Why do I get the impression I'm the only person who feels they got treated fairly by HFC? Had a credit card and a loan, then lost my job (long time ago, working now) they lumped both together, chopped 40% off then agreed lower payments at 0% interest. Got less than half left to pay and the repayments are very reasonable (compared to what I earn). A&L on the otherhand, wish I could dump them, but would need to clear about 5 grand to clear the accounts first, thieving gits (mind, can't complain too much, the credit card is frozen at 0% as well, but that's actually MBNA, not A&L).

hmmm, may have to reword it as technically the account doesn't fall into default till next week (when I'll send the letter) However I've found the OFT letter template so I'll package the whole lot up once I've reworded it.

Here's my reply, let me know what you think, just need to write the cover letters for the OFT and TSO: Ref: ######## Dear Madam Thank you for your letter of #date#, the contents of which have been noted. You have still failed to respond to my legal request to supply me a true copy of the original Consumer Credit Agreement for the above account. On #date# I made a formal request for a true signed agreement for the alleged account under consumer credit Act 1974 s77/8. A copy of which is enclosed for your perusal and ease of reference. You have failed to comply with my request, and as such the account entered default on #date#. Furthermore on #date# I formally disputed the charges you have levied on my account and you have still not satisfactorily resolved my dispute. A copy of which has been included for your ease of reference. While this account is in dispute and due to the fact that you do not have a signed credit agreement from myself the following applies: * You may not demand any payment on the account, nor am I obliged to offer any payment to you. * You may not add further interest or any charges to the account. * You may not pass the account to a third party. * You may not register any information in respect of the account with any credit reference agency. * You may not issue a default notice related to the account. As a result of your previous letter you have therefore acted unlawfully by: * Demanding payment on the account. * Adding further charges to the account. * Taking payment against my account the statutory £1 fee for producing a true copy of a signed credit agreement. As a true copy of a signed credit agreement has not been produced I remind you of your legal obligation to return the £1 fee forthwith. Furthermore your threats and intimidation of legal action and passing information to credit reference agencies is unlawful and can be considered vexatious and harassment. Please be aware that this matter has now been passed onto the Office of Fair Trading and the Trading Standards Office. Yours faithfully

I notice Jellybabe is at the same stage I am with Studio as well, so when I get the letter written up I'll post it so she can use it as well

Good to see someone else sticking it to Studio, they're chasing my wife for 91 quid (was only 68 quid when they got the dispute letter). I like the way they say you can go to the FSO, shame it's a consumer issue so the FSO will turn round and tell you there's nothing you can do. As said, letter to Trading Standards, OFT, and local MP. As a parting shot you can also try Philip Maudsley Managing Director Express Gifts Ltd Burley House, Bradford Rd., Burley-In-Wharfdale, LS29 7DZ

Ok, the gist of their reply is now we owe £91. Their claim is that they don't have to give us a copy, just infewr that they have one and the OFT and TSO accept that as good enough. They also claim that even if they don't have a signed copy the debt is still legal and will be chased. Time to take it up a notch I think.

I'm currently disputing over 90 quid in "late fees" (yes they added more while in dispute, which is illegal). I'm about to get my 3rd letter to them done tonight after they've written back and told me that apparently them sending me a copy is good enough and they don't have to send me a copy of the signed form. At the end of the day 20 quid is totally unreasonable for what is an automated letter produced by a computer that never sees a human hand. That I know for a fact as I used to be the one running the print runs at a mail order company!

Have a look at my thread about Studio (should be at top of forum atm) Studio sent me a CCA to sign and send back (like I'd fall for that trick) Copy the letter I sent back to them and change to match your details and circumstances and send it back recorded delivery. No signed CCA, no debt. I used to work in mail order, they are fully aware that any fees are non enforceable. I used to work with a company called Greetings Direct (mail order cards) and the call centre were advised that should anyone query the admin fees for late payment they should take the outstanding amount and write off the admin fee as a goodwill gesture, at no point were they to state that the admin fee was a legally enforceable debt. Didn't help that there was a massive bug in the system that meant no one actually knew what had been paid and what hadn't, we had accounts showing debt of thousands of pounds for a £15 pack of cards.

Personally I want them to just go away and admit they're not getting a single penny of their "admin" fee from us. Next letter going out after this one will be sent to the same office, cc'd to OFT, TSO, Watchdog and the parent group's chairman and CEO. A family member used to be a bank manager (he took early retirement as he refused to start applying charges to bank accounts, old school bank manager) and he's always maintained that if you have a complaint take it straight to the top, the last thing the chairman wants is complaints arriving on his desk so it's much more likely to get sorted out (mainly by him giving the department responsible a verbal kicking for allowing it to land on his desk in the first place)

Sending them this Dear Sir/Madam Thank you for your letter of 26/03/09, the contents of which have been noted. You have failed to respond to my legal request to supply me a true copy of the original Consumer Credit Agreement for the above account. On 21/03/09 I made a formal request for a true signed agreement for the alleged account under consumer credit Act 1974 s77/8. A copy of which is enclosed for your perusal and ease of reference. You have failed to comply with my request, and as such the account will enter default on 07/04/09. Requesting that myself should sign a copy and send it to you suggests that you do not actually have a signed copy and as such have no legal right to apply surcharges to my account. As such I declare that the account is therefore clear of all debts as the original outstanding bill of £29.00 was cleared last year. The document that you are obliged to send me is a true copy of the executed agreement that contained all of the prescribed terms, all other required terms and statutory notices and was signed by both your company and myself as defined in section 61(1) of CCA 74 and subsequent Statutory Instruments. If the executed agreement contained any reference to any other document, you are also obliged to send me a copy of that document. In addition a full statement of this account should have been sent to me detailing all debits and credits to the account. Furthermore You are aware that the Consumer Credit Act allows 12 working days for a request for a true copy of a credit agreement to be carried out before your client enters into a default situation. As you are no doubt aware section 77(6) states: If the creditor fails to comply with Subsection (1) (a) He is not entitled , while the default continues, to enforce the agreement. Therefore this account has become unenforceable at law. As you have Failed to comply with a lawful request for a true, signed copy of the said agreement and other relevant documents mentioned in it, Failed to send a full statement of the account and Failed to provide any of the documentation requested. Consequentially any legal action you pursue will be averred as both UNLAWFUL and VEXATIOUS. Furthermore I shall counterclaim that any such action constitutes unlawful harassment. Please note you may also consider this letter as a statutory notice under section 10 of the Data Protection Act to cease processing any data in relation to this account with immediate effect. This means you must remove all information regarding this account from your own internal records and from my records with any credit reference agencies. Should you refuse to comply, you must within 21 days provide me with a detailed breakdown of your reasoning behind continuing to process my data. It is not sufficient to simply state that you have a ‘legal right’; You must outline your reasoning in this matter and state upon which legislation this reasoning depends. Should you not respond within 14 days I expect that this means you agree to remove all such data. Furthermore you should be aware that a creditor is not permitted to take ANY Action against an account whilst it remains in dispute. The lack of a credit agreement is a very clear dispute and as such the following applies. * You may not demand any payment on the account, nor am I obliged to offer any payment to you. * You may not add further interest or any charges to the account. * You may not pass the account to a third party. * You may not register any information in respect of the account with any credit reference agency. * You may not issue a default notice related to the account. I reserve the right to report your actions to any such regulatory authorities as I see fit. You have 14 days from receiving this letter to contact me with your intentions to resolve this matter which is now a formal complaint. I would appreciate your due diligence in this matter. I look forward to hearing from you in writing. Yours faithfully

Sorry, I didn't make it clear earlier, it's not Studio Cards, it's just Studio (Express Gifts). Since I'm not prepared to assist them in committing fraud I'll be sending them another letter soon, I'll type up my response and post it here

Sent them the initial letter regarding the late charges on my wife's account. Despite the initial bill being paid in full they still keep adding late charge fees to the late charge fees Anyway, got a letter back today "blah blah, thank you for your letter, blah" and, this I can't believe the cheek of... "Please find enclosed a specimen CCA. Please sign and return to us" So they have no signed CCA (which I knew they didn't have) so they want us to sign and return a CCA? How stupid do they expect me to be? Will type up the second letter tonight.....