Debt in Dubai IDRWW chasing

[Loulou79]

Hello,

I am being chased by a debt recovery agency called IDRww.

 

10 years ago now I left Dubai after being made redundant and left a loan behind with Emirates bank.

I did this because I had no other choice at the time.

 

I didn't really hear much from them

I thought the debt had been written off

 

now i am being chased weekly by this company and the last letter I has was threatening CCJ.

 

They are a debt recovery company and they haven't put the amount on the letter etc.

Can they issue a CCJ on behalf a Emirates bank?

 

I am in two minds whether to contact them.

They said I have 7 days.

 

I am very scared as I'm a single mother and i should imagine the debt is very high now after all this time.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated. 

[AndyOrch]

Hi and Welcome to CAG Lou

 

Your not alone ...read a few of the following threads before considering any contact.

 

https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/search/?q= IDRWW.

 

Andy

[Loulou79]

Thank you Andy  I didn't think I would be alone. I'm just not the kind of person that can ignore these things but I am also worried if I get in contact they will then have been tied up. I will have a good read. Thanks, Lou. 

[Loulou79]

Hi Andy. 

 

I have had a read through and there seem to be mixed messages.I am still in two minds whether to contact them as I am so worried about getting a CCJ against my name.I dont have much to give and dont own my own home so I don't know what they could take but I would rather it didn't go down that route!

 

I have attached the latest letter they sent me. They seem to have my mobile number too as they text me every week and there is no way of blocking the number which is odd.Would you suggest ignoring or contacting?Or perhaps contacting Emirates bank directly?

 

I am thinking of moving in with my partner soon and I don't want any of this to impact on his home as he is a home owner.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thank you. 

 

[dx100uk]

topic tidied.

 

they cant just...'get a ccj'

no-one has gotten a CCJ for a UAE debt that wasn't a paid for patsy or didn't defend a claim.

 

block their texts and phone numbers and email addresses

 

they cant hurt or touch your BF or his assets.

in fact..they cant hurt you unless you let them...

 

pers id not respond here or anywhere again referencing anything more they try..unless your DO get a statutory demand attempt or a letter of claim.

then we will help.

 

be prepared for them to pull every dirty trick in the book to embarrass you into paying.

if you have social media pages ensure details like works, friends and family are not easily identified by info on there.

because they will contact them too or threaten too.

 

 

 

 

 

[unclebulgaria67]

Do you really think any company would wait 10 years, if it were easy to enforce a debt ?

 

And why do you think their letters contain very little information ?

 

They are just trying to harass you into paying them, thinking that might lead to a quieter life. The alternative is true, because once they have got their claws into you and you admit to the debt by making payment, they will increase the harassment. They will be all over you like a rash, asking you for increased payments, details of your finances etc.

 

So sit back and don't worry about this. Just read and keep the letters they send to you. Don't ignore any statutory demand or court claim,. Come back and ask for help, if you ever received these.

[Loulou79]

Thank you both so much, I really appreciate your help. 

I will sit tight and wait to see what letter comes next.

 

Last year they did actually get hold of my work phone number and were calling me at my office which was embarrassing but we managed to steer them off.

 

I work somewhere different now and haven't put anything on social media. 

I also called an unknown number back last year and it was them but I hung up straight away.

 

they have my mobile and they text regularly but no calls.

For some reason I cannot block the number which is odd!!  

 

I have been getting vague letters for a while but this is the first one that is more threatening so will keep them from now on, and update you if anything worse comes of it. 

Thanks again

Lou 

[comebackjimmy]

Hello

 

Thought I would add my tuppence to this thread.  

 

This is what idrww.com says on their home page with a bit of deconstruction by my amateur self!:

 

International Debt Recovery (IDR) specialises in the collection of cross-border debts for banks and other lending institutions.
Traditionally this debt has been hard to recover as non-UK banks struggle to trace residents outside of their own jurisdiction, and often discover that even if they find the individual, the credit agreement is difficult to enforce outside of their own legal system.

 

I think that remains true, still is hard to recover.

 

In association with fully licensed tracing agents using modern field tracking techniques, we believe that we can find any individual.

 

That is probably true.

 

Once found, we then employ a strong and effective legal strategy to recover as much of the foreign debt as quickly and efficiently as possible.

 

As a Debt Collector I would presume they have the same powers as any other debt collector essentially none, so in essence their strategy is first and formost to chase the debtor via phone and letter in the hope that they will give up.  The best strategy to deal with this is usually to ignore.

 

They say elsewhere on their site that:

 

...we will use one of our legal partners to obtain judgments and charging orders against property to secure the debt.

 

That statement implies that they will get a legal firm to do the legal work so I presume they sign up a legal firm to act on behalf of the Creditor as they themselves have no power to bring a case.  

 

Also worth noting that where they say "to obtain judgements and charging orders" what they really mean is "to attempt to obtain etc etc..."  as they have to achieve a minimum standard of proof to the court which is a signed credit agreement meeting the terms of the UK Consumer Credit Act (unless they are using some other act CAGers please suggest if so) and other documents they are relying on probably to include statements and a default notice (safe to say the latter would probably not have been received by you if you had left the UAE).

 

Going back to their front page they say

 

"We break down the barriers normally associated with recovering non-residents’ debt and their failure to adhere to credit agreements. We are so confident of our approach that we are prepared to offer our combined services on a no-win, no-fee basis. We simply earn a negotiated commission percentage on the full amount recovered. A simple and effective scheme, with no risk at all to our clients."

 

They have to break down the same barriers as any other DCA.  First, to get the Debtor to engage with them and second to get them to pay.  If that fails then to try a court action which is defendable, probably more so as it is an International debt so harder to enforce in the UK.

 

I think a good action plan to deal with this is as follows:

 

1. Keep all correspondence including the envelops they came in.  File it in chronological order.

 

2.  Ignore all correspondence from anyone about this matter unless you get a letter before action, probably this would come from a partner solicitor but even if you get a "solicitors" letter it is not necessarily a Letter before Action but get back here for advice.    Ignore all phone calls, if they accidentally get through to you, stop talking and hang up.  You may consider it rude, I consider it rude that they are interrupting you with an unenforceable debt.

 

3. When you move in with your boyfriend get all your mail forwarded to your new address using the GPO forwarding service, or have it go to a box number for collection.   This is to ensure that if they do start court proceedings they will not get a County Court Judgement against you accidentally because you did not receive the paperwork.

 

4. Consider letting them know your new address so that 3. does not happen.  (Would love to see other CAGers views on that).

 

5. Something not mentioned elsewhere on this thread but you left UAE ten years ago.  If there has been no contact in that time then I would imagine that the debt is Statute Barred as it is over six years old so no court action ought to be possible.   That seems to me to be the perfect defence and probably nothing else is required if it came to an actual claim.  (Again other CAGers opinions welcome on this).

 

6. Just as a precaution check all three credit reference agencies just in case they have somehow registered a default against you but I am not sure how they would do that.

 

7. DON'T GO BACK TO UAE.  The debt will be registered and you will be arrested at the airport and held.

 

Nothing too much to worry about.

 

Please note I have no legal training but experience and some acquired knowledge so I welcome corrections and comments from other CAGers.

[AndyOrch]

Thanks Jimmy excellent clarification . 

 

Andy

[dx100uk]

never be complacent that mail redirect will work on court stuff

we have seen many times the royal mail automictically refuse to redirect anything with indications that its from a court.

best write and tell all your supposed creditors of a change of address.

be then on your credit file or not.

and  don't forget to inform DVLA re V5C and driving licence too

 

dx

 

[comebackjimmy]

Thanks for that DX, I learnt something there. 

 

So my post above should be corrected to cancel point 3. and change point 4. to "Advise all creditors of change of address"

[dx100uk]

IMHO yes...

 

and not only those , its worthy to consider debts that you might think as stsatute barred too..or lets say last paid within 7yrs

it does stop DCA's getting a default judgement even if the debt IS SB'd..no human checks anything.

..unless ofcourse the owner has been sent an SB letter etc previously

[Loulou79]

I wont be moving in until next year but I will definitley make sure I inform all creditors when I do. Do you agree with letting the DRA know my new address too as Jimmy said? 

[Loulou79]

I have had on and off letters/emails and calls for years but I have never replied and i changed my email address which they dont seem to have found! This isn't the first contact its justba new company so does that still mean it counts as 10 years? 

 

Sorry of this is a silly question! 

 

Jimmy- thank you so much for your input it's a great help. Whi are the 3 credit check agencies please? 

[Loulou79]

Also, what is IMHO? 

[AndyOrch]

In my honest opinion...you will pick it up  

[comebackjimmy]

Experian, Equifax and Callcredit.

 

You can sign up to free services that send you an email once  a month with your report drawn from these three agencies.

[comebackjimmy]

"I have had on and off letters/emails and calls for years but I have never replied and i changed my email address which they dont seem to have found! This isn't the first contact its justba new company so does that still mean it counts as 10 years? "

 

As I understand it if you fail to pay a debt in the UK then sooner or later the Creditor will issue you with a Default Notice.  From that point on the "clock" starts ticking and if the Creditor or anyone else that buys the debt (so becoming the new creditor) does not start court action by the sixth anniversary of the date of the Default notice (five years if you are in Scotland) then the debt becomes what is known as Statutory barred, often referred to on here as Stat Barred. 

 

This means that the legal system considers the debt too old for legal action and will not consider the case.  Although you still owe the money the creditor cannot take any legal action to recover the debt and if they do so it should be sufficient to say the action started too late and their case should fail.

 

However, if at any time following the date of the default notice that you "Acknowledged the debt then the clock restarts.

 

An acknowledgement is either a payment you make towards the debt or some correspondence you send (letter or email) in which you admit the debt is yours in some way.

 

In your case the debt is an overseas one and it is possible that the administration of the account is different and follows different rules and laws.  Quite possibly they did not issue a default notice in the manner required by the UK Acts.  In that case the UK Court would consider the Clock to have started from the time you failed to pay the monthly instalment so you should be in the clear.

 

This is all British law.  I do not know how this affects an overseas case but I see no reason why it would be any different as the claim would be in a British Court and be subject to the same rules and procedures. 

 

If you have not communicated with the Creditor or its agents for ten years then this one has got cobwebs on it.

 

As before I like confirmation, correction and additional information from other CAGers.

[Loulou79]

Experian etc....do they also show any CCJ's?

[Loulou79]

I will sign up this week  thanks again for your help 

[Loulou79]

One more thing...to clarify by 'all creditors' do you mean the DCA too? IDRww? For my change of address. Surely that would be admitting to the debt?

[dx100uk]

nope its not

but if you so wished you can add the line

 

I do not admit any debt to your or your client

 

don't sign anything

simply pc print your name

[comebackjimmy]

33 minutes ago, Loulou79 said:

Experian etc....do they also show any CCJ's?

yes

[dx100uk]

46 minutes ago, comebackjimmy said:

"I have had on and off letters/emails and calls for years but I have never replied and i changed my email address which they dont seem to have found! This isn't the first contact its justba new company so does that still mean it counts as 10 years? "

 

As I understand it if you fail to pay a debt in the UK then sooner or later the Creditor will issue you with a Default Notice.  From that point on the "clock" starts ticking and if the Creditor or anyone else that buys the debt (so becoming the new creditor) does not start court action by the sixth anniversary of the date of the Default notice (five years if you are in Scotland) then the debt becomes what is known as Statutory barred, often referred to on here as Stat Barred. if take out which resident in Scotland the debt is EXTINUISHED TOTALLY after 5yrs..dead gone parrot . in E&W the debt still exists, just that enforcement of any judgement is forboden..so they don't bother.

 

This means that the legal system considers the debt too old for legal action and will not consider the case.  [wrong..nothing is checked esp if a old address is use..no humans ever sees it] Although you still owe the money the creditor cannot take any legal action to recover the debt and if they do so it should be sufficient to say the action started too late and their case should fail...or latterly be easily set aside.

 

However, if at any time following the date of the default notice that you "Acknowledged the debt then the clock restarts...but once SB date is reached NOTHING can reset it ..not even a judge.

 

An acknowledgement is either a payment you make towards the debt or some correspondence you send (letter or email) in which you admit the debt is yours in some way.and sign the letter. telephone admittance is NOT acking.

 

In your case the debt is an overseas one and it is possible that the administration of the account is different and follows different rules and laws.  Quite possibly they did not issue a default notice in the manner required by the UK Acts.  In that case the UK Court would consider the Clock to have started from the time you failed to pay the monthly instalment so you should be in the clear.

 

This is all British law.  I do not know how this affects an overseas case but I see no reason why it would be any different as the claim would be in a British Court and be subject to the same rules and procedures. 

 

If you have not communicated with the Creditor or its agents for ten years then this one has got cobwebs on it.

 

As before I like confirmation, correction and additional information from other CAGers.

 

[Loulou79]

If I keep ignoring, what is the likelihood they will give up soon? Or will they pass it to another agency? Will I have these letters forever as I haven't told my partner yet and dont want to if I dont have to! Thanks