£86 phone bill debt becomes £766 in 4yrs. Is this fair?

[julius]

Hi guys, Need some advise.

Had a phone bill outstanding which was passed on to a debt collection agency. I was paying off this phone bill and was now left only to pay £86.48. This was in October 2005. By that time I had soo many financial problems that I sunk into a hole and hide away from the debt.I moved house quite often and forgot about the £86 debt. I am currently on a DMP and sort of managing. But just recently had a letter from a debt collection agency (Roxburghe) claiming the amount to be £766.00. I spoke to the one call operator from the debt collecting agency who informed me that this had been sold on to them by 3G Hutchinson and on speaking to 3G they told me this was sold onto HFO who I am assuming sold it to on to Roxburghe.

My main thing is how it came to this humongous amount? Is this possible or fair at all? I know they have they fees and all that but a whole £680 profit?? Any advise would be much appreciated guys.

 

Thanks:|

[sillygirl1]

DO NOT PAY THEM ONE PENNY. There are alot of HFO threads on this forum.

 

From 2005 to 2010 is 5 years, if you didn't make any payment in 2004 then the debt is STATUTE BARRED and they will have no chance of collecting.

 

Ignore their threats, they CANNOT increase the debt and if they take you to court your other creditors will be taken into consideration.

 

HFO/Roxburghe and their friendly solicitors, Turnbull Rutherford should be reported to Merton Trading Standards who are investigating the tactics of these scoundrels. Contact them and make sure they have the details.

[sillygirl1]

Best of all do not telephone anyone, you need everything in writing as Roxburgh/HFO have only the barest details.

 

I think you should include HFO in the title of your thread and everyone who hates them will jump in.

[julius]

Thanks for the replies guys. The last payment I made was on 19 October 2005 to the very 1st debt collectors, Moorcroft. On calling them a few weeks ago the told me 3G ahd paid off the remaining £86 on 26 Nov 2005. I am assuming 3G then sold this onto the other debt collecting agencies. Should I just try and avoid them until October 2010 making it the 5years since my last payment??? I should mention that I add contacted the current collectors and they want to agree on a £60/mnth payment plan of which I have not agreed to as I told them I need to get hold of 3G to find out more about the debt. 3G were of no help as they say they sold it onto HFS.

Again thanks for your responses.

Edited January 22, 2010 by julius
additonal info

[Hardupnotfedup]

Don't speak to these people on the phone, send the prove it letter from the templates, are you absolutely sure it was 2005? These cretins have a habit of chasing debts just before they become statued barred, It may be worth a SAR in the future to see when last payment was made.

What ever do not admit or pay anything just send the prove it letter from the templates.

[julius]

Hi, I am very sure of the date. I called up the company I last made payment to and they told me the last payment they received from me was 19 October 2005 .

[IdaInFife]

2 threads merged, please stick to the one thread, it is easier to follow

[julius]

I have been reading a couple of other posts and looked at the statute barred letter as well and it looks as if statute barred is only after 6 years. My last payment was October 2005. What should I do next, send the Subject access letter or just wait it out till 6 years is up?

[havinastella]

Just wait.

 

whatever happens you only owe £86.

 

Do not respond to anything except Court papers

 

Jogs

[julius]

Please may you point me out to the "prove it letter" as I can't seem to find it? I just received a very cheeky and some what rude letter from Roxburge all talking about how they are "surprised " at my failure to respond, statutory interest, guy at my door etc...

I do stress alot when I see these letters and just wanna know from you guys if u think I shld do the letter or as mentioned by "Jogs", just wait????

Thanks.

Julius

[cerberusalert]

Send them this; http://www.consumerforums.com/resources/templates-library/86-debt-collectors/573-general-debt-letter-if-you-know-nothing-of-the-debt

 

Also by the sounds they are in breach of OFT guidelines, have a read of; http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/consumer_credit/oft664.pdf

 

Particularly; Page 7

Charging for debt collection

 

2.9 Charges should not be levied unfairly.

2.10 Examples of unfair practices are as follows:

Edited February 4, 2010 by cerberusalert

[julius]

Send them this; http://www.consumerforums.com/resources/templates-library/86-debt-collectors/573-general-debt-letter-if-you-know-nothing-of-the-debt

 

Also by the sounds they are in breach of OFT guidelines, have a read of; http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/consumer_credit/oft664.pdf

 

Particularly; Page 7

 

Is this the same as the subject access that I have to enclose a £10 cheque or postal or postal order?

 

Thanks.

[cerberusalert]

No it's a letter telling them to prove a debt exists & costs you nothing... send it recorded delivery unsigned.

[julius]

No it's a letter telling them to prove a debt exists & costs you nothing... send it recorded delivery unsigned.

 

Thanks. I've just sent that out now and will update if or when I do hear from them.

 

Thanks again.

Julius

[julius]

Hi guys.

This is the letter I sent out to Roxburge:

http://www.consumerforums.com/resources/templates-library/86-debt-collectors/573-general-debt-letter-if-you-know-nothing-of-the-debt

 

I received a reply from them. In the reply they have stated the Contract start date, Contract disconnection date and ( Last amout paid on 07-06-05) together with their Interest charges and original balance. Original balance is what I am disputing.

 

There's really isn't much info I am getting from this reply. They dates of last payment are inconsistent with what I have from the last debt collecting agency I dealt with for this account. Last payment was made to Moorcroft was 19 October 2005 leaving outsatnding balance at £86.

 

Is this the only info they were suppossed to give to me with the letter I sent out and is there another letter I can send out to them requesting detailed info of this debt? This mobile phone contract was taken out instore at a superdrug outlet with 3G hence I believe will be bound to the consumer credit act of 1974. I also just remembered that I had placed a £150 deposit paid with my credit card when I first took the contract out which I am not sure if it was paid back or even added to their final figure.

 

Please advise guys and again thank you for all the help and feed back.

 

Regards

Branden

Edited March 10, 2010 by julius

[cerberusalert]

Mobile contracts are not covered by the Act. Unless your contract stipulated that they can add charges, which they rarely do, they cannot add any charges.

 

Have you received your SAR back from 3G yet?

[julius]

Mobile contracts are not covered by the Act. Unless your contract stipulated that they can add charges, which they rarely do, they cannot add any charges.

 

Have you received your SAR back from 3G yet?

 

Hi,

 

I haven' t sent 3G a SAR. All I have sent is the letter you suggested I send out and that was to Roxburge.

http://www.consumerforums.com/resources/templates-library/86-debt-collectors/573-general-debt-letter-if-you-know-nothing-of-the-debt

 

Shoud I do the SAR? And should I send it to 3G or Roxburge? 3G have told me that they sold this onto HFO and all info should be requested from them. HFO have sold this onton Roxburge.

[cerberusalert]

Under the circumstances I would send a SAR to 3G to see exactly what has occurred with this a/c and what the balance was when sold on. They have to keep this information for six years from when the a/c was sold.

[julius]

Under the circumstances I would send a SAR to 3G to see exactly what has occurred with this a/c and what the balance was when sold on. They have to keep this information for six years from when the a/c was sold.

 

Ok. I will do that now and post it out 1st thing tomorrow morning. Should I in the mean time inform Roxburge of this because they will be in contact very soon?

 

Thanks

[cerberusalert]

I would wait until they contact you again & just reiterate that you dispute the a/c and are awaiting a reply from your SAR.

[julius]

Thanks again for all your help.

[julius]

Under the circumstances I would send a SAR to 3G to see exactly what has occurred with this a/c and what the balance was when sold on. They have to keep this information for six years from when the a/c was sold.

 

I was just reading the SAR and was thinking if it's better sending it to Roxburge as they still will have to provide all the info related to that debt? Orignal signed agreement, and any other info from 3G etc??? Two birds with one stone.

[cerberusalert]

No because they will only be able to provide the data they hold on you, they will have nothing regarding the a/c itself. When the debt was passed to them all they would have received would be the very basic info.

[julius]

Wrote the subject access out to 3G Hutchinson sum 20 days ago, £10 postal order included, They have just written to me today stating that I should write to their Data Protection department.

 

Now, they haven't returned the £10 postal order. When I write to the Data Protection department should I mention that I have already sent the £10 payment to 3 customer services and do I have to do another subject access? Do the 20 days gone by count towards the 40days and if they do should I put this in the letter as-well?

 

Thanks.

[cerberusalert]

When I write to the Data Protection department should I mention that I have already sent the £10 payment to 3 customer services and do I have to do another subject access?

Make a complaint to the ICO, they should have passed the request on to the relevant department. https://www.ico.gov.uk/Global/contact_us.aspx