FAQs

The hows, whats and whys about WACCA and our cause

When is it wrong for a debt collector to demand payment from you?

When the legal transfer and ownership of the original debt is in dispute and subject to a proper legal challenge, it may be a criminal offence for someone to demand payment from you of the amount claimed.

What is WACCA?

WACCA is Worried About Consumer Credit Abuse. It is a pressure group of people (effectively a club) who are being subjected to abuse and harassment by financial organisations and debt collectors. WACCA’s object is to challenge the claims being made against its members for alleged credit card debts, store card debts, car loans, and other unsecured loans.

WACCA does not offer any advice regarding debt management or negotiation. Similarly, WACCA does not operate specific cases for individuals on a no-win, no-fee basis. Instead, WACCA collates members’ information and pools members’ subscriptions in order to be able to engage the services of some of the best lawyers (Edwin Coe LLP) available in the UK to examine members’ complaints, advise and take appropriate legal action.

Who can join WACCA?

Anyone who wants to stop Consumer Credit abuse and/or breaches under the Data Protection Act can join WACCA. You don’t even need to be in debt to join WACCA. If you are being harassed for payment of a credit card debt, a store card debt, car loan debt, or another type of unsecured loan, or in a situation where the original lender may have sold the debt to a debt purchase company, WACCA may be able to help you.

What types of debt claims will WACCA’s external lawyers deal with?

WACCA’s external lawyers deal with credit card debts, store card debts, car loans, and other unsecured loans, as well as breaches under the Data Protection Act. In fact any identified abuse!

What does WACCA promise you?

Supported by our members, legal challenges will be mounted by WACCA’s external lawyers so that harassment and attempts to collect alleged debts will be challenged and stopped, where appropriate and where the external lawyers have so advised.

What gives us hope of success in our legal challenges?

The legislation regarding debt sale and purchase, and abuses occurring under the Consumer Credit Act.

Where the enforceability of debt may be the subject to proper legal challenge, WACCA engages some of the best lawyers to fight for members’ rights.

What will I gain by joining WACCA, and paying the £195 membership fee?

Read about the Benefits For You here >

What is WACCA and how does it operate?

WACCA has been created to assist members of the public who are concerned about the abuses and misconduct which are occurring in the Consumer Credit market, as well as breaches under the Data Protection Act. All members’ details, concerns and comments are constantly reviewed by leading external lawyers who advise and take appropriate legal action against the offending collector.

What is the role of William Roache MBE in WACCA?

From his own experience, William is sympathetic to those people who are suffering harassment from debt collectors. He feels passionately that individuals are not at present being treated fairly according to Consumer Credit legislation. His daughter, Verity, is a trustee of the Sara Roache Foundation, a registered charity in memory of William’s late wife, which helps people with debt problems and other good causes. WACCA supports the Sara Roache Foundation.

Is WACCA condoning or even encouraging the non-repayment of genuine debts?

Certainly not. WACCA does not in any way support irresponsible borrowing and/or any attempt to avoid payment of genuine debt.

WACCA is here purely to help members who have been the subject of abuse by irresponsible lending and/or collection practices and/or enforceability issues as well as breaches under the Data Protection Act.

If a challenge mounted by WACCA on my behalf is successful, does this mean that payments I’ve already made can be recovered?

Not necessarily. Any payments that you continue to make when aware that an abuse might have occurred may not be recoverable even if the alleged credit agreement transpires to be unenforceable. A failure to make payments might result in enforcement action, an adverse credit reference being made and the accrual of default interest. Counsel has advised that the choice of whether to continue to make or suspend payments is entirely a matter for individual members to decide.

What does it cost to join WACCA?

It costs £195 inclusive of VAT.  However, a full refund of your membership fee (less an administration charge of £15) is available if you decide not to proceed with your membership within 14 days of joining.

 View WACCA Terms and Conditions >

 Join WACCA now >

Can WACCA change the debt collecting industry through its actions?

WACCA has been advised that the current practice of selling an original debt to a debt purchase company may well be regarded as an abrogation of the responsibilities of the original credit provider and, in some cases, may render the assigned debt to be unenforceable. WACCA’s external lawyers will advise.

WACCA also believes that the practice of selling and purchasing debt may cease in the future with the collection of original credit reverting back to the previous practice, with either the original credit provider collecting direct or engaging the service of debt collecting agencies. When this happens, WACCA will have achieved one of its objectives in changing the practice and possibly the legislation.

What percentage of claims being processed does WACCA expect to be successful?

WACCA expects that ALL legal challenges mounted will be successful, in accordance with and based upon the advice which WACCA members will have received from the external lawyers.

How does this differ from the enforcement relief the Government are currently offering?

The Government are offering a 30-day moratorium. WACCA will be mounting legal challenges as advised by the external lawyers as to whether the alleged debt is enforceable at all.

How long will it take for my WACCA membership application to be approved?

Your membership will be immediate after the statutory cooling off period of 14 days from joining. Thereafter you will enjoy unrestricted access to the members-only WACCA website. View WACCA Terms and Conditions >

What happens when I apply online to join WACCA?

You input the data requested on the member application form. Once your membership has been confirmed you then recieve your username and password where you can access information and upload documents through your very own unique member portal. You can then check the progress of each identified and actioned abuse, and/or breach under the Data Protection Act every step of the way via your unique member portal on the WACCA website. Here you can also edit details and documents, provide details of harassment, view messages from the external lawyers, as well as the ability to download helpful documents provided by the external lawyers.

Will I need to go to court?

Possibly, but only if you have consented to being, and have been selected as, a test case. Whilst lenders may be sensible and agree where an agreement is unenforceable, it may be necessary to progress to Court – particularly if there are factual issues. In the event that the particular case does need to go to Court, WACCA’s nominated solicitor will handle the case from start to finish with the selected member having become a client of the external law firm handling the legal action.

Why could a case take up to three years?

Litigation (taking a case through court) in the UK is notoriously slow, and cases often take years to resolve because of the various detailed and lengthy procedure which must be followed under the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) as well as those relating to Human Rights Legislation, if applicable.

Basically the legal process goes through the following stages:

1. The case is heard in either the County Court or the High Court (most probably in the High Court in the Royal Courts of Justice).

2. If either party is unhappy with the outcome of the case, they can may seek leave to against the judge’s decision at the Court of Appeal in the Royal Courts of Justice.

3. If the judgment in the Court of Appeal goes against them, they can make a further appeal by requesting permission for the Court of Appeal decision to be referred to the Supreme Court.

4. In addition, any case which may concern Human Rights issues may be taken to the European Courts of Human Rights (ECHR).

At each stage of the proceedings, before a case can be heard in court or a judgment appealed, a substantial amount of preparation is involved to ensure the necessary documents are in order. In a complex litigation, it can take months to consider the legal aspects, get the full documented facts of how debt was sold/bought, obtain witness evidence, etc. If the case is contested all the way to the Supreme Court it could take three years or more for the final outcome of the case to be resolved – especially if the European Court is involved.

Will I be responsible for any costs to WACCA’s nominated solicitor?

No. You pay only the membership fee and there will be no further fees or costs to pay (View WACCA Terms and Conditions >). If your case is successful, the nominated solicitor will seek the costs from the other side. If your case is unsuccessful, you will not have to pay any costs incurred. The relevant external law firm will advise the selected client in the fullest details, including the use of after the event insurance if applicable. Arrangements will be in place to ensure that costs are covered.

Can I choose my own solicitor?

No. WACCA will use its own carefully selected external legal advisers, including barristers specialising in Consumer Credit and Data Protection Act legislation.

I feel like I am being unreasonably pestered by creditors – What can I do?

The Administration of Justice Act 1970 S.40 makes it a criminal offence for a creditor or a creditor’s agent, such as 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”. Likewise, a creditor will be committing an offence if they falsely imply that non-payment of the debt will lead to criminal proceedings or if 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 are subjected to harassment by a debt collection agency then this could also be considered a criminal offence. Harassment can be verbal or written; this 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 Debt Collection and Debt Management Guidelines which set out the types of debt collection practices which the OFT considers to be unfair. They include a section on “Contacting debtors at unreasonable times and intervals”. Whilst the guidance does not specify exactly the types/times of when contact should occur, it does provide a list of examples which might be considered 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 or debt collector has broken the law or has breached these guidelines, you should register and record the full details on the relevant WACCA abuse harassment web page in the members only website immediately. You will need to gather evidence of harassment by recording the times and contents of visits and calls, and enter the full details as evidence of the harassment on the relevant harassment page in the members-only section of the WACCA website.

You will be able to select a relevant letter of complaint applicable to your situation from the members-only section of the WACCA website informing the creditor that you are aware of the Debt Collection Guidelines and why you believe they are in breach of these and, possibly, also of section 40 of the Administration of Justice Act, and requesting them to stop what they are doing. All the various letters available for selection from the members-only section of the WACCA website will have been settled by the external lawyers. If necessary, WACCA’s external lawyers will take legal action and, if appropriate obtain an injunction against a debt collector to stop them harassing you based on the evidence recorded on the relevant harassment page in the members-only section of the WACCA website

If the behaviour of the creditor or any debt collector acting on their behalf becomes violent or extremely threatening, you should inform the Police immediately, as well as recording full details on the relevant harassment page in the members-only section of the WACCA website.

What breaches under the Data Protection Act might have occurred?

1. Incorrect registration of individual’s details.

2. Incorrect registration of alleged creditor details.

3. Incorrect registration of account conduct details.

4. Incorrect registration of default notices, possibly contravening Human Rights legislation.

5. Continuing delay and/or refusal by creditors to rectify incorrect data.