nature of law it isn’t always black and white but I’d rather not leave room for error and get my head fully around how it works so i’m armed and ready. I’m determined and have every faith I will see a result from this, so hopefully i’ll be reporting a success story soon. Thanks for the advice i’ve been given to date on here – it’s been invaluable, step by step I’ll get there. nawanda

Hi everyone, I’m wondering if anyone can help in relation to explaining in plain English the meanings of executed agreements and regulated agreements under the Consumer Credit Act 1974. I’m currently corresponding with a creditor in relation to an alleged consumer credit agreement (re. A credit card) that they are claiming it’s unecessary to provde. They claim they are not legally obliged to provide me with the alleged signed credit agreement unless they seek to legally enforce the debt against me in court. They go on to claim they only have to provide a true representation of the alleged agreement, and state all terms included on the alleged agreement they’ve sent were an abbreviated version of the historic terms and conditions. They have said they will send a copy of the signed agreement under seperate cover as a ‘goodwill gesture’ but 4 weeks on and I’m still waiting. Under section 71 of CCA 1974 it states that under the regulated agreement the creditor, upon request, must provide a copy of the executed agreement (if any) and of any document referred to in it. The definitions for ‘executed’ and ‘regulated’ agreements in the Act are as follows: “executed agreement” means a document, signed by on on behalf of the parties, embodying the terms of a regulated agreement, or such as to have them reduced to writing; “regulated agreement” means a consumer credit agreement, or consumer hire agreement, other than an exempt agreement, and “regulated” and “unregulated” can be contsrued accordingly; Do these terms make sense to anyone in laymens terms? Is there a difference between an executed agreement and a regulated agreement, or are they one and the same? Does the Act say anywhere they have to produce a copy of the regulated agreement or just the executed agrreement (as in section 71 above)? I’d appreciate any help anyone can offer on this, so I can go in with all the facts and state them clearly and fully. Given the nature of law it isn’t always black and white but I’d rather not leave room for error and get my head fully around how it works so i’m armed and ready. I’m determined and have every faith I will see a result from this, so hopefully i’ll be reporting a success story soon. Thanks for the advice i’ve been given to date on here – it’s been invaluable, step by step I’ll get there. nawanda

Hi everyone, Merry Xmas to you all! I have an Egg loan on which I have been charged a fair number of £20 fees in instances where my payment has been reversed due to insufficient funds in my bank account - effectively this is a late fee I'm figuring (?), though on the breakdown they've sent me they've labelled it 'reversal fee'. I'm wondering if the terminology matters so much, and if I can claim these fees back (please note it is a loan, not a credit card). I'm also wondering if I can claim only anything above £12 or the full whack. Egg themselves have advised in a phonecall that I'm not able to claim back any fees as I knew what I was signing into - but naturally at this stage I won't read too much into that If anyone can advise i'd be most grateful, then I intend to put this one to bed and enjoy my xmas - hope all reading this can do the same. Many thanks - have a good one. nawanda

Please note in addition the above, the Halifax person who's filled in the agreement has listed my annual income as £20,000 (inc. commission), and I've nenver earned that much - I'm presuming this amount was written down to try and qualify me for the Visa Gold card which is the card I have (for Visa Gold the form states you need an individual income of £20,000 or more. I don't know if this is relevant, but I've been paying this card since 2001 and barely meeting the minimum payments so the balance hasn't gone down, I've just managed to accumulate £80 worth of interest a month. I'm now on a dmp through the cccs so the balance is coming down albiet slowly. I'm now wondering if I have a case should I decide to cease payments and the Halifax decide to take me to court.

Hi there, I'm wondering if anyone is able to help I have a feeling I may be on the wrong income tax code (PAYE) - mine begins 529L. Apparently if you add a zero on the end of your tax code this gives you the amount you can earn tax free- in my case £5290, but according to the inland revenue website the personal allowance for this tax year is £6035 - which would this suggest i'm paying too much tax. The only taxable deduction I have coming out from my salary is around £475 a year health insurance benefit, but by my reckoning even if I deduct this amount from the £6035, I'd still be left with £5550 - so therefore shouldn't my tax code be 555L? I've always paid tax and been in work continuously for several years, now I'm unsure if i'm being emergency taxed or whether or not I'm on the right taxcode, and if not. I'd greatly appreciate any advice or knowledge anyone can offer on my situation before I take it up with the inland revenue. Many Thanks. nawanda

Hi there, I've recently obtained my CCA agreement back from the Halifax. The credit agreement (as it outlines itself to be above the signature box) doubles up as an application form for a credit card and the rest of the writing (addresses, tickboxes etc) has been filled in by someone else - the handwriting is clearly different to my own, despite it having my signature on it dated 12/7/01. There is no credit limit for the card stipulated on the agreement, however it does contain APR rates on the terms and conditions that have been photocopied onto the back of the copy of the application they've sent me. A notice of cancellation states 'Your right to cancel. Once you have signed this agreement you will have, for a short time, a right to cancel it. Exact details of how and when you can do this will be sent to you by post by Halifax plc'. The agreement hasn't been signed by the lender although i'm unsure if this is a legal requirement or not for it to be a valid contract. I've recieved this credit agreement from the Halifax within the specified 12 days, however I'm now wondering if the agreement is enforcable based on the points highlighted above? If anyone is able to help i'd very much appreciate it, before I contact my lender directly. Many thanks nawanda