debt collector advice

masrock · 7 October 2005 at 10:40AM

Hi all, (I copied this plea for help from the pub forum section)

Have a drink on me.

I need some advice please.

My wife got a letter last weekend from a debt collection agency demanding £75. We called them and found that the debt was 5 years old.

My wife had used a £15 to buy two items at Index total cost £50, she paid the balance with cash. Index disputed the voucher for some reason so my wife let them take the receipt and voucher to send it to their head office to be sorted out. The actual disputed amount was just £10.

She forgot all about it for 5 years until we got this demand frrom the debt collection agency.

She has asked both the agency and index for documentory evidence but both parties have said theat the other has the paperwork.

The demand has threatend court action if left unpaid.

I am worried abut losing my good credit rating built up over many years of careful repayments to loans and cards.

Should I pay the demand? - But what is to stop any debt collection agency from extorting money with no evidence from people by threatening court action or blacklisting your name. How can a £10 dispute mushroom to £75 anyway?

My wife has no evidence on her part. It was 5 years ago and she thought it all resolved.

What should I do? Does anyone have a similar experience.

Masrock.

masrock · 7 October 2005 at 12:58PM

The agency is:

Wescot Credit Services Ltd.

My wife has gone to the CAB and they have suggested writing a letter demanding the proof before she is prepared to pay anything. I'm still worried that this could affect our credit rating but I won't just pay out £75 without a fight, even if we could afford it, it smacks of extortion.

Masrock

file_wizzard · 7 October 2005 at 1:07PM

WESCOT – tells me all I need to know !

If they are threatening court how do they propose to action this without any evidence to verify the debt ?

The only thing that could ever be added to you credit file in a situation like this is a CCJ, and if they cant document the debt then they have no chance of getting a Judge to issue one !

A default cant be issue as no credit agreement was ever in place so I would suggest you check your credit files ASAP and ensure that WESCOT haven’t added one just for the fun of it !

Offer them the £10 if they refuse repost here and im sure plenty of us will advise on the next stage !!

masrock · 7 October 2005 at 1:32PM

Thanks, I've given them 14 days to produce evidence, if I've not recieved anything by then I've said that I'll treat the matter as dropped. (I won't really, I'll stay on my guard.)

Could you elaborate more on why Wescot tells you all you need to know please?

Thanks

Masrock.

file_wizzard · 7 October 2005 at 1:41PM

Well known debt chaser who would of brought this debt for a about 10% / 30% of its true value and will hound, harass, and bully anyone they can into paying it ! ( allegedly )

The original company would have written this debt off long ago and WESCOT are just trying to cash in on it.

With regards to your letter, I would be inclined to go a little further than that and state that unless the debt can be verified within the next 14 days then they should refrain from all further contact with yourself as you will consider this as harassment, and will be duty bound to report this to the relevant statutory authorities & your local trading standard s office.

If they get the message that you are not going to roll over and play their game they will just leave you alone and move onto someone else who they can bully with less effort !

masrock · 7 October 2005 at 1:55PM

Thanks file wizard.

I'll keep the firrst letter as it is for now and wait to see their reply before I bring out the big guns.

I'll keep you posted.

Masrock

file_wizzard · 7 October 2005 at 2:33PM

Why should your friend run around to prove that the debt isn’t owed, the onus is upon the claimant / DCA to prove that is it owed !!

However in order to expedite this your friend should write to First national and ask them for a full statement of account, and to specifically confirm that the matter is now closed.

The likely cause of this is that an old list of overdue accounts has been passed to the DCA, logic / Wescot / Thames Ect. All tend to buy “job lots” of old debts form the original creditors and then use the tactics discussed earlier to scare people into paying.

It must be very distressing being on the receiving end of this, but in real terms if the debt has been settle then they have nothing to worry about.. remember the onus is upon the Claimant to prove their claim, not for you to prove your innocence ( although this can help to swiftly resolve the matter )

file_wizzard · 7 October 2005 at 4:27PM

I bet they did ! ............ who is chasing the debt here them or him ! ! , as I said they will try to make you do the hard work for them !

if the letter of satisfaction / settlement came from First national then your friend should write to the and request a copy.

failing this he should write and formally request a SARN ( Statutory Access Request Notice ) from first national, they may charge up to £10 for this, but they will then legally have to provided every single bit of paper with your friends names / details on for his review.

If the letter isn’t amongst this lot then you may have problems, also , how was the payment made, cheque, debit card ? , this will be proof enough to any court

Harassed_2 · 8 October 2005 at 6:23AM

Report them to your local Trading Standards office, pronto.

file_wizzard · 8 October 2005 at 11:12AM

Harassed wrote:

Report them to your local Trading Standards office, pronto.

Agreed, also forward copy’s of the letter to the Office of Fair Trading, they are currently undertaking a review of the tactics / methods used by collection agencys, specifically the type of letters sent, their format, and the emotional impact this may have on the recipients.

The more people that identify the unacceptable and threatening manner undertaken by WESCOT, Thames, Aktiv. Ect the better !

Xbigman · 8 October 2005 at 3:11PM

Just don't send the original confirmation letter, send a photocopy. Even if they demand the original don't send it. That might seem obvious but a surprising number of people send originals.
Regards

X

debt collector advice

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