Hoist/? Claim Form - old husbands HSBC OD 'debt'

[dx100uk]

there you go, ta.

dx

[hollysmum]

Good morning! I telephoned HSBC.

I used the Customer Service number, and was asked to enter the sort code followed by the account number, which was no problem of course.

 

It then asked me to enter "my" date of birth, so I entered my husband's

- if this account were his, of course, this should have been acceptable to their system.

It told me that it could not provide any information on this account, I was being passed to an agent.

 

I spoke to a woman, who confirmed that the account does exist, and at the branch that I looked up yesterday.

 

However, because I could have been anyone, obviously, she was unable to tell me in whose name the account is set up, I would need to go to the branch itself.

 

I did explain a little as to why I was phoning

- legal action being taken against my husband in respect of this bank account, which is not his.

 

She apologised profusely!

I think the non-acceptance of my husband's date of birth is quite a sound piece of evidence, should we ever need to use it.

[unclebulgaria67]

Sorry, dx, if I inadvertently confused you

- no he has never lived in the town where the HSBC branch is.

 

 

He did not move to the county where the branch is until 2006

- at the time that Midland Bank became HSBC, in 1999, he was living in Dorset, and had been living there for several years.

 

But the HSBC account might have had the address amended since it was taken out. Some Banks do move accounts to other branches, due to branch closures.

 

The DOB not matching is interesting.

 

I doubt HSBC will be more helpful than they have been due to Data Protection.

 

In this situation, i think i would be contacting the claimant advising them of what you have found out and telling that they have got the wrong person. Get them to confirm all of the information that HSBC should have given them e.g full name, DOB, addresses.

[hollysmum]

Cheers, unclebulgaria - I was wondering if I should do just that. I presume that I should do this via the solicitors, Howard Cohen? When I have sent items Signed For to Hoist, when I look them up on the Post Office tracker, it just shows a blank box, and the word "DELIVERED" underneath. I find myself imagining a whole floor of empty offices and tumbleweed blowing through!!

[unclebulgaria67]

Yes, i would phone Howard Cohen and follow up in writing to them. If you can't record the phone call, do make sure you get the full name of the person you spoke to and date/time of the phone call.

 

If you get an email address for HC, you could send the follow up by email.

 

These DCA's and their Solicitors issue so many claims, they probably lose control over the process.

[hollysmum]

Roger and wilco, unclebulgaria.

[BankFodder]

Did you check the credit reference agency record? I think that this would be a very good move. If they have blighted his credit file as well, it still contributes to the damage which has been caused by them. Furthermore, you could get into position where Hoist simply decide to cut their losses and discontinue the claim despite all the time and effort you are putting into trying to deal with it. If they did that, they might easily be disinclined – or not bothered – to clean up your husband's credit file.

 

I think you need to find out exactly the extent of what has been done so that you can have a plan in mind for either their discontinuance or for your eventual victory.

 

If you do find that they have marked the credit file, then I think that it would be a good move to put in a counterclaim. Apart from anything else, this would make it much more difficult for them to withdraw the claim and get away scot-free without any kind of compensation and certainly without having to undo the damage they have done to the credit file.

 

If they have damage the credit file then you will have to insist on a complete deletion rather than any notice of correction which they might prefer to put.

[hollysmum]

That's the next job, BankFodder - obviously, he'll need to do this for himself.

[dx100uk]

no you can do it you know his details

 

 

noddle

or

clearscore

[hollysmum]

Got onto Clearscore - it shows that he has "at least one account in default or repossession (Lowell Portfolio 1 Ltd)". I have no idea what this might be. It does say, though, that he has no court or insolvency data.

[martin2006]

Check the "closed accounts" section of the account info aswell HM

[hollysmum]

The Lowell thing shows as a "Closed" account, martin2006.

[dx100uk]

well it wont show the current court one no HM

 

I suspected this wouldn't show as its ages old and would have been defaulted years ago and fallen off.

 

no harm in try noddle too mind!

[unclebulgaria67]

The Lowell thing shows as a "Closed" account, martin2006.

 

Did you ever receive any correspondence from Lowell ?

 

What tends to happen, is that companies like Lowell buy thousands of debts and when they don't collect any money, it gets sold on. If this debt relates to someone else, it might be that they have totally gone off radar and some space cadet has by mistake identified your husband as having the same name, so they add the address to their account chasing system. Given that Lowells have touched the credit record, it might be the mistake happened while they had the account and they passed on the details.

[hollysmum]

Yep, will do, dx.

[hollysmum]

I'm guessing that the attached is probably good news.

Scan CR7.pdf

[unclebulgaria67]

Yes, they have 7 days from 19/11 to return the DQ.

 

Have you phoned or emailed Howard Cohen saying that you have checked with HSBC and the Bank information does not match the person they have issued a claim against.

 

 

Suggest to them that they need to go back to Hoist or whoever has done the tracing to see how they have made the mistake.

[BankFodder]

Actually they have seven days from the date of service of the order – which will be a bit later than the 19th.

[unclebulgaria67]

Actually they have seven days from the date of service of the order – which will be a bit later than the 19th.

 

Ah, ok, so is that basically 5 days for service and then 7 days ?

 

I was reading the order literally

[BankFodder]

Frankly I'm not too sure. I seem to recollect that service times for commercial and individuals are different. Could it be five days for individuals and two days for commercial enterprises?

[BankFodder]

Of course another thing that occurs to me is that if they decide not to pursue this, the alleged debt may then be sold on to the next collector down in the order of hierarchy. In which case it might all start again.

 

I think that when you certain that the matter is ended, that you need to write to Hoist and put them on notice in addition to not being your debt, that the matter is statute barred and that under the CONC rules, they are prevented from carrying out any further debt collection activity and that this would include selling the account on for debt collection.

 

You may as well have a copy of this letter in your file so that it all blows up again you will be able to deal with it more easily and also make a complaint against Hoist.

 

I'm a bit disappointed really because I thought we would be able to have a much more interesting attack against HSBC as well as Hoist but anyway, it looks as if it may be almost sorted for you. Although don't count your chickens until you know that they are fully hatched.

[dx100uk]

letter show your ref number

hidden

 

 

phone the court Monday they need to file by tomorrow

[hollysmum]

Hello everyone, and thank you all yet again for your responses here. I am most definitely not assuming that it is now all over - I'm far too cynical for that! I had assumed that Hoist have seven days from the day on which they receive the Notice, and if it was the same as my husband, that was yesterday, so therefore 1st December would be the deadline?

 

 

I have contacted Howard Cohen with the information that dx so kindly gave me, and what HSBC told me on the phone. Yet again, I'm waiting for a response from them!

 

 

If, indeed, Hoist do not present a DQ by the 1st December, I will write, as suggested to put them "on notice", because I, too, cannot believe that this debt will not be passed on to the next willing purchaser and come back to haunt us at some point. At least we will be far better prepared if that does happen.

 

 

I would still like to know how on earth my husband's name got wound up in this in the first place, but for now, I'm just going to hope that Hoist can't be a*sed to carry on their pursuit of him, and that it just grinds to a halt.

[BankFodder]

CONC 7.15 - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?426148-CONC-7.15-Statute-barred-debts

[hollysmum]

I just knew it was too good to be true! On Friday, a letter from Howard Cohen (the first contact my husband has had from them) with a copy of Hoist's DQ attached.......I shall upload the letter later this morning, but briefly, it says that they are going to arrange a telephone mediation appointment - oh, good.

 

 

The above clearly crossed with our letter containing the information that dx100UK found out, so I plan on emailing HC later today to point that out - you never know, it might prompt reconsideration....

 

 

HSBC acknowledged our SAR letter, too, telling us that they have to respond by, I think, 7th January, and that any information they find will be sent to the HSBC branch of my husband's choice.

 

 

We have still had absolutely no evidence shown to us that proves that the debt is my husband's, or that it is not statute-barred, so I will continue to point this out to HC as well.

 

 

Just another day at the office.................!