The Consumer Credit Act (CCA) gives you the right to be sent a copy of your credit agreement and a statement of your account for most loans, credit cards, catalogues, store cards and Hire Purchase agreements.
CCA agreements are important! If a creditor can’t find it then:
- you can’t get a CCJ for the debt; and
- you may decide to stop paying the debt.
But the right to ask for the CCA agreement doesn’t apply to:
- debts where there already is a CCJ;
- overdrafts,
- many household bills or tax debts;
- pre 2008 loans for more than £25,000;
- mortgages.
Sometimes asking for a CCA agreement is a good idea, but not always.
It shouldn’t normally be your first thought if you are having trouble paying a debt to the lender.
Asking for the CCA normally only works if your debt has been sold to a debt purchaser – unless the debt is very old.
Contents
How to ask for your CCA agreement
There is a template letter to ask for your credit agreement in this National Debtline factsheet. That factsheet also has a lot of information about CCA agreements and if you have any problems with one, talk to National Debtline.
This is not the same as templates asking for a copy of your personal information or making a Subject Access Request. If you want to find out if the debt is enforceable, use the specific CCA agreement wording.
Some points to be careful about:
- ask the current creditor for the CCA agreement, not the original creditor;
- you have to send a cheque or a postal order for £1;
- send the letter recorded delivery, keep a copy of it and the postage receipt.
Also read the rest of this article first! You need to know what you will do if the lender sends you the agreement and what if the lender doesn’t.
What happens if they don’t send the CCA agreement?
If you don’t get a copy of your CCA agreement within 12 working days of asking, the creditor can’t enforce the debt in court until they do send it to you.
If the creditor can’t easily find the CCA agreement they may send you an acknowledgement of your request. Something like the following is typical:
we acknowledge the 12 day time limit to provide this information but as we have to request the details from the original lender we anticipate that we will not be able to provide this within 12 days but hope that within 40 days we will have retrieved the information to comply with your request.
A 40 day period is often mentioned but doesn’t have any legal standing.
It’s very common for it to take more than 12 days to find the CCA. Don’t get excited because the 12 days has passed, it means nothing in practice.
I suggest waiting two or three months before you decide they can’t find the agreement and decide to stop paying them.
“Legal but not enforceable”
The letter from the creditor saying they haven’t found it yet should be clear that the debt is no longer enforceable but it still legally exists.
The creditor can ask you to pay the debt but, if you don’t, the creditor can’t do anything. They can’t hassle you to pay it. A polite letter every 6 months or a year is fine – frequent letters, texts or phone calls aren’t. This isn’t usually a problem in practice.
When a debt is unenforceable, that should be mentioned in any letters asking for payment. Here is what I suggested to a reader who was getting letters that left off this important fact: “Debt collector can’t prove it’s my debt but wants payment”
Here are some more implications of the debt being legal but not enforceable:
- if you claim a PPI refund, this may be set off against the balance you still owe.
- the debt can still be sold to another debt collector. Make sure you keep all the CCA agreement letters or emails so you can just tell the new creditor you asked for the CCA agreement on dd/mm/yy and you won’t be paying anything to the debt until it is produced.
- you may be able to leave the debt out of an application for a Debt Relief Order so it won’t count towards the maximum debt limit. Talk to your DRO adviser about this.
- See below for the effect on your credit record.
“So I can just stop paying?”
If your reason for asking for the CCA was hoping that you could stop paying the debt, then you could stop after 12 working days.
But in practice many CCA agreements are produced in the next few weeks. So, unless you can’t afford the monthly payments, I usually suggest not stopping it immediately. Leave it a couple of months.
If the debt is in a DMP you will have to tell the DMP firm to stop paying it. Dent them the letter from the creditor saying they can’t locate the agreement.
You may find the idea of not paying scary. If you do, talk to National Debtline about this debt and the rest of your financial situation. It does help, being able to talk to a friendly expert!
I would allow the debt collector a couple of months before deciding that they aren’t going to be able to find it. Three months if you are feeling nervous.
There is a small chance that the CCA agreement could be found later. This seems to be rare – if the debt collector hasn’t found in in the first few months the chances of it turning up later seem very low.
“What about my credit record?”
Is this debt still showing on your credit record? Don’t assume it isn’t, check all three credit reference agencies to make sure.
If it isn’t on there, then it will never reappear, whether you pay it in full, in part or just stop paying.
A debt marked as defaulted will drop off 6 years after the default date:
- it will not drop off sooner because the CCA cannot be found;
- the balance will not normally be set to zero because the CCA cannot be found.
When the debt does not have a default date, if you stop paying now, a default will be added and it will then drop off in 6 years. Not good news! Read What should the default date be? and ask the original creditor to add a default date back years ago.
A default will NOT be deleted if the CCA can’t be found. And you shouldn’t want that to happen – it would mean the record would stay on your file for even if you stop paying.
The whole debt will NOT be deleted if the CCA can’t be found. The debt still legally exists, even though it is unenforceable in court, and the creditor is entitled to report your credit history accurately for it.
“Should I offer a low settlement amount?”
To prevent the very rare occurrence of the CCA later turning up and to stop the odd polite letter, some people decide to offer them a really low settlement amount, say 5%.
I don’t think this is a good idea. You don’t need to do this! Not paying them anything is a perfectly good response in most cases! It is VERY VERY rare for a debt to turn up later.
A lot of creditors will simply reject the low offer, even though you think it is sensible. They know that if they refuse you may decide to give them more.
If you really want to make a settlement offer, you should stop paying them for a few months and then make the offer. That shows they can choose between your low offer and nothing. You cannot make a debt collector accept this low offer or complain they are being unfair if they don’t.
The only time when you really should try to get the debt settled is if it will still be showing on your credit record in a year or two when you want to apply for a mortgage. Then getting the debt marked as satisfied will help your mortgage chance a lot. But if the debt is no longer on your credit record or is dropping off soon, there is no need to do this.
What if they do send the CCA agreement?
How can you tell if it is right?
You have to be sent a “true copy” of the agreement – this doesn’t have to be a photocopy of the original agreement. It must be legible and it must include:
- your name and address when the account was opened;
- the creditor’s name and address when the account was opened;
- the terms and conditions of the account at that time, including the cost of credit (the Annual Percentage Rate), when you have to make payments and your cancellation rights; and
- any other documents that were mentioned in the Terms and Conditions.
It doesn’t have to have your signature on it. Indeed if you opened the account online you may well have signed it “digitally” and there is no document with your physical signature – this is perfectly legal.
If you aren’t sure what you have been sent is correct, you can ask National Debtline about it or you could post about it on the Legal Beagles forum.
This may sound complicated but often it isn’t. Usually either the creditor admits they can’t find it or what they send you is fine.
What should you do when the CCA agreement is found?
This depends on why you were asking for the CCA agreement.
If the creditor has started a court case (you have been sent a Claim Form) then you may have hoped that the CCA agreement could not be found. But now you have it, that is not a possible defence so you need to think if you have another defence. Talk to National Debtline about your options.
If you were planning on making settlement offers to some debts and were hoping the lack of a CCA agreement could get this one settled very cheaply, that has been ruled out and you need to proceed with a more substantial offer.
If you are fed up with a paying an old debt for a long while with this going to continue for many years, then you need to look at your alternatives. If you just stop paying, you may get taken to court – especially as the creditor now has the CCA agreement ready to hand! If you have more luck with some other debts turning out to be unenforceable, can you now pay more to this one? Or is it time to look at insolvency or other options?
When should you ask for the CCA agreement – and when shouldn’t you?
A lot depends on your exact debts, who the original creditor was, who the debt collector is, and what your other options are for tackling them. So there isn’t a simple checklist here.
How old is the account and has it been sold?
The older an account is, the less likely it is that a CCA agreement will be found. It’s the age of the account that matters, not how old the debt problem is. You may have defaulted on a catalogue account a couple of years old, but if it was opened in 2006 that’s well worth a try!
For a debt that is still with the original creditor, I wouldn’t bother asking for the CCA agreement unless the debt was VERY old or you are getting letters from solicitors about court action.
If a debt has been sold once it is less likely the current creditor can produce the CCA agreement and this gets harder the more times the debt is sold on.
Court action and CCJs
If the creditor is seriously threatening court action, always ask for the CCA agreement. It is worth a try!
But when you already have a CCJ for a debt, it is too late to ask for the CCA agreement as the creditor doesn’t have to send it. If you have just found out about the CCJ you need to look at your options for “setting it aside“, not send a request for the CCA agreement.
All quiet about a debt? Then contacted?
If you haven’t been paying a debt for years and you aren’t being hassled by a creditor, you need a good reason to ask for the CCA agreement. It may be better to wait and see if you are contacted and then ask for the CCA.
But when you are contacted about a very old debt asking for the CCA agreement is a very good idea. In January 2019 a new court ruling has meant that it is now harder to tell if some old debts are statute barred, so even if you think your debt should be statute barred, it’s definitely worth asking for the CCA agreement as another possible defence.
The hard case is where it isn’t that old – it’s coming up to 6 years or it’s over 6 years but not by a long while. Here asking for the CCA agreement acknowledges the debt… I suggest you talk to national Debtline about your options as it may be better to challenge whether it is statute barred first. And only fall back on asking for the CCA if it seems the debt is not statute barred.
Hoping to settle debts with a windfall
If you have a windfall – an inheritance or a big PPI refund say – and you have a lot of debt in a DMP for several years so most of it is with debt collectors, asking for CCA agreements before you make offers is sensible.
Thinking about bankruptcy, a DRO or an IVA
Where insolvency (DRO, IVA or bankruptcy) looks necessary, it can be a waste of time asking for CCA agreements, unless not paying those debts would make the rest manageable.
When you are have been contacted about a debt which not yours
If a debt collector says you owe money but you don’t recognise the debt, you should send them a Prove It! letter saying you dispute the debt. Here the CCA is only part of the picture. You may get sent a copy of the CCA in answer to this – if the name and address on the agreement are your and you did live at that property at that point, it is good evidence.
But keep focussed on the fact that what matters is proving who the borrower is. Here is a case “Debt collector can’t prove it’s my debt but wants payment” where a debt collector admitted the debt was unenforceable as the CCA couldn’t be found but wrongly still asked for payment.
Summary
In summary, asking for the CCA agreement is an uncertain process that can take months. If you have a lot of debts, make sure you are looking at the bigger picture, as well as thinking about the individual debts.
Can you really offer just £1 to a debt?
Could a Debt Relief order help you?
When to ask for a debt write off
joanne says
Hi sara
I have an old Lloyds bank debt from 2004, I got a letter from Lowell threatening me with further action.
I sent 2 letters asking for CCA’s on two accounts, we heard nothing back, £500 and £12000 debts, I phoned and explained I had sent two letters.
He requested on the phone for the the CCA for the larger sum and said he cant request anything for the £500.
I rang again and again said I had heard nothing and requested the CCA, the person said it hadn’t been done and would request it as it should have been done.
today we got another letter from them.
“we acknowledge your request for supporting documentation however due to the age of the account and the retention period that has last we are unable to fulfil this request.”
“We have checked our records and can confirm that the last payment was received towards the account on 21/02/2023. Accordingly, we can confirm that the account is not statute barred and is enforceable under section (5) of the limitations act 1980.”
that payment was to a different company hoist.
they also say in the letter the account is on hold and our concerns have been review and the matter is closed, its on hold for 30 days to so we can review this information and after that they will be in touch.
We have no CCA from them, but they are claiming it is still enforceable, what should be our next action?
thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
reply that CONC 13 says a firm should not mislead a customer about the enforceability of a debt when they are unable to produce the CCA agreement.
joanne says
Thank you so much for your advice, after a little bit of back and forth with Lowell had to send the letter twice as they denied receiving it, we got a letter back informing us that they have made the balance zero and hope that now closes the matter.
thats nearly £12000 written off and a massive worry lifted. They have “found” another debt for £750 and haven’t told us what’s happening with the £500 one in writing yet, but I will use what I have learnt from your website to deal with them also.
Thank you again sara.
Rebecca says
Hi Sara,
Link Financial bought my Tesco Loan debt last year. I have been thinking about requesting the CCA to see if I can offer them a low settlement before trying to get a mortgage next year.
I’ve just seen that Tesco Bank loans are being bought by Barclays, do you think Barclays will get my account info with it being closed last year when sold to Link?
Does this mean it’s a good time to request the CCA from Link as the likelihood of them being able to locate the CCA seems like it would be low?
For more context the loan account is 4 years old and the debt/default is nearly 3 years old.
Thanks in advance
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think the Barclays takeover is a red herring – it is unlikely to make any difference to whether link have the right to ask Tesco/Barclays for the CCA (some debts are sold without that right- then the debt collector can never get the CCA) or whether Tesco/Barclays can find it.
What is the default date on your credit record of this debt? When was the loan taken out?
Rebecca says
Hi Sara,
The loan was taken out in January 2020 and defaulted in February 2021.
Do you think there’s a chance the CCA won’t be found?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s possible, I wouldn’t say it is over 50% chance. But you will still have a difficulty getting a mortgage next year if you settle this debt this year, in full or partially.
Have you looked at whether you could win an affordabilty complaint for the loan? See https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-large-high-cost-loans/. If you win that, the default should be removed.
Rebecca says
Hi Sara,
I previously contacted Tesco Bank with an affordability complaint as this was a second loan with them to pay off the existing and borrow more money. They increased my interest rate for this loan from the first also which suggested to me that they knew it was riskier lending to me again. However, their response claimed they had done no wrong. I contacted the financial ombudsman with their response as well and they were found to be in the right unfortunately. This was all before the debt was sold on.
E says
Dear Sara
I contacted you in January and you kindly assisted me with CCA advice. I then applied for a CCA via Link Financial who made the request to my original lender – Barclaycard. I have received the following documents: Short Form Cancellation; Historic Terms and Conditions; Varied Terms and Conditions. However, there’s nothing signed/nor my name printed by me anywhere amongst any of these documents nor any agreement date shown. Is this considered a complete CCA? Link Financial have also enclosed two covering letters: The first states that they have enclosed the requested documents which completes their obligation under section 77/78. The debt is enforceable. The second covering letter reads: The account has been terminated. The current balance is the total outstanding balance that is due and payable immediately.
Please can you kindly advise my next steps, if any? Many thanks, E
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The How can you tell if it is right? section in the above article says what to do if you aren’t sure.
E says
Dear Sara
They have sent what they refer to as a reconstituted copy of the agreement. My name & address is there, the company name and address is there but there is no date that the account was opened, no credit limit, no digital signature. What do you suggest? Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
What do National Debtline and the Legal Beagles forum say? This is not something I can give advice on
E says
The Legal Beagles Forum says that the agreement should have the credit limit and from what I can glean my signature (I understand typed if application made online) both of which are missing. Having said that, there’s a lot of legal jargon that I don’t understand and I am concerned about making the situation worse without adequate understanding. I have a payment plan in place with a debt charity, the default drops off in May and it would be an enormous relief to think the remaining balance could possibly be written off at that time. It doesn’t seem that simple though – even if the CCA isn’t correct..
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Go back and ask again if you arenT clear on the forum
Amy says
Hi Sara
I am preparing to send a couple of CCA requests. Please can I check it is ok to send these without a signature on?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes it’s fine.
T says
Hi Sara,
It has been over a year since I sent a CCA request to Virgin. The £1 was cashed (and applied to my account?) but I have not heard anything. Prior to doing the CCA request I had started the ball rolling with an affordability complaint which is on going but even if fully upheld there would be a remaining balance. What I’m confused about though is that the account has not been defaulted even though I havent paid anything for over a year. If they aren’t able to produce the agreement and it’s unenforceable but not defaulted will it just sit on my credit report as there is no date for the 6 year drop off?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If they aren’t able to produce the agreement and it’s unenforceable but not defaulted will it just sit on my credit report as there is no date for the 6 year drop off?
yes. As the article above says in the “What about my credit report?” section, this is not good news. You can ask Virgin to add a default 3 months after you stopped paying.
What has happened to the affordability complaint? Is it with FOS? These complaints don’t usually take so long.
T says
Adjudicator upheld from account opening but Virgin rejected this and proposed from a limit increase. I wasnt happy with this so it went to an Ombudsman who’s provisional decision is agreeing with Virgin. I have provided further information in the hope to revise their decision.
I’m assuming they will eventually default the account regardless, is that when I request it is back dated on do I ask them now? Given they ignored my CCA request not sure if I should actually contact them? Although they would be fully aware of the FOS complaint.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
i don’t see any point in arguing about this until the affordability complaint is sorted. Unless the account is very old, I have no idea why you have asked for the CCA agreement at all.
T says
It was originally a MBNA card so I believed it was worth doing the CCA request as I had doubts they would be able to produce it. It was also at a time when I was trying to get my head round all the information having finally realised I had a big problem that needed to be resolved.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok, that is a good reason. I suggest letting the affordability complaint get sorted first then returning to this.
julian says
dear sara hi my name is julian
ive just found you website debt camel
just need a little advise if possible ,ive got 6 credit card debts going back 15 years or more all of vthem been bought or passed on to companys like cabot and allied international ,i have payed a token payment for one pound for each one all these years ,im 63 now on dissabilitys cant work ,lost my wife of 40 years thats impacted my life greatly having this debt on my mind all the time ,even though its only 6 pounds a month it seems pointless on both sides especially for my health to keep paying for this ,it will just never get payed in over 100 years so was reading about this cca agreement looking like it might be a good idea to ask for ?.or is there anything you could suggest just to have this debt off my mind quashed and finished with ,all it does is impact on my life ,thank you julian im really sorry to give you a big message like this but would much appreciate your advise and help ,thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes you can do. The article above has a link to a page with a template to use.
(If they do manage to produce the CCA, you can ask them to write off the debt because of your age and health problems. But let’s look at that at the time.)
julian says
thank you so much for your much appreciated advice ,i am so gratfull ,i will get on with asking for the CCA for now
will be in touch again thank you julian
julian says
dear sara
hi its julian i did as you said and asked 7 companies who my debt was sold on to for the cca
and suprisingly i have had some quick replies.
three of the seven have replied saying they havnt been able to obtain the information requested if it comes available later we will complete your request .until we can supply this your account is unenforceable ,meaning we are not permitted to obtain a county court judgement against me and can not pursue legal action .
im hoping this is good news for me after all these terible years of hasving this .would you think wait a few months then stop paying or stop paying now ,i only pay a token payment at the minute ,thank you julian
Sara (Debt Camel) says
so those 3 debt collectors have asked the lenders?
is making the token payments difficult at the moment?
julian says
hi sara ,thank you for the quick response
yes those 3 who have asked the lenders are all from cabot
about the token payments yes i can survive at this moment with those .
but due to how the stress of this affects my health problems and life i would love to have none of it to think about .
just be rid of them
Sara (Debt Camel) says
so this is hard. Some of the CCA may well turn up. Is it more stressful to stop paying them now and restart in a month? or to carry on paying?
julian says
hi sara
i can carry on paying them ,only if i know that eventually there written off
im sorry not sure what you mean buy stop now and restart in a month ,does this mean wait untill i see if the cca turns up ?
they say in the letter they cant obtain the information ive requested ,im assuming this is the cca ?
thank you julian
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You said originally that “they havnt been able to obtain the information requested” – there is a difference between that and “they say in the letter they cant obtain the information ive requested”
Have they said that they have asked the lenders for the information but it hasn’t yet been provided? Or that they will not be able to provide this information?
If you aren’t sure, can you copy in exactly what you were told.
julian says
hi sara this is exactly what they say
we havn’t been able to obtain the information you requestedfrom the original lender .
if this information becomes available to us later ,we’ll complete your request and send you
the relevant in formation
untill we can supply this ,your account is unenforceable .this means we’re not permitted to obtain
a county court judgement against you ,whilst we cannot persue legal action your balance remains outstanding
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok so they havent said they can’t get it, they have just said they haven’t been able to so far. It may still turn up in future.
So you can stop now and tell them that you will not be making payments while the debt is unenforceable but will restart if they manage to obtain the CCA.
julian says
hi sara thank you for the reply
yes it seems thst way ,but there is good news well all were good news but the 2 link ones i have
they say the original creditor has been unable to comply with your request and therefore the account is considered
as unenforceable .
i would like to also make you aware that the comercial decision has been made to no longer pursue you for the outstanding balance .due to this ,no further payments are required and contact from lonk financial moving forward will cease .this completes our obligations …. so thats all thanks to you sara thank you so much
Hannah says
Hi Sara,
I defaulted on Halifax credit card April 2018 which was passed to Cabot financial. I have been paying £30 a month up until January this year. I missed a payment and my direct debit was cancelled. I have now received a letter from Mortimer Clarke Solicitors as cabot have sold the debt to them, asking me to make a payment or they will take me to court for CCJ. Obviously, I panicked and called them and have now arranged to pay £30 a month to them. The default will 6 years old end of April. Where do I stand with this debt? Because I have now set up an agreement with them and have been paying Cabot financial, doe this mean the 6 year rule does not apply to me? Your advice would be greatly appreciated.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The debt should still be removed from your credit record after 6 years.
Can I ask what the rest of your finances are like?
Hannah says
I have 3 defaults all getting removed this what. When they asked what I had left at end of month and after going through all my expenditure I had £60 left each month and they are taking £30 a month which will be for 7 years. I was under the impression I would be clear from this after 6 years but now I’ve started a new agreement with this solicitor. What I’m wondering is, if I decided not to pay it, can they take me to court after the 6 years have passed?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes they can – a debt will not become “statute barred” until you have stopped paying them for 6 years, so as you have been paying them, this cannot be close to being statute barred.
the same may be happening to the other debts where the defaults have dropped off your credit record.
Are you sure you can afford these payments? If not, talk to National Debtline on 0808 808 4000 about your options.
Tg says
Hi Sara, following all your advice, I have 4 debts with Payplan, 3 (2 with Cabot and 1 with link) were unable to find the CCAs for these old debts defaulted in 2009 and these 3 debts I stopped paying in September 2023. The one with Santander for an old Cahoot online flexible loan they did find the CCA and I make monthly payments to this one myself.
Cabot have contacted me today with the message undernoted. I told them months back I am no longer paying the 2 debts they now manage as both are unenforceable, my question is based on the email I received today, 1) is this information correct and 2) should I continue to ignore their communications? I have not heard from Link regarding their one only an email a few weeks ago stating the balance. Many thanks as always.
CLYDESDALE BANK – CREDIT CARD £2,571.58 599612 NORTHERN ROCK – UNSECURED LOAN £3,646.24
You advised that all communication has to state that your debt is unenforceable. This is not correct. We are able to contact you about the account but do not have to state that they are unenforceable upon every contact, especially if this is something that you already know. We are not able to take the matters to court, but we are still within our rights to contact you as the balances remain open and outstanding. It’s my job to make sure that your account will be cleared in the shortest timeframe possible based on your affordability. Please can you follow this link and complete our online budget planner In the meantime, I’ve placed your account on hold for 14 days to give you the time to get back to me or set up your plan. If I haven’t heard from you after this time, we’ll get back in touch to see how we can help you further.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You advised that all communication has to state that your debt is unenforceable. This is not correct.
That is correct. the FCA makes an exception for statements required by the CConsuer Credit Act which have a set format that the sender is not allowed to amend at all.
See the relevant FCA rule:
CONC 13.1.6 (4) The firm should, in any request for payment or communication relating to a payment (other than a statement issued in accordance with the CCA or regulations made under it which does not constitute or contain a request for payment) in such cases, make clear to the customer that although the debt remains outstanding it is unenforceable.
especially if this is something that you already know.
haha. No that is not an allowable excuse.
but we are still within our rights to contact you as the balances remain open and outstanding.
That is correct, provided they tell you it is unenforceable. And that sort of contact cannot be so frequent as to be unreasonable.
I suggest you reply by email that CONC 13.1.6 (4) does not say that a creditor doesn’t have to mention unenforceablity if the consumer already knows it and the next communication you get from them (apart from one required under the Consumer cCredit Act) that fails to clearly mention unenforceablity will result in a formal complaint which you will take to the ombudsman if necessary.
Also say you do not intend to make any payments while the debt is unenforceable and so you will not be completing a budget planner.
Tgrant1 says
Thank you very much Sara I will do that now
A says
Hi Sara
I defaulted as a newly single parent with a low income in 2008. Debt mgmt plans were set up , which I have been paying ever since. 3 bank debts (c/card, o/draft, loan- same bank) initially with Cabot, later taken over by Debt Managers and 1 c/ card with Robinson Way.
Never hear from Robinson Way at all. Used to get statements from Debt Managers once or twice a year. I have always just paid £1 per month for each of the 3 Debt Managers debts, and £2 for the Robinson Way debt. I have not contacted them for years.
About 1 yr ago, Cabot took back control of the 3 Debt Mgrs debts and I got letters from Debt Mgrs saying that I needed to contact Cabot and arrange to pay them instead. They said they were forwarding the money to Cabot every month, so I just kept paying it and did not contact Cabot. Two months ago the 3 x £1 standing order paymts to Debt Mgrs were returned to my account immediately upon payment and the same thing happened last month.
Now getting letters from Cabot asking me to contact them as my “plan has failed”. They phone and text me every day. I never answer the phone or reply to the texts or letters. Politely asking me to contact them. Does the polite tone and lack of threat mean the debts are no longer enforceable?
Would be grateful for your advice. Many thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
As you have been paying the debts now with Cabot, the debts cannot be statute barred and so that cannot be unenforceable because of that reason.
For the credit card and the loan, it is possible that Cabot may not be able to produce the CCA agrement – so you can send a letter askingfor each asking about this as the article above says.
(This wont work for an overdraft as there is no CCA agreement to be produced.)
A says
Ok, I will ask for the CCA’s, it’s worth a try. Thanks for your help, it’s very much appreciated.
Sam says
Hi Sara,
I have defaulted Barclays and capital one credit cards and the last payment made in 2016 after that I have not acknowledged the debit nor payments.
Defaulted cards entries has been removed from credit file in the month of August 2023.
Now Lowell sending mails to make payment.Can they enforce legally to make payments or I can ignore ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Talk to National Debtline on 0808 808 4000 – they have a template letter you can send Lowell if they think the debts are likely to be statute barred.
Rina says
Hello Sara,
You’ve answered many of my questions before and hoping you can help with this query.
I have an agreement in place with NCO Europe who have been managing an outstanding debt (from 2005) which has changed ownership a number of times. I tried unsuccessfully 2 years ago to get a backdated default on the debt through FOS but my complaint was not upheld and I have continued to pay a monthly amount to reduce the debt. The debt currently stands at approx. £1300.
Despite a number of requests to NCO (and owners) for the CCA, this request was not responded to nor produced. In May last year I received notification that the debt had transferred ownership again so contacted the new owner for a copy of the CCA. The company referred the request back to NCO who have today come back stating the client cannot produce the document as they are no longer available.
Based on this, I wanted to know whether I can still request that the debt be deemed unenforceable as I am in an active repayment agreement with NCO? Do I have leverage to negotiate a reduction in the debt in full and final settlement?
Thanks
Rina
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Why did you carry on paying this while NCO could not produce the CCA agreement?
Rina says
NCO were only prepared to put the account on hold while the FOS investigated my complaint about adding a default and backdating the debt. Once the complaint was rejected by FOS, NCO started adding missed payments to my account and I didn’t want my credit record impacted so I continued paying. I currently have a clear credit record having successfully got a number of debt defaults backdated and removed from my record and don’t want to jeopardise that. NCO and the debt owner are only prepared to add a default at the point I miss 3 or more payments. (NCO took over facilitation of the the debt from another company after I entered into a DMP arrangement with StepChange in 2010)
I am no longer in a DMP, have a stable credit record with no defaults recorded and managing my credit much more responsibly. However this debt remains active (no default) and I wanted to know whether there was a way of using the fact that no CCA could be produced to at least reduce the amount outstanding and settle debt in full.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Not if the debt collector knows you really want to protect your credit score. You can’t make them take a low offer. You either have to repay this all or stop paying it and live with the default.
Rina says
Thank you.
So due to me continuing to pay, the debt remains enforceable by law even though the CCA can’t be produced?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No it’s unenforceable. But unless you stop paying, that isn’t really relevant is it?
Rina says
I understand, thanks for clarifying.
seasick steve says
I had a debt of £750 with creation finance but stopped paying over two years ago when a company called galkahad was dealing with my debts.
they stopped calling and sending letters then and the debt actually disappeared from my credit file.
but last week a company called csr solicitors sent me a letter which had been posted to my old adress which I haven’t lived in for over thirty years and I wouldn’t have received it then had pur postman who knows me brought it to my house I haven’t acknowledged it yet and I can’t understand as the letter says creation have tried numerous times to contact me which I found strange ad they are fully aware of my present adress.
should I contact this company and ask for the cca as I’m concerned.
many thanks
steve
Sara (Debt Camel) says
how long ago did you default on this debt? How old is it?
seasick steve says
it was defaulted in 2018
Sara (Debt Camel) says
why did you stop paying? do you have other debts you aren’t paying?
seasick steve says
I have four other debts which were being dealt with by gallahad who have since gone into administration.
they were dealing with my debts and for the three yard they were doing it if I got letters from any of my creditors they would deal with it
I stopped paying the other four whilst with gallahad bit two have since provided the cca,s I’ve made enquiries with the cab and have a case worker but its been a month and I haven’t heard from him hence my concern with this one.
do you suggest i ask them to provide the cca?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think you should ask for another appointment with CAB, say you have this new letter.
seasick steve says
hi Sara the creation debt was bought by lantern debt recovery who have since passed it to qdr solicitors.
this debt hasn’t shown on my credit file for a few years now.
so are you saying its best to engage with these solicitors to see if they can produce the ccs or not
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I am saying talk talk to your debt adviser at Citizens Advice – I don’t know what they have already done or what they were planning to do next.