Cabot - I want to do this right

[andrew1]

Cabot have just written to me today stating they have purchased a loan account I had with a bank. ( I wont say which one yet.) The account was for 15,000 made up of loan, interest and insurance and I have paid sparodically over a number of years £10 here and there during the harder times I had.

Knowing the way Cabot work I want to be able to keep them in my control rather than the way they tend to treat others so I am seeking advice on EXACTLY what procedures they and I should follow step by step.

The letter only states:

" The account you hold with xxxx bank was purchased by the cabot Financial Group. The outstanding balance is currently £15,000 (+- few pennies) "

The rest of the letter is just methods of payment and how good Cabot are understanding peoples circumstances - but nothing else other than please telephone us now.

Can someone tell me exactly
a) what documentation I should receive from Cabot
b) what I should receive from the bank and in what time scale
c) should I send a CCA to Cabot requesting deed of assisgnment / copy statements details of defaults etc
d) should I deny I owe a debt to Cabot and insist that NO defaults are added to my credit file and that No telephone calls are received.
e) any other information or guidance that anyone has to offer re procedures

I know from what has gone on the threads for Cabot bit parts of the above questions, but as this is a new situation I want to make sure cabot do exactly what they are supposed to do and respond in a way that keeps them totally at arms length and within my rights.

I would like to do this as soon as possible because Cabot will register a Default immediately they get the debt.

There were a few charges on the account which I haven't yet tried to recover but I could at a push state the account is in dispute but it's marginal.

Thanks

[alanfromderby]

a) see c

b) I would do a DSAR on the bank - you want full disclosure of all data.

c) yes - the CCA does not fetch up copy statements, only a breakdown of what is owed and when it was due to be paid

d) definitely do not acknowledge any debt to Cabot - they must prove to you that they have a legal right to be demanding money from you - yes you can insist that all contact is by letter - and that, unless and until they can prove they have a legal right to be claiming money from you, any default entered will by challenged by court action, and a complaint made to the Information Commissioner

e) if the account has any charges, then you are correct to say that the original debt is in dispute - however, to back this up you do need to issue the DSAR against the bank asap.

It is important to make them prove everything, and question anything that is out of the ordinary. Also remember that they will have paid a small amount for this debt, and they will be happy to get a small monthly payment - or a percentage settlement.

[andrew1]

Thanks Alan, Seminole has helped me on another part of this after I pm'd him some other part of it but I'll draft up a letter tomorrow and post it here for confirmation. I do not want these buggers down my throat without having all the precise ammo to keep them in order. Many thanks & good night!

[andrew1]

CCA request gone out to Cabot 24th June.
Data Protection Act Subject Access Request to Bank 25th

[Donel261]

They cashed my £1 cheque on the 24th June still waiting for any sort of response.

[andrew1]

Well Cabot have exceeded all expectation with the CCA requests and come up with Nothing at all ! The 12 and following 30 days have all passed and all they have sent me is a letter stating it might take 8 weeks so it's - Zilch!

Letters to Trading Standards for both my accounts with Cabot cos they have faffed up big time !

[mac3511]

sent a few letters to cabot but no reply by post. They keep ringing my wife and I up, I will not answer the phone because they have not written back to me, only telephone calls, i think it is called harassment, How do I stop them ringing me up?

[andrew1]

You send them this: thanks to HagenUK change it to suit yourcircumstances but start it off as " I am writing to formally request that all future communications with your company will be by letter ONLY as are my rights as stated below.

Dear

( I am in receipt of your letter of xxxxx 2006 and note its contents.

Despite your written undertaking contained therein to cease contact via telephone and your confirmation that I have ten days before your telephone procedure will be recommenced I have received two telephone calls this morning already.) these are hagens bits for his letter.

As I am sure you are aware Harassment of Debtors is a criminal offence in England and Wales under Section 40 of the Administration of Justice Act 1970.

Furthermore, continued telephone calls after the receipt of a request not to call may constitute a criminal offence under section 127 of the Communications Act 2003.

In addition every individual has a right to be free from harassment under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.

The offence of causing harassment is arrestable under the provisions of Section 24(2) of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 and attracts the powers associated with such offences. Additionally Section 3 enables a person who is, or may become, the victim of behaviour prohibited by Section 1 to take civil proceedings against the perpetrator.

Further it is my contention that your company is in breach of the Office of Fair Trading guidelines on harassment.

As you have demonstrably failed to honour your written pledge I feel I have no option but to report your conduct to the relevant statutory authorities, including Trading Standards, the Financial Services Authority and the Office of Fair Trading.

If I should receive another telephone call from any person from your company at any point then I will be contacting the police to report the criminal office of harassment and will be naming you in my statement to the police.

I trust that I have made myself clear and that all future correspondence with your company will be in writing.


Yours sincerely

[andrew1]

When complaining to trading standards do I contact the office located near me or Cabot In West Malling?

[alanfromderby]

the one nearest to cabot

[andrew1]

Thanks Alan,

Can I ask you for your take on this situation.
Cti finance( abbreviated so as to not be caught in ' Brians searches!) have sold a cc debt to Cabot. 'Legal Brian' @ Cti has written to me stating that the unlawful charges rendered on the account which they will repay will be sent to cabot ( albeit he has knocked a grand or so off - but that's another matter!). Cabot have not responded to my CCA request at all (over 1 month late) and the charges I claimed from cti far outweigh the debt sold to cabot. Now given cabot haven't responded to the cca what should I write to cti and what should I write to cabot?

There's another twist to this re the default but I'll come back to that later.

[alanfromderby]

I will avoid names as well.

This is a difficult one.

Assuming the debt was sold to the DCA, I would suggest that they now have no legal right to be chasing the debt. They have failed to provide the documents, and have breached the CCA.

However, that means the file would technically return to the original bank.

The original bank are entitled to offset any refund against a debt owed. Certainly you could not use the lack of contract argument against the bank to argue the debt doesn't exist, whilst at the same time trying to obtain a refund quoting an unfair term in that same contract.

Certainly, if the bank owes more to you, than the debt, then the refund has to come to you, since the DCA have no legal right to the money.

[andrew1]

Great, thats what I wanted to confirm and thats what I thought. I don't mind the debt going back to the bank as they owe me more than I owe them, it's was just the Cabot lot I want to deal with at present. They were really bad at the beginning and I seek a little retrospective ear bashing.

I have posted a bit on this next situation on maddyrose thread Cabot Financial, but if I can get a sound and consistant response from the forum I want to take this next situation to the wire.

When cabot bought the debt they wrote to me under the name of Cabot Financial (Europe)Ltd saying they bought the debt. On the same day KingshillNo1 Ltd registered a default on my account in 2004. BOTH these companies are individual Ltd companies within the Cabot Financial Holdings Group Ltd but they are SEPERATE legal entities filing their own accounts, same directors, same address. Now how can one limited company write and say they own the debt and another - with no reference whatsoever to me, register a default for the same debt?

Equifax & Experian both say different things about who their client is. Experian said they didn't know a company called cabot and their client was Kingshill and equifax say cabot registered the default - so why does it say Kingshill on the credit file?

There are Data Protection Act issues of transfering data from one to the other, but I want to get to the bottom of why they do this in the first place. I have written to Kingshill asking them why their company has registered a default when I don't owe it any money or have any correspondance from them. I'll post back here with their reply.
I am not the only person to have this happen with defaults in the Kingshill No1 Ltd name but there's something fishy about it. I have spoken to the Information Commissioner re the Data Protection Act issues and that is being looked into but any ideas on this to help me nail these beggars will be much appreciated.

[andrew1]

Update: heard nothing from Kingshill so another letter going off. Experien are now looking at my credit file and exploring the Kingshill / Citifinancial entries as both have defaults for the same debt, Kingshill showing £500 less than originally as Citi have refunded ( cabot?) them for my unlawful charges. Be interesting to see what they come back with.