Barclaycard sold debt to cabot HELP needed

[jossi]

Help......barclaycard sold my debt to cabot financial, they have been writing to me since feb 06 but the last contact with barclaycard was in november 2000. Cabot say i owe them just under £3000, the original debt was £2500. They keep charging me every time they send a letter, which i hasten to add i have not responded to at all, i cant understand how they found me or how they know im definately here. At one point they even offered me a 40% discount if i would settle, they also sent a card asking me to contact a number urgently, which i didnt, i began to wonder if this is some sort of scam! as they did not attach anything from barclaycard saying that they had bought the debt! The last letter i received was basically saying that they have not had a satisfactory response from me and they are now either going to send a debt collection agency round or instruct a solicitor to take futher action by means of a charging order over my home, which i dont own, an attachment of earnings order, by getting my employer to deduct money from my employer which i would prefer not to happen as that would be embarrasing, big time or an order to obtain information on my financial position and assets, which i havent got anything of any value.

Can someone please tell me what exactly they can do in this situation? Can they send a debt collection ageny round if they havent been to court? and can they deduct money from my wages? This is causing me no end of stress, im at a lose what to do. I only have until may 17th to respond or hold out and see what they do next. Any advice is welcome, thank you in anticipation

Jossi

Try searching under Statute Barred on the forum, this means after 6 years, of no contact from you, the debt is unenforceable.

This may not be the case with you, but read up on it, and see if it applies.

Also are you claiming charges from Barclaycard for this?

[jossi]

Hey thanx for your reply

Ive read up on the limitations act and in this case it doesnt apply until November 06 . i havent contacted barclaycard cos at the moment its cabot who are charging me the interest.

What i need to know is can they take me to court even tho they dont even know im here? and if it does go to court can i claim back all the charges they have made and the charges they say they will make if it does go to court? is it the case that the courts dont look kindly on organisations that are just out to make money? i havent even had any proof from cabot that they have bought the debt from barclaycard! and i know that it is against the law to ask me to phone a number without any explanation, which they have done but i wasnt stupid enough to call it. would they really risk taking me to court when i can claim that they are causing me distress, i suffer with asthma and all this hasnt helped my health, they offered me 40% off just to get me to respond, they have charged me £30 for every letter they have sent since february and i was receiving letters every 2 wks.

What are the chances of them taking me to court?

Jossi

[timcoombs]

If it helps my experience of debt collectors who buy debts from third parties write letters which they feel will intimidate the recipient to the extant that they will reply and this confirms the 'debtor' still lives there and may even agree to make repayments. The solution which seems to work is to ignore the letters completely, they will keep writing every month or so and then even though the letters continue the gaps between them become longer and longer. I had a dispute with HSBC in 1998 and the same happened, I did move in 2000 and they found my new address late last year, I complained to the ombudsman that I had not been contacted since 1999 until the present time and as I had not heard from them for 6 years the debt was statute barred. HSBC in response to the ombudsmans letter wrote to me suggesting that I had a right to advise them of my change of address but as it was so long since thay had contacted me they had decided as a matter of goodwill to write off what they claimed was a £16k debt. They did not respond to my points that the electoral roll and my credit file showed my move from 2000 and the company that had bought the debt presumable lost out although I doubt if they really paid a lot for it.

Debt collectors will NOT in the mainstream personally visit although the odd one will if they recieve no response from other forms of contact such as correspondence.

My advice is if they have charged fees which are now deemed unlawfull AND clear the debt with a little bit left over for you then go for it but if you will still owe after reducing the debt then unless they do take it further letting sleeping dogs lie is a good adage.

This is as they say only my own personal opinion unless you know better and somewhere along the line someone will have had different repercussions but most will go the way I have provided information on.

[andrew1]

There are a number of threads about debt collection agencies and those who buy debt. Cabot particularly are a firm a number of people have posted about. I too am awaiting Data Protection Act disclosure from Cabot. It ran out today and still I received nothing. Cabot pay between 7 and 10% for the debt from the card or bank. Their charges are no different from a banks, automated and unlawful. Cabot will not sue you - or it's highly unlikely, they rarely have any default information which they must have to sue. If you leave them long enough they'll go away! However, if you want to settle with them, use the % above as a guide, build in a % for their profit ( they are a business and have to make a profit) and you'll invariably get a deal. Don't be intimidated by them. Search the debt collection agency and Cabot threads there's some useful info here.

[jossi]

Thank you for your replies.

The dead line was up yesterday, 17th may, so i suppose im just going to have to wait to see what happens now. This is the bit that im anxious about, waiting to see what happens next and if they are going to carry out the threats they have made.

Jossi

[andrew1]

Have you had any response from Cabot yet?

[jossi]

Hi Andrew

Thanx for your message and for thinking of me

I havent had anything from them since the letter threatening further action. As far as im aware no one has been round either. I suppose its just a waiting game to see what they will do next. I do have problems with my post being delivered, so if they have sent me anything i may have not received it, which can be a bit worrying, especially if it was something from the court, thats is if they have gone that far! only time will tell.

Jossi

[andrew1]

I doubt if you'll get anything from Cabot from a litigation point of veiw, it's not the way they work. They seem to work on the principle of volume and chasing all those people who are scared of Debt collection agencies and their intimidating ways to make arrangements and get money out of them. It's a numbers game for them. As mentioned in my earlier threads, Cabot buy these debts from the card holders for about 10-12% of their face value. They make far more money out of people who pay the whole debts or come to a settlement figure. My attitude to Cabot is if you can afford to do a deal on your debt ie: if you have some money which would pay the debt off once and for all then use the 12% of your total debt figure add some on for them to make a ' reasonable ' profit and offer a full and final settlement. Do not allow them to add charges to the original debt and claim back any charges from Barclaycard that have previously been added ( even if you have settled the account with Cabot). Cabot need to have the default notice from Barclaycard before they can sue you and I have been told by someone in the industry at a senior level that Cabot rarely sue anyone so use the % game yourself. Chances are they would not sue 80/20 in your favour, I'd almost go so far as 90/10 in your favour so don't fret. It's also unlikely they would send anyone out - they don't work that way either. They just send rather official looking letters which say ' may ' result in legal action ' may ' result in a representive calling. Don't be intimidated by them. Respect the fact that a debt is owed. You can write to them if they harrass you stating the debt is in dispute with Barclaycard, then they can't sue you. If they telephone you tell them that you will only deal by correspondence and if they phone you again then use the Wireless and Telgraphy Act ( details on this site)which thereafter prohibits them phoning. Now that's done YOU are in control of events and YOU set the pace. Just follow the Pied Piper, get all the info from the site you need and follow the path to getting them off your back and all your charges back. Olay! Free again! Good luck

[jossi]

Hi Andrew

Thanx for ur support and advice, its very much appreciated. im just so pleased that ive held out and not responded.

Jossi