Metropolitan Collection Services - Action on a stayed claim

[Castlebest]

Its been suggested to me this could be of great interest to a lot of people and therefore should be a bit more obvious to people browsing threads rather than hidden amongst the general chit chat on my thread so I've copied it onto its own thread and made it a little more serious.

 

I had a letter off Metropolitan Collection Services despite the fact my county court claim has been stayed and therefore my bank account and the outstanding balance is well and truly in dispute with HSBC themselves. here is what I have received;

 

 

Metropolitan Collection Services Limited

Debt Recovery Specialists 56 St James Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham

 

Mr Castlebest

Castlebest’s Castle

Hilltop

Birmingham

 

 

28th December 2007

 

 

Dear Mr Castlebest

 

Your account with HSBC Bank Plc

Account number xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Outstanding Balance £xxxx.xx

 

 

We have been instructed by our client to recover the outstanding balance on the above account

 

We now formally demand immediate payment of £xxxx.xx

 

You may make payment

 

By returning this letter together with your cheque, postal order or cash to the above address,

 

Or

 

Securely online at www.paymcs.com by debit or credit card.

 

Our offices are open between the hours of 8.00am and 9.00pm (Mon – Thur),

8.00am and 8.00pm (Fri) and 8.30am and 1.30pm (sat).

 

Failure to contact us could result in further costs being incurred and your account referred to debt collection agents who may call on you to collect payment.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

Metropolitan Collection services Ltd.

 

 

Its actually not a bad letter as letters go but this being my week to give up smoking they have got it with both barrels

 

 

Metropolitan Collection Services Limited

56 St James Road,

Edgbaston,

Birmingham

 

Dear Sirs

 

My account with HSBC Bank Plc

Account number xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Outstanding Balance £xxxx.xx

 

 

I note with interest you have been instructed by your client to recover the outstanding balance on the above account and the fact you now formally demand immediate payment of £xxxx.xx on behalf of your client following their own failed attempts to ignore the legal process and in my opinion extract money with menaces.

 

I draw your attention to my own county court claim number 7QZxxxxx which has now been stayed subject to your clients’ legal representative, DG Solicitors application to the court to await the outcome of the Commercial Court proceedings between the OFT and the Defendant (and seven others) comprised in Claim No. 2007 Folio 1186. I suggest you do the same, I’m sure as HSBC’s Debt Recovery Specialists you will be well aware of this situation by now.

 

I confirm any further costs you incur in this matter will be your own fault for being too stupid to read my correspondence and take heed of the current legal situation that exists and therefore will be at your own liability.

 

I further confirm if my account is referred to debt collection agents who try to act without the required legal backing and attempt to call on me collect payment I will contact the police to have them removed from my premises and commence harassment proceedings against them, you and your client.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Castlebest

 

 

to anyone with a stayed claim who receives this type of letter I would say there is very little the bank or any collection agency can do. If they are serious about recovery they will have to raise legal proceedings against you and all you will have to do is use your stayed claim as a defense

 

pete

[Castlebest]

As ever I have to agree with Lattie, I can see Metro sending out a few of this type of letter over the next few weeks in the hope they can recover some of the stayed claim account money.

 

Being little better than a DCA they wont particularly care that the accounts are in dispute and therefore should not be passed on by HSBC.

 

Interesting to note Metropolitans address... ring any bells? HSBC obviously like their pet solicitor and pet DCA in very close proximity to each other

 

pete

[Castlebest]

Thats a good letter SP they will have to think long and hard before they do anything else with the balance on your account .

 

I don't know if this is a new strategy as such or just Metropolitan trying to find something to do.

 

If they are in the same building as DG they will be on the HSBC computer network and are therefore probably just picking up accounts from that, I doubt very much if anyone at the bank actually refers anything to Metro.

[Castlebest]

Its a very strong letter but I was having a bad week and they were being particularly stupid

 

pete

[Castlebest]

To recover any debt legally they have to take you to court and get a CCJ against you. If you have a county court case pending for the same debt or even if you have written to the bank asking for your penalty charges to be repaid they will not do that.

 

If they do start county court proceedings just quote your pending case in the defence document or use the letter you have written to the bank as a basis for your defence and counter claim (we can and will help you do this).

 

Personally my (now closed) HSBC account has an overdrawn balance of about £300 under my claim value. I want to go to court to get this resolved but DG Solicitors applied for a stay on the claim. If the bank want to sort it out I am happy to go to court and let them pay me the difference between my claim and my overdraft until then they can whistle.

 

pete

[Castlebest]

So if I have this right...

HSBC have a historical CCJ against you for a debt of around £2,000.00 you have been paying this off by installments until recently..

 

Did you admit the debt or just ignore the paperwork?

 

The same account that this debt came from has around £2,500.00 in penalty charges which you now have claimed back and your case has been stayed.

 

I think there may be grounds to get the CCJ set aside and your claim to be brought into the whole proceedings but let me see if I can get some clarification on that...

 

pete

[Castlebest]

Here is the National Debtline factsheet for setting aside CCJ's

 

National Debtline England & Wales | Debt Advice | Factsheet 12 How To Set Aside A Judgment In The County Court

 

You need to complete an N244 form for the case number of the CCJ and in part A state at the time of the judgment you were unaware of the probable unlawfulness of the penalty charges included within the debt. You have since learned of this situation and commenced proceedings for recovery in case number (your court claim number) which has been stayed pending the outcome of the test case. You respectfully request the CCJ is also set aside pending the outcome of the test case as the sum remaining outstanding is now substantially smaller than the sum being claimed back.

(or something like that )

 

If the court agrees this should put you in a "stale mate" situation with DG Solicitors.

 

pete

[Castlebest]

Thanks for the replies guys. Just to clarify it was a personal current account. I also had a CC with around 4.5k owing and they had placed a charge on my house for this amount so when i re mortgaged they took this amount instantly with the proviso that i pay the O/D off around £100 a month. I then found this site and put a claim in for my charges but i still kept getting letters from DG saying that if i did not pay they would get a warrant of execution. I currently need to pay £167 before the 30th may or the bailiffs are coming round.

 

How do i go about getting the charge set aside?

 

Was the CCJ for both the credit card and the overdraft debts?

 

You have repaid the credit card debt when you remortgaged so any charge against your property for this debt should have been removed when this was done.

If both debts were rolled up into the same CCJ and charge then I think the charge should also be set aside with the CCJ.

 

pete

[Castlebest]

Good luck johnny and keep us posted

 

pete

[Castlebest]

Hiya Johnny don't be intimidated by the experience I have been into court about 4 times now and I'm getting to quite enjoy it .

 

Take proof of your own stayed court case for recovery of the penalty charges and details of whats left of the debt that the CCJ was placed against.

 

Tell the judge you have come to realise the original debt was made up of charges that you believe are unlawful and you are now trying to recover and you think the CCJ should be set aside and both claims joined together and stayed pending the outcome of the test case or both go forward to a court hearing.

 

That will stop them from using the CCJ against you or force them into a court room (don't worry the judge and the bank wont want the hearing option don't tell them you don't either ).

 

and have fun

 

pete

[Castlebest]

not a problem Johnny I've been trying to give you one but it tells me I have to spread it about :o

[Castlebest]

I think most of us knew there was a hearing for historical terms and conditions. I think we should wait for HH Justice Smith to announce his verdict before we say anything

 

pete

[Castlebest]

Hiya Messy, what Metro are doing to you defiantly constitutes harassment, if they arrive on your doorstep again contact the police and ask for them to be removed, they have no legal backing for continuing to progress the collection of a debt that formed a part of a bankruptcy.

 

pete

[Castlebest]

There is a bank charges in the media section here, you could try starting a thread asking for peoples experiences there

 

pete

[Castlebest]

Was your daughter an officer of the company and if not why did she need to sign the loan?

 

Was the loan given to the company as a business loan or to your husband and daughter as a personal loan?

 

It sounds like the Bank are using their terms and conditions to hold the parties to the loan "jointly and severally" liable in other words the bank will say they are both liable together and as individuals.

 

I think you should seek professional advice or at least talk to Citizens Advice or the National Debtline. Without seeing the actual documents involved, both for the loan and for the company its difficult to say where your daughter stands.

 

pete

[Castlebest]

I think all you can do is refuse to discuss anything with them and refer them to the receiver as he is now dealing with the companies finances which includes the business loan.

 

pete

[Castlebest]

Look what I got in the post this morning the words here we go again come to mind

 

[Castlebest]

And here's my reply

 

 

Metropolitan Collection Services Limited

56 St James Road,

Edgbaston,

Birmingham

B15 1JL

Dear Sirs

My account with HSBC Bank Plc

Account number xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Outstanding Balance £ xxxxxx

I acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 20th August 2009 which appears to be exactly the same as the letter you sent me dated 28th December 2007. As nothing has changed in the intervening time period to allow us to come to an amicable solution to the dispute I have with HSBC I will do no more than repeat the comments contained in my letter to you of 4th January 2008 with a little more clarity.

I now formally refuse to pay the sum of £xxxxxx and demand you pay me the sum of £xxxxxx being the current total of my county court claim number xxxxxxxxx against HSBC plus the total unlawful charges and interest against those charges that were applied to my account after the submission of my claim less the final overdrawn balance of my account.

I confirm any further costs including my own costs caused by your actions in this matter will be your own fault for being too stupid to read the correspondence concerning this dispute and take heed of the current legal situation that exists and therefore will be at your own liability.

I confirm I have withdrawn my permission for you or your client to share any information concerning this matter and therefore if you report a default against me a second time with the data reference agencies it will be a breach of the Data Protection Act, The Banking Code and the terms of your credit licence and will result formal complaints to the Information Commissioner and the Financial Services Authority and possible further legal action against you and your client.

I further confirm if my account is referred to debt collection agents who try to act without the required legal backing and attempt to call on me to collect payment I will contact the police to have them removed from my premises by force and commence harassment proceedings against them, you and your client immediately.

I trust this clarifies the situation

Luv and Kisses

Castlebest

[Castlebest]

Why are they being dumbasses? They clearly cannot read their notes from the last time, lol.

 

They are being HSBC they are a large powerful organisation and they think they are above the law.

 

I'm sure in 90% of the cases where they use letters like this they get some money back because people are not aware of the law and are easily bullied by companies like HSBC.

 

We can only hope that more people read threads like this one and stand up to this sharp practice .

 

pete

[Castlebest]

They will post a default against me again and I will get it removed again it gives them something to do

[Castlebest]

CB my original reply in January 2008 said just that so they put a default against my name which they have removed now but I fully expect them to ignore the regulations and do the same again :grin:

 

pete

[Castlebest]

Hiya Johnny hope you had a good break North of the border .

 

Logicaly you should be correct but having delt with HSBC and Metro in dispute mode for the last 3 or 4 years I'm honestly not convinced they have a clue what they are doing lol

 

pete

[Castlebest]

Oh woe is me HSBC have asked Moorcroft to act for them now and they are going to sue me

 

I almost think it would be more fun to let them find out about my own stayed County Court claim in the defense document when I send it back but I have decided to be kind .

[Castlebest]

So this is what they have in the post

 

A J Martin

Moorcroft Debt Recovery Limited

PO Box No 17

2 Spring Gardens

Stockport

SK1 4AJ

Dear Mr Martin

My account with HSBC Bank Plc

Account number xxxxxxxxxxxxxx Outstanding Balance £ xxxxxxx

County Court Claim Number xxxxxxxxx

Moorcroft Reference xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

I acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 17th September 2009 and note with interest you have been instructed by your client to recover the outstanding balance on the above account and the fact you are giving me notice of intended litigation.

As your client seems to have failed to give you full particulars of the current situation regarding this disputed account I feel it is my duty to draw your attention to my own county court claim number xxxxxxxx which has now been stayed subject to your clients’ legal representative, DG Solicitors application to the court to await the outcome of the Commercial Court proceedings between the OFT and the Defendant (and seven others) comprised in Claim No. 2007 Folio 1186.

I am not actually surprised by your client’s instructions to you as they have made it quite obvious by their shabby and frankly unethical behaviour to date that they feel they are above the law and can flout the banking charter at will.

I suggest you await the outcome of the test case as DG Solicitors are advising all of the claimants who currently have outstanding writs against your client or ask D G Solicitors to request the stay be set aside so we can proceed to a hearing and settle this dispute once and for all. I’m sure as a Debt Recovery Specialists you will be well aware of this situation by now.

 

Luv and Kisses

 

Castlebest

[Castlebest]

Theres nothing graceful about the worlds loco bank