There are others on the forum more knowledgeable but as no one has posted a reply I will attempt to answer your post as best I can.

1. From what I have read the CCC can continue to pursue you indefinitely, but not through the Courts. Potentially this could mean years of the debt being past from one DCA to another. Much better to try and negogiate a full and final settlement with all adverse data removed. How easy this is to do I'm not sure - others on here have been successful.

2. With the DPA it seems that the 'implied' consent to process is sufficient. I have read a number of posts re complaints to the FOS and the ICO that have not been upheld. Both siding with the CCC, even in the absence of a signed agreement.

3. The CCA 1974 requires that lenders can only lend if they have an appropriate agreement that complies explicitly with the act. Read the case of Mitchell v HBOS for the consequences of not having an agreement that complies explicitly with the act i.e. the agreement is unenforceable through the courts. Also read S.61 of the CCA 1974.

4. The credit agreement is only unenforceable if the CCC either, does not have a copy of the agreement (very common) or the agreement doesn't comply with the CCA 1974 because certain mandatory prescribed terms are not contained in the agreement (also very common). Either of these will render the agreement as unenforcable and a Court cannot, by virtue of the law of the land, issue a judgment in favour of the CCC because the agreement is irredeemably flawed. Again read Mitchell v HBOS.

Hope this helps.

May I join in? I assume the following situation: The cardholder arrives at a point that he stops paying the credit card company, (CCC), on the grounds that the Consumer Credit Agreement, (CCA), is ‘unenforceable’. The CCC doesn’t take the cardholder to court because they can’t enforce it. They may well say that the debt still exists. So they start posting defaults and other notices, etc, to Credit Reference Agencies, (CRAs), and other third parties.

1) If the cardholder doesn’t care about NOT being able to get a loan or other credit in the future then that’s the end of the matter. However, for how long would this situation continue?

It is apparent that CRAs hold all data for six years, BUT in the absence of a definitive judgement when would the six years start to run, if at all?

In other words, is it the case that notices posted today will be deleted in six years but that notices posted in the future will be shown until they each expire after six years? That is, if the CCC continues to post ad infinitum, there could always be adverse posts, and after six years the previous six years posts would be available to future perspective lenders on a rolling basis for ever?

2) My understanding of the Data Protection Act is that a data subject must give their consent to any data being posted to CRAs. For this reason probably all CCAs (and other contracts) will provide for this consent either implicitly or explicitly.

Is this consent is a ‘term’ of the CCA? And if that CCA is ‘unenforceable’ can it be argued that consent has NOT been given, or if it was that it was in some way ‘void ab initio’; that is, consent was NEVER given in the first place?

Is it as simple to say that a (1) a cardholder stops paying, and (2) takes action against the CCC and CRA, if necessary, to delete all data, or at least the posting of future adverse data?

3) I am concerned about the position taken by CCCs that there is still a contract even if the relevant CCA is ‘unenforceable’. That is, money was had and received and there is therefore an obligation on the cardholder to repay.

Does the Consumer Credit Act, (CCA), require that CCCs can lend money ONLY by way of a CCA, and as per the Act?

Otherwise, is it the situation that the CCC can expect repayment of the principle sum borrowed but must negotiate over the matter of any interest due? In which case if enough time has passed, and the principle has been repaid, that this can be the basis to reduce the current balance to zero and then call it a day?

4) The CCA provides for contracts to be declared enforceable by order of a court. What use have CCCs made of this legal provision to circumvent the issue of ‘unenforceable’ CCAs?