Hi Guys

Well its not often I need advice haha and this one is a right mess to deal with.

Basically as some know, I ended up suffering from Identity Fraud... And im still dealing with it today.

So Minicredit wrote of a Balance of £1k and determined themselves it was fraud.

However OPOS purchased the account and we started to go through this whole situation of dealing with a 3rd party for a company that doesnt exist.

for the 3rd time in a year and a half, I got an email as per below;

05/04/16

 

Dear Fko-Filee

Statement of Account

I refer to your outstanding balance due to Microcredit Limited (http://www.minicredit.co.uk) as detailed above. For your information, please find a statement of your account attached.

 

It should be noted that this debt was purchased in December 2014 by Kapama Limited (FCA Full Permissions Number 672065) and as a result is now being managed by Opos Limited (FCA Interim Permissions Number 616281).

 

This statement is being sent to you as required under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 because you failed to repay the balance in line with the agreement with your original creditor.

 

All payments and communication must be made to Opos Limited on 0141 428 3990, at 2nd Floor, 15 Meadowbank Street, Dumbarton, G82 1JR unless you are advised otherwise. You can manage your account online and make payment via the secure website http://www.oposlimited.com .

 

If you currently have a valid arrangement in place to repay the outstanding balance there is no need for you to do anything at this stage. I am obliged to advise that failure to adhere to agreed payment arrangements will result in collections activity continuing on your account so it is important that you contact Opos Limited if you are ever having difficulty making your payments.

 

I can confirm that we work closely with the Credit Reference Agencies and update them regularly with any payments you make towards your debt. Other lenders will look at your credit file to make lending decisions based on the overall payment performance of your financial commitments. Failure to repay your account will continue to negatively impact your credit rating. Therefore it is important that you contact me or a member of my team on 0141 428 3990 to make arrangements to pay the outstanding balance on your account or discuss what options are available to you.

 

If you are experiencing financial difficulties Opos Limited's Money Advice Section would welcome the opportunity to speak with you. They can set up a payment arrangement over a longer period of time and in line with your affordability. If you contact one of our trained advisors on 0141 428 3991 they will be happy to go over your income, expenditure and talk through your situation. Alternatively please see our help and advice section of our secure website http://www.oposlimited.com for details of non-profit organisations you can contact for free advice.

 

Yours sincerely

 

James Wilson

Collections Manager

 

Opos Limited, Authorised and Regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. FCA Interim Permissions No. IP616281

Registered in Scotland Company Number SC 338837.

Registered Address: Opos Limited, 2nd Floor, 15 Meadowbank Street, Dumbarton, G82 1JR

 

Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.

 

LEGAL NOTICE: The information contained in this communication is confidential and may be legally privileged. It is intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom it is addressed and others authorised to receive it. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately and you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying distribution or taking of any action in reliance on the contents of this information is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. The document and any attachments are not guaranteed to contain no computer viruses and you are advised to check for such viruses before downloading. Opos Limited is neither liable for the proper and complete transmission of the information contained in this communication nor for any delay in its receipt. Calls may be recorded for training and quality purposes.

So I had already told them 3 times already that the account was closed from their end, etc and that I shouldnt be hounded for this... But alas, they still do hound me.

I threatened them with a C+D notice last year, and still they persist even though Minicredit confirmed the account was closed due to Fraud etc and OPOS even closed their account.

Today i also recieved a statement from them, and this is a shocker;

Period Covered: 25/02/2015 to 25/02/2016 Your Account Summary

Loan Amount £100.00

Interest Charges £118.00

Debt Collection Charges £100.00

Default Charge 1 £25.00

Default Charge 2 £50.00

Attempt Charges £670.00

Paid £0.00

Adjusted £0.00

Outstanding Balance £1,063.00

£670 in attempt charges?!?!?!?!

Anyhow the response i got back last year was to the tune of the below?

Further to your email of 20h May 2015 and your subsequent call dated 20th of May 2015 and emails up to 22th May 2015, I am concerned to hear that you have been dissatisfied with the service Opos Limited has provided. At Opos Limited we always welcome customer comments as it helps us to put things right for you.

 

My understanding of your complaint is detailed below but please contact me if this is incorrect.

 

• You wish for the default entered on the 1st of April 2015 to be removed

• You believe this should not have been registered due to fraudulent activity being advised in December 2014

 

 

 

I can confirm that I have now had the opportunity to review your account along with the documentation from Mini Credit and the documentation submitted by yourself and my findings are as followed:

 

On the 10th of December 2014, Opos Limited was passed over this account via Mini Credit in order for further collections activity to proceed on a contingency basis for Mini Credit, as this was the basis of our relationship at that period of time.

 

On the 18th of December 2014, we had received an email direct from Mini Credit which was directed for yourself, advising that they have reviewed the account and subsequently decided that they were under the belief that the loan was highly unlikely that it was taken out by yourself, and consequently closed it off as Fraud. After we were in receipt of this email, we subsequently closed off the account as Fraud due to this information submitted to ourselves and no further action was to proceed in terms of Opos Limited proceeding further and Mini Credit advising that this would be struck from your credit file.

 

As it has been noted, a default notice from Kapama Limited has been applied to your credit file, however, after further investigation, I can conclude that this has been applied through technical errors, as Call Credit had recently applied this additional continuation of Mini Credit defaults on your previous default with Mini Credit on behalf of Kapama Limited, due to a portfolio purchase previously of Mini Credit accounts prior to them ceasing to trade. I understand that Mini Credit had wiped your previous default, however, it would appear that your account was not recognised as Closed once the initial report was sent out due to this.

 

Please accept my sincere apologies regarding this, I understand your disappointment and frustration regarding this issue, however this will be amended forthright and Call Credit will be advised to remove the default completely, as it was previously.

 

If you remain unhappy, you also have the option to contact the Financial Ombudsman Service, so long as you do this within six months of the date of this email.

 

 

 

Yours Sincerely,

 

Derek Caldwell

 

Any advice on this one? Im really stuck. The original complaint was resolved but its still apparent that it hasnt and the 6 months to refer to the FOS have passed. I am also concerned because if an account is shut down due to fraud then no further balance remains, however the FCA confirmed to me that I shouldnt be getting statements for an account that doesn't exist no longer where I am not a debtor?

And Breathe...........

So in a nut shell...

- Account with Fraud

- OC Wrote off

- DCA Claimed to close account and writ eoff

- Still sending emails etc

- Already complained

- Concerned that issue will reignite, and on the last C+D notice I sent, I told them it would go legal if it didnt stop.

- All in 18 - 24 months.

If the muppets even tried court I think they would be stuffed by their unlawful charges plus the background info, the fraud etc.

Presumably you have the whole sorry letter trail?

More an inconvenience then than anything else and i dont mean to belittle the situation, i assume theres nothing derogatory on your CRA?

If they do try a claim can we all come for the day, just for laughs?

If no adverse reporting then I would invite them to take the matter further so a judge can tell them in no uncertain terms the worth of their taradiddles. If incorrectly reporting then a lba

They wont go near court. As for the C&D letter, why didn't you follow it up when they called your bluff? You know better than that!

Oh one more thing, all those companies are ran by the same people.

They won't go near court... But I will... I didn't follow through because they said they had sorted the issue. And I took them at face value.

But yet again they openly admitted today they screwed up but still not good enough for me.

Would it be worth taking this legal?

My understanding...

This debt arose out of identity fraud. The original company has acknowledged and accepted this and said they had closed this. However, they then sold the account on with the same details. You have advised the new company/DCA the outcome of your complaint to the original company - but they are still pursuing for payment, yes ?

IMHO, you need to restart the complaint process.

Send a formal complaint to the company who are pursuing, with a copy sent to Minicredit. Head/registered office - CEO.

IMHO, at the very least you want confirmation that this account is CLOSED in your name. You want a written apology and some compensation for your having to deal with this yet again.

The complaint is against the dca... Always has been...

You informed the DCA that you were a victim of ID fraud.

DCA agreed, and said they closed the account

DCA then sells the debt on to its sister companies.

Your issue is with the DCA

Youve rolled over and let them bluff you for too long. get the ball rolling and if the DCA doesnt get the debt back, and write it off in full, get that LBA out, and on the day it expires, get a claim form in.

And my worst fear has occurred... The Defaulted Fraud account is back on my CRA....

FOR A 3RD TIME!!!

Time to sue them FKO.

Look up the Durkin thread.

Do NOT let them off.

Really go for the head, ignore the FOS Route?

I'm compiling a file now as im tired of this. Problem is though, If i take it legal, what do i put as an amount?

Really go for the head, ignore the FOS Route?

 

I'm compiling a file now as im tired of this. Problem is though, If i take it legal, what do i put as an amount?

Just put 'Damages'

How does the rest of your CRA file look?

If it's good, you could try for a credit card and see what rate they throw at you.

Already got 2 from Cap One but they are at 34.9%

As its a damages claim, hit them for 10k, it will get their attention!!

But what happens Do i not have to pay a percentage of that to raise a case?

10k sounds like they will just laugh at it!

LBA to the dca, 14 days to remove it or N1 for damages in the region of 10k will be issued

Costs £410 via mcol or £455 via ccmcc, added to the claim of course

Percentage is for claims above 10k

LBA went twice in 2015 and in April too...

So now i just pull the trigger?

My issue is that I want to do this reasonably and the costs have to be justifiable and reasonable otherwise a Judge will throw the case out right?

I am going to assume you have a sizeable dossier if youve had it removed twice already, proving it should not be there?

That being the case why wouldnt you now take court action?

I can accept its a hefty chunk to shell out in costs but at the same time it should undefendable as well

Hell yeah... Even original emails from Minicredit saying they will get OPOS to remove it as this was when they were closing down in 2014....

It's all emails but it's all-in writing...

I can sit here and advise and help people all day long but its always different when its your own business your dealing with.

What would you advise Someone posting a similar thread?

Well I would say complain first before legal but now it has gone past that I would say legal.

Opos and Kapama i believe are based on Scotland... How would that affect a claim and would I have to travel there in the event it was transferred to a local County Court / Sheriffs Court?