Cabot & Capquest Help

[teapothen]

Hi guys - this is my first post

 

After viewing and reading some really helpful advice on these boards I have decided to post.

 

I owe debts to HSBC and Egg from 1999/2000 and started paying them back a number of years ago to Cabot (for HSBC) and Capquest (for Egg).

 

Increasingly they put the amount of my direct debit up without my acknowledgement, so I am struggling now to pay. I wrote to Cabot explaining my situation and asked for a copy of my credit agreement. They have wrote back to me saying they cannot supply this to me as the debt was from such a long time ago. Are they within their rights to do this?

 

I am thinking about also writing to Capquest as they have increased my monthly payment from £20 to £57!! I am a single parent and as you can imagine this is causing me many financial problems.

 

Thanks in advance!

[42man]

Welcome to the CAG forums TPH, You are perfectly within your rights to stop paying them up until such time as they produce a compliant copy of your agreement. It is hardly your fault if they no longer have the agreements, Have you considered sending a SAR to the original creditors ? Not only will this reveal if indeed there are any agreements but also how much in excessive penalty charges have been added to the accounts.

[bazaar]

You need to cancel those DD right away, because they could suddenly take a huge whack out of your account.

They know you are on to them by requesting the CCA, so get them cancelled TODAY.

If youre worried about keeping up payments, you can pay a minimum £1 token until they produce your LEGALLY requested agreement, or Most importantly, they fail to produce the agreement. . But, As they have already stated they do not have an agreement ( keep that letter handy). Then you can send them a letter putting the account in dispute and stop payments. You MUST let them know that your putting the account in dispute. Send everything by recorded delivery at least. Get yourself a folder so you can keep track of where you are.

[PGH7447]

Good advice from bazaar

 

cancel the DD's now

[IdaInFife]

as above and you can send this to cabot:

 

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.

As you have stated that you cannot locate any alleged agreement 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 therefore request a copy of your official complaints procedure which you are obliged to supply.

I would appreciate your due diligence in this matter.

I look forward to hearing from you in writing.

Yours faithfully,

 

 

ida x

[diddydicky]

Good advice from bazaar

 

cancel the DD's now

 

and tell the bank that you in dispute with these accounts so that they DO cancel them

[teapothen]

Cheers guys for all your help. I've sent the Cabot letter today and I've also sent Capquest a letter asking for the agreement & statements etc. Can you believe that I've been paying the Capquest debt for about 5 years and they have never once sent me a statement, just put the payment up!!!

[PGH7447]

They dont care how long you pay, as far as they are concerned you are just a cash machine that they empty once a month

[teapothen]

Right - got a letter back from Cabot saying they cannot provide me with the signed credit agreement as the account is too old??

 

Also, got a letter from Capquest today to say my account is on hold for the next 28 days? What does this mean?

[IdaInFife]

it measn the debt still exisits but you are under no obligation to offer payment.

 

some poeple would try and use this to offer a massivley reduced full and fianl settlement to clear and get rid of it.

 

it's up to you which route you take,

 

Ida x

[diddydicky]

10% is about right (provided they remove any adverse info and mark your cra satisfied in full)

 

as for the second one it means they are still looking (frantically, probably) for an agreement

[Duffers Mum]

When Crapot couldn't provide me with my agreement, they sent the account back to Goldfish (Barclays now I think), that was earlier this year, not heard anything since, hopefully it will stay that way

 

Good luck

[PGH7447]

keep crabots letter very safe and stop paying them

[teapothen]

I got the letter from Capquest saying that my account was on hold, and now I have received a letter from "HL Legal" threatening legal action because they have not received the last monthly payment?! Eh? Surely they realise I am not going to pay my monthly payments whilst my account is on hold?

[PGH7447]

ignore them, or send the account in dispute letter, hl legal sit at the next door desk to the capquest threatmonkey

[teapothen]

I have now received from Cabot a computer printout with my old HSBC statements which they are saying proves that the debt is owed to them. Still no signed agreement though? Do I respond to that?

 

(Thanks for all your help and replies!)

[katpuss]

Statements don't prove that the debt is your responsibility. They have to provide a copy of the original signed credit agreement. If they don't supply this then they cannot enforce the collection of the debt.

 

They know all this and are just trying to pull a fast one by sending old statements to you which only prove transactions on the account. I'm sure there is a response letter you can send to Cabot which an experiences poster can recommend?

 

Also HL Legal Services (ahem) is Capquest's so calledcalled "litigation department" which is based in house. Ignore them as the debt is under dispute and whilst it is under dispute they cannot enforce collection.

 

Make sure all your

[katpuss]

Part 2 - Make sure all of your direct debits are cancelled and then keep an eye on your bank account as these companies are crafty and may set up a direct debit without your authorisation

[summer30]

Ignore them as the debt is under dispute and whilst it is under dispute they cannot enforce collection.

 

 

Doing some research this morning and found a thread where some state that they can still take it to court even if they havent provided a legitimate CCA?

[diddydicky]

Doing some research this morning and found a thread where some state that they can still take it to court even if they havent provided a legitimate CCA?

 

anyone can take you to court anytime with (or without) any documents

 

thats the easy bit!!

[teapothen]

Right, I've had another letter from Cabot saying they are treating my account as "irrecoverable" but still reporting to the credit reference agencies?? What does this mean? Will I get defaults etc on my record??

 

Thanks again for any advice!

[42man]

You might find this of great interest - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/debt-collection-industry/115280-useful-information.html and this one too just in case you missed it - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/debt-collection-industry/120057-cabot-test-case-2.html#post2384353