I wondered if anyone could give advice on the following. We went away over the bank holiday weekend (first trip away in 14 months). Friday 30 April departed, Sunday afternoon, phone call from son to inform us that the house had been broken into (back door kicked in and TV etc stolen)on Saturday 1 May and that the back door had been boarded over and there was a hand written note from the police on the kitchen table. Fast forward to today and I have just received a letter from a company containing an invoice for a total of £150.40 inc vat...... nearly fell over when I saw the amount. I have very little income as my self employed work has been very little since I was diagnosed with cancer a year ago. To make matters worse I am not covered by insurance as I could not afford the premiums. I don't know who requested the boarding up. What if anything can I do about this. I am not against being charged for the door being boarded but I do think that the amount is extortionate. I expected a bill of around £50.00 to £70.00 max. Any idea's or info would be appreciated as this is very worrying. Paul.

Hi there, Has anybody heard of BPO Collections? Was wondering if maybe they were a subsidiary of Capquest as have received a demand from them naming Capquest as their client. The alleged debt in question is not only in dispute, but has had a Statuory Demand sucessfully set aside, Capquest having failed to fulfil a CCA request. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.

Subscribing to this one! Good luck Jadzia

Hi VW, Seems they are attemting to dupe you (see my post). Was there anything on the reverse of the application form?

Thanks all for your advice, does anyone know of an instance where the application for costs has been refused?

Might just use this against the DCA'S.

Yep, that's it....nothing else at all.

Hi, We have received this in response to a CCA request from Capquest (relating to a SD). An application to have the SD set aside has been granted with a hearing at the end of November. Two days after receiving the attached, a letter has been received from Capquest saying that they agree the SD should be set aside but with no order to costs. Is it still a good idea to go to the hearing as Capquest are not to be trusted??? Thanks in advance for advice. IMG.pdf IMG_0001.pdf

As the DCA know where you are and have already been in contact with you, I would send them a CCA request now. If they can't comply within 12 working days of receipt (most can't), the alleged debt is in dispute and they cannot continue to pursue until they comply. After a further 30 days, they would be committing a criminal offence if they tried to pursue without having first complying with your CCA request. Send the one pound payment in the form of a postal order (you don't want them knowing any of your bank details). As previously mentioned don't sign the letter and send by recorded/special delivery.

Well done CB!!!! Really pleased for you.

Subscribing. Good luck bach !!

Nice one CB

A few points. The nature of the debt, what was it , credit card, overdraft etc, important as CCA request might not be valid. You wrote that Lowell bought the debt yet your CCA reply letter from them stated 'our client' which indicates Lowell were collecting on behalf of Barclays. You need to know if Lowell own the debt or were the collecting agent on behalf of Barclays. If Lowell had bought the debt (assuming the CCA request was valid and they are ignoring it) then I would send a S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) to them. This would show all charges applied to the account, some of which may have been unlawful. This request comes under the Data Protection Act and they would have 40 days to comply. I would send a SAR to Barclays as they were the original creditor and you need to know what charges were applied to the debt. You could then compare the two and work out the charges Lowell applied since they became the owners of the debt. As for the CCJ, I believe you can apply to have it removed provided you can satisfy one or more of the criteria as mentioned earlier in your thread. There are a number of directions you can take with varying degrees of risk regarding the outcome.. From trying to reclaim any unlawful charges applied to the account to complaints to trading standards, OFT, ICF etc and ultimately court proceedings for damages dependant on the proof of wrong doings that you can uncover. The latter could cost you dearly. Personally I would see if I could claim back any unlawful charges and make complaints regarding unlawful charges, non compliance with CCA request (assuming it was valid) and non compliance with SAR requests (assuming they don't comply).

In theory information from a SAR request should show the names of companies who have accessed the register of the individual concerned. By applying for the credit check, the individual is giving permission for their details to be gathered and more importantly (but not made clear by the CRA) used to update the register which is accessed by DCA's.

DD, I would. The CCA goes to Crapquest and the S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) to Crapitol One. Crapquest are obliged to send you a statement of account (will show charges added since they took it over), compare it to the statement as part of the SAR from Crapitol One and you will probably find a discrepancy. Could be unlawful charges that you can have removed. Think my 'r' key keeps kicking in whenever I type in a creditor or dca....very strange.