Thread: Sev vs Apex Credit / Abbey/ Santander

Hi all,

some years ago I came into financial difficulty crippled by charges on an Abbey overdraft. I opened a safe account and Abbey not listening to any offers of payment promptly closed the account. I have made token payments every month to the account which Abbey always returned a week later.

Early last week I received a telephone call which I left to voicemail from an Apex credit management, wanting to discuss 'your account'. I thought I'd wait for the letter rather than reply to the call out of the blue.

I received this letter sent second class from Apex Credit management (formerly known as Buchanan Clarke and Wells). It was sent on the 11th a Thursday and arrived on the 16th of April, a tuesday.

It reads:

Dear Mr Sev

Their ref
My ref

Our Client has requested we contact you to arrange payment of the full outstanding balance.

We have made enquiries and sources have shown that you are resident at the address on this letter. Our clients have advised that previous attempts to contact you via other agencies have been unsiccessful and this is potentially your last opportunity to arrange payment before further action will be considered.

Our staff are full trained to assist you with your current situation and have a range of options to help. If you are unable to pay in full and are experiencing financial difficulty, we strongly recommend that you call us to discuss re-payment of your balance.

To prevent this matter becoming unmanageable, please contact our office on 0871 244 2818 within ten days from the date of this letter.

Yours sincerely

Mr Steve mound
Chief Operating Officer

I have replied with the following:

Mr A.J. Martin
Debt Recovery Manager
Apex Credit Management Ltd.
Apex House
27 Arden Street
Stratford Upon Avon
Warwickshire
CV37 6NW

Date

Your Reference:
Client Reference:
Creditor reference: Santander Account

Dear Mr Mound,

Thank you for your correspondence dated xxxxxx, received the morning of the xxxxxxx, concerning the above account.

I was rather taken aback however at the intent of your first correspondence, which I found both intimidating and threatening. Your client has had several approaches made to them and offers of payment all of which have been ignored. Other agencies have all been addressed as correspondence has arrived. I also feel that your company has been less than courteous in making first contact by telephone rather than letter of intent. However this comes as no surprise as I have been informed that you are paid a bonus if I make a payment under duress and constant harassment.

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.

In light of this I prefer to deal with you only in writing. Please do not contact me by telephone. I am reliably informed by Trading Standards that telephone calls after this request may constitute a breach of the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949 and a criminal offence under Section 127 of the Communications Act.

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

Therefore I require you to supply the following documentation before I will correspond further on this matter. Until these documents are in my possession I do not acknowledge ANY debt to your company.

1. You must supply me with a true copy of the alleged agreement you refer to. This is my right under your obligation to supply a copy of the agreement under the legislation contained within s.78 (1) Consumer Credit Act 1974 (s.77 (1) for fixed sum credit) - your obligation also extends to providing a statement of account. I enclose a £1 Postal order in payment of the statutory fee, Serial Number xxxxxxx

2. A signed true copy of the deed of assignment of the above referenced agreement that qualifies you to pursue this debt.

3. You are notified that you are obliged to supply these documents, whether you are the original creditor or not.

Non-compliance with my request is a criminal offence under the above Act and will result in a report being submitted to the relevant statutory authorities.

The statement of account will also show the regular token payments I have made to this account since the beginning of my financial hardships, despite your client's unwillingness to accept them.

Until I receive this information as is my right I do not acknowledge your company and will continue to communicate with your client directly.

　
Yours Sincerely

signature (printed not signed - postal order instead of cheque for the same reason)

lets see what happens...

Oh what fun you will have with Apex and an overdraft balance.

Apex will phone you religiously every week no matter what you threaten them with. I simply refuse to go through security but they still call.

The bank will do whatever it likes because they are above the law it seems.

And you my friend will have a good game of letter tennis.

Could this be over six years ago and statued barred?

If not I would do a full dsar request as well for £10 they have to provide to you all the information they hold on you on every media. As I had/have loan, 2 credit cards, morgage, insurance, overdraft with Halifax it must have cost them ten times more than this just for the photocopying.

Point is after resent court cases the banks can cobble together what your agreement would have looked like "if they had of kept it" for the s78 Subject access request. These responses can seem very official and leave you thinking everything is compliant with the regs when in fact all they probably hold is on microfishe. With a DSAR request they have to share all they hold.

Thanks for all your replies,

Alfwithhair - What do you suggest I do then if these are not covered by the CC act?

dx100uk - I haven't posted them anything yet, as I always put my intended replies up on this forum first in order to get feedback from people like you who have more experience and knowledge.

When you say last finacial transaction, do you mean sending a token payment to Abbey or the last transaction bofore the account was closed?

Freethemice - I know, now I get the witheld number calls as you say religiously. I had this with them when they were Buchanan Clarke and Wells.

So, in your opinions, if this letter would serve no purpose, what should I send - or just ignore?

Originally Posted by dx100uk

you say that Abbey always return these token payments
so it will be the last account transaction.

dx

Thanks for the swift reply dx. The last account transaction was circa April 2006. that said, at the end of 2009 I got two white plain printed documents labelled 'Transaction Summary Statement' from Abbey, citing opeing balance date as april 2009 and the date of sending as net balance date.

No cover letter no nothing - not even a branded envelope infact.

Originally Posted by dx100uk

that will be the statement of account they now have to send annually.

i'd just keep ignoring them.


dx

And what about apex?

Ok, well there have been no phone calls this week, but it's mid week so there's plenty of time yet.

However, today (24th march 2010) a letter arrived on my doorstep sent two days ago reading as follows;

Re
Santander Account xxxxxx
Debt Outstanding £xxxxx

Home Visit Appointment

We Wrote to you recently after our investigations proved that you are resident at the above address. We note you have failed to make contact. Our client has now formally requested that we commence proceedings to recover the outstanding debt.

You are now at risk of your account being passed to an external doorstep agency who will arrange a visit to your property. To avoid a home visit at a time that may not be convenient to you, you must call our office without delay. There is an opportunity for you to make payment to avoid an agent attending your premises.

To arrange a more suitable time to make payment, it is imperative you call one of our agents on 0871 244 2818

Yours Sincerely

Mr Steve mound
Chief Operating officer

So, what do you think the next step should be? What are the regulations regarding then just showing up on my doorstep all heavy handed?

So, there has been a bit of a lull, and a phone call, as usual just asking me to call their number regarding my account - he sounded quite abrupt

So yesterday I get a letter again, Ironically dated 1st April

reading as follows:

Dear Mr Sev

Home Visit Instructed

We have written to you on mumerous occasions and no contact has been made.

Our previous letter gave you a final opportunity to make payment or your account will be passed to an external doorstep agency who will arrange for a visit to your property.

Our agent will now be instructed to arrange a visit at a time that is suitable to them.

Should you wish to arrange payment on your account prior to our agent's visit, it is imperative you call our office on 0871 244 2818 without further delay.

Yours Sincerely

Mr Stephen mound
Chief Oerating officer

I tried making my usial token payment as I do every month to Abbey and once again the payment was returned.

Just had a phone call this morning -

This is a call for Mr Sev, You are required to call the offices Apex credit Management 08445560278 on quoting ref xxxxxx. Failure to return this call will determine our next course of action

Thank goodness that I have all of these recorded.