A badly written credit agreement has resulted in a claim by a debt collection company being thrown out. Hillesden Securities brought the action against Harry Moore at Oxford County Court after their demand for full repayment of a debt was not met.
His Honour Judge Charles Harris QC found that Hillesden Securities had not fulfilled its obligations under the Consumer Credit Act to provide Mr Moore with legible information. Hillesden Securities were unable to produce legible documents for the court and accordingly their claim was dismissed and the firm was ordered to pay Mr Moore’s costs.
Mr Moore’s legal representative, Paul Tilley, a consumer credit specialist at QS Howlett Clarke, said: “This sends out a clear message to any company that buys a debt, and the credit industry at large, that the courts will not tolerate poor, illegible documentation when dealing with compliance with the Consumer Credit Act.
“The original credit agreement came from MBNA and was wholly unreadable, evidenced by the repeated, albeit failed, attempts to rewrite it. How difficult can it be in the 21st Century for documents to written clearly for consumers, as opposed to the illegible text presented to the courts on three separate occasions.”
The recorder stated he would expect the contracts with consumers to be easily legible, to have significant and clear spacing between the words and lettering and the lines so the consumer could easily read the document, understanding what they were reading and what their obligations and rights were.
SOURCE: CCR Magazine