Sev Vs Moorcroft c/o Cahoot

[Sev]

Hello All,

 

I have a cahoot flexiloan which two years ago when I came up against financial difficulties could no longer afford to repay.

 

The staff at cahoot told me to borrow against the loan in order to maintain repayments - stupidly I did, but unfortunately my fortunes did not improve.

 

I have been paying cahoot a sum of £10 a month as a token payment in order to show goodwill. None of these have ever been returned.

 

Last week I recieved a letter from Moorcroft Debt Recovery - who had already persistently telephoned my parents home in a bid to talk to me.

 

The letter was from the 'Pre-court Division' citing that they were ready to take legal action against me.

 

I sent them the following letter:

 

Thank you for your correspondence dated 26th March 2008, received the morning of the 1st April 2008, concerning the above account.

I was rather taken aback however at the intent of your first correspondence, which I found both intimidating and threatening. I have been informed that you are paid a bonus if I make a payment under duress and constant harassment.

 

As I am sure you are aware Harassment of debtors is a criminal offence in England and Wales under section 40 of the Administration of Justice Act 1970.

 

In light of this I prefer to deal with you only in writing. Please do not contact me by telephone. I am reliably informed by Trading Standards that telephone calls after this request may constitute a breach of the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949 and a criminal offence under Section 127 of the Communications Act

 

In addition every individual has a right to be free from harassment under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997

 

Your amateur approach and behaviour has caused untold alarm and distress, and that should you feel the need to harass my family again will have no option than to seek an injunction against yourselves and Cahoot under section 1 of the Harassment Act 1998, acting on advice from the Crown Prosecution Service.

 

Therefore I require you to supply the following documentation before I will correspond further on this matter. Until these documents are in my possession I do not acknowledge ANY debt to your company.

 

1. You must supply me with a true copy of the alleged agreement you refer to. This is my right under your obligation to supply a copy of the agreement under the legislation contained within s.78 (1) Consumer Credit Act 1974 (s.77 (1) for fixed sum credit) - your obligation also extends to providing a statement of account. I enclose a £1 Cheque in payment of the statutory fee, Serial Number xxxxxx.

 

2. A signed true copy of the deed of assignment of the above referenced agreement that qualifies you to pursue this debt.

 

3. You are notified that you are obliged to supply these documents, whether you are the original creditor or not.

 

Non-compliance with my request is a criminal offence under the above Act and will result in a report being submitted to the relevant statutory authorities.

 

4. You remove the following telephone number from your records: xxxxx xxxxxxx. Cahoot have my current contact details in the form of my mobile telephone number.

 

The statement of account will also show the regular token payments I have made to this account since the beginning of my financial hardships.

 

Once supplied with the said information, I will be more than happy to enter into a payment agreement and acknowledge you ownership of the debt.

 

Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.

 

The cheque to date has not been cashed.

 

I have as yet recieved no communication back from them until this morning - the letter is dated 08/04/08 and once again is from the 'Pre-court Division'

 

It states:

 

NOTICE OF INTENDED LITIGATION

 

To prevent the above action send payment in full before 15/04/08 or telephone 0161 475 2816 immediately.

 

If you do not respond to this letter we will assume you are purposely avoiding repayment of this debt and will take the necessary steps to secure settlement which may include issuing legal action against you. Please note if legal action is necessary your debt will increase as follows:

 

Current Balance £9383

Solicotors costs for issue of claim form: £100

Court Fees for issue of claim form: £240

Solicitors Costs for entering Judgement (by default): £35

Total Debt of Judgement Obtained: £9758

 

Contact us now

 

A.J. Martin

Debt Recovery Manager

 

I dont know what to do next. Do I complain to the FSA or OFT, or do I resubmit the letter I sent with another cheque?

 

I'm sure I'm not seeing the wood for the trees. I'd appreciate all help and advice.

 

Thanks

 

Sev

[42man]

You have made a bona-fide request for a copy of your credit agreement, If you have sent it recorded then you can demonstrate that you have made the request and a debt without the CCA is UNENFORCEABLE....you know the time scales in which they have to produce the CCA, if they can't then the debt as you know is unenforceable....

 

you could send them this (courtesy of Curlyben)

 

Account In Dispute

 

Ref:

 

Dear Sir/Madam

 

Thank you for your letter of xx/xx/xx, the contents of which have been noted.

 

You have failed to respond to my legal request to supply me a true copy of the original Consumer Credit Agreement for the above account.

 

On **DATE** I made a formal request for a true signed agreement for the alleged account under consumer credit Act 1974 s77/8. A copy of which is enclosed for your perusal and ease of reference.

You have failed to comply with my request, and as such the account entered default on **DATE**.

 

The document that you are obliged to send me is a true copy of the executed agreement that contained all of the prescribed terms, all other required terms and statutory notices and was signed by both your company and myself as defined in section 61(1) of CCA 74 and subsequent Statutory Instruments. If the executed agreement contained any reference to any other document, you are also obliged to send me a copy of that document.In addition a full statement of this account should have been sent to me detailing all debits and credits to the account.

 

Furthermore

 

 

You are aware that the Consumer Credit Act allows 12 working days for a request for a true copy of a credit agreement to be carried out before your client enters into a default situation.

 

If that request is not satisfied after a further 30 calendar days your client commits a summary criminal offence.

 

These limits have expired.

 

As you are no doubt aware section 77(6) states:

 

If the creditor fails to comply with Subsection (1)

 

(a) He is not entitled , while the default continues, to enforce the agreement.

 

And

 

(b) If the default continues for one month he commits an offence.

 

Therefore this account has become unenforceable at law.

 

As you have Failed to comply with a lawful request for a true, signed copy of the said agreement and other relevant documents mentioned in it, Failed to send a full statement of the account and Failed to provide any of the documentation requested.

 

Consequentially any legal action you pursue will be averred as both UNLAWFUL and VEXATIOUS.

 

Furthermore I shall counterclaim that any such action constitutes unlawful harassment.

 

Please note you may also consider this letter as a statutory notice under section 10 of the Data Protection Act to cease processing any data in relation to this account with immediate effect.

 

This means you must remove all information regarding this account from your own internal records and from my records with any credit reference agencies.

 

Should you refuse to comply, you must within 21 days provide me with a detailed breakdown of your reasoning behind continuing to process my data.

 

It is not sufficient to simply state that you have a ‘legal right’; You must outline your reasoning in this matter and state upon which legislation this reasoning depends.

 

Should you not respond within 14 days I expect that this means you agree to remove all such data.

 

Furthermore you should be aware that a creditor is not permitted to take ANY

Action against an account whilst it remains in dispute.

 

The lack of a credit agreement is a very clear dispute and as such the following applies.

 

* You may not demand any payment on the account, nor am I obliged to offer any payment to you.

* You may not add further interest or any charges to the account.

* You may not pass the account to a third party.

* You may not register any information in respect of the account with any credit reference agency.

* You may not issue a default notice related to the account.

 

 

I reserve the right to report your actions to any such regulatory authorities as I see fit.

You have 14 days from receiving this letter to contact me with your intentions to resolve this matter which is now a formal complaint.

 

I would appreciate your due diligence in this matter.

 

I look forward to hearing from you in writing.

 

Yours faithfully

BLAH

[adamski]

All Moorcroft letters are from the pre court division, it is just a "threatogram" template computer genertated letter that they send to everybody.

 

I doubt you will be taken to court by these bottom feeders, my wife had loads of letters from them and they were ignored they went away not heard anything for a year or so now.

 

Send the letter advised above and sit back and wait to see what happens, DONt speak to them on the phone

[Sev]

42Man, Adamski, thanks for your support.

 

I'll definitely use the template letter and fire that off. I didn't send the original recorded delivery as it was to a PO Box Number, and I was under the assumption that someone has to sign for these.

 

I had this from cahoot a year ago, they came via Equidebt, who verbally abused my parents and threatened to take their home away if they didn't pay off my debt. As you can understand, the relationship has never been the same again.

 

Is it worth sending copies of the corrspondence to any third parties? FSA.OFT etc?

 

Thanks guys, and i'll take your advice and report back.

[adamski]

Just sit back and relax after sending off the letter, the balls in their court now anyway im sure the OFT have hundreds of those letters i would imagine Moorcroft are one of the 13 being investigated by the OFT.

Dont worry relax until you get a reply

[Sev]

Hello all,

 

Yesterday I received a reply from Moorcroft. It reads as follows:

 

Dear Sev

 

Moorcroft ref: Supplied

Client Ref: Supplied

 

I refer to your recent correspondence. We are continuing to seek to obtain a copy of the consumer credit agreement that you have requested.

 

Our systems provide for reviews to be sent to our client on a regular basis and this we are continuing to do. I will contact you again just as soon as the agreement has been made availiable to ourselves and confirm that at this stage the account has been placed on hold and that we will not seek to enforce the debt until such time as the agreement is obtained.

 

In the meantime however we believe that it may be of assistance to all parties if we also take this opportunity to ensure that any potential areas of dispute are addressed prior to any possible court action or further investigation. Please could you give an indication of the information you will be providing, when giving evidence to the court or providing information to the relevant statuatory authorities in relation to the alleged matter of the account.

 

Please could you provide this information by return. We believe that this is a simple request that will assist in ensuring that all possible areas of dispute are identified as quickly as possible and potential costs and delays kept to a minimum level.

 

I thank you for your assistance and patience in this regard.

 

Yours Sincerely

 

Mrs Name supplied

 

Operational Support Supervisor

 

So for mow they're holding fire.

 

Also, I have my copy of the SCA, and it mentions nothing about handing the account to third parties or agents for collection.

 

Now, why would they be so keen to see what informations i'd be relying on, and what if anything should I reply?

 

Also, looking through my notes, I think that all time frames have expired - and Cahoot have never sent any deed of assignation or communications saying that these had been appointed to collect on their behalf.

 

In fact, I have kept making my token payment - which has never been rejected or returned.

 

Thanks to all of you for your help this far.

[spamheed]

I received exactly the same letter.

 

don't you love the implied threat that they are about to take you to court?!?!

 

send them nothing and tell them less, if they take you to court without a CCA, then they already know what your defence will be formed on.

 

I sent off my letters to Moorcroft in October 07, received the above reply within a week or two, stopped payments in December07 and to date have heard nothing back.

[PGH7447]

Spamheed is right these are their standard reply letters - Tell em nowt, Moorcrap will now wait a while then pass it to some other DCA pondlife, so the circle begins again

[Sev]

I thought as much! We'll wait for round 3!

 

I'm currently looking at telephone recording equipment on maplins' online catalogue... very reasonable...

 

... thanks for all your help guys!

[spamheed]

there was a good one on ebay today for under £20

 

try searching under 2 way telephone recorder

[Von Greenbach]

Contact us now

 

A.J. Martin

Debt Recovery Manager

So, your initial letter is signed by A.J Matin (cracker :D he's always on them ) being a MANAGER.

 

Yet your next letter is issued by SUPERVISOR

 

Mrs Name supplied

 

Operational Support Supervisor

 

What happened to A.J Martin

 

Moorcrap = Muppets more like!!

[Sev]

Well, it seemed like these poeple had been silent for too long!

 

Today I received the following letter:

 

Dear Mr Sev

 

Re: Cahoot Flexi Loan

 

On Reviewing your account I notice that you have been making payments to our collector when he visits you.

 

It occured to me that to avoid the inconvenience of someone calling at your home you may well prefer to make payments direct to this office. I have therefore attached a National Giro payment slip to this letter which can be used to make a payment at any post office. On receipt of this payment we will forward further giro slips to you.

 

To avoid further action on your account it is essential that you remit to us a minimum payment of £50 per month the first payment being due on 10/08/08.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

A.J.Martin

Debt Recovery Manager

 

(Attached is a giro slip for the said amount)

Now I've been making payments to cahoot for the sum of £10 pm which have never been returned, and I've had no communication from them in regards to it.

 

The question is, do I just send this bunch another copy of the letter I sent in april, which of course they still haven't supplied, or do I look to take action, and if so what route should I pursue?

[Helios]

Typical tactics from moorcrap, they cannot supply an agreement account is still in dispute. Send them letter stating the account is still in dispute and asking for payment is not allowed

 

also while you on ask for a copy of their complaints procedure, they won't have one but its more ammunition for you

[Sev]

Hello everyone, sorry it's been a while, but the cherubs at Moorcroft have been quiet till now!

 

Yesterday I received this little gem, from their "Home Collections Division" no less...

 

 

 

Dear Mr Sev

 

Re: Cahoot Flexi Loan

 

Balance: £XXXX

 

I am disapointed to note that despite out letters and attempted personal calls by our local representative no satisfactory agreement has been reached regarding the balance outstanding of £XXXX on the above account.

 

In one last effort to come to an arrangement to prevent more serious action being taken we will be prepared to accept prepayment by instalments of £50 per month.A post office paying in slip is attached to enable you to make your first payment. On receipt of this payment we will forward further slips to you.

 

Unless a payment is received by 10.00am on 09/11/08 we may recommend court proceedings to be commenced against you without firther notice.

 

Such action could incur you in further costs and may also affect your future credit rating.

It is therefore in your best interest to give this matter your immediate attention.

 

Alternatively you can pay using a debit or credit card by telephoning the number above.

 

Yours Sincerely,

 

A.J.Martin

Debt Recovery Manager

 

 

As of yet, they still haven't been able to supply the signed credit agreement or the deed of assignation by Cahoot.

 

Also, I have never had any payments to cahoot turned back, or a correspondence from them in order tell me that they had officially assigned Moorcroft to recover on their behalf.

 

So my question is, do I fire off yet another letter to them asking for the above, as I've done in previous posts, or alternatively do I start on Cahoot themselves for not following their own charter and procedures.

 

And for all the chocolate teapot good it will do file a complaint with the FSA and OFT?

 

Your thoughts would be most appreciated.

[42man]

Send them this by recorded.....dont;hand sign it either...edit it to suit..

 

Account In Dispute

 

Ref:

 

Dear Sir/Madam

 

Thank you for your letter of xx/xx/xx, the contents of which have been noted.

 

You have failed to respond to my legal request to supply me a true copy of the original Consumer Credit Agreement for the above account.

 

On **DATE** I made a formal request for a true signed agreement for the alleged account under consumer credit Act 1974 s77/8. A copy of which is enclosed for your perusal and ease of reference.

You have failed to comply with my request, and as such the account entered default on **DATE**.(12+2 days after you sent the CCA request)

 

The document that you are obliged to send me is a true copy of the executed agreement that contained all of the prescribed terms, all other required terms and statutory notices and was signed by both your company and myself as defined in section 61(1) of CCA 74 and subsequent Statutory Instruments. If the executed agreement contained any reference to any other document, you are also obliged to send me a copy of that document.In addition a full statement of this account should have been sent to me detailing all debits and credits to the account.

 

Furthermore

 

You are aware that the Consumer Credit Act allows 12 working days for a request for a true copy of a credit agreement to be carried out before your client enters into a default situation.

 

This limit has expired

 

As you are no doubt aware section 77(6) states:

 

If the creditor fails to comply with Subsection (1)

 

(a) He is not entitled , while the default continues, to enforce the agreement.

 

Therefore this account has become unenforceable at law.

 

As you have Failed to comply with a lawful request for a true, signed copy of the said agreement and other relevant documents mentioned in it, Failed to send a full statement of the account and Failed to provide any of the documentation requested.

 

Consequentially any legal action you pursue will be averred as both UNLAWFUL and VEXATIOUS.

 

Furthermore I shall counterclaim that any such action constitutes unlawful harassment.

 

Please note you may also consider this letter as a statutory notice under section 10 of the Data Protection Act to cease processing any data in relation to this account with immediate effect.

 

This means you must remove all information regarding this account from your own internal records and from my records with any credit reference agencies.

 

Should you refuse to comply, you must within 21 days provide me with a detailed breakdown of your reasoning behind continuing to process my data.

 

It is not sufficient to simply state that you have a ‘legal right’; You must outline your reasoning in this matter and state upon which legislation this reasoning depends.

 

Should you not respond within 14 days I expect that this means you agree to remove all such data.

 

Furthermore you should be aware that a creditor is not permitted to take ANY

Action against an account whilst it remains in dispute.

 

The lack of a credit agreement is a very clear dispute and as such the following applies.

 

* You may not demand any payment on the account, nor am I obliged to offer any payment to you.

* You may not add further interest or any charges to the account.

* You may not pass the account to a third party.

* You may not register any information in respect of the account with any credit reference agency.

* You may not issue a default notice related to the account.

 

 

I reserve the right to report your actions to any such regulatory authorities as I see fit.

You have 14 days from receiving this letter to contact me with your intentions to resolve this matter which is now a formal complaint.

 

I would appreciate your due diligence in this matter.

 

I look forward to hearing from you in writing.

 

Yours faithfully

[Sev]

Thanks 42man, i'll certainly send this, together with a request for their formal complaints proceedure.

[Sev]

The next step in the saga:

 

Yesterday I received this letter from Moorcroft:

 

Dear Mr Sev

 

Re: Moorcroft ref: XXXXXXX

Client ref: XXXXXX

 

Please find enclosed a copy of the relevant agreement under the Consumer Credit Act in relation to the above account.

 

I can confirm that I have placed tour clients account on hold until the 26th November 2008 and request they make immediate contact with our call centre on the above telephone number to discuss a repayment proposal thay can afford and maintain.

 

Yours Sincerely

 

Mrs K Murray

Operational Support Supervisor

 

 

Now I've read the credit agreement which I signed, and there is nowhere upon it which talks of the selling or handing of the debt to a third party agency.

 

Also, I have been making a payment of £10 to cahoot since my troubles began. This payment has never been turned back.

 

I have never had a deed of assignment from cahoot telling me that the debt has been sold on, or asking me only to deal with a particular DCA.

 

MY overdraft with abbey national returns any paymants made to it, and my credit card with CITI, I received a deed of assignment informing me that officially they had sold it to Cabot.

 

So my question is, really I'm a bit stumped as where I goto from here.

 

I don't have a problem with entering negotiations, but what i do have a problem with is that if Cahoot are willing to accept my paymant, I don't see why I should even entertain these people or others like them.

 

Lets face it, they haven't endeared themselves to me with threat, letters and intimidation of two elderly relatives, and I certainly have no intention of 'calling' them - i'll only communicate by letter at this point.

 

Should I dig my heels in and ask for the deed of assignation, or further informations?

 

Oh... and as yet, no complaints procedure

[spamheed]

i would post the agreement on here to see if it's enforceable.

 

Even if it is enforceable and you have to deal with them, make your offers in writing and make sure you send a payment for the amount you can reasonably afford along with the letter. ensure that you reference your payment in your letter ie I am enclosing payment of £xx.xx etc

 

They would rather you didn't make payment so that they can whisk you through the courts a non-payer. If you are making payment against the account and they still take you through the courts, it will look better if you are seen as being reasonable and making an attempt to pay, but I stress, only if the agreement is enforceable

[Sev]

Hi Spamhead, thanks for the feedback so quickly.

 

Here is the Credit agreement for your perusal (naturally i've taken the personal details off.)

 

 

and the second page:

 

 

Also, surely since i've been asking for this as early as april and they haven't complied, and I note the next day delivery label is dated 03/01/2008 ?!?

 

Also it mentions:

ANCL may transfer (by way of absolute assignment, by way of novation or by way of security) any or all of its rights or its rights or responsibilities (whether legal or equitable) under this agreement and your legal rights will not be affected.

 

So if i've read that right, is this saying that the whole debt should be signed over?

 

My fear is that as once before, I paid a DCA only to find that the debt had not been reduced at all, and then several dca's all started chasing for the same debt.

Edited November 19, 2008 by Sev

[Sev]

also, whilst I remember, I was told when all this set off, that I could use the money in the flexible load in order to make the payments - cahoot should if their automated system was correct, have recorded this, and of course, still have that recording - could I request this through the SAR in order for it to form a defence?

[Sev]

Also thinking out aloud, as they failed to supply the agreement when originally asked for it, then effectively the cannot enforce this, as they have broken their own guidelines.

 

I think that i'll lodge a complaint with the OFT and FOS and also against Cahoot, who haven't contacted me in over 2 years yet keep accepting my payment.

 

Or perhaps request the deed of assignment which authorises their right to collect. Also the Credit agreement states nowhere that the debt will be sold on to another agency. Is there a guideline governing the selling of debt?

[42man]

Sev, in my opinion, the agreement looks enforceable, it isn't something I would challenge in front of a judge, it seems to have the prescribed terms, although they are supposed to provide a copy of the t's and c's at the time you took this out, as for them not being able to supply it in time, the 30 days offence is no longer an offence, and it only stays in default if they can't provide it, they obviously have now provided it, so they could enforce this, you also mention 'deed' of assignment, which is something you will not see, as this is a confidential piece of paper which shows the assignment of debt from the original creditor to a debt collection agency, this would only be provided if you suspected fraud (i.e. a debt collector was trying to collect money when they hadn't 'bought' the debt) if you mean a 'notice' of assignment, then there should have been one from the original creditor sent to you saying that the debt had been sold to (dca name) and the DCA should have sent you one saying they have bought or are the new owners of the debt. I would send a SAR to the original creditor to reveal ALL they have on you -

 

Use this one...keep paying your monthly amount, if they do take this to court, then we can issue a CPR to reveal all....keep us posted...

 

Data Protection Act 1998

 

Subject Access Request

 

Dear Sir/Madam

 

ACCOUNT NUMBER: xxxxxxxxx (or multiple numbers if more than one account)

 

Please supply me with all data that you hold on me. This includes in particular, but is not limited to, the following:-

 

1. The original signed, executed credit agreement and any terms and conditions that applied to the account at the time of default and at the time the account was opened.

2. Transcriptions of all telephone conversations recorded and any notes made in relation to telephone conversations by your company, or by any previous creditor

3. Where there has been any event in my account history over this period which has required manual intervention by any person, I require disclosure of any indication or notes which have either caused or resulted in that manual intervention, or other evidence of that manual intervention in relation to my account formerly held with ORIGINAL CREDITOR.

4. True copies of any notice of assignment and/or default notice or enforcement notice that you or the original creditor sent me, with a copy of any proof of postage that you hold.

5. Documents relating to any insurance added to the account, including the insurance contract and terms and conditions, date it was added and deleted (if applicable).

6. Details of any collection charges added to the account; specifically, the date it was levied, the amount of the charge, a detailed financial breakdown of how the charge was calculated, and what the charge covers.

7. Specific details of the fees/charges levied by any other agency in respect of this account and a detailed breakdown of said fees/charges and what each charge relates to and on what date said fees/charges were levied.

8. A genuine copy of any notice of fair use of my data as required by the Data Protection Act 1998

9. A list of third party agencies to whom you have disclosed my personal data and a summary of the nature of the information you have disclosed.

10. Copies of statements for the entire duration of the credit agreement.

 

I enclose the statutory maximum fee of £10. You have 40 days in which to comply.

If there is specific information which you require in order to satisfy yourself as to my identity, please let me know by return. However, please note that the above address is the one which you normally use to communicate my private business to me and which you have hitherto found to be acceptable.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

 

print but don't sign your name

[Sev]

Hello 42Man,

 

Thanks for your prompt reply. I thought as much, and in truth I don't have a problem in coming to an arrangement.

 

However, what I do have a problem with is that no notice of assignment has been sent by either DCA or Cahoot, who have failed to contact me for over 2 years (since I would not agree to repay arrears, and in fact one of their own staff advised me to borrow against my flexible loan in order to stave off arrears - unfortunately which I did, as I didn't then know any better).

 

In reality that's what I was after, a notice of assignment as Citibank did with Cabot, when they sold my debt on.

 

If Cahoot are still taking my payment I do not see why I should entertain a DCA, and if Cahoot were willing to come to an arrangement I would be more than happy to enter into dialogue with them.

 

Ultimately I don't want to avoid paying this debt, I want to see it right, but I won't be bullied / harrassed or intimidated by lowlife filth hunting commissions - and if this is the case, then let it go before a judge to decide how much should be paid.

 

I'll send the S.A.R - (Subject Access Request), it was Cahoots' acceptance of my payment that has held me back from requesting a list of charges until now.

 

Also, I'm going to push for a copy of the telephone conversation that was recorded in 2004 where their 'customer advisor' tells me to use my loan to cover payments.

 

To this end, I think i'll file an OFT and FOS complaint against both these parties, as I asked the DCA for signed agreement in april and they didn't deliver.

 

Infact, their first contact was a telephone call once again telling me that they were going to initiate immediate court proceedings as I couldn't afford to settle the account in full.

 

For what it's worth I'm going to try and make lots of noise about this one, and if the press will listen all the better.

 

I don't know if this information is current:

 

Head of cahoot Martin Plant

Head of Operations Harvey Griffith

Head of Finance Alex Daly

 

But i'll certainly be making enquiries in order to find out. It's about time that these nameless faceless entities becoame known to the CAG public.

[Sev]

also would I be right in thinking that until the S.A.R. information is satisfied, the account remains in dispute?

[Sev]

Right, today I'll be sending the S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) to Moorcroft using the template above, and also one to cahoot, as I feel that in for a penny and in for a pound, I may as well start to recover my charges off them as well.

 

I'm also sending this to their MD - won't do a lot, but it'll make me feel better.

 

Any thoughts and advice/ ammendments before I send?

 

Matthew Tims

Managing Director

CAHOOT

Friars House

PO Box 1981

Coventry

CV1 2ZD

 

Date

 

Re Account No No:

 

Dear Sir,

 

I am writing in order to express my utter disgust at the levels your organization has stooped to in order to recover the above debt, and the carefree attitude to your industries own rules and regulations.

 

I had been a loyal customer of Cahoot since 2003. In 2006 I came into financial hardships which I had hoped would pass quickly, however, they did not. I contacted Cahoot every step of the way thinking wrongly that they would be sympathetic to my needs.

 

In December 2006 my debt was passed onto a collection agency without any prior warning or notice, which in itself is against your own industry regulation. This collection agency’s staff member felt the need to threaten my elderly parents and intimidate them into paying monies towards my debts. I also am sickened that they have such a ‘who cares’ attitude towards confidentiality in pursuit of their commissions.

 

The trust and relationship that I held with my family is now utterly destroyed because of these callous actions, having caused emotional shame and stress which is beyond words.

 

As of April 2008 the debt allegedly was passed to Moorcroft Debt Management for collection. Once again, no notification or documents were issued by you or Moorcroft, instead preferring to telephone late into the evening and state that as the debt could not be paid, they would ‘begin court action’.

 

Given that my original complaint was never pursued, given that Cahoot has never been in contact with me personally despite my regular token payments in order to show goodwill on my part and demonstrate that I am not running away from my obligation to pay this debt; I can only draw the conclusion that Cahoot are fully aware and endorse these aggressive methods of collection and you as director fully sanction.

 

As I am sure you are aware Harassment of debtors is a criminal offence in England and Wales under section 40 of the Administration of Justice Act 1970.

 

In addition every individual has a right to be free from harassment under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997, and given the gravity of the situation I should have sought an injunction against yourselves and your collection agency under section 1 of the Harassment Act 1998, acting on advice from the Crown Prosecution Service.

 

It was I who came to you in order to ask for help to deal with my debt situation. It was one of your staff who convinced me to borrow on my loan in order to ‘maintain payments’. A copy of the conversation recorded which I await as is my right.

 

Your parent company destroyed any chance of being able to repay you in any meaningful manner by stripping away what resource there was in the form of charges, which I now know to be unlawful and am in the process of recovering.

 

You have persisted in adding interest, and charges, uncaring as to my situation. I have a very real desire to repay this debt, but as of this moment I do not have the means to do so. Hence my token payment of ten pounds per month.

 

Since I first came to you to come to some agreement, I have had two collection agencies aggressively attacking me and my family psychologically and through verbal intimidation. Never has Cahoot thought to call in order to discuss a reasonable plan.

 

If Cahoot has sold the debt on, why have I not been notified, and more importantly why is it still taking what little I can afford?

 

If cahoot has not sold the debt on, why have you not contacted me to come to an agreeable arrangement, rather choosing to let collection companies do your work – knowing full well of the tactics they use – again I ask you, does this then mean that Cahoot fully endorse those tactics and methods used for collection?

 

Why should I pay a debt collection company when they will only hand a portion of it to you? And what makes you feel that I can pay them anymore that I can pay you? – unless of course you sit and take the pleasure of knowing what for the harassment and collection method will take – My just deserving punishment for not being able to pay you.

 

How does it feel knowing that you had driven me to a point where suicide was a very real option?

How does it feel knowing that it was easier to throw the rope I was holding over a branch and ending it all, rather than facing my family and dependents again?

 

I feel that it is only right to go public with this matter, as it is only right in the current economic climate that the public at large understand what happens when good debts go bad, and what methods are used by your industry and endorsed by people such as you.

 

I await your reply in this matter, and as always will gladly talk with Cahoot, as I have always been prepared to do, and will continue to make my payment until my situation improves. Cahoot has obviously decided that I am one of the ones who ‘wont’ pay rather than ‘cant’ pay – but more than likely there is no real difference in your eyes.

 

 

Yours Sincerely