APEX threatening action for a M&S debt in my local jurisdiction.

[theoldgit]

I have a debt for a M&S Credit Card, originally a Charge Card, and circumstances have left me in a position that I am unable to service the debt.

 

I have kept M&S, and the various debt collectors in the food chain, advised of my circumstances, including the reason I am currently in the position adding that I have no assets in the UK or in my country of residence.

 

APEX are now firing off letters at a rapid pace, clearly they have more confidence in the worlds postal system than I as further letters are being sent before I receive the earlier one, they are now advising that their international law practice intend to instruct a local law firm to commence proceedings in my country of residence.

 

I realise that they are topping and tailing a standard letter but do I need to be as concerned as they say I should be, can a UK credit agreement be enforced in a local court?

 

I have kept the creditors advised of my position and intend to repay when I possibly can, but I have no assets whatsoever.

 

Grateful for any thoughts.

[cerberusalert]

I have more chance of being beatified than they have of taking enforcement in your part of Asia.

[theoldgit]

Thanks very much, you're a saint.

[Taormina]

Apex sent us 1 letter.. then gave up.. havent heard from them since

[retap-falco]

Hmmm.. my o/h keeps getting letters from Apex, but they keep failing to put the destination country on the envelope, even though I have written to them! They think the town I live in is in the UK and even frank it 25p! Idiots. They also keep threatening us with international lawyers etc. etc. I feel sorry for the postal service having to keep finding my address abroad and not getting paid for the service.

[cerberusalert]

If they had Semtex for brains there wouldn't be enough to part their hair if it detonated.

[theoldgit]

These clowns never cease to amaze me, I sent a very polite letter to Apex reconfirming my situation which has put me in the position that I connot service the account, advising that I will inform them if my position changes.

 

Today I received a letter from their Mr Pound, their Chief Operating Officer no less, what a really grand title, Pound acknowledges receipt of my letter adding that the contents have been duly noted, he then goes onto say in order for them consider my offer of payment they require an up to date financial statement. I had no recollection of making an offer of repayment, so thinking I must be going round the bend I checked my letter which of course says nothing of the sort.

 

Do these idiots actually read the letters they receive?

 

Of course before I had the chance to respond, which I suspect I will not, their cycle of threatening letters has started.

[cerberusalert]

They have a finite number of template letters to play with & as the the average DCA monkey doesn't have the intelligence to string a sentence together let alone compose a letter they tend to recycle the same puerile trash.

Do these idiots actually read the letters they receive?

Don't give them too much credit, after all how many simians have you seen that actually can read?

 

Personally I would just ignore them, it's pointless getting involved in a game of postal ping-pong. The nearest you'll see to a debt collector appearing in your neck of the woods will be one selling his derrière to get the fare home after his reassignment operation.

[StuffedbyNatwest]

These clowns never cease to amaze me, I sent a very polite letter to Apex reconfirming my situation which has put me in the position that I connot service the account, advising that I will inform them if my position changes.

 

Today I received a letter from their Mr Pound, their Chief Operating Officer no less, what a really grand title, Pound acknowledges receipt of my letter adding that the contents have been duly noted, he then goes onto say in order for them consider my offer of payment they require an up to date financial statement. I had no recollection of making an offer of repayment, so thinking I must be going round the bend I checked my letter which of course says nothing of the sort.

 

Do these idiots actually read the letters they receive?

 

Of course before I had the chance to respond, which I suspect I will not, their cycle of threatening letters has started.

 

Awwww, I thought I was priviledged to get a letter from Mr Pound with a 25p stamp Guess he hasnt got anything else to do. I have lived abroad for 8 years so think even the Statute of Limitations might apply but not sure - does anyone know? Thanks

[StuffedbyNatwest]

Apologies, last posting got tangled!

 

Awwww, I thought I was priviledged to get a letter from Mr Pound with a 25p stamp Guess he hasnt got anything else to do. I have lived abroad for 8 years so think even the Statute of Limitations might apply but not sure - does anyone know? Thanks

[cerberusalert]

I have lived abroad for 8 years so think even the statute of limitations might apply but not sure - does anyone know? Thanks

Yes, unless they've obtained a CCJ. If they did and used a previous address whilst you were a non-UK resident you could have it set aside, otherwise if a CCJ hasn't been enforced within six years they would have to apply to a court for permission to enforce and this is rarely if ever given.

[StuffedbyNatwest]

No, I am sure there never was a CCJ. Just this letter last week and another today telling me to pay or they will instruct their "International Law Practice". Is it worth even replying? Again, thank you

[cerberusalert]

Send them this;

 

Dear Sir/Madam

 

Acc/Ref No

 

You have contacted me regarding the account with the above reference number, which you claim is owed by myself.

 

I wish to point out that under the Limitation Act 1980 Section 5 “an action founded on simple contract shall not be brought after the expiration of six years from the date on which the cause of action accrued.”

 

I should also point out that the OFT say under their Debt Collection Guidance on statute barred debt that “it is unfair to pursue the debt if the debtor has heard nothing from the creditor during the relevant limitation period”.

 

The last payment of this alleged debt was made over six years ago and no further acknowledgement or payment has been made since that time. Unless you can provide evidence of payment or written contact from me in the relevant period under Section 5 of the Limitation Act, I suggest that you are no longer able to take any court action against me to recover the alleged amount claimed.

 

The OFT Debt Collection Guidance states further that “continuing to press for payment after a debtor has stated that they will not be paying a debt because it is statute barred could amount to harassment contrary to section 40 (1) of the Administration of Justice Act 1970”.

 

I await your written confirmation that this matter is now closed and that no further contact will be made concerning the above account after that last letter.

 

Yours faithfully

 

Print Name do not sign

[StuffedbyNatwest]

Awwww - deep joy, another letter from Steve Mound, Chief Operating Officer, (Hello Mr Pound if you are reading this ) but it took 3 weeks to get here as he only put a 25p stamp on it. Now he wants, yet again, to "pass it to our international law practice". Wonder why his web site has no reference to any international law practice? I think I will send him the suggested letter above and "forget" to put the right stamp on it, as me thinks the UK Post Office will surcharge him.

 

Look forward to hearing from you again Mr Mound

[cerberusalert]

You could also enclose & old telephone directory to make the weight up.

[theoldgit]

And today yet another "Mound Missive" sent by second class mail and delivered in six weeks, to the day, you know the one telling me to, once again, take notice that the debt, What debt would that be? is still enforceable in law and will be passed to their international law practice to commence proceedings in my local jurisdiction, that'll be the Hanoi County Court then.

So assuming that "Mounds Numpties" actually read these threads, I will send them an open letter as I have no intention of wasting my time and Dong (Vietnamese currency) in playing letter pin pong with them.

Dear Mr Steve Mound

Thank you for your recent letter, you will be pleased to learn that your faith in the Royal Mail surface delivery service is well founded as your letter was delivered today having only taken six weeks to reach me, surviving storm, tempest and Somali Pirates, I have to agree that the 26p you invested was money well spent.

It's, however, a pity that the content of the letter is of your usual poor standard, and probably didn't deserve the sterling efforts of the Royal Mail.

You say that have attempted to contact on numerous occasions without success, I find that very strange because I have written to you a number of times and you have responded to my letters.

You then go on to say that I have ignored previous attempts to settle this seriously overdue account, so which is it? I won't make contact or I won't settle? Surly it cannot be both.

You have threatened me a number of times with your international law practice, so just do it. As I have advised you in my letters, whilst of course ignoring you, I have absolutely zilch, so good luck there.

Thanks for telling me to call you on your 0871 number, as you are aware I cannot call this number from overseas, even if I was inclined to do so.

May I respectfully suggest that you stop sending me meaningless letters and concentrate on harassing and bullying people who give a sh*t.

Yours sincerely

theoldgit

[Taormina]

Love that! Lets hope he reads it!

[StuffedbyNatwest]

Really Taormina, you are making the wild assumption that Mr Mound can read in the first place. From his apparent inability to actually respond to people who do write to him one must assume he that reading and understanding are not amongst his strong points - just as he thinks a 2nd class UK stamp will get a letter to Hanoi in a reasonable period of time.

 

So go on Mound, prove us all wrong and respond to this thread - we know you read it and we know you want to (it doesnt matter if you have to get someone else to write your response for you)

 

[theoldgit]

I had a store card with a major chain of stores in the UK, the store card was changed into a credit card some years later, I hit hard times, moved abroad, gave up on on trying to maintain payments and defaulted on the card.

 

The debt has been passed from DCA to DCA and I gone into head in the sand mode, and ignored all communication, I still live out of the EU.

 

The debt is on the verge of being statute barred, but there is a but.

 

As well as having the cc with the retailer I had a personal loan them which was used to buy a car, when I left the UK my ex needed a car so I allowed her to keep my car that was being paid for from the loan and and she would carry on with the payments. We kept the loan in my name.

 

She carried on making the payments but overpaid the last payment by £30, the company advised me that there had been an overpayment but instead of refunding it they credited it to my, now defaulted, credit card account.

 

I fear that this may have re-set the statute barred clock by three years.

 

I am reluctant to ask them as they haven't been in touch for a year or so, and neither have their DCA's, I'm inclined to let sleeping dogs lie.

 

Does anyone have a view?

[Bang!]

1. The store card being changed to a credit card may actually have invalidated any debt given a recent case in which Santander failed as plaintiff with a Harrods store card that failed to comply with the CCA when upped to a credit card. Look it up - I am on my phone.

 

2. You did not make the payment so while it should be fine you may find attempts to do as you fear - to pre-empt chancers it might make sense to tell the car finanace people that account is in dispute and see if they can cancel and repay it. I openly have no idea if this can be done, but am sure others will correct me if I'm wrong.

[citizenB]

As you have not voluntarily made that payment then I dont think it can be used to restart the SB clock.

 

It was in fact an unsolicited gift from the company.

 

You might also want to have a read of the following article on Store to credit cards..

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/content.php?867-Has-your-store-card-been-automatically-upgraded-Hot-News-for-you!!!

 

HTH