Paying off a debt which was 'sold on'

[dppd]

Hi, I'm new to this and need some advice!!

In 2002 I took out a loan with barclays for £5500. I defaulted some years later and have had a ccj and an attachment of earnings. As I have not worked since this was put on, it has not affected me. However, I now want to return to work and want to pay off the debt.

The debt has been bought by Westcot, and when I searched for them online, only found all these forums with complaints about them, and am now nervous about contacting them to pay it off.

The amount outstanding shows as £3900.

I was about to call and offer them £2000 as full and final settlement, but after reading all the blogs, now wonder if I should do this.

Could someone advise me on where to start to at least make sure they can actually persue the debt in the first place? Or am i better off simply making an offer??!!!

[spamheed]

Just so that the thread is in order, copied from your original post.

 

quote

 

"Hi Dppd

 

When a debt is sold on, it is sold for a percentage value. the percentage rate is calculated based on the risk associated with the debt.

 

A debt of a few thousand is likely to have been sold for a few hundred, even with enforcement measures in place.

 

Bear in mind also, the Creditor knows they will get the money back eventually, you have to rely on their greed to enable the settlement to be made.

 

Also, an attachment of earnings can only be applied to each employer, if they don't know you're working, there's not a lot they can do about it.

 

 

If you are going to follow the full and final settlement route, expect at least some of the following.

 

they will not accept your initial offer, so always offer considerably less than you really want to pay, say a figure of 10%, certainly no more than 15%

 

If they get a whiff that they could make some money, they may even try to threaten you with higher repayments etc, ignore this, they can't do a thing without taking you back to court.

 

when a figure is agreed, ensure the agreement includes the file being marked as paid in full or settled, any alternative to this would allow another DCA to collect on the remaining balance.

 

Ensure that the agreement is in writing before any monies are paid.

 

The best way to look at it, is you're dealing with a conniving, thieving, lying ****** who is out to rip you off, so proceed with extreme caution.

 

although a £2000 settlement is a noble idea, they would snatch your hand off for a lot less.

 

The first step would be to write to them and enquire about the balance of the account, request a statement of the account, they should be sending these to you regularly in any way.

[dppd]

Basically, since i defaulted, i have not responded to any letters regarding the debt. I was not working and had no way of making the payments. The debt had the ccj registered against it with no response from me to any court letters etc. Then when i started getting letters from these other people, (there were others apart from westcot but cant remeber the names - equita I think) I ignored those as well!

I phoned the bank today to pay it off, but they said the account was closed in 2005, and have no other records of it.

[Allwood]

If I were you I would CCA them first and send it by recorded delivery there is a template on the board for this purpose as you do not know if they actually taken over the account and by sending a request for a CCA they will have to supply this to you first.

 

Also it is best just to type you name at the end of the letter as well as putting at the top that you do not acknowledge the debt with their company.

Also send it by recorded delivery and if they do not respond within 12 days then they are in default and if they failed to produce the necessary details with in 42 day including the 12 and posting time then they are committing a criminal offense and should be report to the T&S

[Allwood]

Also, Do Not Phone These People Everything Should Be Done In Writing.

[tifo]

if you have a CCJ then this would pass to Wescot, therefore the debt is already enforced and a CCA request serves no purpose. By saying you 'do not acknowledge any debt' what are you trying to say when you already have a CCJ for this? They'll have to respond by law but then what are you going to do with whatever they send or don't send?

 

your best bet is to make an offer of 10% and increase to a max of 25%. But because they have a CCJ against you they may not be in a hurry to accept anything, especially if you own a house, or might do in future. Then they can get a charging order on it to enforce the CCJ.

 

the advice on this forum has been to deny the debt and do a CCA before you get a CCJ. I know it doesn't sound good but ignorance of the law is no defence in court (that you didn't know to do a CCA request at the time or that some of the debt consists of penalty charges).

 

I've been through CCJ's with debt agencies/banks and discovered CAG much later. Nothing much can really be done once its registered, especially if more than a few months have passed as the court will be unlikely to accept a 'set aside' for the CCJ.