Judge shuts 'debt-free' credit card loophole!

[chateaux69]

A friend who's a member of a property forum forwarded this to me;

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/credit-and-loans/credit-cards/article.html?in_article_id=496875&in_page_id=53946&ito=1565

Here's the text;

Judge shuts 'debt-free' credit card loophole
James Coney, Money Mail
5 January 2010
Guide | Deals

Borrowers hoping to use a 'cynical' legal loophole to escape credit card debts have been dealt another blow.

Chased down: A court has said borrowers cannot escape debt obligations

A High Court judge has decided banks are entitled to chase debts even if they have lost the original credit agreement or have failed to provide the document within 12 working days.

Borrowers - mainly advised by claims management firms - had tried to have credit agreements deemed 'unenforceable' when lenders failed to meet these criteria.

An unenforceable debt means the lender cannot chase a borrower for money owed.

However, it can still register a black mark against their credit score.

'Many of these claims are cynical because people knew what they had signed up to,' says Chris Busby, of law firm Eversheds.

'This judgment is another nail in the coffin of the credit card reclaim industry.'

Claims management firms - whose charges start at £400 - have argued that debts should be made unenforceable if the original documentation cannot be produced.

But in Manchester District Registry Mercantile Court last week, it was ruled that lenders did not have to provide an exact copy of a credit agreement, just a reconstituted version. Even if a copy was not produced within 12 days, the debt was still valid.

However, an earlier ruling was upheld, stating that the borrower could not be chased for the debt until a copy had been produced.

Decisions made in this court act as a precedent for lower county courts.

The ruling means that only those treated unfairly by a bank and cases where there have been technical breaches of other consumer rules have a chance of having debts eradicated.

Read more: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/credit-and-loans/credit-cards/article.html?in_article_id=496875&in_page_id=53946&ito=1565#ixzz0h6MEbMrk

Opinions please

Love and Light

[hawklord]

it just shows that they will change their rules anytime they want to suit their need's

[apache1982]

this is bloody stupid.

they will anything to still try and swindle coinage out of you.
debt being still valid even if they cant provide they ORIGINAL document.
i am really starting to hate society.


THUD!!! THUD!!! THUD!!!
SOMEONE PLEASE LET ME OUT!!!!

Peace

[kliff]

"Chased down: A court has said borrowers cannot escape debt obligations

A High Court judge has decided banks are entitled to chase debts even if they have lost the original credit agreement or have failed to provide the document within 12 working days."

They still have to prove that the debt is owed surely otherwise it is open to abuse; what if someone has paid the outstanding debt and they "loose" the closure documents and then claim that the money is still owed.

"Manchester District Registry Mercantile Court last week, it was ruled that lenders did not have to provide an exact copy of a credit agreement, just a reconstituted version. Even if a copy was not produced within 12 days, the debt was still valid."

Check out "reconstituted" WTF