Cabot and barclay debt

[annmarie18676]

Hi, was wondering if anyone could help me? I had a run in with Cabot a few years ago and have been paying them off ever since as i was terified as to what they were going to do. I did at one point ask for a breakdown of what i owed and why from them but all i received was a blank piece of paper with the total amount outstanding written on it. I didnt give it a second thought really, just thought this is what i owed as they said they hadnt added any extra charges!! Im still paying this off (nearly finished very soon actually) is there any way i can find out if they have added massive charges to this or am i too late? This debt goes back a few years now!

[andrew1]

Who was the debt purchased from and how long ago? Do you have any of the original paperwork?

[annmarie18676]

Hi, the debt was purchased from Barclays apporox 6 to 7 years ago. I dont have any original paperwork from them at all, maybe just a few of their original letters telling me they wanted payment. Thats all I have ever received from them! I have been paying them for the past 3 years and the most help i got from them was when i registered with their website, it tells me how much i have left to pay! lol And thats IT! Not very helpful at all really! In the beginning they did say, over the phone, that they would remove their "charges" but as all i ever got from them was a piece of paper with full outstanding amount i've no idea if they ever did! They have had me completely confused since the beginning! (Must stress i had JUST given birth to my daughter when they came sniffing around so wasnt in my best frame of mind!)

[andrew1]

I would suggest ( and I'm not expert ) before the debt is repaid you send a DPA letter (copy in the FAQ's ) enclosing the £10 and ask for a full breakdown of all charges for the full six years. I'd also ask for a copy of any default notices they have, Interest you have paid and from when and at what rate. I'd also write to Barclaycard asking the same information if you feel there have been charges applied. Bear in mind Cabot probably only paid somewhere in the region of 10% of the original debt and I'd hazard a guess that they don't have any documentation to support this account from my experience of them. However, you can be assured there will be penalty charges etc which you'll be able to reclaim. Come back once you have their reply, I can see there are a few of us out here with experiences of Cabot who will help you.

[annmarie18676]

Thank you so much for your help with this! In a strange way its nice to know we are not alone in being bullied by these companies! Im off to sort out that letter right now! Will be back as soon as i find anything out! Thanks again and good luck!!!

[Seminole]

Sorry, life got a bit busy today and I haven't been around as miuch as usual.

 

From what I know of Cabot they are quite lazy and I don't know of anyone who has actually been taken to court by them. They seem to rely on persistent phone calls and intimidating letters to "persuade" people to pay.

 

Before dealing with them you should get them to prove that there is an enforceable debt (using the letter in my earlier post) and that the debt was properly assigned to them. Make them work for their money.

 

As Andrew has pointed out they buy debts for peanuts and then not only try to collect the full amount but add on their own charges and interest. It's by no means unusual to find that they won't provide statements or breakdowns and I believe that this is unlawful.

 

If anyone has a debt that has been passed to them and that includes charges you should go down the step by step guide and ask for them back. Cabot are the legal owner of the debt and are responsible for it. If they have to go back to the original creditor becauise they were sold a pup that's their problem.

 

The only other point I would add is that you should carefully examine any alleged copies of original documents that they send you and make sure that the signature is genuine. Do not assume that anything you receive from them is complete, correct or genuine. Check everything.

[annmarie18676]

Hi again, im about to begin to tackle Cabot and need clarification, is my first step to ask them to supply a true copy of the original signed agreement enlosing the £1 p.o to clarify the original debt outstanding? Then request a statement of original debt plus all their charges? Its just with them not dishing out statements like the banks do im not sure what exactly i need to get from them first! Any advice would be GREAT im stil VERY new to all this and the way Cabot have treated me over the last few years leaves a lot to be desired!!!! I want to get it RIGHT so they dont have a leg to stand on!

[Seminole]

As you are already paying them, getting the original agreement won't help very much.

 

You should do a Data Protection Act enquiry (using the template in the Library) and make it very clear in the letter that you require a full statement of the account for the past 6 years. Explicitly state that this includes the account history preior to the sale of the debt to Cabot.

[andrew1]

Thanks for picking up on this for AnnMarie Seminole, my technical knowledge is a bit arms length. I work in and around the credit industry so know quite a lot but I am not a Credit Professional. What I have been told with some authority from someone in the debt collection industry is that Cabot rarely ever sue anybody. I was told it was best not to pay them anything at all! Wait until they sue. It's almost policy not to although they would tell you different of course. Their income comes from precisely the likes of Anne Marie who they scare into setting up arrangements. I reckon you could start a seperate thread purely on Cabot once the word got around! Debt collection agencies differ considerably, but most take on the debt from the Finance companies acting purely as an agent to begin with, some use quasie solicitors and follow through to litigation. Wetscot being one and some like the Bank of Scotland use Blair Oliver Scot - BOS ( bank of scotland!) and will go to litigation, but after the debt has been hanging around and unsuccessfully collected it will often be sold out to the like of Cabot. Egg won't sell their debt almost in principle I believe, but the likes of Citi Financial and some of the secondary cards do so it's worth finding out if the debt is 'sold' or not before paying them. The charges added by Cabot are the immoral issue I fancy taking up with the OFT if I had the time.

[Seminole]

If the debt is sold then the original creditor is obliged by law to inform the debtor that this has been done.

[annmarie18676]

Hey again everyone, do you guys think this is ok to send off to Cabot?? :

 

Data Protection Act Disclosure Request

 

Dear Sir/Madam

 

ACCOUNT NUMBER: xxxxxxxxx

 

Please supply me with a complete list of transactions and charges relating to my account since January 1999 or exact date which you took over my account, this includes the account history prior to the sale of the debt to Cabot. Alternatively a complete set of statements for that period will be acceptable. I also ask for a copy of any default notices you hold, interest I have paid, from when, and at what rate.

 

Additionally where there has been any event in my account history over this period which has required manual intervention by any member of your staff or any other person, I require disclosure of any indication or notes which have either caused or resulted in that manual intervention or other evidence of that manual intervention in relation to my business with you.

 

If you are unable to supply data relating to manual intervention because there has been no such manual intervention then please be kind as to confirm this in your response to this request.

 

I enclose the statutory maximum fee of £10. You have 40 days in which to comply. Furthermore, if I discover that you have levied disproportionate penalties against me then I shall be reclaiming them and also reclaiming the enclosed £10 DPA disclosure fee.

 

 

Yours faithfully,

 

BLAH BLAH BLAH

[Seminole]

Try this:

 

Dear Sir/Madam

 

ACCOUNT NUMBER: xxxxxxxxx

 

Please supply me with a complete list of transactions and charges relating to my account for the past six years including the period prior to your purchase of the account. I also require a copy of any default notices that have been issued, interest I have paid, from when, and at what rate.

 

Additionally where there has been any event in my account history over this period which has required manual intervention by any member of your staff or any other person, I require disclosure of any indication or notes which have either caused or resulted in that manual intervention or other evidence of that manual intervention in relation to my business with you.

 

If you are unable to supply data relating to manual intervention because there has been no such manual intervention then please be kind as to confirm this in your response to this request.

 

I enclose the statutory maximum fee of £10. You have 40 days in which to comply. Furthermore, if I discover that disproportionate penalties have been levied against me I shall be reclaiming them and also reclaiming the enclosed £10 DPA disclosure fee. If you fail to provide this information by the end of the statutory period I will make a complaint to the Information Commissioner and also raise the matter with my local Trading Standards department.

 

 

Yours faithfully,

 

BLAH BLAH BLAH

[annmarie18676]

Thank you SO much! That sounds much better! Its in the post today, will let you know what happens next.....

[annmarie18676]

Hello! Just to let everyone know that today I sent off my DPA request to Cabot!! Now the wait begins to see what they come up with next! Will be back for advice as soon as I hear anything back from them. Its fingers crossed from here on in!!! eeek!

[andrew1]

Anna Marie, I have recently sent my DPA letter to Cabot too, can you post what happens when yours is received?

[annmarie18676]

Thought it best to start my own thread on this topic instead of hijacking the initial thread in the bear garden! lol

 

Sent DPA to Cabot and their 40 days runs out on the 20th June, took me a little while to get the £10 together , nothing from them in writing as yet but STILL getting the annoying phonecalls at 8.30am EVERY morning after telling them MILLIONS of times I'm not going to discuss the matter over the phone! AARRGGHH!! They will never listen will they??

[Guest Lueeze]

They HAVE to listen to you, under the Telecommunications Act (1984) you can write to them advising to STOP calling and they MUST!

 

Do that and you will be hassle free for a while!

 

Lou x

[annmarie18676]

Recevied a reply from Cabot today saying "thanks for your recent payment"!!!!!! It wasnt a payment it was the £10 DPA request charge!! Called them earlier this morning to find out what on earth was going on, and very politely "stressed" what the payment was actually for! Can these people not read?? Anyway, they admitted they had received the letter with payment (obviously! They cashed the cheque on the 22nd May! lol) and they would get back to me with the "collated info" once they get round to doing it! Again I made it quite clear the 40 days are ticking!! Thought I was finally getting somewhere with these people when i saw the letter on the mat today!! They have till the 20th June by my calculations! (If I worked it out right! lol)

[annmarie18676]

Hey there everyone! Just to let you know I started my own thread on Cabot in "other institutions" so any help or advice would be GREAT!! They're driving me mad!! lol

[andrew1]

Oh Anna Marie I wondered where you went! Cabot - Dear Cabot. One of my earliest posts said we ought to have a Cabot thread and here we are - well done!

I wrote to them on 10th April DPA request with my £10 cheque, clearly stating on both cheque and letter it was DPA request. The cheque was banked 13th through my account. I sent them a LBA on 22nd May and on 23rd received this:

" We do not appear to have received a written request for a Subject Access on this account and we were therefore unaware of your requirement. Our records show that a cheque for £10 was applied to your account on 10th April which we assumed was a payment due to lack of covering letter. We are currently processing your Subject Access Request and this will be sent as soon as possible. We thank you for your understanding in this matter.

BULL SUGAR!!!!

Do they think I sent the cheque on it's own? I haven't shown any understanding either and won't - they gave me none when they first got the debt so none coming back! - letter gone " clock still ticking ". I'm gonna love having these b....gers.

 

Actually, knowing them I reckon they just don't know how to handle this. They are well known for their Administrative weaknesses other than sending out standard letters 1 2 3 etc. so I think both you and I are going to be joined by many others with similar stories. I've heard nothing yet so I will come back with interest ( so to speak) to see wwhat responses you have had too.

[annmarie18676]

Hey again Andrew! Looks like this is gonna be one of their delaying tactics so to speak! lol Like I said this morning to them "I dont care what you claim to have "thought" this payment was for, I know it was sent with a DPA request, and so your 40 days are ticking away!" The poor woman on the other end didnt have a clue what to say! But hey never mind, lets hope we get a bit further VERY soon!

[annmarie18676]

Hi Andrew, I stil havn't heard a word from them yet, they have till the 20th June so hoping they get a move on soon! lol Did they send you everything? As in ALL the data they hold on you including the original debt etc? One good thing is they have stopped calling me every morning at 8.30am so they must know somethings up!!! Let us know how you get on with going through the statements!!

[andrew1]

Hi, well I recieved my (SDA) data this morning but you'd better have some cash handy as it came recorded but no postage was paid so I had to go off to the post office and pay £2.56 to get it. They'll be paying for that! There's a whole load of analysis going to have to be undertaken this afternoon as it doesn't look as if they have outlined any of the charges at all but in part of the narative it states " apply penalty interest " that makes the saliva start !! Will post back later once I've sorted this lot out. Be interesting to hear whether anyone else has to pay their postage as they used the same trick on me with the £10 as they did with Anna Marie.

[andrew1]

Now gone through my statements. Cabot have only given details of their charges and receipts. Interestingly they state on their printouts at various times throughout the year " Apply Penalty Interest " they don't say at what rate the interest is charged either . They have not included any information regarding the account prior to purchase ie: from the credit card company. I was under the impression they were to supply this under a SAR if they bought the debt. Do I have to go back to Cabot and get this information or do I now have to go to the credit card company? CAn I demand to know what the interest charge rate is too? I think it's 12% from memory when I asked on the phone but it is not recorded on my file. They are way over the 40 days already.

[Seminole]

I think that they are only obliged to provide you with personal data that THEY hold. This would include anything that was passed over from the cc company and I imagine that this may vary. You may have to make a DPA request of the credit card company.

 

As part of the package, have they includes the original credit agreement? If they haven't I'm wondering on what basis they are charging you interest of any sort. I may have said this before but I am concerned that Cabot's lack of transparancy on their charging structure is a mask for some extremely dodgy behavior.