No, it wouldn't. I'd put it this way though: RE: ref. no. Dear Sir/Madam, I am in receipt of your letter dated xx/xx/xx in which you assert that the sum of £x is owed. I have no knowledge whatsoever of the above account, company(ies) named nor amount stated. I would remind you that failure to properly ascertain the identity of an alleged debtor, whilst sending details of an account and monies allegedly owed may constitute an offence under the Data Protection Act, 1998. I will expect no further contact from you unless it is by way of a written apology. Yours faithfully (print name) Either that or send the "bemused" letter from the CAG library. Hope that helps. Good luck! H. x

Only the one so far, but quite prepared to do similar with others, unless they adhere strictly to guidelines set out by OFT, Trading Standards, etc. If they expect us to play fair, then they should do the same...

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?344319-Complaining-when-harassed-by-a-DCA&p=3906724#post3906724 That's what I did when a DCA were ignoring perfectly reasonable letters and complaints. They paid up within 2 weeks.

They clearly state in block capital letters that you are encouraged to phone them and pay by Debit/Credit card - clear breach of guidelines and grounds for complaint to OFT, Trading standards, FoS, etc. Advocating payment by credit card is directly encouraging a debtor to incur further unsecured debt. The OFT file on Lowell must be getting very large now.

In that case, take the advice given previously - ignore them until they can come up with proof of payment. The onus is on Lowell.

There's a steadily mounting number of complaints against Lowell, so that should get the OFT to make some kind of investigation. They may not take much action, maybe a slap on the wrist, but as long as the complaints to OFT, MPs, BBC Watchdog continue, it will make life more difficult for Lowell, who really seem to carry on their business with complete disregard for guidelines. Best of luck, H. x

Yup. As Dx says - it's your account. You didn't give permission or sign anything. If you weren't incapacitated and unable to deal with your own affairs and had no one as an authorised proxy, then there's nothing Fenton Cooper can do about it. Payments to the account need to be by you, or an AUTHORISED representative. This was neither, and you can tell them that if you wish. Statute Barred still stands.

Suggested letter - keep it short and sweet: Dear Sir/Madam, Account Number: 1234567890 With reference to the above, I would be grateful if you would give me a breakdown of any and all Payment Protection Insurance premiums added and paid, over the duration of the account, from inception to the date of this letter. I believe that PPI on this account was mis-sold due to (insert reason here - check PPI threads on CAG) and wish to make a claim for a full refund of these premiums, plus any interest - compound or otherwise - that has been accrued on these payments. I look forward to a written response at your earliest convenience. Yours faithfully, Print name, don't sign. As far as I'm aware, such letters should go to the OC. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Hope that helps. H. x

Worth also bearing in mind that Aktiv bought a huge amount of unrecoverable accounts when GE Finance/Tricity Finance went bust, quite a while ago. In many cases, they can't provide the original paperwork, which in all cases (especially regarding "Time" and "Tiny" computers) is pre-April 2007, where a reconstituted agreement is not sufficient in court.

Another little thing about the letter that they sent - and grounds for complaint is the line, "you can make a secure payment to ARC 24 hours a day with your debit or credit card." That's against all guidelines as it's encouraging payment of an alleged debt by borrowing more. Best of luck. H. x

If it's a utility debt, it's best to get it sorted out as quickly and amicably as possible. If you contact them, they may agree to an affordable repayment plan, spread over a year or so. The utility companies generally tend to comply with guidelines to treat customers with reasonable concern, as the adverse publicity for them tends to matter more to them because of the amount of competition.

Copying the letter to your MP along with a brief explanation to him/her wouldn't do you any harm either. If you did take them to court, you might be able to make a nice little sum to go towards the deposit for your house purchase... Best of luck. H. x

Also bear in mind that they may claim that your suggested SB date is two or three months too soon as the SB clock starts from the default date. It doesn't - it's from the last payment or written acknowledgement date.

Thanks CitizenB. I've just composed brief speculative letters to anyone who may have added PPI to accounts I've had in the past, just in case - both banks and loan companies.

I was wondering similar actually. I too had a Co-op Bank credit card and I know there was PPI on it as, when I was made redundant, I made a claim on the insurance, which was refused. Now, I know that the PPI was never shown as a separate figure on my monthly statements, although this was back in 1999, so maybe they've since made any PPI premiums separate on statements. Just a thought, in case this affects you willtheywontthey... It MAY be worth simply writing to the Co-op and saying that you would like them to calculate any refund of missold PPI owing to you. The worst they can do is reply, saying that PPI was never taken out on the account. Best of luck, H. x

After having a read through, I've noticed a few things that might indicate that within the (soon to be) statute barred period, you may have legally admitted liability for the debt - even though Lowell are unable to supply a valid CCA. I'd wondered if there was a possibility that they'll be able to produce a reconstituted copy, but I see from your other thread that the loan was taken out before April 2007. Am I right in thinking this? That would reset the SB clock, so if you do respond to any of Lowell's letters, word your responses carefully. Something else that I've noticed is that you say that Lowell have sent you a statement where you say, "after the initial payments were made, and the figure on this is different to the original figure before I made the payments, the difference is the exact amount to the penny of the total payments made by me to lowell." Now, something that may be of interest is that Capital One responded (with reference to an alleged Lowell account) to a SAR that my friend sent. The breakdown of payments up until a month ago, shows no payments made on the account for 5+ years, although my friend thinks she made a payment two years ago. Info on the SAR is obviously wrong. Lowell also sent her the same information. Have you had something like this from your requests for info? I'm sure you could use supply of incorrect information supplied in the form of a SAR as part of your proposal for a second Set Aside, should that come up in the future. Well done so far, and best of luck H. x

A bit of extra advice. If you want to send either a SAR or a CCA Request, then don't send it to Arden. They will simply return it and advise you to send again to their (now) parent company - Idem Servicing. Arden should have written to you, notifying you that Idem are now the "controllers" (or similar wording) of the account. Just thought that might save you the time/hassle/postage. Best of luck, H. x

That's good news Mikey, hope you can sleep better now. Congratulations. Oh, and make sure you DO complain about Lowell - there's a large number of complaints against them now, hopefully they'll get their license withdrawn soon!

Dommie, Here's the letter I composed for use in your kind of situation. If you'd like to use it as a guide, please feel free, but change the wording to suit your own circumstances: By Royal Mail Recorded Delivery Dear Sir/Madam, Account Ref: 1234567890 With regards to my current “repayment agreement” with you, I am in a position to be able to offer you no more than £1 per calendar month. I own no property, have no savings or appreciable assets and rely on Job Seekers’ Allowance as my sole source of income. I quote the Department of Work & Pensions, who state: “You will be paid the sum of £xx per week, which is the legal minimum on which the Government believes you need to live on.” During telephone calls, your staff have erroneously asserted that I am obliged to provide you with a personal statement of income/expenditure in order to put a repayment plan into place. I have been advised that this 'personal' information is just that - personal. However, following the insistence of your staff and their claims that an income/expenditure statement is a requirement regarding this matter, I have obtained a Court orientated Income and Expenditure Form, to which, only a Court and/or Judge can legally have access, and filled in the details required therein. Following the revelations about my financial status that completing this form brought to light, I would like to thank you and your staff for pointing me in the right direction regarding my rights. From this information, it is obvious that I currently have no disposable income whatsoever. It has been suggested that, following discovery of this situation, a County Court Judge would, in all probability, order that I can afford no more that £1 per month to each and all creditors, which of course includes you. Therefore, I would formally request that you supply me with the relevant information/documents necessary for me to set up a standing order to continue paying instalments towards the amount owing on the above account at a token rate of £1 per calendar month. Please note that I have no intention of avoiding any legally and fairly claimed payments on the above account, but I firmly believe that my offer of repayment is appropriate, considering my current circumstances. Should these circumstances change, I will, of course, notify you as soon as possible to arrange repayment at a higher monthly amount. Yours faithfully, Print name, don't sign Hope that helps! H. x

You can send this message back if they text you: SERVICE ERROR 305: MESSAGE DELIVERY FAILED. FURTHER MESSAGES WLL BE CHARGED TO YOUR ACCOUNT. I've been told that they usually give up texting your number then. Apparently, the above wording is a genuine error code, so any DCA would be unsure as to whether they really were going to be charged or not. Likelihood is that they wouldn't take the risk! H. x

Good advice from renegadeimp, but I think you should also consider a couple of other things. It would seem to me that as you have nothing whatsoever to do with this alleged debt, then your main concern is your parents - and quite rightly so. See what their response is to the suggested letter. If they do keep insisting and threaten doorstep collection (but only if they do) then it may help to send them the doorstep visit letter in the CAG library. You could include in that a sentence along the lines that you reiterate that you have no knowledge of the alleged debt. Keep a copy of the letter for your parents, so that if anyone does try visiting, they can hand them the letter and tell them to go away. If they don't go straight away, make sure your parents know that they can phone their local police station (not 999) and request assistance as a stranger is on their doorstep, making threatening demands. Hope that helps, H. x

From what I can recall, "original agreements" for cards taken out pre-April 2007 still need to be produced in court. Maybe someone could verify this please?

They can continue to process information, but without any kind of CCA - original or reconstructed - they will not be able to take enforcement action. If you've not acknowledged the debt at all in writing or paid anything towards it since 2008, then it will become statute barred in another two years or so. In any case, 6 years after the default was registered on your CRA file, it will drop off regardless and they will no longer be able to amend or update. H. x

A SAR is simply a request for the information the company holds on you and the alleged account, accompanied by a postal order for £10. Sending the request shouldn't matter as it's your right to know which information is held. On the request letter, print your name, don't sign. They have 40 days from the date of your request and shouldn't continue collection activity until they've complied with your request. H. x

Brigadier is right about reclaim of bank charges losing its impetus after the High Court ruling. However, if you can prove that you have in the past, and still are suffering hardship due to unfair/excessive charges, you may be able to make a successful reclaim. I managed to get £370 refunded by Barclays as I could prove hardship - on Job Seekers Allowance at the time. It would appear that hardship cases are slightly different to a general claim for refund of charges. A carefully worded letter may have the desired effect and in this case, the worst that can happen is that they refuse. Good luck! H. x