Rockwell Debt Collection Agency

[louise2U]

PLEASE HELP, I've tried to find solution to below problem but I'm obviously stupid at using this forum and can't even click on the link of useful info entitled Dummies guide!

Having received a letter from lowell and receiving advice recently, I am now in receipt of a letter demanding payment of £5,477.37 from Rockwell who have been instructed by phoenix recoveries on behalf of tessera recoveries!

What's going on, there's no mention of what it's for though a reference number is quoted.

Oh and by the way it mentions their 'pre-legal department' should I be worried?

I am very new to this and haven't got a clue, any light holders available to shed light on the matter?

[freakyleaky]

Hi louise! Don't worry. Someone who knows about this kind of underhand debt collection will be along soon!

 

 

BUMP

BUMP.

[Curlyben]

First NEVER talk to these "people" on the phone as they will try and get you to agree to anything.

 

Before you even think about making any sort of acknowledgement or payment to a DCA you MUST ensure that they have the LEGAL right to collect the debt.

This is achieved by requesting a copy of the Signed, Executed Credit Agreement via a Consumer Credit Act (CCA) request.

There is a template letter to be found here: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general-debt/20758-creditors-dcas-letter-templates.html

Letter N.

Is it important to start the letter:

I DO NOT ACKNOWLEDGE ANY DEBT TO YOUR COMPANY in Big Bold letters.

 

It is best to send this request via recorded/special delivery as there are some important deadlines to observe.

 

After 12 WORKING days the "debt" is in default and stays that way until the request is complied with.

If a FURTHER month passes then the DCA has committed a summary criminal offence and the matter should be referred to Trading Standards for action once the DCA continues to demand payment.

 

I hope this clarifies some things.

[louise2U]

Thanks very much, much obliged

[Curlyben]

Rockwell and Phoenix are all part of Tessera.

I bet the letter goes on about compartments ?!

Actually Louise I'll change my advice slightly.

Hold off on the CCA for now, we must make them show what the debt is for first.

 

So for starters throw this at them

 

Dear Sir/Madam

 

You have contacted me/us regarding the account with the above reference number, which you claim is owed by myself/ourselves.

 

I/we would point out that I/we have no knowledge of any such debt being owed to (insert company name).

 

I am/we are familiar with the Office of Fair Trading Debt Collection Guidance which states that it unfair to send demands for payment to an individual when it is uncertain that they are the debtor in question.

 

I/we would also point out that the OFT say under the Guidance that it is unfair to pursue third parties for payment when they are not liable. In not ceasing collection activity whilst investigating a reasonably queried or disputed debt you are using deceptive/and or unfair methods.

 

Furthermore ignoring and/or disregarding claims that debts have been settled or are disputed and continuing to make unjustified demands for payment amounts to physical/psychological harassment.

 

I/we would ask that no further contact be made concerning the above account unless you can provide evidence as to my/our liability for the debt in question.

 

I/we await your written confirmation that this matter is now closed. Otherwise I will have no option but to make a complaint to the trading standards department and consider informing the OFT of your actions.

 

I/we look forward to your reply.

 

Yours faithfully

[freakyleaky]

See I told you someone would be along soon!

And there is no one better than CB at this!

[louise2U]

Thanks Curly Ben & Freaky Leaky, I 've just printed this off and have it ready to post but 2 more little queries

1 ) I read somewhere else to avoid sending a cheque and to use a p o without signing it, what about a cheque from a 3rd party (that way I can check when it's been cashed, in view of the competence of Royal Mail!)?

&

2) Is it ok to send to the PO Box address or should I use the tiny one right at the bottom of the correspondence which is for Tessera?

Sorry I didn't get back to this last night but I got side-tracked with all the other good stuff on here ( didn't realise how addictive this can be!!!)

[Brassed off]

Hi Louise

If you are sending the letter that Curlyben suggested in post#5, then there is no need to send £1 as you are asking them to provide you with proof of your liability for the debt and not requesting them to provide the CCA

[louise2U]

Thanks for that,

[spamheed]

Taking into account, there is no need to send a payment when asking someone to prove their title to a debt, as in this case

 

Make sure all correspondence is sent unsigned via recorded post and if possible get a printout of the receipt online. Debt collection agencies tell lies and it is quite common for them to say the letter never arrived, hence the proof.

 

Sending a third party cheque to a DCA is as good as a Postal Order and in some ways better, as long as the owner of the account the cheque is drawn from has a different surname

you can easily check when it was cashed, you can request the cheque after it has been cashed. and you have witnesses in the shape of the account holder and their bank as to the clearance of the cheque.

[louise2U]

Thank you so much, that's worth bearing in mind. Though I'm considering special delivery having read the thread on Royal Mail.

 

Any suggestions on the address?

[FANTASY CHARGES]

any update ?

[gispaul]

Hi all. Got a letter from this crew following a debt of a business loan and overdraft. The bank closed my account and told me they'd sold the debt. You should be able to pick up on things from my reply to thier letter as follows:

 

Rockwell Debt Collection Agency 15/09/08

PO Box 66

Southend-on-sea

Essex Your Ref: 44309021/RW1D-026A

SS1 2GX

Dear Sirs,

Re: Alleged debt to Lloyds TSB bank PLC - £17902.21

Your letter of 13 August 2008 has taken me completely by surprise as when I last spoke to Lloyds TSB about this issue, they told me that they had actually sold the debt and that it nothing to do with them anymore. You will therefore understand my confusion when you say in you letter that you have been instructed by Lloyds TSB Plc. For that reason alone, the first matter that must be clarified by you is precisely who you are acting for.

If the debt has originated with Lloyds TSB and has been purchased by a third party, I wish to know the details of that third party along with your reasons as to the misleading information provided in your correspondence of 13 August. If this is not the case and you are indeed instructed directly by Lloyds TSB Plc, then I apologise for my confusion and will write to your client to determine why they had previously told me that it was no longer their concern.

In any event, you will need to provide me with copies of the historic material associated with this debt inclusive of the initial and supplemental loan and overdraft agreements. These are important as I intend to have all bank transactions analysed in respect of charges and thereafter forward a claim/s in respect of any funds unreasonably taken. This will in all probability affect the overall amount being claimed by your client because if those funds are found to have been taken unreasonably, funds would have been available to satisfy the monthly overdraft and loan repayments, no penalties and/or interest would have been incurred and in fact the business may have been in a stringer position generally and may indeed still be trading to the present day free of this debt.

It is not a realistic proposition for your company to write to me on 13 August 2008 and demand payment of such a large amount of money by 20 August 2008 and threaten further action if the same is not adhered to. Firstly, I am unemployed. I do not own my own house and I have very little in the way of assets. Your representative is not welcome at my home as any communication regarding this matter must be wholly in writing so that all concerned can have full and accurate records of said communications.

Finally, I feel it is extremely important to know precisely whom I am dealing with. Your letterhead states that Rockwell Debt Collection Agency is simply a trading name of Tessara Credit Services Limited. It seems that other trading names include BTMK SOLICITORS, PACE FORWARD & FENTON COOPER and again I am slightly confused as to who is who.

I am sure that you will agree that these are important issues which should be satisfied and fully explained prior to attempting to put forward a lawful demand for payment. You also say in your letter that you may instruct your solicitors to pursue this debt through the Courts and that this may increase the debt. Do you mean your client may instruct their solicitors or are these solicitors BTMK Solicitors (a trading name of Tessera Credit Services Ltd) or are they completely separate solicitors that you have been authorized to instruct?

Once all of the above has been explained and supported with documented evidence, I will be only to happy to discuss the financial issues with you further but I can only reiterate that given that the issues arise from my business banking account, there will be a considerable period of time which will need to elapse in order to allow the unreasonably bank charge issues to be dealt with and I am unable at this present time to commence that undertaking until you provide me with all of the historic information that I have requested inclusive of the original and subsequent agreements.

This is a matter which has been on my mind considerably. Obviously this kind of debt can be extremely stressful and I am at least glad that we can at least now finally commence the process of resolving this debt. . It may be of mutual assistance if you could place a name or signature on any future correspondence that you forward to me as we may both need to rely upon these letters (whether for reference purposes or indeed in Court) and it will of course eliminate any confusion on your part as to who had actually written such letters.

In addition, given the seriousness of this matter, may I ask that all future letters are sent to me by registered mail as it will become very important to ensure that I actually receive your letters. If you write to me for instance and I fail to reply (a matter which I would never do unless I simply had not received your letter) you may take such failure to reply as an act of contempt and abandon our mutual co-operative steps to resolve this issue in favor of an unproductive Court hearing. I will likewise do the same in respect of registered mail commencing with this response. No doubt the entire process will be long and arduous for both of us and I would therefore like to take this opportunity to thank you in advance for you patience, understanding, co-operation and assistance.

I now look forward to hearing from you in due course and I will remain

Yours faithfully

[PGH7447]

gispaul

 

if you start a new thread of your own you will get plenty of help,

 

Like the letter by the way

 

Oh and Rockwell love to give you no time to respond its one of their stupid pressure tactics which mean diddly squat

[gispaul]

Cheers, I will keep the group updated.

 

Regards

 

Gispaul

[palomino]

gispaul,

 

A couple of quick comments on your letter -

 

1. 'stringer' = stronger ?

2. You don't need to be 'authorized' [uS] to instruct solicitors - or even authorised [uK].

3. There is no such thing as registered mail any more. You can send mail recorded delivery or special delivery.

 

Cheers

[gispaul]

palomino,

A couple of typing errors wont detract from the clear content of the correspondence and I would imagine Rockwell will be able to adapt to a similar post office service. Thanks for that info however as I wasn't aware that recorded deliveries were no longer offered.

 

You are wrong however regarding the authorisation to instruct solicitors. If Rockwell are a third party acting for the bank (or another company) they will need specific instructions. Who is going to pay for the solicitors instruction if Rockwell's client never told them to instruct? If Rockwell are a third party, thier roll will have been clearly defined as to what steps can and should be taken. It may be that the initial instruction may have stated that they can utilise the services of solicitors if necessary but they can not do this off thier own back. In any event, I have asked them for clarification of such issues as you can see.

 

Cheers

[palomino]

palomino,

A couple of typing errors wont detract from the clear content of the correspondence and I would imagine Rockwell will be able to adapt to a similar post office service. Thanks for that info however as I wasn't aware that recorded deliveries registered letters were no longer offered.

 

You are wrong however regarding the authorisation to instruct solicitors. If Rockwell are a third party acting for the bank (or another company) they will need specific instructions. Who is going to pay for the solicitors instruction if Rockwell's client never told them to instruct? If Rockwell are a third party, thier roll will have been clearly defined as to what steps can and should be taken. It may be that the initial instruction may have stated that they can utilise the services of solicitors if necessary but they can not do this off thier own back. In any event, I have asked them for clarification of such issues as you can see.

 

Cheers

 

1. Some people regard good spelling as an indication of competence. Others don't.

I guess it depends on how old you are.

 

2. Rockwell are acting as agents as they are 'acting for' the bank. Agents can do anything and everything that the person or organisation appointing them can do, unless explicitly specified otherwise. That's what being an agent means.

Hence if the bank can instruct the solicitors then so can the bank's agent. I would be very surprised if the bank explicitly specified otherwise in these circumstances.

If you have asked for clarification then you have acted quite reasonably.

[mike tyson]

please help. i have a debt to marks and spencer financial services, which rockwell have taken over, they have now placed a charging order through the courts, and i really dont know what to do.

 

[cymruambyth]

Hello Mike,

I can't help on charging orders, all I can recommend is that you start your own thread and then advice will follow. To do this you need to return to the first page of Debt Collection Industry and at the top of the page there is a 'New Thread' tab.

When you start your new thread you will need to specify the type and amount of debt and when the charging order was obtained.

Good luck. One other bit of advice that I can give is to remember that some DCAs like to read CAG and so don't be too specific with your information in case they try to second guess you!

[Bighag7]

Hi Mate,

I've just received a letter from Rockwell for a debt. It is unclear what it is for, it just states an account number and an amount which is less than £500. I know I'm getting close to the Statute Barred date,however if I send them any sort of correspondance i.e your very excellent letter template, does this start the clock ticking again, even though I will not be admitting any acknowledgement of the debt?

[Bighag7]

I was referring to Curlyben's letter!

Thanks.

[Bighag7]

Rockwell and Phoenix are all part of Tessera.

I bet the letter goes on about compartments ?!

Actually Louise I'll change my advice slightly.

Hold off on the CCA for now, we must make them show what the debt is for first.

 

So for starters throw this at them

 

Hi Curlyben,

Great letter, if I write to Rockwell with this will it reset the Statute Barred clock? They are non specific about the the debt, however if it is what I think it is, it was five and a half years ago and is for less than £500.

I'm new to this forum type thing so I've left threads unwittingly all over the place, apologies,

 

Bighag7

[gio_nike]

hi guys. reading ur forums has helped me understand my worries lately. i recieved 3 letters in the last week or so from three different debt collectors. where all this has come from is to my surprise. I DONT OWE ANYONE ANY MONEY!!!. basically the letter states thaqt they r writing on behalf of so & so n i owe them large sums of money. doesnt clearify wat for or anything. n the best thing is that they spelt my name wrong completely!!! n the adress. its weird actually cos it says on the adress....LONDON, SOUTH YORKSHIRE!!! anyways....it seems to me that sum1 who knows me or knows of me has been doin fraud. i dont know. but am i right in ignoring these letters as technically speaking they cant do jack cos its not me, cos the spelling is wrong? i think whoever did the fraud didnt know how to spell my name ( i have a long asian name n its a common one too which is spekt in many ways lol). so wat do u guys think i shud do?

[Sea Gull]

GisPaul

Did anything ever come of this?

as sadly i have dealings with these as well