Hi, I have actually successfully had help from this forum before regarding a credit card, but now its First Direct's turn. Basically I was short one month after Christmas in 2008 and I was fined about £150, but as money is so tight for me, I literally couldnt cover it after food etc, so they then took the payment from me about 3 days before all my direct debits came out and this then happened again, so I opened a new bank account and started using that and cancelled my direct debits, but what then happened is they basically fined me roughly £100 to £150 a month and as there was no money to cover their fines the fined me each time the same again on top of that until it was about £900 ish. At this time I made an arrangement to start clearing the account, which by then they had removed my bank card etc and I was paying them £15 a week, which was all I could afford, and this was fine, until My financial situation got much worse through funding cuts affecting my work. So I cancelled the standing order and had to basically leave all my debts for a while untill I could manage. I then applied for my bank charges to be refunded on grounds of unfairness, and as it happens I have previously reclaimed several hundered pounds from First Direct successfully, so I thought I would try again as in my eyes they were creating this debt, I asked them for help on several occasions and they simply told me no. I was in contact with the CCCS and they were helpfull and gave me a letter to send first direct as by this point they had 3 different debt collectors harrassing me for money, which to be honest annoyed me as they have to this day never given me a reply finalising my claim for a refund other than the initial its on hold while the test case is ongoing. Well the CCCS gave me the letter and I sent it to them which they wrote back to me saying that I was not in financial hardship (I beg to differ??) and I have to pay it. I heard nothing for since last November, but now it has started again from a company called DLC, looking for the money stating its a balance outstanding? I literally cant pay this and I will not pay on the grounds that the bank created the debt despite my calls for help to them and asking them to stop fining me for not paying their fines... Am I being wildly nieve and should I somehow make an offer to pay, ALthough I couldnt manage more than probably about £1 a month? Any suggestions about getting these leeches off my back would be appreciated, thanks.:-|

I hope so, they do a good job. ha ha..

Well they have got back to me now, and I think I am beginning to annoy them. This is the letter I got this morning. 28/9/2009 Dear Mr XXXXXXX Following your recent request to be provided with a copy of the original credit agreement in respect of the Consumer Credit Act Ican confirm our client MBNA Europe Bank Ltd has requested that your credit agreement be retrieved from archive. Once your agreement is retrieved you will be required to repay the outstanding balance in full. If deemed necessary, we may initiate legal proceedings which could eventually see your outstanding balance increase due to court costs and interest. If you have any queries regarding the above then please contact us on 0113 308 6044. Yours sincerely Samantha Barnard Customer Services. Well, It would be impossible for me to repay in full, If I could do that then I wouldnt be in debt. What can they do?

thanks!

I got this reply from Lowells today, it is kind of them getting more time to reply to me but shouldnt they have had the agreement in the first place in order to chase me for the money? here is the letter from them... Dear Mr XXXX our Ref: 000000 Original Creditor : MBNA Europe Bank Ltd Balance Outstanding : £999 We are in receipt of your request for a copy of your credit agreement in accordance with section 78(1) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 We are requesting a copy of the agreement from the Original Lender with whom you originally entered into the agreement. While we endeavour to reply to you with the required information within the prescribed 12 day period under the consumer credit act, you will appreciate this is dependant upon receipt of the information from the original creditor. We will advise you further if it will take longer than the prescribed period. If you have any queries regarding the above, please contact us on 0113 308 6044. Yours sincerely. xxxxxx

Hi, I feel pretty embarrased saying this, but I kind of initially contacted them as I owed £1000 and the bank offered me to clear it for £350, and I eventually got that sum and they sold it 2 days earlier, so I contacted Lowells to see if the offer still stood, where they told me no and to pay the full amount. I am sick of all these parasites phoning me day in day out, with their idle threats that I wanted to get them off my back with the offer. But now as someone mentioned that If I challenge them then eventually the offer could come around again and in the meantime I can try and bank the money, I would be paying monthly to try and pay in a oner... Hopefully. For me I want to be debt free, as the stress is too much. So I am guilty of contacting them in the first place.... mad I know! ha ha.

Also I am in trouble because of the only credit card I had.... their debt.

It's funny you should say that about taking out more debt, as I got a random text message over the summer, sayin hello (my actual name) and offering me the chance to apply for some loans. Now this was on my mobile again. I was sure it was linked with one of the company's trying to get money from me. They frequently asked me to apply for loans etc to clear their balance.

Hi Sam, Weirdly they have not taken payment yet, they just keep phoning me and sending me letters for payment, I can only assume they have lost my card details. I have yet to cancel it, I should do it today actually. I need to take some money out first to cover the time without a card as I am in college full time. But I have printed off the CCA and will post it in an hour or so. Lets see what they say! kind of annoyed about the Moorcroft lot... don't even know what they want. I have a feeling I paid them a mobile debt in January, for something like £60 and cleared it. The only other thing is a bank charges debt with First Direct, which they have put my claim on hold but are chasing me for the money and I am refusing to pay as they created the debt, through ruthless overcharging. I had a bunch of payments arrive late one Christmas because of the holidays and bank holidays but all my bills came out as normal (funny that) and I got fined so much that the next month they took the fine before my bills and the same happened again, and it grew to about 800 in charges in 6 months so I had to get a new account to be able to survive, and they refused my CCA letter claiming hardship. Bar stewards.

HI, I was asked before to post the letter I originally recieved regarding my debt being transferred. the first one is from MBNA July 28, 2009 Dear Mr XXXXX Account - 0000 0000 0000 0000 YOUR OUTSTANDING BALANCE DUE UNDER THE ABOVE ACCOUNT HAS BEEN SOLD TO THE LOWELL GROUP. The Lowell Group's address is: Enterprise House 1 Apex View Leeds LS1 19BH tel: 0845 3009410 All enquiries regarding this account including accurate balance information, together with future payments should be made directly to this company. Yours sincerely Paul Campbell Paul Campbell Head of Customer Service. and from there I contacted Lowells myself (probably foolishly, offering £50 per month) so I received this.... WITHOUT PREJUDICE Dear Mr XXXXXX Our Ref: 00000000 Original Creditor: MBNA Europe Bank Ltd Balance Outstanding: £974.81 I have pleasure in confirming that our Client Lowell Portfolio 1 ltd is prepared to accept the arrangement as set out below. Minimum amount payable : £50.00 Frequency : Monthly Date of first Payment : 01/09/2009 Payment By : Credit Card Mr XXXXXX, I must advise you of the consequences of breaking this arrangement, if you fail to make payment as agreed, the arrangement with us could be terminated and other means of recovery may be used to recover the outstanding balance. May I take this opportunity of thanking you and if you have any questions then please don't hesitate to contact us. Yours sincerely Andrew Bartle Chief Operations Officer

hmm, I wonder what the hell they want then. They know my first name and mobile number? Thanks.

Sorry I havent been in touch, just started college and been laden down with work, off to send the CSA form today, but weirdly enough I am now being contacted over telephone by a number which I googled and its Moorcroft? is this another trading name for Lowells? they just leave messages saying to contact them as it's an emergency. yeah right....

I'm not sure, I had money coming in to my account but its possible it wasn't in on time. My "online" bank takes forever to update, so I'm still waiting to see all the transactions on my account.

Thanks! again.

thanks, I will dig out all correspondence from them and post it here!