Old Debt? Mackenzie Hall

Tikka

Hi All - another newbie

Guess what I received last Tuesday out of the blue ............... yes one of the brown envelopes saying somebody was trying to trace me. As a person who has "no debt" apart from my mortgage - I immediately called the 01563 number to find out why on earth a "debt recovery and trace consultant" would be looking to track me down. Ok sitting comfortably? I got through to a very rude obnoxious man called Mark who was asking me for my DOB and address - I refused to provide this info as I thought it was a bloody scam and asked who the hell they were and what was this about? He got rather shirty and in the end I did provide the info so I could find out what on earth this was about. He then proceeded to tell me he was chasing a debt I had defaulted on with HFC I have NO clue about this and said so. He said it was a debt that had been defaulted on in 1999:eek::eek: I nearly fell of the chair. I asked for information about this so called debt - which is when he started getting really nasty - telling me I DID have a debt although he could not answer my questions about WHAT and he claimed I needed to pay it. After 10 mins I was so exasperated I asked for an account ref number and told him that I was going to call HFC directly as I was getting no sense out of him. I googled and called HFC who could tell me nothing and did not recognise the number I had provided.

Called MH back and spoke to someone called Rob - told him that I had no idea what they were talking about and please could they send me a copy of the signed agreement so I could validate their claim. I was told yes this would take a few days. Then on Friday I received another letter (interestingly dated 21/7/09 which was the exact same day I asked them to provide the Credit Agreement/details of their claim) informing me of a Doorstep Assessment from Meritforce within 10 days - !!!!!!!!!!!!!! What the hell is going on here - I am so mad.

Bottom line - I dont believe this debt is mine, they have not sent me any information to prove otherwise AND we are talking about something from 1999 - by their own admission.

I have drafted a letter after reading all of this thread - its taken me hours to read it all :-)

I am furious and refuse to be harrassed and bullied especially since I have no reason to believe this is a genuine claim against me. As a responsible individual if I thought I owed money anywhere I would have NO hesitation in repaying it. Incidentally the sum the are talking about is approx £180. :mad:

Bring it on ! I am livid although thankful that I have not had the phone hung up on me because then I would loose it. (now Ill calm down)

PS on reading this thrread why do they appear to have so many company addresses?

Volcano

Welcome Tikka!

1999?! They must have got that particular debt for free!

If you've read this thread (and well done, if only all others did!) then you'll know what to do by now. It seems to me that if you provide a sniff of a lead (i.e. you confirming your details) then they'll stick the boot in quickly with the threats etc and hope you'll crumble and pay before you get time to do some research and realise the debt is no longer payable.

If they send the letter outlining any debt and it's longer than 6 years ago, send them the standard letter in reply. Please, please, please report them to the OFT if it turns out you are being harrassed for a debt you do not owe any more!

Remember to keep all communication from now on via recorded delivery letters. Keep us posted (though normally the 'it's statute barred, I'm reporting you to the OFT' letter makes them stop.)

Keep us posted.

Tikka

Thanks for the warm welcome and reply V

My issue at the moment is I dont feel it is my debt and I cant get them to provide me any info to ratify this!!!! That's what I am so miffed about. As I said I pride myself on having NO debt - dont do credit cards or IFC etc

OH is hung up about statue barred anyway so just ignore it and stop stressing but morally I would pay anything I genuinely "owed" - saying that after reading on here about these vultures I would eat my hat about giving them ANY money. As someone else posted earlier in this thread - paying them any money just fuels someone elses misery

Bring it on MH !!!!

PS Id love to see a Metiforce collector turn up at our door within the next 10 days - I have two hungry Weimaraners who DO NOT like un-invited visitors :D:D

RobertoMoir

einyuk wrote: »

hmmm thx roberto

just a case of wait an see.....wats with the CCJ.......i've no records or recollection of such..how could i find out if one was issued ?

cheers

county court judgement - ccj - a county court has heard a case against you regarding a debt and has found in favour of the plaintiff. One of the things that are required to have real actual bailiffs, as opposed to debt collectors with an over-inflated opinion of themselves, visiting you.

I'm not an expert on this but think CCJs would show up on your credit history? If a CCJ has been issued then this greatly complicates things with regards to time limits on a debt.

I suspect the people who visited your employer were debt collectors as you'd probably remember being taken to court.

Tikka

Volcano wrote: »

Welcome Tikka!

1999?! They must have got that particular debt for free!

.

I know its incredible isn't it :rotfl::rotfl: Even if it was a valid claim against me - 10 years !!!

Volcano

Tikka wrote: »

OH is hung up about statue barred anyway so just ignore it and stop stressing but morally I would pay anything I genuinely "owed" - saying that after reading on here about these vultures I would eat my hat about giving them ANY money. As someone else posted earlier in this thread - paying them any money just fuels someone elses misery

You have to remember that even IF this is a genuine debt that you owe on some long forgotten oversight, the money will NOT go back to HFC, it goes straight into the parasites' coffers at MH. Even worse, obnoxious Mark will doubtless get a cut as part of his commission!

If it is a genuine debt and you want to do the right thing, donate the money to charity. Or spend the cash on a telephone recorder, give them another call, get them to admit they're chasing a debt even though it's statute barred, then post the recording off to the OFT

craig1000

Just a quick one, after initial contact with MH a few days ago after an old debt of my partners i have sent them the prove it letter recoeded delivery, which by my calcs thay would receive it today, today in the post my partner received a letter off of meritforce regarding an authorised collector visit, should we just discard this and if they turn up just ask them to leave? i've since checked my partners credit report we got last year and this does not show up on her existing credits, there is something on the list of past debts/old address's but from 2001 so i would be correct in beleiving this is now staute barred anyhow? As it doesnt show on her list of existing credits which incidently is only her current account and a paid off next catalouge. So on this basis do i assume shes in the clear and we can continue to shun MH and follow up the prove it letter with a statute barred letter if they continue?

RAS

if i dates from 2001 then it will be statute barred unlass there is a CCj on it and that would need court permission to action.

Is suggest that you report MH to the OFt who have already given them guidance about their behaviour and advised them that they face a £50k fine or losing their licence.

I would advise sending the statute barred letter if the debt is not covered by the CC Act. otherwise the debt is already in dispute.

Volcano

There is a recurring theme here:

MH send a letter.

Recipient contacts MH by phone.

Whatever the outcome, MH rattles off threat of collection letter asap.

Clearly they are not sure if they have the correct person or address with the first letter. When contacted, it confirms to them your name and address. Then they issue the threats, hoping you'll be scared into paying before you get chance to check your rights>send a letter>read up about statute barred etc etc, which it seems is happening to craig1000.

Stick to the recorded letters protocol and ignore any contact from meritforce.

craig1000

thanks all