Halifax / Cabot Credit Card Debt - F&F Offer Advice

[Still_surviving]

Its been a while since I had to use this site, but having rebuilt my life with the help of wonderful people here, fate dealt me some more bad cards, and things have got messy again

having thought to be suffering Long Covid in 2021, my mental health really deteriorated to the point where my brother dragged me to A&E. There I got the news that I actually had a massive brain tumour which was causing all my symptoms. Whilst not cancerous, the consultant said to me (and I quote) "In six months time without surgery, you will only be fit for staring out the window". Needless to say I was admitted for major surgery.....

Sorry for the major waffle.....

for a long a period of time I didnt know what I was doing and my financial state fell off a cliff. My Halifax card was defaulted in the very month I was having brain tumour surgery, and they wouldn't remove the marker even when given an explanation. The debt was then sold (I presume) to Cabot

Unbeknown to me, my kid brother started paying them £125 a month, purely to protect me from any stress upon release from hospital. I know what you are going to say about being a DCA cash cow but he acted with the best of motives and he didn't know the ins and outs of the debt world.

I have instructed him to stop paying, but this has upset him and my dear old elderly mum. I can only afford to pay them £25 a month max but I dont want Cabot benefitting from my brothers kind heart.  Out of the blue today my mum offered to pay £1000 as a full and final settlement offer. I think that is a lovely gesture, but I think it is too much as she only has her pension and her savings.. however the stress of finding out about this debt has made her unwell - she wants it to go away.

What is your very honest opinion on all this? I must confess I dont have the appetite I once did for letter tennis, and I certainly dont want to be hassled on the phone repeatedly. Cabot have apparently been very nice, but then they would be when they are getting £125 a month from someone who isnt the creditor!

If £1000 is offered and accepted then about 45% of the original debt would have been repaid. I probably know what you are going to say (dont do it) but please bear in mind my health and circumstances.

I would sincerely appreciate your advice....I do have trouble thinking straight these days

Thank You

[dx100uk]

when did you take this card out please?
no dont F&F!!

dx

 

[Bazooka Boo]

DO NOT offer a F&F settlement.

Shallowfax didn't care about you when they were supposed to assist you, and they certainly don't care about you or your circumstances now!

They DO NOT deserve your mums hard earned, and even if you did pay it them, they will continue to harass you for the rest, as it is now with Cr@pbot anyway, the bank won't look at you.

 

 

[Still_surviving]

Card was taken out in April 2017. Applied online Im 100% certain

I did wonder what would happen to any residual balance. I guess if they got tired chasing it, I couldnt really stop them selling it on to the next bottom-feeder in line

Did Cabot buy the debt for pennies in the pound you think, or are they collecting for Halifax? My contempt for the latter is limitless, given their total lack of empathy at the time.

 

Edited September 4, 2023 by Still_surviving

[Bazooka Boo]

It depends on what their missives say, if they refer to ''their client'' then it'll still be with Shallowfax.

They should tell you, both the bank and Cr@pbot, who now owns the account.

 

[Still_surviving]

Thanks - I will dig through my papers and try to find the first few bits of correspndence I received from them

 

Well that was easy to answer. Should have done more research before bothering the good people on this site

I have:

(i)   A letter from Halifax saying they have assigned all their rights under the original agreement to Cabots

(ii)  A letter from Cabots saying they have recently bought the account

At the time, I did request a full statement from Cabots as my record keeping at the time was needless to say, not good. They said it would have to come from Halifax, but when I contacted Halifax they somewhat stonewalled me by saying I was no longer a customer on their system. To be honest I gave up in disgust at the time.

I wish I could turn the clock back and stop my bro from paying these people money, but he really did act with the purest of intentions. When I think about it, Halifax have already trashed my credit file, so would having the debt marked "partially settled" really make any difference?

[dx100uk]

nope!

when did you take the card out please?

dx

 

[Still_surviving]

Sorry dx...I did answer your original question.....

April 2017 (definitely by online application)

[dx100uk]

yea sorry my browser did not  refresh.

so no 6yrs gap of no payment and most probably the CCA would be enforceable too.

but as it stands the payments haven really hurt, other than extending the sb date a bit.

but it will still fall off on the DN's 6th b'day.

 

pers id wait until they send a letter of claim to do anything and thats comeback here .

it wont improve your credit file at all if you pay it off so save that money.or go on a holiday...

just to check the obvious you've not moved since taking it out have you?

dx

 

 

 

[Still_surviving]

No dx - same address throughout

Im familiar with the whole CCA route having done several, many years ago, but as you say, being a relatively recent online application, I wouldnt hold out much hope.

I honestly dont know whether to

(i) carry on paying £25 a month for a quiet life and wait for them to notice they arent getting my bros money (not keen on that idea)

(ii) cut the money down to £10 or even £1, just in case it did go to court, where I would be perfectly happy to plead my case to a judge and say I could only pay what I was able to (rather than outright stopping)

Are Cabot's prone to litigation? Could I use the failure to provide any statement as a reason to at least pause any payments?

Edit.....urgh just realised option (ii) would just endlessly reset the SB clock. Sorry, I did say I often dont think straight these days. I will follow your best advice

 

[dx100uk]

i would stop all payments  now imho. 

dont do anything more until/unless you ever get a letter of claim.

then comeback here.

dx

 

 

[Still_surviving]

A couple of things to report....apologies for not posting sooner, as been back and forth to docs and hospital.....

I realise these should have been raised sooner however the last twelve months have been all over the place following my surgery:

(i)   I have two defaults on my credit file for the same amount (Halifax and Cabot). When I asked Halifax to remove theirs, they refused and said the issue was with Cabot. When I raised it with Cabot, they took it to mean I was making a formal complaint (I wasnt, but hey go for it) and started the eight week dispute window.

(ii)  When Cabot took over my debt, I asked for a statement detailing the six months leading up to the date of default, as I did not agree the balance. They said they would have to get it from Halifax, however a year later still nothing. I raised this issue again in October, and once again they triggered the complaints procedure

Had a letter today, saying they were having trouble resolving the disputes and it may take longer than the statutory eight weeks. If that is the case can I formally dispute the debt at that point?

I ceased payments in September as was recommended here, but anything that makes my position a bit stronger would be welcome.

TIA

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Bazooka Boo]

Well if Cabrot have bought the debt off Shallowfax then only the Cabrot entry should be showing, IMHO I'd be raising a dispute with whichever CRA is processing that data.

To get the information you require, then SAR the bank, Cabrot won't have anything.

Once you have the info back from the bank (30 days I believe?) then you can go through it all and look at reclaiming any penalty charges and fees they may have levied, above3 all else it will give you the correct figure that Cabrot are claiming is owing.

As for disputing the debt, I think the only thing you are disputing currently is the amount Cabrot are claiming is owing?

[dx100uk]

having a 2 defaults does not hurt you twice. they are for the same debt.

ignore

now sit on your hands until/unless you ever get a letter of claim.

you are now in the driving seat and no longer a dca cash cow thanks to CAG

dx

[Still_surviving]

Understood....theyve had two grand in twelve months thanks mainly to my brother's (mistaken) good intentions, so I would wager theyve covered what they paid Halifax for the debt

The reason I mentioned the two defaults, are that they both show up whenever I visit Clearscore or Credit Karma as being detrimental factors. I guess I should register an error notice (or whatever its called) with Equifax and Transunion

Thanks as always for the sage advice

 

[Bazooka Boo]

Yeah you could put a notice of correction against the entry, but no one will see it unless they manually read your CRF.

[dx100uk]

it does not hurt you cra files twice they might both be flagged but only one effects any score.

dont forget no0-one can see the details you can. just the summary line debt cabot defaulted date outstanding balance. 

they cant see the cal section and will only see the registered defaulted date , which should be the same date for both. in otherwords the dca defaulted debt should have the same defaulted date as the oc registered one.