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DSSW is authorised by the Ministry of Justice to provide claims management advice.

DSSW is fully licensed by the Office of Fair Trading to provide debt management and credit broking advice.

Debt Solutions Southwest Ltd is a debt management business based in the South West of England, providing a full debt management and credit advisory service to individuals and businesses.

CASE STUDY: THE STORY OF IAN*


Ian approached us to help him in September 2008. He had nine credit cards with £65,000 of debt. His business had been marginal for years and he had been living on his credit cards.


By the time he approached me, Ian had not paid the interest on his cards for over six months and his life was a misery, with letters, persistent phone calls and threats of personal visits at his home from credit card companies and their agents. His relationship withy his partner had broken down.

The first thing we did was to write to all the card companies (and assignees) for copies of the credit card agreements. We instructed the companies to contact us, as Ian’s agent, instead of Ian. Things began to settle down as so-called agreements were received and as some (but not all) of the companies directed their enquiries to us. Ian began to experience some peace at last.


The results of requesting copy agreements were interesting. Five companies sent us what they claimed were agreements, while four have not sent any documentation. Of the five so-called copy agreements sent, all were, in our judgement, improperly executed and therefore wholly unenforceable against Ian.


What, you might wander, has been the outcome of these cases. Firstly, let us deal with the companies that sent us what they claimed were copies of the original agreements.

 

1. Agreement documents received


In all five cases, having carefully studied the agreement documents, we advised the card companies that we considered the agreements to have  been improperly executed and that Ian was disputing the enforceability of the agreements. One company subsequently assigned their debt, three have done absolutely nothing and one issued a summons to recover the debt through the courts.  


a) The assigned debt

 

After sending defective agreement documents to us (and after receiving our advice that the agreement was unenforceable) HSBC assigned the debt to CL Finance (naughty, naughty!!!). CL Finance, surprisingly, issued a summons against Ian through their solicitors on 28th May 2009. We immediately put on a defence for Ian stating why we believed the agreement was unenforceable. On 6th October 2009 CL Finance advised us that they were withdrawing the case and that the debt had been written off.

 

b) The ‘do nothings’

Egg, The House of Fraser and MBNA all received defective agreement letters from us. None of them have taken any steps to recover their alleged debts  since December 2008, January 2009 and March 2009, respectively.


c) The summons

Lloyds TSB had already put this matter in the hands of their solicitors before Ian approached us for help. After seven months of waiting Lloyds sent us an unsigned agreement form. We advised them we believed that it was unenforceable against Ian. Five months later their solicitors issued a summons against Ian. We have lodged a defence and await to see whether Lloyds proceed any further with their case.            


2. No agreement documents received


Four companies failed to provide copy agreements.

The first case involves Morgan Stanley who sold Ian’s debt to UK Default Recovery (UDR) prior to Ian appointing us. We requested a copy of Ian’s agreement from UDR who had, in turn, to request it from the credit card company. Unfortunately for UDR, the card company could not come up with the agreement and on 27th May 2009 UDR wrote to advise that “as we are unable to locate a copy of your original agreement, we are writing off the debt.”


What about the other three cards? Well, the law is quite clear. It says that where a lender fails to provide a true copy of the executed agreement following a sec 78 request, he is unable to enforce the agreement while the default in providing the agreement continues. Amex and Egg (in the case of two cards) obviously understand the law, and have taken no recovery action at all against Ian since December 2008.


3. Conclusion


Ian has had eight of his credit card debts effectively wiped clean. This has saved him £58 000 and enabled him to get back on his feet. He is now in a new business and rebuilding his life.


* Note: Ian’s name has been changed to protect his privacy.