Barclaycard-Mercers, naughty boys

[troubleman]

Hi All,

I have a credit card with Barclays from 2004/05.

It went to the lovely Mercers, they sent me a default 'letter' so they tell me even though its headed in bold text as being a ''default notice served under section 87(i) of consumer act 1974'', what are they like she said its not a formal default its just a letter.
i asked when the sent this DN, dated 15th jan 09, she said same day, it was a thursday, and they gave me 14 days, untill 1st feb to pay....which is only 13 days. ive not accounted for postage time.

and another DN dated 14 august a friday, and gave me till the 31st august 2009 to pay, thats 11 days without allowing for the postage, im nice like that.

i then got a ''notice of intention to sell your debt' dated 13 December 2009 from calder, she went on to say they are a totally different company, nothing to do with mercers!! i said are you sure, it says on the bottom of the calder letter, mercers trading as calder, she said beleive what you like...... good job all my calls are recorded.

they have not as yet placed a Default on my credit file.

i sent mercers a get lost debt collector letter back in june 30th 2009, and asked for proof of the debt, but not a s78 CCA request as such.
no response to it, just more of their auto letters.

but they are well out of time as my CCA request sent recorded,dated 07 jan 2010.
And they said the account has been passed back to barclaycard, so i have a Q, can a DCA send an acc back to the OC once its in dispute with that DCA???

A CCA request was also sent to barclaycard on the 7th Jan2010, nothing from them, so i sent them on the 24th jan 2010 signed 28th a ''account in dispute'' letter labelled ''time sensitive document''. still nothing from them.

so not had to deal with this sort of situation as yet,plenty with other aspects of DCA's and OC's so can any of you people shed some light for me pleeeeeeeeeease

as asked above, can a dca send the account back to OC after its in dispute.

whats the deal (searching for info now) with the defaults being short of time to pay, and them NOT marking my CFile?? ..... im thinking not alot wrong with it, as they havent affected/defaulted me yet???


and the ''intention to sell your debt'' notice, whats the deal with that, does that still stand or does the fact the account is now in dispute stop that from happening???? its not been sold as of yet, just been passed back to BC.


manythanks

TM

[slick132]

Hi Troubleman,

can a DCA send an acc back to the OC once its in dispute with that DCA???

The truth here is that BC have owned the debt throughout - Mercers and Calders are just their in-house collection monkeys.

They are probably holding further collection action until BC confirm that they have dealt with your CCA request (by sending out a copy of their T&C's).

They will not sell the debt, based on our experience with them.

[troubleman]

AAHHH thanks slick,

i had no idea about that, so how can that lady at mercers get away with saying calders are a totaly seperate company frpm mercers, i asked her specificly about 3 or 4 times as i was taping the call.

so could you shed some light on the defaults for me please.

and do you think i should report them for asking for payment when it is in default? or any thing else.

here is another dispute with BCard regarding a actual BC credit card, totally separate account. but when i ask them about the account above and letters ive sent them, they say oh we have sent you this letter on such a date, and the CCA...... their actually taking about the other account, they seem to have both accounts mixed together.
I can understand them holding both accounts under on name, but to mix correspondence up, and reply in one letter regarding both acounts without stating ACC numbers or anything to help decipher the letter to be able to make sence of it.

the DCA and BC are a month late with the CCA request, and so its being returned to BC.


i will start a new thread about the other account, they supplied a bad copy of a CCA for this account, i wrote back saying i wont except it, so mercers asked for payment 4 times and via a credit card!!! will give more detail on other thread, but breakfast first


thanks

[slick132]

TB,

Here at CAG we have developed a method guaranteed to stop DCA staff telling you porky pies - stop talking to them.

Seriously, just refuse to answer their security Q's and tell them to put anything in writing, then hang up.

Are there any penalty charges on this a/c. If so, they can be reclaimed in full. See the Reclaiming Guide at Link No1 in my signature below.

If you don't have all your statements for the last 6 years, get them using a Subject access request. This will also confirm what Default Notices have been sent out.

[troubleman]

thanks slick, well actually i rang them lol
i rang re my barclaycard visa account, and when the mecers lady said, you have another account and started speaking about it i thought, while the tape is running i shall ask some Q's........ normally if they call they either get 'im not giving my data to you' Or they get my rather horrid 'on hold' music, while go make a cuppa.

i CCA'd both mecers and barclaycard, sent dispute letter etc, still nothing.

any thoughts (im reading up on cpr 31.16 for this one)

thanks

[slick132]

If you want to get sight of your credit agreement, see here about using the fos - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...rclaycard.html

As asked above, are there any penalty charges which can be reclaimed in full, or mis-sold PPI.

Use any spare time to read other threads here and see what others are doing, eg http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...ml#post2727998

[troubleman]

you read my mind slick, thanks, I read a brill thread late one night about using the fos but could find it again. your a star!

As for penalty charges im not sure, now this is gonna sound stupid, but could you explain the 'penalty charges' for me a bit, not really sure what to look for or how to.
i never took out PPI, but not got any statements/paperwork to check, so if they carry on ignoring me i will Subject access request them, unless the threads you have kindly given say otherwise.

spare time, you must be kidding i seem to spend ALL my time on here lol........ for as wonderful this site is, as its got soooo big with so many posts i often read a great threads till about page 20, and then it just dies so its taking sometime to find the threads of real substance in the info stakes sometimes

thank you for your time and help

[slick132]

Late payment fee
Over limit fee
Returned payment fee

They've been between £10 and £20 from the '90's throught to the noughties when they settled at £12.

If you have no statements to check, send off a Subject access request.

[troubleman]

cool, thanks very muchly .
Ive been reading sooo much and writing many letters with this account and about 8 others for a few friends, so my brain is bit fried, had a night off yesterday and wow, some of it finally sank in .

Am i right in thinking these charges get knocked of the debt and you dont get it 'back' . either way im happy.

thanks again

[slick132]

Yes, you are right - the charges reclaimed will be refunded to the a/c and reduce the balance.

However (more fried brains on the way), if you claim interest on the charges at BC's contractual rate, you'll get much more back but you'll have to work harder for it.

This would include calculating charges and interest on a more advanced (compound) spreadsheet, filing a court claim and paying court fees (reclaimable), dealing with the aq, preparing a court bundle to file at court and serve on Barclays, and finally negotiating with BC who will invariably back down and settle before a hearing date.

The extra work can bring high rewards, particularly if your charges go back over several years. You could put a big hole in the balance, or even wipe it out.

Read more about claiming contractual interest in restitution in the Interest Tutorial at Link No6 in my signature below.

[Mitch524]

Originally Posted by slick132

Late payment fee
Over limit fee
Returned payment fee

They've been between £10 and £20 from the '90's throught to the noughties when they settled at £12.

If you have no statements to check, send off a Subject access request.

If this tactic is adopted does this not then cancel the fact that you are requesting a CCA to verify the legality of the debt ?

[slick132]

hi Mitch,

Good point, but NO.

The penalty charges made to the a/c are unlawful and should be refunded.

This in no way affects whether the credit agreement itself is legally enforeable by a court. This is an entirely separate matter.

[troubleman]

Originally Posted by slick132

Yes, you are right - the charges reclaimed will be refunded to the a/c and reduce the balance.

However (more fried brains on the way), if you claim interest on the charges at BC's contractual rate, you'll get much more back but you'll have to work harder for it.

This would include calculating charges and interest on a more advanced (compound) spreadsheet, filing a court claim and paying court fees (reclaimable), dealing with the aq, preparing a court bundle to file at court and serve on Barclays, and finally negotiating with BC who will invariably back down and settle before a hearing date.

The extra work can bring high rewards, particularly if your charges go back over several years. You could put a big hole in the balance, or even wipe it out.

Read more about claiming contractual interest in restitution in the Interest Tutorial at Link No6 in my signature below.

Slick, sorry, i agree with your point regarding the charges returned to the acc and then off balance.

but i read another thread, and the reply was, that you can get the 'charges' back to you in person if you request it..... any particular reason this could be, i shall try and find the thread again and confirm the circumstances.

[slick132]

If there's and outstanding a/c balance, the only way the charges would be repaid to you in person is if you had an active court claim against a bank for the refund of charges. The bank would have to settle your claim in accordance with your wishes, to avoid going into court.

But, if you seek a refund of charges without claiming contractual interest, they will usually refund this anyway. They'll do so voluntarily and this would leave you with no cause to issue court action.

Come back with a link though, if you want.

[middenmess]

I got my charges paid back to me after a brief struggle by bank transfer after they had first credited them against my outstanding balances.

At that time I was not in arrears.

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...g-charges.html

I was happy with the sum returned but got a minor slating from a more experienced cagger for not charging them enough interest on the charges!

Put account into dispute [they disagree-surprise,surprise!] soon after and not had too much grief so far when compared with other caggers who have stopped paying.

They reduced the available credit to zero so add on over limit fees and late charges every month--some £500+ so far.

I presume that these are still classed as unlawful penalty charges which will possibly nullify the full balance on any future termination.