Some councils have In-house bailifs employed directly by the council.

I think some of them are statute barred already.

Do Halifax have any idea which DCA companies they have farmed out debts/accounts to? and secondly when Halifax then pass the account over to another DCA, do Halifax ensure that all the personal data on customers is destroyed? I think there is an issue here for the ICO.

My advice would be "Do not ask for reduced payments" That implies that you acknowledge the debt.

Wait and see what they do next. They may phone you up next.

Because I also got a similar communication from First Credit and or Halifax. As did hundreds or thousands of other customers of Halifax.

Notice of Assignment We are writing to notify you that Bank of Scotland plc has assigned all of its respective rights,title and interest in respect of the above referred account (including the outstanding balance) to 1st Credit (Finance) 5 Limited, effective 31/07/2012. Under the terms of this assignment, and as defined in the Data Protection Act 1998, 1st Credit (Finance) 5 Limited, is now the Data Controller of your personal data contained in the records of this account. Yours sincerely Craig Ballantine ( Note that signature is blurred and looks fake)

What is the position on the automated phone calls that Halifax sometimes make? Do Halifax keep records of those phone calls on your account?

I did not say Ignore, I suggested "wait and see" what they say or do next.

It seems as though Halifax have deliberately divested themselves of a big batch of troublesome accounts. I think they know they have behaved very badly with charges in the past, and therefore have deliberately not taken people to court because they did not want to stir up a hornets nest. First credit are on very weak ground, and my suggestion would be not to do anything more for a month or so. Wait and see what they do next.

But, reading the rules and regs about Notice of Assignments, it is my belief that what First Credit have sent out as NoA would not stand up in Court as being genuine. They contain no phone number of Halifax, and I doubt that the signature is valid.

In my humble opinion that is not a valid Notice of assignment, for several reasons.

Did First Credit send a valid and genuine Notice of Assignment to you?

They Halifax seem to be extremely reluctant to take anyone to court, I wonder why? Have they lost all the files?