Deceased Mother's Debt And Phillips & Cohen Associates

[rory32]

Did you place a s.27 notice (creditors notice) in your local newspaper and the London Gazette? (one must be in the London Gazette and the other in the place where they lived).

 

The OP is in Scotland. Confirmation would apply not probate. If there is no estate or their is a small estate confirmation may not be reqired.

[SickofAbbey]

Sorry didn't realise. I do probate in England so cannot help with scottish as it's different.

[rory32]

It's more or less the same procedure, for instance you would still put an add in the local paper and one of the National ones (I think it's one of the Edinburgh ones rather than Glasgow) if the value of the estate is high enough.

[sea-sidelady]

I will be using the letter as my case is almost identiacal, but its only 12 months, and its with Littlewoods.

 

So all this information has been very useful as it is such a hard thing to deal with, it nice to know you get everything right.

 

And im in England.

[sillygirl1]

This reminds me of a story I heard earlier this week, a friend who is a gravedigger in a big London cemetery told me that they frequently had people round from DCA's looking to see if people really were dead - he told me they sometimes liked to point to a freshly dug grave and tell the person they will be next.....

[andrew1]

This reminds me of a story I heard earlier this week, a friend who is a gravedigger in a big London cemetery told me that they frequently had people round from DCA's looking to see if people really were dead - he told me they sometimes liked to point to a freshly dug grave and tell the person they will be next.....

 

Sounds almost as bad as a story I was told about antiques dealers who went in the night to fresh graves to dig up jewellery treasures people were buried with - that made me go cold at the very thought of it. Sickening what some will do...

[Kasei]

Well folks finally got a result, I sent the letter I posted above with the corrections suggested off to PCA on the 28th of september.

 

I returned home on friday from a business trip to Ireland to find the following replay lying on the doormat, dated the 2nd of October.

 

"Further to your letter in relation to correspondence issued to you regarding the late {Mother's Name}. I would like to convey my sincere apologies for any distress our letter may have caused you and your family and for any inconvenience which may have arisen as a result.

 

I am pleased to be able to advise you that we have now amended our records and closed the account in question; I can further confirm that you will receive no further correspondence from Phillips & Cohen Associates in relation to this matter.

 

I am sure this is a difficult time for the family, so we thank you for your patience and understanding.

 

Your sincerely

 

Richard Fenton

GM UK Operations"

 

Just like to say a big thanks to everyone who give me help with this, the letter came as a huge relief to my father, and we can now consider this put firmly to bed, and move on.

 

RESULT!!

[nuke em]

quote

http://www.csa-uk.com/csa/upload/Con...e%20 2007.pdf

 

Take a look at 14:00 in the conference agenda.

 

 

 

 

wish i'd had know about this conference, i would have gladly paid the entrance fee as a non-member, attended the "workshop sessions" and voice recorded all their tactics. I would have been particulary interested in Day 2

[sea-sidelady]

That is great, im so pleased you got that result.

 

1 less thing for you to worry about, and im so pleased your dad wont be getting any more letters from them.

[Goldlady]

Take a look at 14:00 in the conference agenda.

 

The very man - he must have the apology letter ready to send if he upsets anyone. HOW can these people sleep at night? Have they never suffered a bereavement?

[andrew1]

Perhaps now people might just understand why the CSA are self regulatory and why regulating the DCA's or purporting to be regulatory they do what they damned well like: It's like a gathering of the mafiosa:

 

Day 2

 

Motivating staff to maximise collection returns and

profitability of your business.

 

14.00 Ken Maynard, Chief Executive, Cabot Financial.

until recently, chief executive - CSA !

 

15.30 A new type of client is emerging - Debt purchasing

DCAs are becoming clients themselves.

 

"In outsourcing their collections what do they want to see

in their DCAs? Workshop and Discussion Forum.

Andrew Bartle - Chief Operations Officer, The Lowell Group.

Neville Megaw - Head of Operational Support, The Lowell Group. - read about them on this forum....

 

Sarah

[ODC]

Day 2

 

Motivating staff to maximise collection returns and

profitability of your business.

 

A Cynic may retitle this. New excuses and half truths to use on the telephone to gain more money out of people who do not know their rights thus ensuring you earn your monthly bonus.

[andrew1]

......and if you do it well, we'll give you free holidays and even a car as a reward .....training? What training?........ !

[ODC]

......and if you do it well, we'll give your free holidays and even a car as a reward .....training? What training?........ !

 

As we have noticed when anyone from a DCA posts on here English is obviously not a prerequisite for a job.

[sosumi]

At the time of my mothers death last year she owed £380 solely in her name to a catalogue firm, the catalogue account was protected by payment insurance, at the time of my mother's death I contacted the catalogue firm and informed them of the situation, they asked for a copy of the death certificate which i duly sent to them, they then refused to cover the repayments due to the cause of death, stating that they may change the decision based on the report of the family doctor, we contacted our GP who got in contact with them, and we heard nothing further regarding the matter until a letter arrived this morning addressed to the estate of my late mother from a debt collection firm, a full 14 months after her death.

 

The letter stated that the £380 was still outstanding and that they required information on whether an estate exists, I called the number and explained to them that my mother didn't leave an estate, the only thing she left was a funeral plan which at the time wasn't even sufficient cover the funeral costs, however this didn't deter the person on the phone who seemed hell bent on getting me to settle the debt in full, or agree to a payment plan, after much arguing I did finally get the person to admitt that the debt was solely in my mother's name and as such her spouse and children are not responsible for it, eventually they gave in trying to get me to pay for and said that they would have to conduct an investigation into whether I was telling the truth or not, and they would be in touch when they had the outcome of this investigation, they closed the call with asking me to think about the payment plan which I replied I didn't need to think about it as I wasn't willing to repay the debt, as it's not mine.

 

Just wondered where I stand with this am I in the right here, since there's no estate does this debt die with my mother?

 

What is likely to happen next?

Can they take me to court and attempt to force me to pay?

If they continue to send me letters regarding this and bombard me with phone calls, is there any action I can take to make the harassment stop?

Kasei, sorry I missed this - but very pleased to hear of a positive outcome.

A letter of apology never seems enough though, does it? Aggression first and always, assume the 'debtor' is 'lying', 'beat them down' tactics... Always the default approach from Debt Collection Agencies. Toads.

[Kasei]

Wonder how long it'll be before PCA try shipping it out to another DCA in order to recoup some of the cash they paid for it?

 

As the last letter from them does say :

"I can further confirm that you will receive no further correspondence from Phillips & Cohen Associates in relation to this matter."

 

In my mind that statement lacks clarity, as to whether the matter is closed once and for all, and doesn't rule out the possiblity that whilst they've promised to leave it alone, I won't hear about it again from someone else, chances are(knowing my luck like I do), another DCA will get hold of this and start the cycle of harassment all over again, think I've won this particular battle, but I'm reluctant to state with any great degree of certainty that I've won the war.

 

At least if someone else does buy this debt off PCA I can send them a copy of PCA's letter and tell them to go ask them for the money.

 

[ODC]

Its a certainty that some bottom feeder will pick it up in the future. It will probably be sold along with a bundle of other debts. That unfortunately is the way these people work.