Call Serve Ltd - Abbey Debt - Bank charges

[northernstar07]

Hi All

I got a visit from a debt collector from Call Serve in November 2005 collecting a debt on behalf of Abbey for £322.53. Without thinking I agreed to pay the debt at £5 per week. However after a while I tried to recall how I managed to owe Abbey money and when it was from. I assumed it was from around 1999 when I had an account and went overdrawn and then got hammered with bank charges which must have left a debt of £322.53 by the time they closed the account.

 

Over the last year I have paid off £184 of the debt but having read on the internet and this site I am wondering if I have thrown away £184. I was under the impression that companies only had a limited amount of time to recover a debt - isn't it 7 years ?? If so then the time limit must have been long gone by the time Call Serve came knocking.

 

Is it also true that debt collectors cannot collect a debt that is made up of bank charges ?????

 

Is there any chance of getting the £184 back ? lol

 

What would be the best thing to do now ????

 

I have also got a letter from Call Serve for a debt of £61.60 owed to a Hilco Receiveables !?!?!?! I haven't got a clue who this is and where the debt has come from. I have not acknowledged this one and made no payments - what do I do about this ????

 

Thank you in advance for you help. I am clueless when it comes to dealing with these things !!!! Quite good at beating the bailiffs though !!!! lol

[northernstar07]

bump!

[djweeble]

The period they have is 6 years, if the original debt was from 1999, it was almost certainly statute barred, and you didn't have to pay anything as they couldn't enforce it.

 

However, as you've made a large number of payments against it, you might have problems getting it written off now.

 

Write to them telling them that you have found out that the original debt was statute barred and that you were lied to by their collector, to convince you to pay. Tell them that you do not intend paying a penny more, and that you will fight against any actions they may consider taking to force you to pay. I don't think you stand much chance of getting your money back from them, but you could find that they think it's more trouble than it's worth chasing you for the rest.

 

Is it also true that debt collectors cannot collect a debt that is made up of bank charges

 

Not exactly, it all depends on how you proceed, but you can claim them back with lots of nice interest, have a look around the site for more information.

 

Hilco Receivables are another debt collecting company (Googled them), if you get another letter regarding this, send them the standard CCA letter from the library.

[northernstar07]

Hi djweeble. Many thanks for your reply. I have sent them the CCA letter uesterday re the Abbey debt and the Hilco debt so I will see what happens now. Thanks.