Problems with CapQuest Debt Recovery Ltd

shebear44 · 3 June 2007 at 6:34PM

Hi,
I am being harrassed by CapQuest Debt Recovery for a purchased "debt" I do not acknowledge because it was incurred by a person(s) committing an identity fraud in my name, using my previous address. Even though they original company confirm that I am not responsible for the defaulted account, CapQuest threaten court action if I do not pay up. As yet, they have failed to provide me with a copy of a signed credit agreement (in contravention of Section 78(1) of the Consumer Credit Act, 1974) as well as a full statement. In effect, they refuse to inform me what the debt is for, or when it was incurred.
In view of their unethical methods in relation to debt collection, I wonder if others have been harrassed by CapQuest for money they do not owe. It is very easy for me to prove that I lived at a different address when I guess the fraud was committed, but they do not accept my evidence. I have never owed anybody anything, and I am fed up getting unjustifiably harrassed by these bullies. Any advice would be most welcome.

moonlightpjs · 3 June 2007 at 6:40PM

Hi SB
I posted a reply on the other thread you posted on, but have copied it here for you

Hi SB
You will find that quite a lot of people have had poblems with Capquest (or Crapquest as the are better known on here ) I think the first thing to do would to send a CCA request, this puts the account in dispute, meaning no further action can be taken until they have provided you with a copy of the Consumer Credit Agreement (which from the sounds of it they will not have).
Below is a template letter but you will need to alter the dates etc. Send it by Recorded Delievery with a £1 postal order or cheque. Enter the dates on this letter for 12+2. Then when this is up you need to allow them another 30 days to respond before you can report them. Do not make any payment to them as this will mean you are acknowledging the debt, which as you say isn't yours.

They have 12+2+30 days to respond with the agreement, after this timescale you can send the letter out you have quoted and it then becomes illegal for them to chase you for the debt and of course, you can report them. If they start to bother you inbetween them receiving the CCA request and the end of the timescale, just ignore them, they will send you empty threats in order to get you to pay. They cannot enforce the debt, ie take further action, until they have provided you with a CCA no matter what they say.

Here is the first letter you need to send:-

I do not acknowledge ANY debt to your company. I require you to supply the following documentation before I will correspond further on this matter.

1. You must supply me with a true copy of the alleged agreement you refer to. This is my right under your obligation to supply a copy of the agreement under the legislation contained within s.78 (1) Consumer Credit Act 1974 (s.77 (1) for fixed sum credit) - your obligation also extends to providing a statement of account. I enclose £1 in payment of the statutory fee.

2. A signed true copy of the deed of assignment of the above referenced agreement that you allege exists.

3. You are notified that you are obliged to supply these documents, whether you are the original creditor or not under S189 of the CCA 1974.

Non-compliance with my request is a criminal offence under the above Act and will result in a report being submitted to the relevant statutory authorities, therefore if I do not receive evidence that I owe your company any monies by 1 June 2007, I will have no hesitation in passing your details to the Office of Fair Trading.

As you are aware, a credit agreement that is not properly documented and signed by the customer is totally unenforceable under the CCA and therefore is a complete defence to any court claim that is issued.

Take note at this stage, that any legal action you may contemplate will be both vigorously defended and contested.

Regarding your threat that a Doorstep Collector will call the owner of this property is denying you or anybody working on your behalf access onto their estate or grounds in relation to this disputed debt, should you or any agent acting for you attempt to gain access to the estate or its grounds, then you will be ignoring your denial of access and the owner of (enter addres) will take legal steps to sue both you and or your agents for trespass, please also note that having a letterbox on the property gives you or anyone working on your behalf neither implied nor expressed rights to enter the properties boundaries, again any instances of trespass WILL lead the property owner to sue both yourselves or any agents working on your behalf.
This should get them off your backs as they are very unlikely to have a true CCA.
HTH and good luck, remember to keep posting to let us know how you get on or if you need further help.

shebear44 · 14 June 2007 at 1:56PM

Hi Weller711,
Thank you very much for your advice. I am so glad there are helpful people like yourself out there to offer support at an emotionally stressful time. I have sent CapQuest a letter requesting a signed credit agreement and a full statement of my account. This recorded delivery letter was sent two weeks ago, but I am still waiting for the (non-existent) documents. They deliberately ignore any evidence I have so far sent them and request proof of payment, which of course I don't have because it is not my debt in the first place. I have never acknowledged this debt because it I was a victim of identity theft four years ago. It will be interesting to see what they will resort to next in order to harrass me.

shebear44 · 14 June 2007 at 2:08PM

weller711 wrote: »

Hi SB
I posted a reply on the other thread you posted on, but have copied it here for you

Hi SB
You will find that quite a lot of people have had poblems with Capquest (or Crapquest as the are better known on here ) I think the first thing to do would to send a CCA request, this puts the account in dispute, meaning no further action can be taken until they have provided you with a copy of the Consumer Credit Agreement (which from the sounds of it they will not have).
Below is a template letter but you will need to alter the dates etc. Send it by Recorded Delievery with a £1 postal order or cheque. Enter the dates on this letter for 12+2. Then when this is up you need to allow them another 30 days to respond before you can report them. Do not make any payment to them as this will mean you are acknowledging the debt, which as you say isn't yours.

They have 12+2+30 days to respond with the agreement, after this timescale you can send the letter out you have quoted and it then becomes illegal for them to chase you for the debt and of course, you can report them. If they start to bother you inbetween them receiving the CCA request and the end of the timescale, just ignore them, they will send you empty threats in order to get you to pay. They cannot enforce the debt, ie take further action, until they have provided you with a CCA no matter what they say.

Here is the first letter you need to send:-

I do not acknowledge ANY debt to your company. I require you to supply the following documentation before I will correspond further on this matter.

1. You must supply me with a true copy of the alleged agreement you refer to. This is my right under your obligation to supply a copy of the agreement under the legislation contained within s.78 (1) Consumer Credit Act 1974 (s.77 (1) for fixed sum credit) - your obligation also extends to providing a statement of account. I enclose £1 in payment of the statutory fee.

2. A signed true copy of the deed of assignment of the above referenced agreement that you allege exists.

3. You are notified that you are obliged to supply these documents, whether you are the original creditor or not under S189 of the CCA 1974.

Non-compliance with my request is a criminal offence under the above Act and will result in a report being submitted to the relevant statutory authorities, therefore if I do not receive evidence that I owe your company any monies by 1 June 2007, I will have no hesitation in passing your details to the Office of Fair Trading.

As you are aware, a credit agreement that is not properly documented and signed by the customer is totally unenforceable under the CCA and therefore is a complete defence to any court claim that is issued.

Take note at this stage, that any legal action you may contemplate will be both vigorously defended and contested.

Regarding your threat that a Doorstep Collector will call the owner of this property is denying you or anybody working on your behalf access onto their estate or grounds in relation to this disputed debt, should you or any agent acting for you attempt to gain access to the estate or its grounds, then you will be ignoring your denial of access and the owner of (enter addres) will take legal steps to sue both you and or your agents for trespass, please also note that having a letterbox on the property gives you or anyone working on your behalf neither implied nor expressed rights to enter the properties boundaries, again any instances of trespass WILL lead the property owner to sue both yourselves or any agents working on your behalf.
This should get them off your backs as they are very unlikely to have a true CCA.
HTH and good luck, remember to keep posting to let us know how you get on or if you need further help.

Hi Weller711,
Thank you very much for your advice. I am so glad there are helpful people like yourself out there to offer support at an emotionally stressful time. I have sent CapQuest a letter requesting a signed credit agreement and a full statement of my account. This recorded delivery letter was sent two weeks ago, but I am still waiting for the (non-existent) documents. They deliberately ignore any evidence I have so far sent them and request proof of payment, which of course I don't have because it is not my debt in the first place. I have never acknowledged this debt because it I was a victim of identity theft four years ago. It will be interesting to see what they will resort to next in order to harrass me.

shebear44 · 1 July 2007 at 8:37AM

CapQuest defaulted on my request for a CCA a few weeks ago, but they still keep harrassing me AND have even added further charges to "my" account. I'm aware that this is illegal while an account is in dispute, but practising debt collection within the law is clearly not a code CapQuest subscribe to!

freddy1 · 2 July 2007 at 11:39PM

shebear44 wrote: »

CapQuest defaulted on my request for a CCA a few weeks ago, but they still keep harrassing me AND have even added further charges to "my" account. I'm aware that this is illegal while an account is in dispute, but practising debt collection within the law is clearly not a code CapQuest subscribe to!

Hi Shebear
Capquest have defaulted to my request too. They have now sent me a letter asking for details of all my incomings and outgoings. (as if) I wrote letter today telling them that i will not give personal details to them and i request that they return my £1 postal order as they have not given what i asked for originaly. Any idea of next step. Im now at the stage that i dont give a flying .... for these guys and the more i can wind them up the better. I got nothing to loose. They have really got my back up now!!

any ideas ?

moonlightpjs · 3 July 2007 at 8:47AM

Hi, make sure you have allowed them the 12 +2 +30 days and send this letter:-

I refer to my letter dated {enter date} which was delivered via Recorded Delivery to your offices on {enter delivery date}.

You have failed to acknowledge this request by not supplying the requested documents. The documents I requested should be readily available as proof of your legal right to collect this account.

In my letter of the {enter date} I made a formal request for a copy of the signed, executed credit agreement for the above account under Section 77(1) and Section 78(1) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 and a true signed copy of the Deed of Assignment. In addition a full statement of my account should have been sent to me detailing all debits and credits to the account from the time {debt agency name} purchased this account, along with any other documents mentioned in the credit agreement.

You are reminded that you are obliged to supply these documents, whether you are the original creditor or not, as defined under Section 189 of the CCA 1974.

The Consumer Credit Act allows 12 working days for this request to be carried out before your company enter into a default situation. If the request is not satisfied after a further 30 calendar days, your company commit an offence. These time limits expired on {enter date} and {enter date} respectively.

As you are no doubt aware, Section 78(6) states:

If the creditor under an agreement fails to comply with subsection (1) -

(a) He is not entitled, while the default continues, to enforce the agreement; and
(b) If the default continues for one month he commits an offence.

Therefore on {enter offence date} this account became unenforceable at law and no further payment will be made by myself to the account, as you have failed to comply with a request for a true signed copy of the said agreement, and other relevant documents mentioned in it, and failed to send a full statement of the account and failed to provide a true copy of the Deed of Assignment, under the relevant sections of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. Further, i do not acknowledge any debt to {debt agency name}.

I require the following action from {debt agency name} :

1. All payments made to date to {debt agency name} for this account should be refunded in full, including interest at the rate of 8% per annum.

2. Removal of all defaults entered by {debt agency name}. Note this is to be a complete deletion and not merely an amendment.

3. I look forward to compensation under Section 13 of the Data Protection Act 1998 to be offered for the processing of my data in the manner it has been done over the past number of years.

4. After a full refund of all payments with interest and compensation are received by myself, you will be required under Section 10 and Section 12 of the Data Protection Act 1998 to cease and desist all manual and automatic processing of my data within your company and any other company within your group.

If you do not respond positively to my request, court action may be taken under Section 14 of the Data Protection Act 1998 to force {debt agency name} or any other company within the group to comply with the refund of all monies paid, removal of all defaults maintained and compensation for damage and distress as a result of unlawful data processing. I may also pass the matter to the relevant enforcement authorities including, but not limited to, the OFT, the Information Commissioners Office, Trading Standards, the CSA, the FOS and my local MP.

I look forward to your reply within 14 days to resolve the matter amicably.

Make sure you keep all the letters they have sent you and do not give in. You are quite within your rights to withhold payment until/if they supply the CCA. If you feel you are able, then please do them report to the bodies listed in the letter as they will stop them doing this to you and other people.

sksbcm · 9 November 2007 at 7:29PM

I recieved a letter dated 26/10/07 From this company with an outstanding balance of £155 for Littlewoods Finace company. My account with Littlewoods is right up to date and in October was £155 until they took a direct debit from my account.

I was dumbfounded to obtain this letter so called there exspensive rate phone number to find out what was going on, I had this girl demand payment or I would end up with a county court Judgement against my name.

I felt obliged to defend myself as I know every payment had gone through my bank account successfully. I ended up giving her my banking information along with payment dates from my online bank account.

She then said the payment was put into recover in May of this year and asked to check all my previous payments. I did all my payments had been made correctly. She then informed me that they had done a trace on me to a previous address. (Somewhere I had never lived)

This person or persons has the same name has me and DOB now although my name is one of the most common in the country it is unlikely that two have the exact same date of birth. I have documented evidence of my previous address.

I was then put through to a manager who agreed that the thing was a misstrace and I would recieve an apology letter in the mail. I subsequently closed my account with Littlewoods paying off any outstanding balance.

I waited a couple of days and got another letter from them demanding payment. No apology letter I recorded the original phone conversation with the girls agreement and have emailed them wih a without prejudice letter and a full transcript of the phone conversation.

I have now called numorous times with the promise from them to a response . I have requested there information on how they linked my name to this other person. This as not been done. I am now told for data protection they cannot except an email. So now I will be making an official complaint Via Trading Standards thus applying to have their license removed.

I will now also be seeking damages for missrepresentation, deflamation of Charactor, Missuse of Data, Stress and unessarsarry costs incured in trying to put the issue to bed. Why should my family have to suffer because of there mistakes.

The views and expressions mentioned here are of my opinion only and do not form any legal opinion

Yours Sincerely
sksbcm

droopinlily · 26 December 2007 at 10:40PM

Christmas Eve I received a letter from S R J debt recoveries, saying they would take me to court if I didn't pay up £583 that their client Phoenix says I owe them.

I have never owed anyone this kind of money and I am fairly careful with my home budgeting etc and keep all reciepts for major purchases.

My hubby phoned them (I am deaf so had to shout permision down the phone) and they say it is Kays catalogue and I owe them from when I lived at my previous address.

Now I have never had Kays catalogue (didn't even know it existed), so hubby told them this and they said for me to write to them.

Could I use this template for this purpose or is this a different kind of thing?

The thing I can think of is my lodger who used to live at my previous address (before I got married) might have used my details to buy things. He did buy a laptop and various other things from PC World with the intention of emigrating abroad and never paying them (not using my name but I tell you this to show the kind of person he was) but he committed suicide and I took the items back to PCWorld myself.

i am worried sick about this. I know I don't owe Kays, Phoenix or SRJ anything but what do I do?
Its spoilt my xmas to be honest.:(

malestrom07 · 27 December 2007 at 9:14AM

This message may be slightly off topic. I read all of the above with interest and hope those of you who have been falsely accused or intentionally harrassed by these various nests of vipers make the relevant complaints to the statutory authorities. Crapquest need a proper slap..... and in my professional opion (i'm a debt counsellor) the sooner the slap is delivered the better. So let's all include "i will actually complain" to our New Years Resolutions".

ladyred1 · 15 April 2008 at 11:30AM

have read the above and have got a query but a bit different. 8 years ago i owed halifax bank £500 which i admit.over the years it has been passed to various debt collection agencies and each time i have offerd to pay £5 per month. no one ever really follow this up. had letters from capquest saying they have taken the debt over now and are issuing a statutory notice which they will serving on me at my address which could result in bankrupty. the debt is noe over £1000 accroding to them and as i say 8 years old. can they do this or should i just agree agian to pay £5 per month .

Problems with CapQuest Debt Recovery Ltd

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