Cabot Financial

[andrew1]

Neither.

 

It's 12 days until they have to gain a court order to pursue you for the debt.

 

 

Sorry if I've missed something here, Can you explain this a little more please, they have 12 days upon receipt of the CCA to do what exactly?

[andrew1]

Sorry HagenUK I didn't read your answer properly. 12 days until they can only pursue the debt with a court order. My mistake.

[maddyrose1664]

So should I say in my letter how long they've got or not? And, why would they get a court order and what would happen if they did?

[Weecutie]

Hi there, i'm in the same position regarding cabot financial. Does that mean after the 30 days have passed that they cannot claim back the debt at all, and would i have to do anything after this time?

[Movingon]

Maddy -

 

They know how long they've got. Tell them nothing other than what is in the letter.

 

Cutie -

 

After 30 days they have committed an offence and if you report them to Trading Standards they will (hopefully) be prosecuted. Having committed a criminal offence in relation to the debt, they'd be pretty stupid to try and enforce it via the courts, wouldn't they? Even (especially?) if they magically produced the documentation? Basically having failed to produce the documentation the debt simply ceases to exist; and you can then set about trying to remove defaults, set aside CCJ's etc in relation to it.

[hagenuk]

Personally I would do nothing until the 30 days has elapsed. With our case they have just a few days left.

 

I was advised to do the following.

 

After you have sent the CCA 1974 letter (and Maddy, I would not pre-warn them regarding your intentions. They are legally bound to provide the information you ask for and if they are not aware of the regulations then they have no business being in business!)

 

On the 31st day stop making payments to them but make sure you keep an account of what you were paying and perhaps keep the money safe somewhere just in case.

 

Then write to Cabot and say that in the absence of CCA compliance that you do not believe they have an enforcable debt and that you will not be making any further payments.

 

At this stage you should also write to your local Trading Standards and point out that Cabot have committed a criminal offence under the CCA 1974.

[Movingon]

Personally I would do nothing until the 30 days has elapsed. With our case they have just a few days left.

 

I was advised to do the following.

 

After you have sent the CCA 1974 letter (and Maddy, I would not pre-warn them regarding your intentions. They are legally bound to provide the information you ask for and if they are not aware of the regulations then they have no business being in business!)

 

On the 31st day stop making payments to them but make sure you keep an account of what you were paying and perhaps keep the money safe somewhere just in case.

 

Then write to Cabot and say that in the absence of CCA compliance that you do not believe they have an unenforcable debt and that you will not be making any further payments.

 

At this stage you should also write to your local Trading Standards and point out that Cabot have committed a criminal offence under the CCA 1974.

 

***FIXED***

[maddyrose1664]

I haven't actually paid them a penny yet. They haven't owned the debt for long. I did make an offer of £1000 on the phone but they refused it. I then offered £500 in writing and if they declined that I would make £1 a month payments like all my other creditors. They haven't actually acknowledged any of this but keep sending me letters about interest accruing and such like. I have also told them that the amount is in dispute.

 

I guess now I should start to make the £1 payments but wouldn't that then mean that I have acknowledged the debt to them?

 

So I send the CCA letter, wait for 30 days and then, if I hear nothing report them to Trading Standards and write to Cabot telling them the debt is unenforceable. Cool.

[hagenuk]

oops!

[hagenuk]

 

I guess now I should start to make the £1 payments but wouldn't that then mean that I have acknowledged the debt to them?

 

 

They browbeat you into it, you were bombarded with letters and telephone calls and so you made some payments, it does not mean that you acknowledge the debt

[andrew1]

Okay, lets throw another spanner in the works to consider and this might be more of a moral issue for me, but I am sure this is similar to many peoples predicament.

 

I should start a new thread but as so many people have Citifinancial and Cabot on this thread it can stay here for the time being..

 

I had a Citifinancial card ( prev Associates) until mid 2004 when it was 'sold' to Cabot. The balance according to statements was circa £950 when sold. I paid cabot £60 in bits and peices over a period to keep them quiet and they sarted charging 'Penalty interest' (their words not mine) of about £160. I think it's @ 12% or thereabouts.

 

When I received my Data Protection Act statements from them no mention of Citi's details were supplied so I sent a DPA to Citi.

 

The statements came back and there are £1000 in penalty charges alone. Interest was being charged @ 29.8% pa.

 

There lies the dilemna.

 

If I claim those charges back from Citi they might argue ( and fairly I suppose ) that I never actually paid them ( I can claim the difference perhaps ) By the time I add the interest ( which I'm going to charge them @ 29.8%) etc it'll be nearer 2k.

 

So where does that leave Cabot? They have my £950 debt and probably wont be able to collect it because I doubt they'll come up with the goods to prove the debt under my CCA request which runs out ( 30 days) at the end of this month. Would you reckon I can get the payments back I made to them once they have the unenforceable debt on their hands - I can't claim the interest because I wouldn't pay that anyway but I could on the £60 I suppose? - God I'd love to get that out of them!

 

This looks like I might actually make a profit!

 

How many more are actually in this situation and what ought we do? - my conscience is killing me!

[maddyrose1664]

I know what you mean but do you think they have a conscience about charging us and ripping us off? Companies like Cabot make me sick because they make money out of peoples misery. They don't even consider why our debts have been sold to them in the first place and if they are incompetant at keeping records and such like why not use that to our advantage.

 

Just think of the thousands of other Cabot "customers" who have no idea about this site or what to do about their debt. That eases my conscience a lot.

[andrew1]

So do you think I should ask Citi for the charges they've applied to the account despite the fact that the debt was sold to Cabot before the debt was recovered and what should I do with Cabot given what I said above?

[andrew1]

Any takers?

[maddyrose1664]

I'm not sure if you'd get the money you've already paid to Cabot back. I think you'd have to forget about that. The fact that Citi sold the debt is irrelevant because that was their choice. Claim the charges back from Citi and see where that takes you, afterall, it was Citi who charged us in the first place. I will do the same. What stage are you at with this?

[THEVARNSTER]

Sorry to but in, but

 

I am in the same situation with citi and cabot, (rotten toerags)

 

Claim back all charges from citi, for definate.

 

Anyway one thing i have learnt from the time i spent on this site is this:

NON of these banks, credit card companys or even mortgage companys want to let it go to court. For a number of reasons, bad publicity and if they lose it would set precident.

In that this is the case, ask for all your costs from everyone including early redemption penalties. Afew have been successful.

ANY VIEWS ON THIS?

[andrew1]

Thanks guys and gals,

 

Well, I was in a bit of a tis with quite how to approach this as you might have learned from the above. Citi certainly added the charges to my account, added the interest and gave me a certain amount of grief trying to collect at a difficult time for me, BUT their final balance was only £950 give or take a penny or two when they sold it. Now I have the charges worked out they come to £1000 so effectively that cancels it out although theres a lot of interest to claim which I will be doing also.

 

Firstly, I still can't quite get my head around the interest calculations, silly really as Vamp has drawn up the spreadsheet and everyone else seems to grasp it. I had £1000 charges over the period of 3 yrs to July 2004 so on every charge there is a monthly interest amount to add. The spreadsheet works that out to todays date, but should it stop when the account closed in July ( when they sold it to Cabot) or should I calculate it according to VAmps spreadsheet until today?

 

They only charged the interest until the account was sold so I'd imagine they should only pay that amount back, but there again, I get the feeling some are inclined to charge it to date? I am calculating it at the 2.2% per month that they charged rather than 8% p.a. on the spreadsheet. The 8% should kick in if it goes to court but from when to when?

 

Anway, getting back to the point. I have sent in my CCA request to Cabot which expires shortly and I have heard nothing back other than the ' thank you for your payment' £1 !!! letter quoted above so if they don't reply with the copy of the deed of assignment they won't get anything anyway! I still reckon that I could argue that as the whole of the debt was charges they shouldn't have charged me anything and give it back - sod em why should they keep it? and i'll charge them interest @ 12 % which is what they've done to me and try for something for the hastle they have given me over a 'non debt' and get all the defaults removed.

 

That should keep me busy!

 

I will send off my Citi letter requesting repayment of all the charges and the interest and see what they say, but it would have been nice to be exact about the interest if anyone can add a word or two. I've gone over the FAQ's and still don't quite get it! ( It's my age you see !!)

[nathal]

Most admirable. Go for it and good luck!

[andrew1]

Wouldn't call it admirable - but thanks anyway!

 

Just noticed I sent the cabot CCA letter on 30th June - 12 days are well and truely up so they will have to get a court order to go after me anyway - Let em try!! Only have till the end of the month and it's gone altogether so I'll wait for that and if still nothing arrives I'll be writing to Cabot for my money back

[maddyrose1664]

I didn't think of it like that. I wonder if it would be worth speaking to a solicitor just to make sure you know where you stand legally. That way nothing ugly can come back and bite you on the bum. Do you know any solicitors that could help for free?

 

If not, I'll ask my husbands friend. Not sure it's his area of law though.

[andrew1]

Yes, I have a 24/7 legal helpline with the FSB ( Federation of Small Businesses) costs me nothing other than my £70 membership fee so I'll give them a call and post back. As a matter of interest, you can often find the same service ( Legal assistance / help line ) on your car and house insurance policies but people don't often realise they have it. Worth it's weight in gold sometimes.

[MCKENNARISE]

Cabot Are Plonkers..

[maddyrose1664]

I can think of a better word.

 

I had 2 letters from them in the post yesterday. God they're hopeless!

 

1)

 

I write with reference to the above account and our previous letter, to which, we have received no reply. Could you please conatct this office within 7 days of the date of this letter. Failure to do so will result in a Default Notice being issued against your account and possible further action being taken.

 

**Oooh, I'm scared** I did reply to their stupid letter with a CCA and £1 postal order.

 

2)

 

Is a statement telling me that I have made no payments ** actually I've paid the whopping sum of a pound last Friday** and I've accrued £24.11 in interest since their letter 2 weeks ago.

 

God I hope these morons fall flat on their arses.

[andrew1]

Cabot Are Plonkers..

 

 

Your experiences shared assist others in knowing how to deal with those so described - speak out and let us know how you dealt with them.

[andrew1]

Blimey.

T I hope CCCS advised you to change your phone number so you can't be harrased.

 

What are CAB doing with Cabot exactly?

 

 

Hi MaddyRose you don't have to get your telephone number changed. If you write to these people or tell them on the telephone that you will no longer accept their calls and that EVERYTHING must be in writing they HAVE to conform. If they continue to call they are breaking the Wireless and Telegraphy Act and can get in serious trouble.