credit cards written off

[r4zorb4ck]

Has anyone had any dealings or succses with these companys such as Cartel, that can write of most or all of your existing debt on credit cards opened before 2007. It sounds too good to be true. I know the saying if it sounds too good to be true it normally is.

Advice would be great

[factor-fiction]

The chances of recovering money are slim. They make money by charging you a fee to check. You can check yourself for nothing but it's unlikely your card agreement will be non-compliant

[Velvetee]

Is this company one of those debt management companies?

If so, there seem to be many around and they do charge for the privilage. It would affect your credit rating and you would not be able to use creditcards for five years.

They would work out what you can afford to pay and you would have to do this every month for 5 years, your debt won't just disappear.

[factor-fiction]

Cartel don't deal with IVAs etc- they charge to look whether you can wriggle out of credit card debts on the grounds that the contract wasn't valid. Their site says "If a credit card contract or agreement is held to be unenforceable then the lender may have no legal basis on which to enforce the contract and pursue for the outstanding balance. The balance may therefore be completely written off."

[Ethel]

As I understand it, there was a problem with the terms and conditions of some credit cards issued during a small time frame prior to 2007.
As a result of this error a credit card company was unable to recover monies owed by one individual who had spotted the error.

As you can imagine, alarm bells went off and the card issuers involved very quickly sent out new terms and conditions to their customers, effectively closing the loophole. (Look at your terms and conditions and you will see that they can be amended at any time in accordance with regulations).

Now, companies like Cartel are cashing in by charging people to check the terms and conditions of their credit cards and other financial arrangements with the suggestion that the contract is flawed and unenforceable.

There is nothing illegal in this but it is certainly taking advantage in the current climate, where people may be willing to risk 'a few quid' to get their debts written off.

[buildersmate]

What would be most helpful if we could find out the nature of the loophole wording - then we could check for ourselves - without having to spend money with Cartel.
Couldn't find it myself - any leads, Ethel or others?

[factor-fiction]

Was it something to do with the fact that both parties hadn't signed the agreement and there was an inadequate form of words covering the need for them both to sign/not sign in a certain way . Something like that I recall?

[Ethel]

That was one specific case, factor, and then the law clarified that by applying for the credit card, whether by phone, internet or in writing, having the card delivered and then using it constitutes a binding agreement between both parties concerned.

Anyone who has a credit card is probably fed up of those regular slips of paper giving the updated terms and conditions, but this is why we get them.

[themas]

Anyone who does thia also needs to remember that - if they are successful - all it means is that the debt cannot be enforced in the Courts. The debt still exists & they can still be hassled for it by the creditor or whoever they sell it on to.

I know some people have been successful in actually getting the debt written off, but do not know the details of their cases so cannot say why this was done. Nonetheless, the principle is clear. All the legislation is saying is that if the agreement is defective it cannot be enforced by Court action.

[koster]

Could we find a list of the credit card companies which had this error in their terms and conditions, and the date range? It would then be easy to check whether we had a chance to claim.