Old Debt? Mackenzie Hall

Belly140773

Hi all, i'm completely new to this site and was just wondering if anybody can help me or give me any information about this firm "Mackenzie Hall" as i've just today received a sms text message on my house phone from them asking me to contact them immediately quoting some reference number and i cant even find out who they are. I'vw tried lokking for a web site but it says its "under construction". Any ideas or info would be greatlly appreciated, cheers.

RAS

Belly

They buy up very old debt and debts for which the proper documentation does not exist and then write out to people with the same or similiar name, hoping to strike lucky and get the poor suckers to pay.

Sometimes they suggest that if the debt is not paid it could lead to legal action including bankruptcy and repossession. It could but is very unlikely to, not least because they are unlikely to be able to enforce the debt in the courts. they rely on people not knowing the law.

Even if you have an old debt, please do not pay unless you have come back for some advice first.

debt_management

MH does have an email address.It is [EMAIL="general'@mackenziehall.co.uk"]general'@mackenziehall.co.uk[/EMAIL]

And just in case anyone now douts Debt Management's integrity. Further helpful details when dealing with MH are that the person purporting to act as compliance officer is "Scott Hendrie - could be spelt Hendry" and that MH also go under the name of Cabot Financial. They are also another "rogue" outfit who harass people and have a history of chasing up people under different name guises. Perhaps Fermi will tahnk me for this information. Thanks in advance Fermi.

Snaggles

debt management, did you read Rog2's excellent post? Perhaps you would care to thank him for it.

Thanks in advance.

debt_management

By the way should anyone not have MH addres and other contact details

30 The Foregate, Kilmarnock,KA1 1JH
Telephone 01563 554 540 = reverse charge calls only accepted by them:))

Interestingly, their headed paper quotes a Company Registration No: SC255891 but it does not state they are a limited company which is most unusual. I am not sure whether this is illegal or not. What may be interesting is to find out whether the COMPANY has a valid consummer credit licence and if so in whose name. Every company that contacts a person in the course of debt counselling/recovery business has to have a separate consumer credit licence. So each of the many guises that a company may operate under would have to have a licence and not just one licence to cover every trading entity.

alhggyb

Hi. This is my first posting on this forum.

I have been following this thread since last year after I recieved one of those SMS messages on my landline. I didn't do anything about it after finding this thread through a search about MH.

2 weeks ago I received a note through our door from one of my neighbours with a message to ring someone at some number about a 'personal matter'. A couple of hours later I got a phone call to our home from MH. They stated I had an outstanding debt with Cabot of $152 (no pound sign on this keyboard!!!) I remember having a debt with Cabot many years ago, but that was in the late 90's. I stated that as far as I was concerned, the debt was statute barred, but he came back with "That doesn't apply if you've moved house without informing the creditors." I now know this is garbage, but I insisted I would not acknowledge the debt unless I had written confirmation and a copy of the original credit agreement. With this he promptly put the phone down.

2 days later I received a letter from MH giving details of the debt and wishing me to get in contact about payment. There was no copy of the original credit agreement. I then sent them a copy of the statute barred letter on the national debtline website with the details in the letter they sent me. I sent it signed for and kept a copy for myself.

I received a letter this morning from MH stating that they will no longer be pursuing this debt.

Many thanks to everyone who offered advice on this thread.

I do have one concern though. I sent off for statements from the 3 credit reference agencies, and I noticed on Equifax that MH had done a number of searches through Equifax over the last 18 months or so. Can they do this without my consent? There was no searches by MH on either of the other two agencies. Any suggestions or advice would be welcome about this.

rog2

alhggyb wrote: »

I do have one concern though. I sent off for statements from the 3 credit reference agencies, and I noticed on Equifax that MH had done a number of searches through Equifax over the last 18 months or so. Can they do this without my consent?

First of all - well done on the result. :T :T

Secondly - the unfortunate thing about Credit Reference Agencies is that they are, at the end of the day, just businesses and can, and do, sell their product (your information) to just about anybody who is prepared to pay for it.
This, I am afraid to say, includes the pondlife that is MacKenzie Hall - this is how they 'get' much of their 'business' - trawling the cras for 'debts' which are, or just about to become, statute barred, or otherwise unenforceable.

alhggyb

Thanks for that rog2. I find it a bit disturbing that a company that holds personal details on you can sell them to whomever will pay. I thought the data protection act was supposed to protect you from this unless you have given consent to the company?

If this is the case, what is the point of the data protection act??

rog2

alhggyb wrote: »

If this is the case, what is the point of the data protection act??

I often wonder, myself, alhggyb. There are strict rules governing who CRAs can divulge information to, but MH have never been known for following rules or guidelines.

fermi

alhggyb wrote: »

If this is the case, what is the point of the data protection act??

The DPA is there to protect. And the CRAs (as rog2 suggests) in general follow the rules.

Unfortunately, the CRAs can only report what they are told. It's up to you to dispute anything incorrect.

How to go about it is explained here: http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/library/data_protection/practical_application/credit_explained_leaflet_2005.pdf