DebtMovers.netCREDIT AGREEMENTS - CLAIMS UNDER THE CONSUMER CREDIT ACT 1974
You may have heard that it is possible for your Credit Agreements to be written off and interest recovered - and wondered to yourself whether such a preposterous suggestion can be true ? WELL IT IS TRUE ! At Midas Financial in association with DebtMovers.net we can arrange for an audit to be carried out of any Credit Agreements which you hold, which commenced before 6th April 2007, to ascertain whether a claim may be made against such Agreements. This may mean that you will not have to repay the outstanding balance and may also be entitled to a refund of previous payments, or compensation. HOW CAN THIS BE POSSIBLE ? The starting point is the Consumer Credit Act which came into force in 1974. This Act regulates all Consumer Credit and Consumer Hire agreements, where the credit or the cost of hire does not exceed £25,000, and covers agreements between finance companies and individuals, sole traders, partnerships and unincorporated bodies, but it does not cover agreements made with corporate bodies such as limited companies. The Act laid down specific rules or terms covering:- - The form and content of agreements
The problems which have come to light and which allow these Agreements to be challenged and set aside have mainly stemmed from the poor drafting of the Agreements (which most, if not all of us, will have signed) and which has resulted in the specific information which the Act provides must be included in the Agreements, either being missed out completely, or wrongly stated. The result is that some of these faults have been challenged in the courts and, in the case of one Car Finance Agreement, ultimately became the subject of a ruling in the House of Lords in 2003. This ruling found in favour of the borrower and gave way to the challenging of Agreements. Since 2003, lenders have regularly been writing off unenforceable Credit Cards and Loan Agreements. You will no doubt, like everyone else, probably not have heard of this, as Lenders have tried to keep the practice a secret, for obvious reasons. This secret is however now becoming public knowledge and following the introduction of the Consumer Credit Act 2006, the relevant parts of which came into force in April 2007, the door has been formally opened to allow the challenge of prior existing Agreements. CAN I DO THIS MYSELF? Yes – but it could prove very costly. The growing number of people trying to persuade their lenders to write off their Credit Agreements has forced lenders to take a stand against individuals, and it is therefore unlikely that you will be able to do this yourself, unless you are prepared to take your lender to court and risk losing thousands of pounds in legal costs. At DebtMovers.net if their solicitors conclude that your Credit Agreement is unenforceable they will accept your case on a No Win-No Fee basis and demand that your lender write off your Credit Agreement and refund the previous interest payments made by you. If your lender refuses, their solicitors will take them to court to force them to comply, and this will be done at no cost to you. WILL MY CREDIT RATING BE AFFECTED? No – the solicitors will ensure that no adverse credit information will be registered against you, and in fact the writing off of the Credit Agreement may even enhance your credit rating, as the Account will be cleared. Why It WorksThe Government introduced the Consumer Credit Act in 1974 to provide individuals with specific consumer rights and to protect them from unscrupulous lenders. The Act sets out in very strict terms guidelines for the form and content of all Consumer Credit and Consumer Hire Agreements, where the credit or cost of hire does not exceed £25,000, and provides that where a written Agreement does not fully comply with the terms of the Act, it becomes an unenforceable Credit or Hire Agreement, and therefore the borrower may not need to repay the outstanding balance and may be entitled to a refund of payments and compensation For further details or assistance contact Midas Financial on 01224 649911 or email debtmovers.net@midasfinancial.co.uk. Should you wish to study further aspects of the law dealing with these issues, we would refer you to the following Case Law, Acts of Parliament, Statutory Instruments and Guides: Wilson & Others -v- Secretary of State for Trade & Industry (House of Lords)
|
