Our Legal Audit
Frequently Asked Questions.
Q: What types of debt can you deal with?
A: Most consumer credit agreements, including but not limited to; personal loans, credit cards, store cards, agreements with payday lenders, hire purchases etc. We will not be able to deal with any debts that have arisen from utility bills, phone services, debts with HMRC, any council taxes and bills, or any debt which has had a previous County Court Judgement (“CCJ”) or where there is a charge placed against any of your properties.
Q: What if my debts are not suitable for your process?
A: Our process begins with a completely free consultation about your credit agreements. You will not be required to make any payments to us if we find your case is not suitable for the process.
Q: Will you be able to get me out of an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (“IVA”)?
A: No, we are unable to get you out of an IVA, however if you have failed your IVA. we can request the relevant documentation to ascertain your legal position on the outstanding debts.
Q: What if I don’t want to go ahead after the 14-day cooling off period
A: Once your cooling off period and you wish to cancel your arrangement with us, please inform us in writing and we will terminate the agreement with no refunds, No Acceptations.
Q: What if I already have a Debt Management Plan set up?
A: Raw chamber will act for you in a legal capacity, we will be able to request the regulated documents needed to ascertain your legal position, please note once you engage our firm we will not be making any form of payment to your alleged debts.
All payments made to Raw Chamber will be an agreed fixed fee for the purposes of challenging the validity, fairness and enforceability of your debts.
Q:What’s the first thing you do?
If you choose to instruct us and we accept that your case is suitable, we will write to each creditor to state that the debt is disputed, that you do not intend to make any further payments while the debt is in dispute and the creditor should not take any further action against you until this dispute is resolved.
It will be your choice whether or not you cancel any Debt Management Plan you have in place while we are instructed to challenge those debts.
Q: What if you cannot reduce my debts by the end of your process?
A: In the unlikely event that we are unable obtain any negotiated settlements to cover our own fixed costs with reductions in your debts, we will process a refund for the difference between any reductions and any amounts you have paid to us. For example, if you have paid £1000.00 but we obtain a reduction of £900.00 of your entire debt(s) we will refund you
£100.00. If we are unable to reduce any of your debt(s) by the end of our process, we will refund any payments you have made to us.
Q: What if I decide not to proceed after you have started the process?
A: If at any time, you decide to cancel the process with us, which must be done in writing to us, once we have received this we will close your file and inform your creditors that we are no longer acting for you. We will send you a final bill and thereafter you are under no obligation to complete your payment plan; however, we will also not be able to guarantee that your debt level will have been reduced. You will not be entitled to a refund of the payments that you have made. Cancelling the plan voids the guarantee we offer. Re engaging with us past 30 days from cancellation will result in the fee structure starting again.
Q: When would I need to pay?
A: You can pay straight away or after the cooling off period, which is approximately 14 days, from the time you sign the terms of business and form of authority. We do not start work on your case until we receive payment of cleared funds into our account. By paying within the 14 day cooling off period you waver your rights of this as you have instructed us to act prior to that period ending.
Q: Can my creditors contact me whilst you work on my behalf?
A: Throughout our process after your creditors are notified, we are acting for you then you should have no contact from your creditors. We will deal with your creditors on your behalf at all times throughout our process. If any creditors do contact, you please inform them that you have an appointed representative acting on your behalf and refer them to us. You must also provide us with all the necessary information for us to contact the creditor directly.
Q: Will my debts increase whilst you work on my behalf?
A: Once we are acting for you, any debts which we consider to be in dispute should not have any interest or charges added to them. We will of course request in our initial contact with each creditor that they do not add interest or charges while we dispute the debt on your behalf. Therefore, the debts should not increase if you notified of any debt increasing you must notify us immediately for us to del with. We point out that the ultimate goal is to significantly reduce or write off your debt and we will only dispute the debt where we are confident a satisfactory outcome can be achieved.
Q: Will my credit rating be affected?
A: If you have already missed payment under your credit agreement(s), this information should be recorded upon your credit file(s) thus meaning impacting your credit rating. The service we offer will not be recorded on your credit file as a solution. We can apply to the agencies to remove any negative entries on your credit file relating to the credit agreement account where we achieve write off, or reduction to reflect.
If you are up to date with all payments, your credit rating will be affected due to non-payment of the accounts. We do not recommend this service to individuals who are up to date with payment if your sole objective is to circumvent payments to liabilities, the “wont payer”.
Q: How long will the process take?
A: From the outset we predict 12 months, in some cases this can differ, this depends on the number of accounts and complexities of individual arguments we are instructed to make. When this 12 month time frame van not be achieved we will inform you. Please note the term to deliver the service is not linked to the payment term. The payment plan will be set from the outset, however, we will act on your behalf until we have achieved the audit process and final outcome.
Q: Who do i complain to if I’m not happy?
A: In the first instance you must write to the firm expressing you concerns, allow the firm to address your concerns. Address those complaints to the address below in writing or email to info@rawchambers.co.uk a copy of the complaints procedure can be provided upon request. In the event you are not satisfied with the outcome you have the right to refer your matter on to the legal ombudsman; who are a free impartial independent service set up by the government to deal with complaints regarding the conduct of law firms and barristers alike.
Please note this must be raised with them within 6 months of receiving your final response from ourselves. A complaint to the ombudsman must also be made not more than six years after the act or omission complained about or not more than three years from the date when you should reasonably have known that there were grounds for complaint.
For further details about how to raise a complaint to the legal ombudsman, including guidance about the new scheme rules that came in to effect 1st February 2013, please contact them at; Legal Ombudsman, PO BOX 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ
Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Phone: 0300 555 0333
Website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk
A guide to the new scheme rules that came into effect on 1 February 2013 can be found on the Legal Ombudsman’s website at: www.legalombudsman.org.uk/downloads/documents/A-guide-to-our-revised-Scheme-Rules.pdf
complaint process with the Financial Ombudsman Service (“FOS”) has come to an end.
Q: Does my complaint stop the process?
A: No, unless you cancel your plan with us, we will continue the service. We shall continue to audit your creditors and regulated documents provided; this includes but not limited to the way these agreements came to force the under written procedure and how they have been administered or enforced during the currency of your relationship with the lender.
Q: What happens after 12 months?
A: If the process takes longer we will inform you prior to this, provided you are not behind on installments we will not ask you for further payments as the fee is fixed.
Q: What events would make the process longer than 12 months.?
A: We spend a great deal of time waiting for our requests to be adhered to, we request information and allow 28 days before we chase relevant documentation, in some instanced your lender asks for extensions to provide, these extensions can add another 28/56 days, the time frames depend on the willingness of your creditors to agree to an early resolution, the manner and length of time it takes creditors to respond, the complexity of the arguments raised.
As a rough guide, we will send an initial letter to each creditor for further information, and we would expect a response within 28 days. We can then review your case and attempt to reach an early resolution with your creditors. If this is not possible, we will prepare and send further letter, raise a CONC Dispute and or a Legal Dispute and raise a formal complaint to each creditor. We would expect 3 to 5 months to have elapsed by this stage. Once the complaint has been received by the creditor, they are allowed up to 8 weeks to respond to the complaint. Should the matter need to be taken further by referring your complaint to FOS, then the timescale will depend on the complexity of the issues. In some cases, we expect FOS could come to a decision on a complaint within a matter of weeks and in other cases it could take months. It is very much in their hands.
Q: What does ‘unenforceable’ mean?
A: Failure to comply with the provisions of Consumer Credit Act 1974 (as amended) means that the agreement becomes unenforceable while the failure to comply persists, and the courts have no discretion to allow enforcement. This means the creditors cannot take action against you to enforce the debt and obtain a court judgement on any debt which is unenforceable.
Q: How can I make payments to any creditors that you cannot deal with?
A: If we have advised you that we are unable to dispute your debt with a particular creditor then we can contact the creditor directly and negotiate a payment plan. for you to pay directly.
Q: Will I have to go to court?
A: In all cases you will not be required to attend any court hearings as part of our process. Please also note that any litigation costs are not covered in this agreement.
