Good afternoon! I wanted to share with you the experience I have had following my sending a complaint to the FCA about Hoist Portfolio Holdings 2 and Howard Cohen. The latter two have been pursuing my husband for a debt that doesn't belong to him, and HPH2 lodged a claim against him via the Court in Northampton. Because he is recovering from cancer and a serious heart attack, I have had to take over trying to deal with all this. The original debt was with HSBC, an overdraft apparently, and was sold on to MKDP, then on to Hoist, who are now seeking a CCJ. I reiterate that it is NOT my husband's debt, he has never had any sort of account with HSBC, ever. This fact formed his defence, of course, that and the fact that the debt appears to be statute-barred, regardless of who it might belong to. We are now waiting to hear what is to happen next. I was so angry about the whole situation that I decided to write to the FCA, thinking, naively as it turns out, that they would be able to investigate Hoist, at least, and give them a good legal thrashing and tell them to leave us alone. Hah! Was I wrong?!! I got a letter back from them which repeated mine to them almost word for word, and then it said that Hoist are no longer recognised by the FCA, are not subject to their regulations, therefore they can do absolutely nothing about them. They very helpfully pointed me in the direction of my local Citizen's Advice Bureau. I was gobsmacked - what's the point of the FCA if they can't investigate the conduct of a debt-buying outfit who have caused the two of us so much extra worry and upset? I doubt we're alone - judging by the threads on this Forum, there are thousands just like us. If the FCA is this ineffectual, who can I contact who might be able to actually do something? I already feel better having offloaded on all you good CAGGERS! Thank you all. Catherine

Good morning! I posted in September about this, but can't now find my original post - sorry! Please could you good people give me some guidance regarding the forms that have now arrived from the Courts Centre in Northampton? The background to this - a Claim arrived totally out of the blue (no previous threatograms or anything from Hoist or anyone else) in mid-September. It concerns an alleged outstanding overdraft, the original creditor being HSBC. The claim is against my husband. It is not his debt - he has never had any account, ever, with HSBC. The form was completed with this defence, it not being his debt. It wasn't until we'd sent back the form (having been perhaps understandably concerned to get it back in good time) that I took a far closer look at it and realised that, whoever's debt it is, it is now statute barred - the date mentioned on the claim details was, I think, 15th September 2010. We wrote to Hoist, their "solicitors" Howard Cohen and also to the Courts Centre, to point out this fact, and asked that, it being apparently statute barred, and not my husband's debt anyway, that the claim against him be dropped forthwith, unless Hoist/Howard Cohen could come up with any evidence to suggest otherwise within 21 days. We had heard absolute diddly from anyone until the forms arrived from the Courts Centre yesterday. It is headed "Notice of Proposed Allocation to the Small Claims Track", and we have to respond by 14th November. Under "Important Notice" it says "If you do not comply with this notice, the court will make such order as appears to be appropriate. This could include striking out the claim or entering judgement". What confused me a little was under "TAKE NOTICE THAT" it says "This is now a defended claim. A copy of the defence has already been sent to you by the defendant". Now of course, my husband IS the defendant, and we only sent stuff back to the Courts Centre, not to anyone else. Is what he has received, therefore, a copy of what has gone to Hoist/Howard Cohen? Attached to this notice is a Directions Questionnaire (Small Claims Track), an N180, I believe. Then, there is an EX730, which says "Would you like to settle your case without going to a court hearing?" and goes on to explain about mediation. I should say that we've never received anything in the form of evidence against my husband, i.e. nothing to prove that the debt is his, and as I said, nothing from Hoist/Howard Cohen, ever, prior to receiving the Claim notice in September. Simply because it is relevant to us, I will tell you that my husband is recovering from a massive heart attack, and I have therefore been acting on his behalf during this imposition from Hoist/Howard Cohen. He simply does not have the strength, physically or mentally, to try and deal with this right now. Please could you advise me how I should now proceed on his behalf? What should I put on the form, if anything? Needless to say, I do not want to incur any expenditure if it's not necessary. My very grateful thanks to you all. Catherine.

Ha ha! Obviously! I've created an account for him, anyway, so we can get straight on with it when I can see all the reference numbers etc.

dx - I've not got the paperwork with me to refer to, but will jump online as soon as I get home this evening, with hubby. Thanks so much for all your help - I'll come back with any update. Catherine.

Hubby's choice to do it by post, Andy, and I take your point regarding documentation for an overdraft - as it didn't exist in the first place, I think they'll have a hard time finding any evidence in any case! We've obviously kept copies of everything we've sent, and I'll track the letters' delivery, of course.

Hi, dx100uk - we sent the Claim Form acknowledgement back telling the court that my husband will most certainly be defending the claim. We have also written to the "solicitors" named on the claim, Howard Cohen & Co, and also Hoist whatever-they-are telling them that we've done so. I noted that the date given under Particulars of the Claim mentions that the alleged debt arose or was sold to Hoist whatever-they-are on 17th September 2010. The claim from the court is dated 19th September 2016, so in the letters, it has been suggested that, whoever is responsible for this alleged debt, it is very likely to be statute barred now. We have made absolutely certain that we have stated as often as possible that my husband denies that he owes this alleged debt, and most definitely not to Hoist, or the original creditor, HSBC. We sent off a CPR 13 (is that correct, I've not got the paperwork with me to check) request for copies of the "agreements" and any other paperwork that they consider proves his guilt, all done by "Signed For" post, and keeping proof of postage.

Thanks very much Old Cogger and Andy - I've printed off the information to take home to my husband this evening, and we can go through it. Catherine.

Cheers, Andy!

Sorry, Old Cogger, ignoramus here doesn't know what MCOL is???

Good morning! My husband received a Claim Form from the Court Business Centre in Northampton yesterday, in respect of Hoist something-or-another, regarding an alleged debt of around £340, which was apparently an unarranged overdraft at HSBC. He's never banked at HSBC, so the debt cannot be his, but of course, we need to respond, or he'll end up with an undeserved CCJ. I should add that with "charges" and "legal fees" the full amount they allege he owes is over £1000. What is the best way to complete the form to ensure that they know he does not acknowledge this debt? Thank you very much for your help - Catherine.

Good morning! My husband received a Claim Form mentioning this Hoist lot yesterday, telling him that it was in respect of an unarranged overdraft at HSBC, which was initially £345, but with added charges and fees, the sum was now over £1000. The thing is, he's never banked with HSBC. Clearly, we can't ignore the form, or he'll have a totally undeserved CCJ made against him, but please could you advise how we should complete the claim form in order to make them aware that he's never banked with HSBC and therefore, this alleged debt is not his? Thank you so much - Catherine.

Hi, steampowered - yes, I've considered that this might now be "out of date" - all the recent publicity about numerous other scandalous financial behaviour nudged my memory, and I started to think whether or not some sort of recompense might be forthcoming. In 1989, of course, none of this had become public, and no one ever seemed to question any of the actions of any financial institution. I can't recall now if my parents even wrote to the Daily Mail's "Money Mail" as they'd thought they might. I think they felt they just had to accept that they'd made a bad choice, and had to live with it. This would have been an "advised" investment - my parents would never have known about agricultural bonds otherwise! I'll see if I can get some more details from my dad, and see what he thinks about me at least making some enquiries. If it can go nowhere, we're no worse off, after all.

Hi, raydetinu - I'll have to grill my father about all those details. I find it hard to believe that there weren't regular updates, but really, my parents aren't daft, and would have taken note of anything telling them that the investment was not doing well. Anything to do with money, and they were always on the ball. I was only 11 and my sister only 8 at the time the money was invested, so we never had anything to do with what might or might not be happening. My parents clearly believed they were investing as best they could for our futures. For some reason, the name "Sun" pops into my mind when I think about this, and I know there are a number of companies using that as part of their name. I've also wondered if my parents used a broker of some sort, but again, I'll need to question my dad.

Good morning! In 1977 (yes, I said it was old!), my parents invested money that had been left to my sister and myself by our grandfather (his entire estate other than his house, bless him). They decided to put it into what my mother said were "agricultural bonds". Over the years, up to 1989, every now and then we were able to take out small amounts, and I remember one of these paying for a school trip, in particular. In 1989, I got engaged, and was very happy with the fact that I had Granddad's money to help me make a decent start to married life, namely on the property ladder. It was agreed, therefore, that the investment as a whole would be reviewed, and my share taken out in its entirety, to give me a deposit for a home. The initial investment had been £6000 each for my sister and me. Imagine my parents' horror, therefore, when they were told that all that was left to share between us was £2,300. Of course they had always understood that such investments can go up and down, but this seemed rather extreme, and they had had no advice that things weren't looking good, would they like to review the arrangements. It would have been better, ultimately, if they'd just put it all in a building society. At least we would still have had the initial amount. If I could find out the company via which they invested this money, would there still be a chance that we could seek some sort of compensation? I know it's also a long time since 1989, when the shortfall became known, but I don't think my parents even thought of doing anything other than writing to the Daily Mail's "Money Mail"! It's always made me feel really angry that it was just left as "one of those things", with my parents feeling very guilty that they'd made a bad investment, when in fact it might not have been down to them at all. Any thoughts on this would be really interesting! Thank you!

I just wanted to post an update on this saga! The FOS referred my husband, finally, to FSCS, and we now have a form to fill in to pursue his claim against Choice Finance UK Ltd. I managed to get Park Motor Finance to provide some paperwork, all sent via email recently. There was a copy of the application for the finance, and there were some errors on that which make me wonder if it was EVER above board!! However, that aside, Park also attached a copy of MMS Ltd's complaints procedure. Now, this is a name that has never entered the equation previously. Can anyone tell me how they would be connected to all of this? To reiterate, the car finance was done through Park Motor Finance, they told us that the PPI was done via Choice Finance UK Ltd, and we now have this complaints procedure from MMS Ltd (Marketing and Management Services Ltd). Confused.com!!! Many thanks to you all, Catherine.

Alisindebt - I'm beginning to think that you rather enjoy humiliating Ms McShane and all others like her! Don't we all?!!I shall be firing off the letter suggested by Scarlet Pimpernel later today, and just daring these eejits to contact us again. As far as I'm concerned it is most definitely harrassment.

Thank you alisindebt and Scarlet Pimpernel - I had a good laugh about Ms McShane, too! My husband is absolutely certain this is nothing to do with him - he's never had a credit card, and we paid off his one and only personal loan two years ago. He's still got the same bank account he's had for years, with no overdraft. I'll suggest to him that we send the letter that Scarlet Pimpernel has put in his reply to me. I'm convinced that they are fishing for business, in any case.

Hi, Guys! This crew keep leaving messages on our answerphone, and now a letter has arrived from them, addressed to my husband, regarding a supposed debt he owes to something called Aktiv Kapital. This is nothing to do with him at all, totally not his debt. It's for just over £468. The envelope said "80% discount available for a limited time only!" like it was a hotshot product at a knockdown price! He's starting to get a little bothered by this, despite the fact it's nothing to do with him. The letter says "we know that you are still living at this address, and we urge you not to ignore this letter, but to take action before we send our doorstep collector". I have told him we should ignore this completely, as there really is nothing they can do, but he's uneasy, so I said I would consult all you Oracles out there in CAG land. Am I right? I just want to reassure him. Thank you so much, Catherine.

I'm suspecting "sloping shoulders" or "Tefal" syndrome!! Yes, do keep me posted - I think we may be in for the long haul!

Hi, Xcarlax - it's proving very interesting, and we have referred to the Ombudsman. I understand that Choice have indeed gone down the pan. I emailed Park Motor Finance to ask if they could tell me who underwrote the policy (at the request of the Ombudsman). A character called Ian Rooney emailed back to say that he would write directly to my husband (fine) to tell him. This has never happened, and I emailed him again to check that if he'd written, it had not gone to our previous address (we moved last year). He emailed back to say it was nothing to do with them, we had to contact Choice Finance, and gave the address from which we'd had our letter returned!! Interestingly, Mr Rooney also appears to work for Churchill Recovery (his first email came with that signature block on it). The last note came from him at Park Motor Finance. Many fingers, many pies...The Ombudsman's office has come back to us in the interim, and they have contacted two companies we've never heard of before, who are apparently involved in the IPP matter. We now have to fill out yet another form, with the same information we've already supplied to the Ombudsman, for these two companies to consider. I still don't know who underwrote the policy, by the way!! Whatever any of these people think, a car salesman in a poky office, and nothing else, is not the correct way to have sold my husband PPI. Anything new, I'll post again.

Cheers Big Phil - I will definitely sort out a SAR. I'd really like a copy of the original agreement, too - I can't BELIEVE we might have binned that, but it's possible, I'm afraid. I'm sure Park would be delighted to provide it!

Hi, everybody. I am helping my husband pursue a PPI claim, which we recently sent to Park Motor Finance in respect of car finance he had, and which was fully paid off as at July 2011. A letter came back from Park the other day, telling him that THEY didn't sell him the policy, it was Choice Finance UK Ltd, and therefore he has to get in touch with them. Now, we never met anyone from either Park or Choice. All the paperwork was completed at the car dealership, in Titchfield near Fareham in Hampshire. The guy who did all the paperwork with us was the proprietor of the dealership, as far as either of us is aware. We have been unable to find any helpful paperwork at home, unfortunately - we moved house last year, and I have a horrid feeling that we chose to part with quite a lot of stuff, mainly because everything was paid up. The only thing we really have is my husband's reference number for Park Motor Finance. Obviously, we intend contacting Choice now - will the reference number for Park be sufficient for them to check their records, or will we need to try and get copies of the documentation? I'm sure that Park are really just trying to wheedle out of this, but hey! Nothing ventured, nothing gained! Any advice will be very much appreciated.

Hi, Night Owl - thank you for your really excellent reply. I agree, I think they did find the tumour by accident - it's not that so much, it's the total lack of communication of what they found, when they found it. She had her last scan of any kind four weeks ago, so it must have been then that they spotted it. My father, sister and I were not told anything about it. I agree, too, that their investigations into other things will probably have ultimately saved her life, but again, we needed to be told about it weeks ago. The look on my father's face last Friday, when I called to see them, said it all really. He's coped with so much since January, watching his wife of 50 years become a totally different person (she has vascular dementia, diagnosed in March), and go through a great deal of pain (the various different kidney issues, and the back problem), that finding out about the cancer like that just topped it all, really. We certainly have no complaint about her actual care - the nursing staff were wonderful.

Hello, Nightowl and Rebel11 - we literally found out about the renal cancer on Friday. There had been no mention of it prior to my parents' GP's visit to them on that morning, not even prior to the full body scan. What we were told about that was that it was to determine whether or not she had an underlying problem that would prevent her from having intense physio to help with her poor mobility. She had a biopsy, but not for the kidney - she has something called spondylodiscitis, a back condition, and they feared that there might be an infection present in that regard. That was clear. We've had no chance, as yet, to speak to anyone other than their GP, who is brilliant (and retiring at the end of the month!!). Mother will need to have some sort of treatment for the cancer, obviously, and the GP has told my father about the various options, but that it will ultimately depend on her overall state of health - she might not be up to having a standard nephrectomy, for example, but keyhole surgery might be fine. My sister and I were just so angry that my dad had been treated this way - he, in particular, has had to bear the biggest burden whilst Mother has been ill and in hospital this year. I have the details for PALS, and am prepared to swing into action if we don't get the answers we need and want!

My mother has spent the best part of this year in and out of hospital, following a serious urinary tract infection, a kidney infection, several mini strokes which have left her with a form of dementia, and then a drastic drop in her potassium levels, which caused her admission to hospital (again) on 15th April. She came home on 8th June! While she was in there (the potassium issue was resolved very quickly), she had a pelvic scan and a full body scan. My father visited every single day. These days she has quite severe mobility problems, and has an army of carers who help her and my dad, now she's back home. On Friday, their GP called in, unannounced, and showed my father a letter he'd had from the hospital. He'd already ascertained that my father had no knowledge of its contents. The letter said that my mother had suffered a pulmonary embolism whilst in hospital, and that she now takes Warfarin to thin her blood to protect against another, and also that she has renal cancer. The latter was picked up on the full body scan she had around a month ago. Neither my dad, my sister nor I had any knowledge of this at all until Friday. We are totally speechless, as well as very shocked. We have written a strong letter of complaint at how we have been treated - my dad in particular was very distressed. We haven't told Mother yet - she has an appalling short term memory, but we know that she'll be really frightened. We'll have to talk to her eventually, as she will have to have an operation, but none of us is looking forward to that. How dare the hospital behave this way? We are now waiting for a reply to our complaint.....