12 Year Old Debts

[TJ.Daws]

Could anyone advise me as to where I stand? About 13 years ago we got into quite a lot of financial difficulty (and I mean a lot) Bankcruptcy was a serious option! Instead we went to the CAB and arranged payments for all of the people that we owed, we have paid every month without fail through the bank for twelve years. Since then we have got on with our lives, moved several times, had kids and eventually bought another house and avoided making the same huge mistakes. But now I have a letter from a debt collection company asking us to complete an income and expenditure form to review the agreement! I think it may be a hoax (we did have one last year) but it does appear very official and although it isn't at all specific there is HFC in their refernce line. This has brought that whole horrible sick feeling flooding back especially as HFC were the most unpleasent of those we owed. Any advice on where I stand 12 years on would be hugely appreciated. Thanks x

[Goldlady]

Hi TJ, are you still paying for this debt? And if so do you have any idea how much is still outstanding? On the face of it the DCA are probably chancing it in the hope that they can make a fast buck out of a bit of scaremongering which is what they are good at.

 

I think you will find a few helpful letters in this lot.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general-debt-issues/20758-creditors-dcas-letter-templates.html

 

Letter N is the CCA request letter which basically asks them to prove that they have the right to collect the debt.

 

If you are sure you have paid everything off then there could be dodgy dealings afoot:eek:

[TJ.Daws]

I am still paying them all. In truth there are some I probably have paid off I pretty much just acceted the £96 that goes out of my account every month and have ignored it all since the aggreements were put in place. HFC was the largest and nastiest of the bunch!

[Goldlady]

I think you need to have a serious look at the whole situation, if you still have the records of course. Twelve years is a long time and at £96 a month you have paid nearly £14k back.

 

If it is a debt collector then chances are HFC have sold what is left of the debt on - in which case they will have sold it for 5 or 10% of its value.

 

How much was the original HFC debt and how much of the £96 was going to them? If you don't mind me asking:)

[TJ.Daws]

The original loan was for £5000. If i remember correctly when we went to the CAB the debt was about £6500 (despite paying £120 a month for about a year and a half!) £18 of the £96 goes to them!! I do still have the records that the CAB sorted out (although they are buried somewhere in the back of a cupboard)I will have to pull them out ( I can't beleve between them I've paid 14k!!!!!) The company who has contacted us are called TBI Financial Services.

[Goldlady]

Sounds to me as if you have paid enough. Strangely it seems to be that once these DCAs start to get greedy people find sites like this one and realise that they are being ripped off and then the DCAs get no more money. I can't understand why they decide to upset the apple cart if they are getting a regular payment from someone. After all if they hadn't given you grief you would probably have happily paid them for another few years.

 

Definitely time to take control of your situation. Get that cupboard emptied this weekend and finish what they started:p

[The GodMother]

rite i have just done the sums and this is what i done.

 

18.00*12= £216.00

£216.00*12= 2,590

 

unless i have done my sums wrong.

 

i would send them a prove it letter and then S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) the bank

 

96*12= £1,152.00

£1,152.00*12=£13,824.00

 

unless i have gone wrong some where.

[Goldlady]

I worked it out on twelve years:D

 

Anyway it is still a lot of money to have paid out.

[The GodMother]

i put 14 but worked it out on 12. I was very tired yesterday but could not sleep.

 

Yep i agree with that. Some of the debts may even be over paid by now.

 

I think all you paperwork needs digging out and seeing what you have been paying each company and what you owed them. Also see if you we paying fees to any company that you could reclaim like PPI interest and overlimit fees.

 

these would be in statements BTW. Also another thing depending on who u owe i l CCA each company.

[TJ.Daws]

I am definitely going to have to ge everything out. One of the companies I have definitely overpaid as I pay them £25 per month and that one was only about £2700 back then! The problem is that when we moved I didn't actually tell anyone just kept making the payments and igonored it all. Now I'm concerned that if one has crawled out of the woodwork the rest might. Also I'm very concerned about added charges, although they all agreed at the time that all interest etc would be frozen many of them I have coreesponded with in absolutely years. Realistically if we'd had just filed for bankcruptcy we'd have been cleared years ago, definitley a mistake to go the 'pay them all back route'

[TJ.Daws]

I do wonder if it does go to court eventually how sympathetic a judge would be to the DCA anyway when he can see that we've clearly been consistent in attempting to pay everyone back and have never missed a payment. Thankfully its always been through the same bank so if need be I can get past info from the bank (I have the last 7 years to hand thanks to the whole bank charges thing)

[Goldlady]

I think you would be fine in court if it got that far, which I seriously doubt.

 

These DCAs are preying on vulnerable people a lot of the time and that is a serious concern as many of them are just paying up through fear.

 

Get your paperwork out and re-evaluate the whole lot. Then we can work out what you are going to do with each one.

[TJ.Daws]

OK. Thanks loads for your advice. I'll be back with an update and no doubt after more advice once I've ploughed through the box that is a the back of the cupboard under the stairs (it will take me a weekend to get to the back through all the rest of the junk)

[Goldlady]

Haha - you need those awful women from the telly to come and clear your house - just like me:o

[The GodMother]

I will do both houses with out half the fuss

 

My advise to you is write to the company who you owed 2700 to and enclose the original document and ask for the excess money back.

[paulwlton]

Were the debts loans, credit cards, etc?

 

You need to send a SAR off to find out just what's been going on for the past 12 years on your accounts. I would also forward CCA requests.

 

PW

[TJ.Daws]

Ok. I bravely disappeared into the cupboard and dug everything out. Its actually 10 years not 12 (although it feels that is forever). Annoyingly the only one that I couldn't find anything about was the one I'm sure I overpaid, probably becouse it was one that I came to an arrangement before the ones with the citizend advice bureau. I haven't heard anything back from TBI and am holding fire to see if anything more coms of it. I know its cowardly but I can't help but think its a case of letting sleeping dogs lie. These people don't have my current address or number and while it is easy enough to trace us if they are bothered (same bank and a mortgage and same road makes us easy to find) I don't really want to wave a huge flag saying 'look at me....start harrassing me again please'. Are there companies I could hand this to do you think that will investigate on our behalf?? Or perhaps a solicitor if they don't charge a crazy fee.

[TJ.Daws]

Oh yeah and to answer your question Paul the answer would be all of the above. The grand total in January 1998 according to the CAB paperwork was just over £21000. We did the classic get a loan to pay the cards, use the cards get another loan etc

[TJ.Daws]

Hi

 

Received another nastier toned letter from TBI. So posting off a very brief letter today which is brutally short. It bascially says 'I don't know who you are or what this is in regard to so bugger off until you supply the info' Off course I suspect that I do know what its about but they haven't identified it all all and it has been ten years without any correspondence. It just make me all warm and fuzzy inside to see that even ten years after our last horrendous experience with the likes of them they are still a bunch of *****!!! I mean I know we all have to work for a living but for god sake get a job where you don't have to be an arse!!!!!

[TJ.Daws]

HELP!!!!! Ok nasty TBI have replied and are after £3157.63(HFC LOAN) plus accrued interest!!!!!! and £495.87 (HFC GM CARD)plus accrued interest!!!!!! I don't agree with the figures and the interest was supposed to have stopped when the CAB stepped in 10 years ago. At this point should I go with the requesting a CCA and also sending a S.A.R as I want to know all the payments from when the loan actually began and if they applied PPI. They want me to send and Income & Expenditure form which as far as I am concerned they can swing for but I am reeeeaaaaaly concerned about the 'accrued interest' part. They haven't said how much it is or anything and the tone of their letter is sarcastic at best saying 'I am sure you will recall you are currently making token payments'!!!! I hate DCA!!! Any advice or pointers would be hugely appreciated.....its been a while since any of this has happened and I am more determined this time round as I think after ten years of regular unfailing payment they are taking the mick crawling out of the woodwork now!!! HELP! HELP! HELP!

[Goldlady]

I wonder if it would be better to send them the statute barred letter now they have told you what they are chasing.

 

It is in the list of letters I posted on Post 2. I think that's what I would do if it has been that long.

[TJ.Daws]

Hi

 

I couldn't see that letter in the list and would it be applicable as we have been making payments. At the moment I've prepared CCA letters and SAR's for both accounts but am holding them until I am sure thats what should be sent. I don't want to unwittingly give them any ammunition. Also how can we say we don't acknowledge the debt when we've been paying for ten years???

[BrandiBroke]

I'd be tempted to go the CCA and SAR route, at least then you'll know where you stand. I don't suppose you have it in writing re the frozen interest? At the end of the day if they cannot produce a CCA they don't have a leg to stand on anyway

[Goldlady]

Hi sorry I didn't re-read your thread - not the statute barred one then!

 

I would send the CCA and SAR letters - the CCA will prove whether they have an agreement to enforce and the SAR will give you everything they have on you - in theory - which might help with the frozen interest bit. Worth spending £11 if it gets them off your back.

[The GodMother]

the CCA to the DCA and SAR to the original company.

 

40 days from RECIPT for the SAR

12+2 days for the CCA or if they recieve it b4 the 2 days 12 WORKING days.