Mackenzie Hall :( please help!

[sarah260]

Hi, hoping someone can offer me some advice recently got a letter to my work adress from Mackenzie Hall regardding an old debt from my uni days - about 5 1/2 yrs old. Seems to be a lot more than i remember what should i do first? Do i need to worry if they haven't got my home address? Should i write to them asking for proof of the debt? Really worried as in low paid job and cannot afford to repay it

[lickthewallfatboy]

welcome aboard the DCA kill wagon!!

 

5 1/2 is getting pretty close to statute barred if you have not made payment or acknowledged in that time

 

MH are bottom feeders

 

hit them with a CCA request to prove the "debt" and then it's a case of stringing them along for a few months

 

easily done!!

[sarah260]

thank you silly question whats a CCA?! do you mean a letter saying "i am unaware of this debt please can you provide me with documentation to prove & ouline the debt" really annoying about the 6 yr thing - last had contact in 2005 assuming its from the time you last had contact?

[sarah260]

oh sorry just followed DCA link and seen CCA - thank you

[Hardupnotfedup]

Sarah what ever you do never admit to the debt, if you do the 6 year clock starts ticking again. Head any correspondence with them with the words I DO NOT ACKNOWLEDGE ANY DEBT TO YOUR COMPANY. If you haven't made any payments or admitted the debt in 6 years then it becomes SB. a CCA request will tell you exactly when the loan was taken do not make the mistake of forgetting the month and just saying 2005 to 2011.

[Hardupnotfedup]

What did the letter say exactly? Maybe you do not have to reply just yet as it might be a Phishing letter you may still have 1 year before SB so be careful

[sarah260]

letter listed amount and said they were acting on behalf of the loan company (thought they just bought debt) said i had to pay whole amount by midday last tuesday! But as was sent to my work address and i wasn't in last week only just seen it. will def. put that at top of letter though - thank you for your advice - felt sick when i opened the letter

[tindwcel]

Do NOT write to them.

 

Do NOT telephone them.

 

Sit tight and wait for it to become statute barred.

[Hardupnotfedup]

Do NOT write to them.

 

Do NOT telephone them.

 

Sit tight and wait for it to become statute barred.

 

And in the meantime a ccj gets issued by default, Sarah was sent a letter to her workplace, they have traced her, she will be better off stringing them along for the remaining month's. CCA request, which they probably won't have, takes another couple of weeks,a bit of postal ping pong, voila SB, it is better in this situation to be Pro-active than reactive if and when the do-do hits.

As always Im always prepared to be told I am wrong.

[sarah260]

would like to know the exact date as well so CCA seems like a good route. Will def. head it with "do not acknowledge debt" think i'd be too scared to do nothing in case they turned up at work! Thank you so much for all your advice do feel a bit calmer now i have a plan!

[Hardupnotfedup]

If nothing else you need to know when exactly when you made last payment, if you have online banking you may be able to go back that far.

[sarah260]

that is a really good point! I hadn't thought about checking bank statements!

[unclebulgaria67]

Why are they writing to your workplace?

 

Thought that if the debt was not related to your business, it was against the OFT's collection guidelines. Could be seen as harassment as per point 2.6J from the OFT's Debt Collection guidance.

 

"acting in a way likely to be publicly embarrassing to the debtor either

deliberately or through lack of care, for example, by not putting

correspondence in a sealed envelope and putting it through a letterbox,

thereby running the risk that it could be read by third parties."

 

If they knowingly wrote to your work address and risked publicly embarassing you, they could be in trouble. Warn them that if they do this again, you will contact the OFT. Contact should only be via your residential address and only in writing.

[F_DCAs]

It's Mackenzie Hall. Report them to the OFT anyway. They'll already know it's a works address, especially if the business name's in the address.

[Mrs E Blackadder]

What I'd like to know is how they got someone's work address. Who the hell do they think they are! I would definately report them to OFT, don't let them get away with it. Letters sent to work addresses are often opened by central mail room staff, just imagine how embarrasing that could be for someone with, potentially, the whole building knowing your business.

 

If you can somehow get the exact date for the debt, then maybe you can string these idiots out for long enough that the debt will definately become statute barred and they can go sing!

[sarah260]

did think it was odd to come to work address. In the letter it says they think i'm resident here which is rubbish because its clearly a company name. So do people think i should write threatening to report to OFT?

took hardupnotfedup's advice and looked at bank statements would need to hold out another 9 months is that possible do you think?

[unclebulgaria67]

Yes threated them that you will report to OFT if they write to your work address again and will look to take legal action for harassment.

 

Advise them that all future correspondence should be sent to your residential address.

 

Yes you can spin this out for the next 9 months. Ask for proof of debt and the CCA.

[sarah260]

so i suppose then its up to them to try and get my actual residential address & if they manage that then i need to ask for CCA etc.

[F_DCAs]

Unless you're in Scotland, where Statute Barring kicks in after 5 years, as opposed to 6.

[sillygirl1]

Report them for sending the letter to your workplace via Alan Stewart at East Ayrshire Trading Standards, he is fully aware of this companys breaches of legislation and needs this hard evidence.

 

He will reply if you email him. I'll dig out his email this evening.

[Hardupnotfedup]

so i suppose then its up to them to try and get my actual residential address & if they manage that then i need to ask for CCA etc.

 

If you want to play games just send back the envelope saying this is a business address not residential. get someone else to endorse the envelope, it could easily happen in a large firm that a person is unknown, it is a balance between being shrewd and clever and totally avoiding the debt, how do you think they got your workplace, have you told any other DCA.

Whether you can string them out for 9 months really depends on whether they can supply an enforceable CCA, The danger in writing is the possible slip that admits the debt.

Send this letter back and see if anything else arrives.In my opinion antagonising them at this point might make them just dig that bit harder, although reporting them needs to be done it isn't going to help you at this present time.

[sarah260]

thats great thank you

[sarah260]

re. hardupnorfedup

 

not sure how they got work address. Have ordered things online through amazon etc. but surely if it was through them they'd have my home address from the billing details? So would you advise just return opened letter (taking copy first), and if I get another quote 2.6.J and report them?

[Hardupnotfedup]

it will probably be weeks before they write again, running down the time.

If you get anything else come back to this thread so we have a history good luck.

 

This is only a personal opinion.

[sarah260]

thank you