Frequently Asked Questions

Your online enquiry will be passed to one of our specialist consultants who will contact you and arrange to complete your application. You will be fully informed as to the progress of your case every step of the way.

Our fully trained staff use detailed checklists prepared by experienced Barristers to review each agreement. All our staff and Appointed Representatives are fully updated on any changes to case law.

Yes, you could approach the Financial Ombudsman or seek assistance from organisations such as the Citizens Advice Bureau, Advice UK, National Debtline, Consumer Credit Counselling Services and Parents Pennies Pounds.

Cost to client

• £300 for an unlimited amount of Agreements.
• £300 per Agreement, please refer to our terms and conditions for further information.

Whilst we hope that lenders will be sensible and where an agreement is unenforceable agree it is. Sometimes it may be necessary to progress to Court particularly if there are factual issues. In the event that you do need to go to Court the nominated solicitor will explain this to you and guide you every step of the way.

No, once we have agreed to take your application you must not continue to use your card, doing so will affect our ability to process a potentially successful claim.

Nothing we do in the process should affect your ability to apply for another credit card or loan with a different lender although we cannot guarantee how a particular lender / creditor may react. We believe that it would not be in the lenders commercial interests to decline an application with merit or cancel a good customers other agreements, although we cannot guarantee this.

No, if unsuccessful you will not have to pay any costs incurred. Arrangements are in place to ensure the costs are covered. If successful the nominated solicitor will seek the costs from the other side.

Yes, you are free to choose your own solicitor at any time but Credit Issues would suggest trying the nominated solicitor to see whether they meet your expectations. We are sure they will! If you choose to use your own solicitor we cannot guarantee they will work on a No-Win, No-Fee basis.

In the Credit Services Agreement V17 29/1/2009 under 'The Fees' on page 1:

"In the event that Credit Issues determines that each of the credit agreements is enforceable and fair and that the creditor has not committed any breach of contract or duty Credit Issues will refund the fees paid by the Client save for an administration fee of £50 in respect of each agreement."

It is worth adding that this is for any point in the process, whether Credit Issues have just reviewed the agreements or if the nominated solicitor believes the matter should not be progressed.

Yes, this is taken a step further in clause 7.1 saying your case is on a "no win no fee" basis as below (please note that "conditional fee agreement" is the legal term for "no win no fee"):

"7.1 The nominated solicitor will act on a conditional fee agreement save in the case of a Client resident in Northern Ireland."

Credit Issues review your agreements to determine if they are unenforceable, or if there are any PPI / extortionate charge / secret commission issues , then they will on your behalf nominate for you a solicitor to take your case to court (if it does ever go to court) on a conditional fee basis (unless you are in Northern Ireland).

No, you will only have a maximum of £300 per Agreement to pay on winning as stated under 'The Fees' on page 1 of the Credit Services Agreement.

"The Client will pay conditional fees of £300 (inclusive of VAT, as applicable) for each successfully completed agreement. The conditional fees will only become payable where Credit Issues successfully challenge the enforceability of the agreement."

No, you will only have paid the front end fee and there will be no further fees or costs to pay; this is covered in the Credit Services Agreement clause 7.4:

7.4 As long as the Client retains the nominated solicitor and complies with the obligations of the Client under clause 8 below, the Client will be indemnified against any and all contingent liability for the costs of any claim prosecuted by the nominated solicitor.

1. You have a legal right under the Data Protection Act 1998 and/or the Consumer Credit Act 1974 to dispute the information a credit reference agency hold about you if you believe it not to be correct. They will only consider your dispute if you write to them within 6 months of receiving your credit file. Most information held is updated on at least a monthly basis; therefore a credit file that is over 6 months old is likely to be out of date. If your credit file is over 6 months old you must make a new application for your credit file to check the accuracy of the most up to date information they hold. They will then send your credit file to you and enclose a Statutory Rights document entitled 'Schedule 1'. This explains your legal rights in detail. Please note that whilst we make no guarantees in respect to the effect on your credit rating we will keep you informed as to the current legal view.

1. This is a 200 word statement that you can add to your credit file to explain an entry on it. If you add a Notice of Correction to your credit file any organisation accessing your credit file through a credit reference agency will have access to your Notice of Correction. Please bear in mind that if you add a Notice of Correction to your credit file lenders searching the database for information that is held about you are obliged under the, Guide to Credit Scoring, to read your Notice of Correction. This may slow down their decision of whether to offer you the product/service you have applied for.

A Notice of Correction cannot be longer than 200 words. Any statement believed to be defamatory, libellous, incorrect or frivolous may be referred to the Information Commissioner for arbitration.

Your local Appointed Representative is the best person to contact regarding case updates or general questions. Our office will also keep you updated by means of post, email and phone.

You must obtain a copy of your credit file from a credit reference agency (usually Experian, Equifax or Call Credit) before a Notice of Correction can be added to their database. Once you have received your credit file you may dispute information you believe to be incorrect. If they are unable to amend the information you have disputed because it is factually correct, you have a right to add a Notice of Correction to your credit file. Please write to the credit reference agency used citing their reference number and confirm the wording you would like to add to your file. Please remember that the Notice cannot be longer than 200 words long and must not be defamatory, libellous, incorrect or frivolous.

The Administration of Justice Act 1970 S.40 makes it a Criminal Offence for a creditor or a creditor's agent (often a debt collection agency) to make demands (for money), which are aimed at causing ";alarm, distress or humiliation, because of their frequency or publicity or manner". Equally, a creditor will be committing an offence if they falsely imply that non-payment of the debt will lead to criminal proceedings; or the creditor pretends to be someone they are not e.g. a court official or bailiff. It is also an offence to send a person a document which looks like it has been sent from a court.

If you feel you are subject to Debt Collection Harassment then this too could be classed as a criminal offence. Harassment can be verbal or in writing and would include making repeated calls to your workplace or in anti social hours. The Protection from Harassment Act 1997 makes it a Criminal Offence for any person to pursue a course of action "which they know, or ought to know, amounts to harassment of another person".

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has produced a set of Debt Collection and Debt Management Guidelines which sets out the types of debt collection practices which the OFT considers to be unfair. The guidelines do not apply to routine debt collection but are applicable to all accounts where payments have been missed, or are in arrears. The Guidelines include a section on 'contacting debtors at unreasonable times and intervals'. Whilst the guidance does not spell out the types/times of when contact should occur, it does provide a list of examples which it might consider unfair: repeatedly calling at unsociable hours, calling places of work, or calling on Neighbours and disclosing the reason they are making these enquiries.

If you think a creditor has broken the law or has breached these guidelines- you should let us know and also, importantly, first raise it with the creditor or collector concerned. To start this process you will need to gather evidence. The first step is to record the times and contents of visits and calls, and to save any threatening letters. You should then write a letter of complaint informing the creditor that you are aware of the Debt Collection Guidelines and believe they are in breach of these as well as possibly been in breach of section 40 of the Administration of Justice Act. Ask them to stop what they are doing. You must however, tell the creditor how you would prefer to be contacted. If the situation does not improve you can make a more formal complaint against a creditor.

If the creditor continues to harass then please let us know, but you can make a complaint to the local Trading Standards Department or go to your local Citizens Advice Bureau. If the problem does not get resolved you could send your complaint to the Office of Fair Trading - who do not usually take up individual cases but their Debt Collection Enforcement Team collects information from various sources and can use it to remove the creditors Consumer Credit Licence.

If the behaviour of the creditor (or any bailiffs or credit collection companies acting on behalf of the creditor) becomes at all violent or extremely threatening the Police should be informed immediately

Potentially, the lender could withdraw an existing credit facility subject to the terms of the facility itself. Commercially, we would be suprised if lenders did this on a wide scale since they would lose out on the profit they gain from such facilities.