1st Credit Limited - HELP

[MadAboutIT]

Hi All

 

I made an agreement on the 8th March 2010 to repay monies oweed to United Utilities WATER. This agreement was made over the phone. I requested a confirmation of the agrrement and the confirmation of the direct debit. The agreement was as follows:

 

£50 via card payment by me on the 26th March 2010

Direct Debit for £35 starting 26th April 2010

 

I called them and advised I have notified them via telephone and will also be doing so in writing that the PAY PLAN CONFIRMATION that arrived today did not match that what was agreed.

 

Can you please look over the following letter and advise if it can be tweaked before I send it via recorded delivery tomorrow morning. Plus - am I in the right by doing this???

 

Draft letter:

 

Reference – Your letter regarding Pay Plan Confirmation

Dear Mr Gavin Flynn

Thank you for your letter received today 25th March 2010, the content is noted. I must insist under the note DEFAULT CONDITIONS – First Default – I called your office today to advise that the PAY PLAN CONFIRMATION received today is incorrect and I have not received the Direct Debit confirmation. I was also advised that you are intending to draw £50 via Direct Debit from my account. This is not the agreement made on the 8th March 2010. The agreement was clear, a payment was to be made by me via my card was to be made on the 26th March 2010 and the direct debit was to be setup for the amount of £35 due for payment on the 26th of each calendar month beginning 26th April 2010. I must insist again that I have not yet received the original Direct Debit agreement and ask myself how you intend to change a direct debit mandate from £50 to £35 without my consent?

I must make you aware that this agreement is not the agreement that was agreed between me and your Agency. The last correspondence I made with your company was merely a request for a Direct Debit confirmation and the agreed payment plan.

In your letter you have not held to the terms of the agreement as you have stated a plan of payment of £35 with a current payment date of 26th Monthly and a date of last payment to be made 26/11/2010 – this would equate to a payment in total of £315 whereby you also state in your PAY PLAN CONFIRMATION the monies owed is £307.9

I require from you a new PAY PLAN CONFIRMATION stating the exact amounts owed (to 2 decimal places) Also as I previously requested I insist on a Direct Debit confirmation. Due to the inconsistencies of the PAY PLAN CONFIRMATION I have received today, I will be willing to pay the first instalment now on the 26th April 2010 BUT ONLY once this information has been corrected and I have received a correct PAY PLAN CONFIRMATION that contains the correct details as per the agreement made over the phone.

I must also insist that you amend your records as my name has also been misspelt on the PAY PLAN CONFIRMATION. Please see above for correct addressing.

As it is clear that a phone agreement has not been adhered to as per the incorrect PAY PLAN CONFIRMATION you have sent, I request all further communication is made in writing ONLY.

Please note this letter has been delivered via Recorded Delivery.

[MadAboutIT]

just also wante dto make clear in my letter - the agreement was made over the phone, the intial payment for £50 via card payment by phone and then £35 every month from 26th April - on the phone earlier, they told me they were collecting £50 via direct debit tomorrow and then £35 from 26th April. Can they change the Direct Debit to suit them?

[dx100uk]

NEVER agree to DD nor giv your card details to a DCA

they will fleece you blind.

 

if MUST pay this debt, then do it via standing order.

 

now back to the debt itself.

 

UU are notorious at making up utility debts and inflating them with charges

 

are you totally happy that you owe this and are certain that no addition fees have been added by them or these leechers.

 

if you've not down so , i'd use our search bar and have a read up on others troubles with them first before you commit.

 

dx

[postggj]

Have You Considered Using One Of Those Pre Paid Credit Cards

 

Never Give Your Bank Details To A Dca

[MadAboutIT]

I never have thought of a PP credit card to supply to DCA's. Can you advise though if the letter they sent is valid? I told them so much incorrect information on a official PAY PLAN CONFIRMATION must deem the agreement null and void?

 

I will pay, I am trying to do things the right way, calling them and supplying my card details was obviously wrong, but little I can do about it now. I stressed to them today on the phone that I will honour the debt but only if the agreed verbal agreement is the same on paper.

 

I would like to be able to get the defaults removed somehow too on settlement, would it be advisable to send UU a letter advising them that I want to pay, but the DCA'a are not co-operating with a correct agreement, maybe a letter to the someone at UU explaining this, plead with them on the grounds of 'I will settle if you remove the default and call of the hounds from hell', namely thier assigned DCA?

Edited March 25, 2010 by MadAboutIT

[MadAboutIT]

am I happy with the sum of money owed? I have this years bill and the balance brought forward from the debt that 1st Credit are snarling at me for, but how the £307.90 is made up I have no idea does it look a SARS request? Not intending to stall payment, just obviously want to do things correctly

[dx100uk]

other than what i have said in post #4, i would cancel that card

 

TBH: you are really giving these muppet DCA's and UU to much rope and flexibility, again i question the level of the debt. SAR them. [uU]

 

however, you must be lorded for morality stance in paying what you owe and not wriggling out of it, too much of that on here sometimes.

 

you really must stay off that phone, it leads to nothing but false threats and claims of killing your auties budgie if you dont pay them .

 

as for removing the default, make it a condition of paying it off, and dont agree to pay unless they do, and get it in writing.

 

dx

[MadAboutIT]

dx, thank you for the advice, would you suggest SAR before sending them a F+F letter with regards to the default, or try the letter first and wait for the reply then send the SAR? (that way can put the £10 SAR cost towards the money to honour the F+F)

Do you also have any templates for 'kindly' requesting the default be removed upon F+F?

[dx100uk]

sar them

lets see their cards

 

F&F should only be made if they DO guarantee to remove ALL unfavourable data IN WRITING first.

 

else offer £1PCM.

 

dx

[MadAboutIT]

well, checked my account today, they have taken £50 via DD from my account. I WILL call the bank later to cancel and retrieve the money. This is not what I agreed with 1st Credit. Does anyone have a really nasty letter I can send them in template form?

[pelham9]

Now is the time to complain in writing to UU and ask them to dismiss 1st Credit as you do not think they are trustworthy. Then make your agreement with UU direct - say that you will pay UU but not a DCA.

If you have any doubt that the amount owing is correct ask UU to substantiate it. You may find that there are a lot of unlawfully added charges.

 

Recount what has happened with your agreement with 1st Credit and that you have been forced to cancel your DD and reverse an incorrect payment. It seems that this DCA has your card details (debit card or what?). Report it immediately as stolen otherwise you may find that this DCA will use it for further payments. The card issuer will send you a replacement card with a different number and the account will no longer be available to the DCA.

 

I personally would be pleased to hear the circumstances that produced an involvement of a DCA in this matter? Why did you not pay UU in the first place?

[pelham9]

Does anyone have a really nasty letter I can send them in template form?

 

A letter may make you feel better but do you honestly think it will make one jot of difference. Much better to take away UU's business from them.

 

If you think it might go and do some reading under CAG 'debt collection industry'

 

UU have an (probably unlawful) inhouse DCA called Conciliia. They use this before passing an account to an outside DCA. So why do they need an outside DCA? The answer is that Concilia are not as effective as an outside DCA. They are not as dishonest nor as intimidating as an outside DCA is prepared to be. UU has just as much legal clout to collect debts as 1st credit but the British public has a morbid fear of DCAs because they think they are bailiffs which they are not and that their threats have substance which is a nonsense. Do not deal with 1st Credit. UU may be inefficient but they are relatively civilised.

[MadAboutIT]

Thank you for the update. I will most deffinately take the advice and cancel my card. I will be sending a SAR on Moday to UU as I am unsure of the amount owed. The reason I never paid was a troublesome issue, I will briefly explain but not go into too much detail...

 

The amount owed is from a previous property, we rented the property through a local housing trust. My wife is German and we as a family went through some real bad racial harrassment (was so bad we were actually on the BBC and had invites to go over to Germany to be guests on German TV) we had to move house real quick, we were placed into Hotels for 6 weeks and were under Police protection...I'm rambling, sorry, was a bad time in our lives...

 

Anyway, we left, moved out of the district and well, here I am, I recieved my latest bill in December, a default is on my record and 1st Credit were hounding me. Through the strength of this site, I have found so much information and help. I already had the agreement with 1st Credit, but they seem to have changed the verbal agreement. I have cancelled the DD and the money was returned to my account.

 

I sent the above letter to 1st Credit on Friday morning by recorded delivery, I even managed to get them to hang up the phone on me because I did not let them get a word in. I got passed from one manager to the other and kept telling them that I too was recording the conversation and I wanted a correct payment plan that actually stated the agreement we had in place. They kept saying if I took the money back I would be in breach of the agreement, I kept replying 'I WILL be taking the money back and I suggest you pass the account back to UU' - they were getting frustrated, I had to chuckle, if I hadn't read the valuable advice on this site, I would have quivvered and give into them, but I stayed strong.

 

Am I correct in saying, that any letters, communications must be provided through a SAR? That means a true copy of the default must also come from UU correct?

[MadAboutIT]

was rambling through the forums most of the day, does anyone have a letter that has some good substance behind 'I will pay the debt if you remove the default'? - also I will be sending a SAR on Monday, should I wait for the information and check the validity of the DN? If it is valid, if they wont remove the default due to the 'obligation to provide credit reference agencies accurate payment history blah blah blah' how does the 'I'll pay if you remove default stand'? Who would be the best person to contact at UU? Customer services surely won't have any powers?

 

To further confuse things, the proporty the outstanding amount is for no longer exists, it was bulldozed to create a more 'rural' feel to the concrete council estate.

[MadAboutIT]

Update:

 

SAR issued to UU last week. Recieved a letter from DCA today advising I have broken the agreement and full balance is due blah blah blah.

 

I sent 1st Credit a letter last week and have POD of the 29th March, now I am currently sending them a letter to advise that they have not responded to my letter advising for a correct confirmation of the agreement or DD guarentee. (I suppose I should not hold my breath on that request) So I am now writing to them advising that this account is in dispute as I have issued a SAR to UU. So in my response I would like to be able to state facts around the law and Data Protection Act - basically I want to tell them to go jump off a bridge and stop sending me letters requesting full balance whilst the account is in dispute.

 

Can someone point me in the right direction please?

[MadAboutIT]

so far my letter looks like this:

 

Thank you for your letter dated 30th March 2010, received today 3rd April 2010 the content is noted. I must advise of the letter I sent to you on the 25th March 2010 to which I have delivery proof was in your receipt on the 29th March 2010. I advised why the Pay Plan Confirmation you sent and I received on the 25th March 2010 was incorrect and requested it be amended before any payment would be made. I advised also on the phone to you on the 25th March 2010 that until this agreement was corrected as we arranged on the 8th March no payments should be drawn from my account. You have unlawfully drawn this money from my account without my permission to which I cancelled the payment the same day.

I also requested a Direct Debit confirmation to which you still have not complied.

I also advise that a Subject Access Request has been issued to United Utilities. Whilst this account is in dispute you are not permitted to continue processing my information or request payment. [do Ineed some substance at the end of this - data protection act etc?]

 

Any further attempts requesting me into paying any sums of money until my Subject access request as been actioned will be treated as harassment and reported as such to the relevant authorities, such as the OFT; Trading Standards and the FSA. [do you think this is suitable?]

[tank_58]

i have had a number of letters from WORST credit for a couple of months now... all threatening to take me to court "within 14 days of the date of this letter" this was 2 MONTHS ago.... keep ignoring them they'll go away. i had another letter today from DHS (Debt Help Servises) when i read on it was 1st credit in disguise lol... not very well disguised though as the e-mail address they had was enq@1stcreditltd.com. the address of DHS was the same as WORST credit and cheques are to be paid to 1st credit limited...

bunch of sharks!!!!!