Citicards CCA Request Ignored

[twodogs]

I sent a CCA request to Citicards and the 12+2 deadline passed on the 8th April. I sent them an "Account in Dispute" letter and now the further 30 days has expired.

 

All I have received from them is my regular statement stating that my latest payment is late (I cancelled the DD after the 12+2 deadline).

 

What should my next step be; any advice greatly received?

 

What do I want to achieve - I'd like to come to some F&F settlement for the outstanding balance that I can no longer afford due to a change in income circumstances.

 

Thanks in advance.

[twodogs]

Here is my "Account in Dispute" Letter:

 

" Citigroup Centre,

Canada Square,

Canary Wharf,

LONDON.

E14 5LB.

 

15/04/2009

 

DEFAULT UNDER THE CONSUMER CREDIT ACT 1974

FAILURE TO PRODUCE AGREEMENT

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

Re: Credit Card Account No. ##############

 

I write with regards to my letter of 11th March 2009 in which I exercised my rights under the Consumer Credit Act s(77/78 ). I sent this letter 1st class Recorded Delivery the same day, enclosing the statutory fee of £1 and it was confirmed delivered to you on 18th March 2009.

 

As you are no doubt aware the Consumer Credit Act allows 12 working days for a request for a true copy of a credit agreement to be carried out before you enter into a default situation. As this request was made in writing and correctly on 17th March 2009, this period has now lapsed.

 

In the absence of you providing the required information, this account is now in dispute. Consequently, I do not acknowledge any debt to your company, and am ceasing any further payments immediately. The absence of a correctly executed credit agreement is a very clear legal dispute and any legal action you pursue will be averred as both unlawful and vexatious and I shall counterclaim that any such action constitutes unlawful harassment.

 

Consequently, I draw your attention to Consumer Credit Act s(78)(6) that states:

If the creditor fails to comply with Subsection (1)

(a) He is not entitled, while the default continues, to enforce the agreement.

 

Therefore, while we remain in dispute:

• You may not demand any payment on this account, nor am I obliged to offer any payment to you.

• You may not add any further interest or charges to this account.

• You may not pass this account to any third party.

• You may not register any information in respect of this account with any of the credit reference agencies.

• You may not issue a default notice related to this account.

 

Should you nevertheless choose to initiate legal proceedings against me, I will expect to receive, with any Letter Before Action, a copy of the document that you will be relying on as proof that a properly executed agreement, complying in all respects with the form and content requirements of the CCA was signed by me in respect of this alleged debt.

On the advice of the Financial Ombudsman, I am now requesting a final decision in this matter from you. Should this decision not meet with my satisfaction, then I reserve the right to pursue the matter through both/either the Courts and Ombudsman. The maximum timescale for you to give a final response to any complaint is eight (8) weeks. This time runs from the date of my original complaint, in this case that is the request for a true copy of the credit agreement. Therefore, you must provide me with a final response in this matter, including your proposed actions for this account, no later than Wednesday 12th May 2009.

 

In closing please consider this letter as a statutory notice under the Data Protection Act s(10) 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 on the grounds that the processing, or continued processing by you of the said data, will be likely to affect my credit rating and my reputation and cause substantial damage and/or distress to me and my family members; and that as the processing of the said data in the way referred to in this notice would violate the fourth, first and sixth principles of The Data Protection Act 1998, to do so would be unwarranted. I will also ask any Court to order production of the document that you will be relying on as proof that a properly executed agreement, complying in all respects with the form and content requirements of the Consumer Credit Act was signed by me in respect of this alleged debt.

 

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.

 

Yours faithfully"

[cds]

Nice letter you seem to have it all in hand, best of look and will be watching for developments.

 

cds:)

[twodogs]

Would you suggest wait and see what they do next?

[cds]

If you have only missed one payment and they have your phone number the calls will start to find out why. Until you actualy put them in dispute you are obliged to fullfil your financial obligations.

 

You need to take it that step further and make it plain you are not paying until they prove the debt.

 

Then the fun starts but I think you will be ready for them.

 

cds:)

[Enron]

Citi do operate as a law unto themselves and will likely ignore it.

 

I would strongly consider submitting a complaint to the OFT.

[twodogs]

Is there a particular address or department I should write to at the OFT Enron?

 

Thanks in advance

[Enron]

There is a contact address on their website.

[MARTIN3030]

Once again it needs pointing out that the correct service of a notice under section 10 should be as follows.

 

1.Addressed to the Data protection officer.

 

2.Give a reasonable time (state the date) by which you expect processing or sharing to cease-immediate effect is not adequate.

 

3.Give reasons as to why continual processing of your data should cease.

 

These are all within ICO guidance.

 

There was a specific temp letter recently added to the library to address these key points.

[twodogs]

Data protection officer at Citicards?

[MARTIN3030]

Yes

[twodogs]

Citicards (Bombay Office) called me today asking for money; I told them that I was disputing the account as they had ignored my letters (above). They then went on to say that they had not received any letters and that CCA requests should be addressed to:

 

Citicards

PO Box 49920

London

SE5 7ZF

 

It has been 8 weeks since my original request - do I need to start over again? My original letter went to:

 

Citigroup Centre,

Canada Square,

Canary Wharf,

LONDON.

E14 5LB.

[MARTIN3030]

No Canary Wharf is listed as their registered office-and so is the address where legal documents should be served.

Your request for information under the Consumer Credit act was therefore a legal matter.

You should not need to start again-they have simply failed to comply and should be told so.

[the_shadow]

Absolutely agree.... remember these people on the end of the phone in Mumbai or Bombay are on bonuses for the amount of money they claw back off of people...

 

If you had said you sent it to the PO box where the payments go I'm sure they would turn around and say you'd need to send it to their registered office.

 

S.

[MARTIN3030]

This is always the problem with dealing by phone-unless you have means of recording - then its difficult to prove whats been said.Like you say-they are unlikely to admit to saying this,and I dont believe for a minute that they do not know the correct registered office address.

In fact they will be very aware of customers questioning their agreements-and should have been briefed to respond.

But it does not suprise me-nothing about this organisation is really capable of being a suprise any more.

[twodogs]

Hi Martin3030,

Can you point me to this template letter to the data protection officer; I'm struggling to find it.

 

Thanks in advance.

[twodogs]

Citicards are calling me 3-4 times/day now and it's becoming a bit of a nuisance - is there a particular individula or dept. I should write to and is there any specific legislation I should quote about harassment?

 

Thanks

[Enron]

Time to submit a complaint to the OFT, and write to Citi informing them that you have made it.

[Enron]

This will also make interesting reading for you:

 

http://www.creditlaw.co.uk/Documents/true%20copies.pdf

[twodogs]

All quiet on the Citicards front, the calls have stopped, no letters, still no CCA either!

[Enron]

I havent heard of any of their T&C letters being sent recently, potential that they've stopped sending these out, and instead refuse to complete s78(1) CCA by not replying to such requests.

[stroke a badger]

I would try going down the CPR31.16 route.

 

Date

Account Number:

Dear Sirs,

I write with regards to the above account which i hold with your organisation.

 

I respectfully request that you provide me by return a copy of the credit agreement which bears my signature. I require this as i have reason to believe that there may be discrepancies within the agreement which may leave it improperly executed. Obviously if the agreement is improperly executed i would be entitled to ask the court to consider the agreement and make a declaration of the rights of parties to the agreement.

 

I must stress this request is NOT made pursuant to section 78 Consumer Credit Act 1974 but is made pursuant to the Civil Procedure Rules (Pre action protocols and Part 31.16) and therefore unsigned copy will not suffice, only a copy of the original contract bearing my signature in its unaltered form will suffice.

Please confirm if you still hold a copy of my signed agreement and that you will provide me with this document.

 

I do not view this as an unreasonable request given that by supplying the document which i have asked for it will allow me to assess if my case has merit and will help to resolve matters possibly without the need to involve the court and will undoubtedly save costs on both sides

 

I look forward to your reply and would ask for a response by 4pm on (allow 2 weeks).

Regards

 

[twodogs]

It has now been 8 months since my original CCA request; numerous calls from them and default notices.

 

I have even resubmitted the request with a cheque for £1 (wife's bank account) and still no CCA. I am always polite when they call but always insist that we are in dispute until they provide me a copy of the executed agreement.

 

Yesterday I received a letter stating that my account had been terminated so I expect the debt collectors will be in touch shortly, even though they are breaking the law.

 

Comment?

[WelshMam2009]

Don't worry about this.

 

I am in a similar position with Citi although was originally supplied with a copy of their most recent terms and conditions which they tried stating satisfied s77.

 

If and when you're contacted by a DCA just reply stating that the account is in dispute and that all collection activities must be ceased otherwise you will report them to OFT, Trading Standards etc.

 

I also add the paragraphs about not phoning and not visiting which are all incorporated in the template letters.

 

Best of luck!!

[the_shadow]

It has now been 8 months since my original CCA request; numerous calls from them and default notices.

 

I have even resubmitted the request with a cheque for £1 (wife's bank account) and still no CCA. I am always polite when they call but always insist that we are in dispute until they provide me a copy of the executed agreement.

 

Yesterday I received a letter stating that my account had been terminated so I expect the debt collectors will be in touch shortly, even though they are breaking the law.

 

Comment?

 

There are a lot of us in this position

 

Just ensure you have kept your paperwork up together and keep all envelopes of anything you are sent.

 

You can attempt to complain to the OFT, they'll file the complaint but it will go against citi at some point I'd like to think... alternatvely you could complain to FOS about them not sending it, its worked in several Barclaycard cases... or trading standards in the locale of citigroup, not your local one.

 

S.