You can use their envelope to send your response back but when you issue the moneyclaim you can't use a P.O. box address. It is not possible to sue a P.O. box. Use this address on the moneyclaim - Halifax PLC Trinity Road Halifax HX1 2RG In my battle with the Halifax they went down pretty much the same road. I issued the claim. After the time limit expired I phoned them & said I was going to issue a warrant for enforcement. At this point they said they had no record of the court claim but paid up fairly promptly even though it would have been easy for them to get a set-aside & fight it out in court. They wanted me to sign a form saying I would not claim again for the same account but I refused. They haven't closed the account yet but have just charged me another £39 for a computer generated letter so it looks like we will have to start the whole process again. Just remember that none of the banks really want to go to court & all their letters and arguments are just posturing on behalf of their counsel to justify their fees.

It is up to you whether you accept part settlement. If you do you will have to sign to say that it is in full and final settlement of your claim. I would send them a letter saying you will accept what they've offered as part settlement and issue the moneyclaim as they have responded to your LBA. Halifax are a pushover compared to most of the other banks and tend to settle for the full amount very soon after the claim is lodged.

Make a complaint to the OFT. Citizens Advice can help you with this if you need it. The OFT regulates lenders/brokers/debt collectors etc who offer/advise on/collect credit which comes under the remit of the CCA1974. They have the power to revoke a DCA's CCL if it can be shown that they are not a 'fit and proper person' to hold such a license. Unlike a lot of regulatory bodies they do have teeth and in fact took 187 such actions last year. They would be unlikely to revoke a CCL just on the basis of your complaint but the DCA would be made to explain their criminal behaviour. Have been in the same situation myself and after the complaint to the OFT the company concerned suddenly started taking me seriously. Hope this helps you.

Thx Robert - Didn't sign an agreement at the time - it was arranged over the phone. I'm having a major problem with this at the moment. I haven't got any statements or data pre 2000 and I don't know whether to try & force the bank into DPA compliance through the court. They said in their letter they have no obligation to hold data pre 2000 so it would be hard to prove I had an overdraft at 16&17.

bump

This is covered in S13.6 of the banking code. You can download a copy of the code here. Natwest are signatories to the code and although it is voluntary they should abide by it. A swift letter to remind them they signed up for this may stop them defaulting you. Hope this helps. http://www.bba.org.uk/content/1/c4/52/27/BankingCode2005.pdf

I was 16 or maybe just turned 17 when given the overdraft. I left the job about 3 months before turning 18 & the next job I got paid cash so I never bothered with banks again for a few years - hence all the charges. When I sent the S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) I asked for a full account history but so far they've only given me 6 years worth of stuff which doesn't really help as all but about £400-£500 of the charges are missing & they are the ones which would attract the most statutory interest and thus pay of the amount still owed. I would like to claim the whole lot back including all the money they have scammed off me over the years paying this never ending debt. I've probably paid them £700 over the years and still owe more than the original amount of the default.

Go to the Telephone Preperence Service website TPS Registration and register your number with them. Any company doing telephone marketing must screen their data for those that are TPS registered. If you get any calls after that tell the caller that you are TPS registered and are recording the call to assist in your complaint. It is an offence under the Privacy & Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations to call someone who is registered in this way.

Don't bother with Debt Management companies. They will take 20% of what you can afford each month as their fee. Try these - CCCS - they will do the same job for free and 100% of what you can afford to pay each month will be coming off your debt. They will negotiate directly with your creditors and work out a reasonable amount to pay each of them after you send them a breakdown of income/debts etc. This should also stop all those nasty threatening letters, calls which you no doubt get.

Think you should stick with the LBA in the templates. There is a proper step-by-step system outlined in the faq's which has been used successfully by thousands of us. Each step/template letter is there for a good reason - i.e. they work. If you stick to this tried & tested method you should eventually end up getting your charges back. Good luck.

Realise that they are collecting the same debt but the point I'm making is that the original lender does not own the debt any more. They have legally (if not morally) sold the debt on to the DCA sharks. What legal relationship now exists between the debtor and the original lender? If there is no legal relationship the original contract is no longer in force so I'm sure you could stop them processing data and force them to remove data held by third parties. Also you have not signed a contract with the DCA so they would not have the right to process any of your data at all.

Forgive me for sounding a bit thick! How can the contract continue? You don't owe them the money any more and they have been paid by the DCA for the debt. I don't see a legal contract there. Neither party is providing 'consideration' i.e. you aren't paying them anything and they are no longer the owners of the debt.

Just a quick question - Say you had a loan which was defaulted and then sold on to a DCA. At the time you took out the loan you gave permission for the lender to process your data and share it with the CRA's by agreeing to the T & C's. By selling the debt have they effectively ended their contract with you? If this is the case could you send them a letter ordering them to stop processing your data and to remove it from the CRA's? Also could you send the DCA a letter ordering them not to process your data at all? If this is the case it might help in getting defaults removed and p**s off the banks and CRA's which would obviously be a result.

If I'm reading this reply correctly Lloyds can chase me, employ DCA's to harrass me & threaten court action etc. for a debt going back more than 6 years but I can't make a claim against them for the same debt as it's statute barred. This doesn't seem right to me - I thought it was only statute barred if there was no contact between the two parties in the intervening period. Also - if Lloyds have no records going back further than 6 years how can they prove any money was owed pre the 6 year period? The statements I have going back 6 years show a negative balance with charges being added every month but the account was already about £900 overdrawn at the very beginning of this period. If this went to court how would they prove I owed them £900 in the year 2000 if they have no records other than a statement showing an opening balance of -£900?

Will someone please look at this as I have received a notice of intended court action today from the 2nd DCA (they've only had the file a week!) and I would love to be able to tell them to hurry up and file a claim against me knowing I'm able to run rings round them in court - and incidentally saving myself the court fee by not having to file myself.

Selling a vehicle on which HP is still owed is against the law. The way an HP agreement works is that the car dealer invoices the finance company for the car. The finance company then pays the dealer for the car and the customer hires the car from the finance company until the very end of the agreement. At this point the customer pays the finance company an 'option to purchase fee' which actually transfers ownership to the customer. It would be exactly the same as selling a rented t.v., house etc. i.e. it's not yours to sell in the first place. You wouldn't dream of selling a dvd you rented from blockbuster so why would you do it with an item worth 500 times as much. In my job I use experian car data checks every day and this can tell you whether a finance company has an interest in any car. There has however been a tendency in recent years for finance companies to sell personal loans rather than HP. In this case most of the rights given to the customer under the CCA 1974 are taken away - chiefly the right to voluntarily terminate the agreement upon paying half the total payable. Many people who have taken these loans have no idea they have a loan instead of HP as the forms they sign look very similar. If you have one of these loans you do have a right to sell the car and the finance company has no right to register an interest on experian/HPI. Many of them do register an interest but if they have you can have it removed.

After 1 successful claim against the Halifax and managing to clear most of the overdraft which has been hanging round my neck for 5 years I am now claiming against Lloyds. This promises to be a much trickier job. Background is that I joined the forces at age 16 in 1987 and opened an account with Lloyds who had a branch on the base where I did my basic training. Soon after this Lloyds allowed me to have an arranged overdraft - still at age 16. I had to leave the job after 18 months and still had a minus balance but no job. Overdraft was £200 or £300 at the time as I remember - still only 17 years old. You can probably guess what happened next - stuck my head in the sand & ignored letters etc right up to 2001 where they defaulted me for about £1100. Have been paying sporadically to BLS Collections DCA since then but the debt still stands currently at around £1100 - no doubt due to the DCA's own further charges. Sent S.A.R - (Subject Access Request)'s to Lloyds and the DCA in July asking for full history of account - i.e. since the account was opened in '87. Lloyds responded in September with records going back 6 years. These are mostly charges from 2000 up until the date of default in 2001 and nothing after that. DCA ignored SAR completely. Have sent them both a Data Protection Act LBA this week. Received a letter today from Debt Managers Ltd (another DCA) demanding payment in full for the same account. There are a few things I am unsure about - As I was under 18 at the time of opening the account were Lloyds in the wrong in giving me an overdraft in the first place and would it have been legally enforceable? - What should I do if the statements pre 2000 don't turn up as the charges post 2000 only come to about £400? Should I do an estimated claim for the amount I owe them now? What about the money I have already paid them over the last 4-5 years? Bearing in mind I told Lloyds in my Data Protection Act request that I would be claiming any charges back should they have referred this matter to anther DCA? Is this going to be statute barred for the pre 2000 charges? How would I word an LBA for this one? I'm finding this all very confusing and would appreciate any help. Thanks in advance.

Have started a new claim against Lloyds TSB regarding bank charges amounting to about £1500. Was defaulted for £1100 some years ago and have paid sporadically over about 10 years - debt is still £1100ish. When I gave some thought to this I remembered that I opened the account at age 16 and the overdraft they gave me which started the vicious cycle was given to me at age 17. All of the subsequent debt was caused by charges. I have done some research, mainly on the Family Law Reform Act 1969, Minors' Contracts Act 1987 and Children Act 1972 and it would seem to me that any contract signed by a child (as I was in the eyes of the law at the time) is unenforceable under both common law and these Acts. Please could one of the legal wizards advise me on this as if this is the case it will save me a load of hassle as the account goes back to 1987 and I don't have any statements from then. Would it make a difference that I was serving in H.M. Forces at the time? Did a S.A.R. but only got 6 years statements showing just charges. Also - if it is the case that the debt is unenforceable what would be the situation regarding the sums which I've already paid? Got this from a legal dictionary: Term: minors 1. It is a presumption at law that every person is entitled to enter into a contract unless an exception applies. One of those excpetions is for minors. The age of contractual capacity for individuals is the age of 21 at common law, however this was reduced to the age of 18 in 1969 by Act of Parliament. Reaching the age of 18 is known as attaining 'majority'. Minors are those who have not attained the age of 18. Minors are permitted to enter into contracts for limited purposes, and the test is one that focuses on the nature of the transaction, and whether the minor is of an age such that they capable of understanding it. The general law states that contracts entered into by children that are for 'necessaries' are binding on children, as are those for apprenticeship, employment, education and service where they are rightly said to be for the benefit of the child. Contracts for necessaries are for the supply of food, medicines, accommodation, clothing, amongst other things but generally excludes conveniences, and products and services for comfort or pleasure. Commercial or 'trading' contracts are excluded. These latter contracts are voidable at the option of the minor, and whether the minor may avoid the contract depends on the nature of the contract. Contracts where the minor may avoid the affect of the contract are for the acquisition of a legal or equitable interest in property of a permanent nature, such as shares, land, marriage and partnerships. Other contracts require positive ratification in order to be enforceable, which includes contracts for debts and the sale of goods that are not for necessaries. The ratification must take the form of an acknowledgement that the debt is binding after attaining the age of 18. Fresh consideration is not required for the ratification to be complete. Restraints of trade may be unenforceable against a minor, even if they would be enforceable against an adult. Related Words: Family Law Reform Act 1969; Minors' Contracts Act 1987; Children Act 1972 Can't remember ever signing something like the highlighted bit. Thanks in advance.

If Advantage are claiming this is a repo they must have a court order. This kicks in as soon as you have paid a third of the total amount payable. No court order - no repo. Unfortunately they are right in the fact that to volontarily terminate the agreement any arrears must be paid in full. If they did not have a court order you should demand return of the vehicle and then come to an arrangement to clear the arrears, swiftly followed by a VT. Obviously any payments due after they took the vehicle would be null and void as your parents were without the vehicle - in contract law this is called 'consideration'. I'm thinking that the car has probably been sold at auction and this would be extremely difficult for them to do. Hopefully they will go back under their stone at this point and give up. Good luck.

Checked online banking - they have settled. 2 cash deposits - 1 for charges, 1 for interest & costs. Haven't added daily interest but as this is only £6.00 i'm not bothered.

As a short term remedy you can get a pre-pay mastercard from companies like Cashplus. You have to use these like a top up card in that you must put the credit onto the card before paying for stuff but it would mean that you could use it in the manner you described and not be at the risk of going into debt, incurring charges etc.

Spoke to very nice lady at Halifax Legal Dept. at about 1 o'clock today. Told her that the 14 days were up since the claim was deemed served. She said she would have to check where they were up to with it on her spreadsheet - looks like they are getting organised. Anyway after a couple of minutes on hold she came back to me and said they had never recieved it. She asked for the court, claim no, amount etc. and said someone would phone me back this afternoon. I called them at ten to 5 and spoke to the same lady who said they now have a copy of the claim and 1 of her colleagues will call me back. I now have the option of asking for judgement but I know from speaking to the court that they are 5 days behind with judgements. Any ideas about what I should do next? Chances are that if I obtain a judgement they will just apply for a set-aside due to them supposedly not getting the original paperwork from the court.

Have just composed this email to send to Halifax Customer Relations. I genuinely don't want to instruct bailiffs as I would like to remain with the Halifax. Last time I changed bank accounts it caused so much hassle. Could someone have a quick look & tell me if it's a good idea to send this. In the past I have had autoresponses from emails sent to the Halifax but have yet to recieve a human reply. Please be advised that I initiated a county court claim against Halifax PLC on the 27th of July 2006 that was deemed to be served on 29th July 2006 - Claim no. 6NP01059, Morpeth County Court. To date you have not acknowledged this claim. As 14 days have since passed I am now entitled to file for summary judgement and also apply for enforcement via the court bailiffs. I am eager to reach an amicable settlement and have no wish for you to suffer the embarrasment of bailiffs visiting your premises. If it is your wish that I am forced down this route I intend to visit the court at 3:30 pm tomorrow - 16th August 2006 to apply for enforcement. Should you wish to contact me in the meantime I am available on xxxxxxxxxxxxx at anytime. Should you wish to fax me an offer of settlement my fax number is xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.

Find out how much she has paid to the finance company. If it is less than a third of the total unfortunately they can do this. If she's paid more than a third they need a court order to repo it.

You can buy standalone GAP cover for about £100 for 4 years cover. Surfandprotect are 1 company I know of who do this but just Google Gap Insurance and I'm sure you will find plenty of others much cheaper than motor dealers.