Thread: Metropolitan Collection Services - Action on a stayed claim

Originally Posted by Castlebest

I confirm any further costs you incur in this matter will be your own fault for being too stupid to read my correspondence and take heed of the current legal situation that exists and therefore will be at your own liability.

pete

Wonderful - treat them with the contempt they deserve

As ever I have to agree with Lattie, I can see Metro sending out a few of this type of letter over the next few weeks in the hope they can recover some of the stayed claim account money.

Being little better than a DCA they wont particularly care that the accounts are in dispute and therefore should not be passed on by HSBC.

Interesting to note Metropolitans address... ring any bells? <laffin> HSBC obviously like their pet solicitor and pet DCA in very close proximity to each other <laffin>

pete

I had one of these letters too, though I'm not yet at the Court stage; HSBC acknowledged the claim but refused to deal with it until after the OFT case. I have told HSBC that I will be happy to deal with their request for repayment of the overdraft just as soon as they are ready to deal with my claim for refund of their unlawful charges.

This is my reply:

Thank you for your letter dated xxxx. I do not acknowledge any debt to you or any company you claim to represent. All communication in this matter must be in writing.

I am surprised, not least because you are part of the same company, that your ‘client’ did not let you know that this account is disputed because it consists partly of unfair and/or unlawful penalty charges. Although I have raised a formal complaint and claim against your client, they have refused to deal with it until the forthcoming legal action brought against them and others by the Office of Fair Trading is heard. You will not need to be reminded that the Office of Fair Trading guidelines on debt collection states that continuing collection activity whilst a dispute is unresolved is an ‘Unfair practice’.

In the circumstances I regret that I am unable to assist you further unless your client is willing to resolve the dispute.

Take notice that any legal action will be robustly defended and a counterclaim made; I look forward to placing evidence of your client’s attempts at unjust enrichment before a judge. Any further breaches of the OFT guidelines will be reported to the appropriate enforcement authorities.

Thats a good letter SP they will have to think long and hard before they do anything else with the balance on your account .

I don't know if this is a new strategy as such or just Metropolitan trying to find something to do.

If they are in the same building as DG they will be on the HSBC computer network and are therefore probably just picking up accounts from that, I doubt very much if anyone at the bank actually refers anything to Metro.

Nice one pete, thought i was being a bit pushy, but love the bit about

contacting the police to have them removed from my premises and commence harassment proceedings against them, you and your client.

(Im afraid i might have got some moss on your castle, terribly sorry about that )

At least i would have, if it didnt say 'you cannot comment on that post' ?!?!?

Its a very strong letter but I was having a bad week and they were being particularly stupid

pete

After the full shooting match of letters from MCS, and my bugger off letters I've not heard from this bunch for about 3 months - I no longer feel the love!

With that said I'm pleased to say that as of Friday I've had a couple of phone calls from them demanding that I pay at least 50% of the outstanding balance or a bailiff will be round tomorrow morning with a locksmith to remove my goods. It was at this point I started laughing and explained that not only had the person not asked any security questions but the account was on hold pending the outcome of the test case. He then went on to accuse me of being a thief as I had stolen money from HSBC and the Police will be pounding on my door with in 20 minutes if I did not make a payment of 30%. At this point I was laughing again which he did no like at all. What annoyed him more was when I asked for his name, then advised him that the phonecall was being recorded.......... The conversation ended and the phone went dead.

Desperate for money, unsure of the outcome of the test case or just trying to hit month end targets, take your pick!

To recover any debt legally they have to take you to court and get a CCJ against you. If you have a county court case pending for the same debt or even if you have written to the bank asking for your penalty charges to be repaid they will not do that.

If they do start county court proceedings just quote your pending case in the defence document or use the letter you have written to the bank as a basis for your defence and counter claim (we can and will help you do this).

Personally my (now closed) HSBC account has an overdrawn balance of about £300 under my claim value. I want to go to court to get this resolved but DG Solicitors applied for a stay on the claim. If the bank want to sort it out I am happy to go to court and let them pay me the difference between my claim and my overdraft until then they can whistle.

pete

So if I have this right...
HSBC have a historical CCJ against you for a debt of around £2,000.00 you have been paying this off by installments until recently..

Did you admit the debt or just ignore the paperwork?

The same account that this debt came from has around £2,500.00 in penalty charges which you now have claimed back and your case has been stayed.

I think there may be grounds to get the CCJ set aside and your claim to be brought into the whole proceedings but let me see if I can get some clarification on that...

pete