HFO Services

[indiebhoy]

I have today received a letter from HFO services claiming that I owe them X amount of money due to a Barclay Card that I defaulted on several years ago.

 

They say I have 3 days before the case will be passed to their solicitors. Having checked the advice on the forums I am going to send them the following letter:

 

Dear XXXX:

I do not acknowledge ANY debt to your company. I require you to supply the following documentation before I will correspond further on this matter.

 

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 postal order in payment of the statutory fee.

 

2. A signed true copy of the deed of assignment of the above referenced agreement that you allege exists.

 

3. You are notified that you are obliged to supply these documents, whether you are the original creditor or not under S189 of the CCA 1974.

 

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.

 

As you are aware, a credit agreement that is not properly documented and signed by the customer is totally unenforceable under the CCA and therefore is a complete defence to any court claim that is issued.

 

Take note at this stage, that any legal action you may contemplate will be both vigorously defended and contested.

 

 

Sincerely,

XXXX

 

Does anyone have any more advice on what I should do?

 

Thanks

[harrassed senior]

That is an old template and is now incorrect in part.

 

I would send the prove it letter first :

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...ng-of-the-debt

[coledog]

Hi and welcome to CAG

 

Yes - Don't send it - that is an out of date letter I will get you an up to date one. This is no longer a criminal offence.

 

Before I do this - have you had any more contact with them than this letter? Other letters/phone calls? as it may be best to actually ignore them for the time being. The letter you have received is standard rubbish and really nothing to worry about on its own but these are a nasty bunch.

[harrassed senior]

Send them a CCA request to see if they are entitled to collect this debt & if it's enforcable. If they fail to provide it within 12+2 days or the CCA is unenforcable you can legally withold any payment until they do. Send it recorded delivery enclosing a £1 postal order. When you get a reply, scan it & remove any identifying details and post it back here where we can have a look at it. We'll advise you from there;

 

Dear Sir/Madam

 

Re:- Account No: XXXXXXXX/Your Reference Number: XXXXXXX

 

This letter is a formal request pursuant to s.77/78 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. I require you to provide me with a true copy of the credit agreement relating to the above account, together with any other documentation the Act requires you to provide.

 

I expect you to comply fully and properly with this request, within the statutory time limit. You are reminded that should you fail to comply with my request, the provisions of s.77 will apply.

 

If it is your view that you are not the creditor, s.175 of the CCA 1974 applies in the case of a simple assignment, and places a duty upon you to pass this request to the creditor. In the case of an absolute assignment, you are a creditor as defined by s.189. If you contend that you purchased the rights but not the duties of any agreement, you are reminded that s.189 of the Act is clear that an assignment is of both rights and duties.

 

Your attention is drawn to ss.5(2), 3(b),6 and 7 of the Consumer Protection From Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPUTR).

If you intend to send a reconstituted copy of the CCA you must declare the reason why it has been reconstituted and if the original exists and in what form (microfiche) etc

 

 

I enclose a postal order in the sum of £1.00, which is the statutory fee. Note that these funds are not to be used for any other purpose.

 

If you are unable to comply fully and properly with this request, you should confirm this in writing at the earliest opportunity, and certainly within the statutory time limit for compliance, and return the fee.

(Optional)

You should also note that I will only discuss this matter in writing and should it be your intention to arrange a “doorstep call”, please be advised that under OFT rules, you can only visit me at my home if you make an appointment and I have no wish to make an appointment with you or any of your associates.

 

There is only an implied license under English Common Law for people to be able to visit me on my property without express permission; the postman and people asking for directions etc (Armstrong v. Sheppard and Short Ltd [1959] 2 Q.B. per Lord Evershed M.R.). Therefore take note that I revoke license under Common Law for you, or your representatives to visit me at my property and if you do so, then you will be liable to damages for a tort of trespass and action will be taken, including but not limited to, police attendance. (Optional)

 

I look forward to hearing from you.

 

Yours faithfully **Edit to suit**

Print name do not sign

[coledog]

Thanks HS - but indiebhoy may be better sending the Prove it letter or just ignore - need a bit more info on the circumstances.

[harrassed senior]

[sillygirl1]

Interesting that HFO are doing the 3 day threat letter again, they haven't used that one for ages.... I wonder if it is due to it being near the end of the month and people after bonuses that we are getting a lot of new HFO and Bryan Carter posts today....

[coledog]

Sorry but has Harrassed Senior purchased a Clip Art subscription or been on a computer animation course recently?

[indiebhoy]

Hi there, thanks for all the speedy replies! I was just about to pop out to the post office!

 

I previously received a few other letters, including the card telling me to call them as they were holding legal documents for me, which I ignored. Then I received a phone call at home from a friendly sounding man with an American accent. He told me some details and then how much I owed to which I replied that I didn't think he had the correct person and that I would have to look into the matter further because I wasn't aware of any outstanding debt to his company before hanging up. I then stopped taking calls from them and received this letter today threatening me with court action/bailiffs/etc if I don't pay up in 3 days.

 

They have already added about £500 to the original debt.

[coledog]

Hi again

 

Looks like they following their normal process - you are right to not speak to them on the phone and ignore their calls. If you do speak to them say 'in writing please' and hang up. As they trying to contact you, I think I would send them the CCA request but using the correct template, send recorded and do not sign. Wait 12 working days plus 2 for posting and then send the account in dispute letter which we can direct you to. You can also send a SAR request to Barclaycard which will tell you exactly what documentation exists for the original account and if it is enforcable. I will find the template for that.

 

Did you receive a 'Notice of Assignment' letter from HFO recently? If so, does this say who exactly the debt has been sold to?

 

Was the delivery card from Silverpoint Delivery services as we have a thread about this [problem]?

 

The 3 day letter is rubbish and the others are as well, probably. This company will use threats like Bailliffs and legal action when they have absolutely no grounds to do this and are preying on peoples' ignorance.

[broken arrow]

I would do a data SAR

to Barclaycard, it could be very revealing:wink:

SAR

letter to send to BC with £10 postal order by recorded delivery. Sign but put crosses through signature

.

 

[your address]

[their address]

 

[DATE]

 

Dear Sir/Madam

 

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

 

Please supply me with copies of all the data which you hold on me in relation to any matter and in any form and for any period of time.

Please note that I require disclosure of any personal data

which you hold on me for the entire period of my dealings with you.

The Subject Access is not limited to my transaction history and it is not limited merely to 6 years

of historical information.

Additionally, where there has been any event in my account history over this period which has required manual intervention by any member of your staff, or any other 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 banking business with you.

If you are unable to supply this data because there has been no such manual intervention, then please be so kind as to confirm this in your response.

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,

 

[signature]

 

[name]

Send to :

BARCLAYCARD

Data Protection Team

Dept LRC

Northampton

NN4 7SG

[indiebhoy]

I think I might have had the 'notice of assignment' letter but it was put straight in the bin. And, yes, the card was from Silverpoint Delivery Services.

[indiebhoy]

What exactly might the data SAR reveal?

[harrassed senior]

Sorry but has Harrassed Senior purchased a Clip Art subscription or been on a computer animation course recently?

 

Just trying to bring some lightheartedness into a troubled world - sorry if it is a problem

[broken arrow]

I think I might have had the 'notice of assignment' letter but it was put straight in the bin. And, yes, the card was from Silverpoint Delivery Services.

 

Keep all post in future including envelopes.

The SAR to Barclaycard is important.

[coledog]

To Harassed Senior

 

Just trying to bring some lightheartedness into a troubled world - sorry if it is a problem

 

Absolutely no problem whatsoever - love it! Love your new Avatar also!

[dadofholly]

Interesting that HFO are doing the 3 day threat letter again, they haven't used that one for ages.... I wonder if it is due to it being near the end of the month and people after bonuses that we are getting a lot of new HFO and Bryan Carter posts today....

 

I think they are still sending them out as the first letter - they sent us one.

 

Interesteing thing is it was claiming about £1,000 more than they are now trying to take me to court for.

 

If they do this often - imagine how many people may panic and call them to arrange payments - or fall for their tactics.

 

That must be fraud.

 

Be interesting to ask all new hfo people on here how much is on the 72 hour letter and how much they end up claiming.

[sillygirl1]

And how many actually do pay the full amount HFO claim! It is about time the government put down this company and its dubious practices, and several other companies that I can think of - but these companies provide jobs for the lower end of the social spectrum so therefore are acceptable.

[DonkeyB]

Can you post up some of what they sent you with your personal details removed, especially the three day letter? Are you UK-based?

[coledog]

Indiebhoy

 

The SAR should provide all the original documentation that Barcalycard have about the account - if they have a credit agreement (doubtful due to the age of the account), any default notice they sent, statement of accounts which will show everything actually owed on the account including interest and charges (some of which can be challenged and will be a lot less than HFO are claiming) and best of all, who the account was sold to and when showing whether or not this was a valid sale.

 

If HFO ever try to progress this or tryed going through the courts you would have the information to fight it off.

 

HFO buy these debts for peanuts and then basically frighten people into paying up.

[harrassed senior]

To Harassed Senior

 

 

Absolutely no problem whatsoever - love it! Love your new Avatar also!

 

I get bored easily !!

[indiebhoy]

I am based in the UK. They say that they have been trying to contact me with an 'offer' connected with my account. They say I have 3 days to pay in full before they hand it over to their solicitors.

 

They then threaten with a Warrant of Execution and Order to Obtain information.

 

They also attached a credit report from econsumerview which has accurate info about my credit history and address details but has my date of birth wrong.

[DonkeyB]

Can you post up some of what they have sent, removing your personal details?

[coledog]

The threats are just total rubbish and their access to your data needs to be reported to the data provider, the OFT and the ICO.

 

Keep all correspondence in future.

[DonkeyB]

The threats are just total rubbish and their access to your data needs to be reported to the data provider, the OFT and the ICO.

 

Keep all correspondence in future.

 

Coledog, your inbox is full!