Have just checked dates - if its 5 years in Scotland this is def statute barred. Thanks for help 42 - 2nd part of post quotes English law as i am over the border up north i cant add to my letter but thanks anyway. LB

NB I didnt get any communication from BCW once I had sent my letter.

I have been chased for an old alleged debt now for the last 2 years. Originally it was Ruthbridge who I CCA'd back in April 07. I got nothing back from them. I then got a letter about the same debt from BCW in June 08. I sent them a letter stating the dispute with Ruthbridge. The letter that starts " I am rather bemused . . . . . " I made a complaint to the ICO re BCW which has yet to be investigated as they have a huge backlog. Yesterday i got a letter from MacKenzie Hall about the same alleged debt telling me they were going to come round to my house for a doorstep assesment in the next 10 days regarding the same alleged debt. I have no doubt this a scare tactic and they won't appear but still not very nice. Are DC's totally above the law? Can they do what they want? What do I do now with regard to Mac Hall? The ironic thing is that I am pretty certain this alleged debt is statue barred. Any help, as usual, very gratefully receieved. LB http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/debt-collection-industry/146029-cabot-ruthbridge-bcw.html

Does anyone have a template for a letter i could Send to BCW stating that; 1/ They have no credit agreement 2/ They bought an alleged debt that was in dispute with another DCA 3/ The debt is statute barred 4/ They have broken nearly every rule in the book ?????

Back in August 2007 I got a few letters from Ruthbridge about a Debt with Cabot. I sent the a SAR - the threatening letters kept coming but I didnt get a true signed copy of the alledged agreement. The letters eventually stopped. I am pretty sure the debt is statute barred. In June of this year i got a letter from BCW asking me to pay the same debt. I pointed out to BCW that Ruthbridge were in default of the orignal CCA request and whilst this was the case no enforcement action was permitted. I asked them to return the account to Ruthbridge as BCW could not lawfully pursue it. I have now discovered that BCW put a table 1 outstanding debt search on my credit file with Equifax. I complained, equifax contacted bcw and i got the following response "search is in relation to an outstanding acct due to our clienst Cabot Financial in respect of an outstanding mastercard debt. We have not been advised that the balance has been cleared or queried and therefore the serach cannot be deleted" So BCW have acted outwith the law yet Equifax is happy to let them continue you put their grubby paws over my credit report. IS there anything I can do or are DCA's totally above the law? I am so bl**dy angry. LB

Sorry - it was Equifax not experian - not sure how to edit that??? LB

I have just got my Equifax report and there are 'Outstanding Debt' searches on there which are not 'Soft' searches. I am told these will stay there for 6 years. One of them is from a company that tried to chase for a debt that was statute barred. The debt was already in dipute with another DCAand i wrote telling them so and pointing out that they were in breach of OFT collection guidlines, the Consumer Credit Act and the Data Protection Act. The orignal DCA was also in default of my CCA request. Another DCA has searched my account twice at two of my addresses in Aug 2007 - a company I have never heard of and have no rcollection of ever having any contact with. Yet they have left their mucky footprint all over my credit file. Can I get these searches removed as one is certainly spurious to say the least and the other i hve never heard of?? Your help would be much appreciated LB

I have just got my Equifax report and there are 'Outstanding Debt' searches on there which are not 'Soft' searches. I am told these will stay there for 6 years. One of them is from a company that tried to chase for a debt that was statute barred. The debt was already in dipute with another DCAand i wrote telling them so and pointing out that they were in breach of OFT collection guidlines, the Consumer Credit Act and the Data Protection Act. The orignal DCA was also in default of my CCA request. Another DCA has searched my account twice at two of my addresses in Aug 2007 - a company I have never heard of and have no rcollection of ever having any contact with. Yet they have left their mucky footprint all over my credit file. Can I get these searches removed as one is certainly spurious to say the least and the other i hve never heard of?? Your help would be much appreciated LB

Thank you! LB

Can someone help me with these templates? have had a good look round but can only find letters that help me recover bank charges - that's for another day . . . . !! Thank you.

Thank you - where do I find the templates???? LB

About a year ago I got a spurious letter from Ruthbridge claiming that i owed them £4,916.04 for an alleged debt with Cabot. I was pretty certain the debt is statue barred. I went through the process of writing to them to ask to see all relevant info regarding debt and not admitting to having any indebtedness with anyone. Needless to say all I got back from Ruthbridge was more letters demanding payment and they didnt acknowledge my letters. I never talked to them and eventually the letters stopped. Recently I got a fromal demand letter from bucahan clark & wells stating i owed them £5,475.53 for apprently the same alleged debt. Do I have to go through the whole process again and keep going through this process as the alleged debt gets passed around??? Any advice on how to take this one forward would be very much appreciated. LB

I have worked for sales Cos in the past and I know that their methods are often underhand. They often want you to buy without realising what you have done. Its often not against the law but perhaps goes against the spirit if the law. When the MD has just bought a new Aston Martin he doesnt care about the spirit of the law just what the sales volumes are. The sales ptich is designed to be subtle. 'How does this sound . . . ?' 'How does that sound . . . ?' 'Is 2 days delivery ok?'. And its done. The only way around it is to say at the begnining of the call 'you can describe your goods but I am not going to buy anything from you on the evidence of this call as I am not authorised to do so' Usually gets rid of them. Have found a company that will courier the delivery back for about £15. Seems the most sensible way out. Better check their canx policy on their T&C's!!!!

What about when it is signed for on delivery???

The total amount of the invoice was never mentioned in the conversation, just its component parts - ie five units contaning 5 litres each at £x per litre. Shipping cost and total costs were not mentioned. T&C's were attached to the invoice. I agree in my mind there is no sale - but it may well be tricky to prove. These sales co's know how they can push the law and reasonable practice to the limit. Thanks anyway.

They covered that in the call asking if they needed a purchase order or if they could use the persons name that they were speaking to - the person said it was ok to use their name as a purchase order. It seems this Co know what they are doing.

My company were recently cold called by a cleaning chemicals company. This company had sent out a gift of a bottle of wine previous to the call. They then proceeded to tell us about their products - how much they cost, what size the oprder came in etc etc. At the end of the call they said soimething along the lines of 'How does that sound' - my colleague replies 'Sounds good!' Unbeknown to her she had just placed an order. Today we received 40 litres of cleaning product which we dont really want. I have complained to the cleaning company who got a recording of the call and allowed me to listen back to it. I could just about make out what was being said. I was a little annoyed at my colleagues naivity but think there is a case there to suggest that the selling Co were being a bit underhand with the way they were trying to sell. I asked for a transcript of the call but the person I spoke to said she was unlikely to get round to doing it. I said i wanted to study the call and work out if they had acted in a fair and resonable manner or if theyhad not. i stated I could not do so after hearing the conversation fot the first time. I told her that if the transcirpt did prove there was a legitimate sale there I would write a cheque. I was told that they may not be able to give a transcript of the call as the person i was speaking to had better things to do with her time and that recordings usually get destroyed after 24hrs. I suggested that i what i was asking for was fair and reasonable and if it wasnt provided then the contract of sale was null and void and we were not liable for the cost of cleaning products. Indeed if they were not picked up they would be liable for rent for the sapce the products took up in our premisies as long as they were there. Am i within my rights to demand a transcript before I make a decision on payment (i was told they do not have the facility to email call recordings)??? What other avenues are open to me?? Many thanks for any help that anyone amy be able to come up with.

Anyone who tries to evade paying income tax/nic or indeed council tax should be reported. no one likes paying tax, but, as i have found out, if you dont others end paying indirectly for you to sponge off the state. My record in the past has not been great where council tax is concerned, but I have almost paid off my arrears. Its taken a while and it has taken a huge amount of effort but i am almost there. This lad needs to pay his way - there is no negotiation on that. Glaswejen - as a fellow Scot i say your instinct was right. If the Irish lad wants to come over here, he needs to pay his way - end of.

I have been paying off Council Tax Arrears for several years at a rate of £60/month. In total i have paid about £3060. The council have never chased me for more payments - not sure if that is because they dont know where I am (I have moved a few times) or if they are happy with the rate of payments. In any case I couldnt really afford too much more. The bills are for between March 2000 and May 2004. I never claimed the discount for living alone as I never communicated with the council. The problem i have now is that the council will think the total i owe is around £4600 plus about £350 in fees and I think its around £3500 with about £350 in fees. The lower figure is incuding the 75% discount for living alone. I also sold the flat Jan 04 an moved away. I want to get rid of this debt asap but am worried that if i make contact with the council they will insist that i pay back the £4600 amount as i remember the forms stating that if you dont pay your council taxt you may not get the discounts. Since Jan 04 I have never missed a council tax payment and have even moved back to the area i originally lived in - have been here for about year without any missed payments and i have no intention of missing any in the future. Anyone got anyadvice???? PS Not sure it makes any difference but the debt in question is with a council in Scotland

What if they have evidence of letters being sent out to me that are within the 5 year period?

Thanks guys - letter will go out tomorrow!

Wow! Ok to confrim i have never contacted the Debt collectors (as i dont speak neanderthal - no insult meant to our illustrious ancestors). Last night i spoke with the Student Loans 'leagal dept'. In the considered opinion of you guys these spurious charges cannot be reclaimed or chased by SL as the 5 year period is over????? COuld you confrim so i can send the letter??? Off for a wee walk (with much missed spring in step returned). Thank you so very much.

Have taken some legal advice - as I spoke to SL last night and even though i told them i did not admit any idebtedness to them i have in effect undone the statue barring! Thats a leson to us all!

they also say the decree/ccj is no longer there as it dropsoff after 6 years

But wont they just send out a statement saying these are the charges on the account? Am not sure how i can ask them to prove what is left on the debt, they told me last night and were pretty sure about it? To correct my post above - debt was paid off in July 2000 (not 2007!!!)