And I thought we'd been getting on so well?! (Cap 1 / Capquest)

[sirpip]

Hi All,

 

I know many of you have had bad experiences with Capital One, but of all my 'friends' in the debt industry, they've been the ones I have found most reasonable, until now..

 

 

I'll keep it brief - any advice would be most welcome..

• Mid 2008 - Default with Capital One £1700.
  
• Agreed a payment plan of £20pm, default was still issued but account retained by OC
  
• Paid for over 3 years (40 consecutive payments), balance now £900.
  
• Today, letter from Capquest, basically saying "We're in charge now, show us the money".
  

Why offload the account to a DCA now, after all this time?

Why no warning?

Why no letter of assignment?

 

I suppose I could contact Capquest and simply reinstate the £20pm arrangement, but I'm not sure.

 

What do you lot think?

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Hi All,

 

I know many of you have had bad experiences with Capital One, but of all my 'friends' in the debt industry, they've been the ones I have found most reasonable, until now..

 

 

I'll keep it brief - any advice would be most welcome..

• Mid 2008 - Default with Capital One £1700.
  
• Agreed a payment plan of £20pm, default was still issued but account retained by OC
  
• Paid for over 3 years (40 consecutive payments), balance now £900.
  
• Today, letter from Capquest, basically saying "We're in charge now, show us the money".
  

Why offload the account to a DCA now, after all this time?

Why no warning?

Why no letter of assignment?

 

I suppose I could contact Capquest and simply reinstate the £20pm arrangement, but I'm not sure.

 

What do you lot think?

 

Hi, does the letter say Capquest have bought the debt and

that they now are the creditor, or are Capquest say they have

been assigned to collect and manage the account for Cap 1 ??

[sirpip]

Hi, does the letter say Capquest have bought the debt and

that they now are the creditor, or are Capquest say they have

been assigned to collect and manage the account for Cap 1 ??

 

Hi

 

'This correspondence is to inform you that your Capital One account has been referred to CapQuest Debt recovery Limited to manage your account in all matters relating to collection..' Plus the usual threats of doorstep visits, litigation, HL Legal etc.

 

Although, in a friendly and understanding way, the letter does finish with the words "Let's work on this together". They sound like really nice guys

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Typical nonsense, the explanation is that it is

probably cheaper for Cap 1 to farm the ''non''

productive accounts for collection rather than

keep it inhouse.

Are you paying Cap 1 by SO or DD at present.?

BTW the letter is an acceptable notice of assignment.

[sirpip]

The £20 is a repeating transfer payment (set up through online banking). Guess it's more akin to a SO than a DD.

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

I would personally just keep that going and ignore Capquest,

if they play up send a CCA request, you are in control this way.

[Bazooka Boo]

Yes, keep the payments going to cap1 then if they claim to have passed this to cr@pquest, you can reduce your offer of payment to £1 a month, see how they like those apples!

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Yes, keep the payments going to cap1 then if they claim to have passed this to cr@pquest, you can reduce your offer of payment to £1 a month, see how they like those apples!

Sound as a bell as usual Boo:madgrin:

[sirpip]

How do you like them apples?

 

Tempted to use that quote in any revised offer letter I might send...

 

Many thanks Brig & Boo,

 

Advice taken, and appreciated.

[dx100uk]

i'd sar crap1 and get reclaiming

 

dx

[sirpip]

Question posed, bit of banter, advice given.

 

All in the space of an hour. What a great site this is

[sirpip]

i'd sar crap1 and get reclaiming

 

dx

 

 

Cheers DX, I like your style.

 

I have never taken ppi on any loan or credit card, always saw it as rip-off. So my potential for reclaim is minimal sadly. I also operated all my accounts like a good boy until 2007, so even late payment charges wouldn't figure hugely (perhaps half a dozen from 1999-2007).

[citizenB]

Hi

 

'This correspondence is to inform you that your Capital One account has been referred to CapQuest Debt recovery Limited to manage your account in all matters relating to collection..' Plus the usual threats of doorstep visits, litigation, HL Legal etc.

 

Although, in a friendly and understanding way, the letter does finish with the words "Let's work on this together". They sound like really nice guys

 

This doesnt sound like an assignment to me ? But you could send the following letter to obtain confirmation of their status.. If it hasnt been assigned then they are breaching OFT guidelines by threatening you with legal action that they themselves cannot take !!

 

[ATTACH]32452[/ATTACH]

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Hi CB it's CAP 1s version contains all the info,

stating that Crapquest are ''managing'' the

conduct and collection of the account, although

with recent experience I would not be surprised

if a ''sale'' follows.

There are a large number of these around at present.

I guess there will be a lot more.

[Dot1]

Hi Sirpip,

 

Well, do not rule out anything. With Capquest anything possible.

Just as Brig said, according to what they have been doing lately, they start by claiming that they have been assigned to manage and collect.

That might be far from the truth though but time will tell.

[BankFodder]

What I don't like here is that you have have apparently agreed a repayment scheme and you have stuck to it over the years.

It seems that they are now reneging on the agreement by selling the debt on to a DCA which wants to change the terms.

 

Unless there wqas something in the agreement which allows the repayments to be reviewed, I owuld say that what they are doing is unlawful and can be challenged.

 

I'm not saying that the sale of the debt is unlawful. That is probably permitted. However the sale of the debt has to be accompanied by any agreements which are currently in place for the repayment.

 

Do you have any written record of the original £20pcm agreement?

Could we see it please.

 

To my mind, CQ are estopped from going back on the promise given by Cap1.

Furthermore, there might be scope to argue that their attempt to renege show bad faith domination and therefore am unfair relationship per s.140A CCA.

[sirpip]

Many thanks for your comments BF, but as for your question:

 

... Do you have any written record of the original £20pcm agreement?

Could we see it please.

 

No, I don't think I do, it was all agreed over the phone a long while ago. What I can show (via bank statements), is a 3+ years run of me keeping to my side of the bargain and them happily accepting the money. The only dissent they have shown was a letter several months ago regarding a missed payment, I called them regarding this and the problem was resolved (the payment wasn't missed but simply a week late due to a change of bank accounts, in fact they had received the payment by the time I had got their letter).

[BankFodder]

OK. I expect that the evidence of 3 years of payments will do. The blip will have been covered by a resumption in payments and their acceptance of them. However, I expect that they will raise the blip as an excuse.

 

You should check you r credit file to see if the default has been renewed. Keep monitoring it.

 

I would also SAR CAP1 to see what they have got. You want everything - correspondence, screen notes, post-its - everything.

 

Because you are not protected by BCOBS here you will probably have to remain passive and see what CQ will do. If they sue you then I would suggest defending with an estoppel and then also raising s.140A CCA on the basis that anyone who breaks their promise is clearly demonstrating bad faith and an unfair relationship.

 

If you wanted, I suppose that you could sue on s.140A - although this is far more difficult.

 

Keep on making the payments - and frankly, hope that they will try and sue you.

[PriorityOne]

CCA request to Capquest by rec. delivery. They will/should then hand the account back to Cap1 and you can resume payments..... depending on the paperwork they produce. The ball is then firmly back in your court.

[microbar]

CCA request to Capquest by rec. delivery. They will/should then hand the account back to Cap1 and you can resume payments..... depending on the paperwork they produce. The ball is then firmly back in your court.

 

The usual reply from the original creditor in this case cap 1. will be to ask for your signature.

I have 2 accounts that have been returned to crap 1 after crap quest tried to tell me that crap 1 have a right to ask for my sig . I told them that I have been making payments to them for over 2 years.

And they were also happy to send letters to me at this address.

If they were now in doubt about my identity then they should not be chasing the debt.

Both Crap ONE and Crap Quest have now crawled back under there stones for now.

[sirpip]

Thanks P1 and BF,

 

Although it makes no difference to the currrent position with the account, I have just thought of a reason why Cap1 might have wanted to to offload the debt....

 

I was made redundant in October - phoned Cap1 to tell them that although I would do my utmost to keep to the arrangement, there was obviously the potential for a problem unless I got back into work pronto.

 

The guy I spoke to said it was sensible to let them know, rather than wait until I had a problem paying. He said that they would consider a lower monthly payment and would send out an income and expenditure form. Told him I would fill the form in if it became necessary, until then I would continue the £20pm payment. A couple of days later I got the form.

 

Quite possibly an 'account manager' reviewed my account and thought that I represented a greater risk than previously, hence the sale to Capquest? The point is though (isn't it?) that I paid up in November and again in December.. it's not as though I completed the I&E form suggesting a reduction to £1pm.

 

Doesn't this episode help my cause somewhat (morally at least, in the event of a legal action)?....

 

I pay what was agreed, and I do so for over 3 years. I advise of a change in circumstances, not to request a reduction in payment, but simply to advise that a problem could crop up, since when, I pay up as before. Then, for reasons of expediency, my debt is sold to a DCA. Is that fair your honour?

Edited January 2, 2012 by sirpip
typos

[dx100uk]

quite honestly i'd put 'em down to £1PCM

 

dx

[PriorityOne]

The debt hasn't been sold.... Capquest are in-house collectors for Cap. One.