Ask a CCCS counsellor a bankruptcy question

Maxx8uk

Hi,
I declared myself bankrupt in November 2007 and i was discharged in May 2008. One of the debts on the bankruptcy was a loan from cahoot. I thought i had heard the last of it with the discharge but last year I received an ARREARS INFORMATION SHEET from Santander who own Cahoot/abbey. I was not happy to receive this unwanted reminder so i called the number on the info sheet which was their collections line. They said the letters were issued automatically and will continue to come every 6 months even though i requested they stop them.

On their Info sheet it makes a point of saying the notice is in compliance with the consumer credit act 1974 because my account is in arrears and then each time goes on to say please contact us to discuss your missed payments.

In a hope of stopping the letters I wrote to their data controller in April 2010 by registered post asking them to reflect that the debt was settled on their system and with the credit reference agencies. I have received no reply to request as to date.



What i want to ask is :

Should they still be contacting me ? (I feel like they are harassing me)

I know there are guidelines in regards to harassment of debtors by creditors does a letter every six months after bankruptcy qualify as harassment ?

Are they breaking any law by still contacting me ? (so that i can state it in a letter) ( I know that in America a creditor can not contact you after bankruptcy by law, do we have a law like that ?)

Do you have any advice on what i can do ?

Thank you for your time

CatCollins

My husband and his brother inherited a 25% share each in his Father's house after his mother passed away, Sadly my Father in law is now facing bankruptcy and wants to know if his sons inheritence is safe. Does anyone know what may happen in a situation like this.

CatCollins

Re the above thread........ Whilst I realise that this is an informal forum, it does however state above 'Ask a CCCS advisor a question' ???? Are there none on this forum? We looked into this and saw that it was a charity? If we could afford the 'Ask a solicitor' fees we would.

Sorry if We are out of order But We would like to know if my Father in Law/Father may have an almost sorted retirement.

Can anyone help? Anyone at all?

Cat.

fermi

Hi CatCollins.

A CCCS advisor is probably not going to be able to give you legal advice of that nature I'm afraid. It is somewhat beyond both their remit and that of this forum.

Could you ask www.communitylegaladvice.org.uk ?

You could start your own thread here on the main board to ask, but you would only get people's opinion based on their own experiences. Never dependable legal advice.

You could also try a specialist legal forum where lawyers post, such as http://www.swarb.co.uk/phpbb/

but the same things apply even there.

CCCS_Sue

pottyporter wrote: »

My husband has a flat that he bought (with mortgage) prior to us getting together. He also has a secured loan against this. Both are soley in his name.

We currently rent this out but are losing around £400 a month and along with other financial problems, are struggling to repay the mortgage and loan on this.

We cannot sell as the price has dropped and we cannot cover the mortgage and loan.

We were considering letting this get repossessed. Will the mortgage company come after us (myself included) now we are married and if we cannot pay, can they force us into bankcruptcy?

Hi pottyporter and thank you for your message

Before you consider having the house repossessed you need to get some professional advice. If the house is in negative equity and you have no assets, it is unlikely the mortgage company would make you bankrupt.

There may be other options you could consider. Without knowing your full financial circumstances, it is difficult to give you detailed advice via the forum.

You could speak to one of our specialist counsellors to discuss your situation as a whole and explore your options further.

To make an appointment, you can call free on 0800 138 1111. Lines are open from 08.00 until 20.00 Monday to Friday.

Regards
Sue

CCCS_Sue

CatCollins wrote: »

My husband and his brother inherited a 25% share each in his Father's house after his mother passed away, Sadly my Father in law is now facing bankruptcy and wants to know if his sons inheritence is safe. Does anyone know what may happen in a situation like this.

Hi Cat and thank you for your message

As Fermi has kindly pointed out, you could ask for legal help and advice regarding this. You could also contact the Official Receiver who is dealing with the bankruptcy.

Community Legal Advice give free confidential legal help and they may be able to assist you further

Regards
Sue

CCCS_Sue

Maxx8uk wrote: »

Hi,
I declared myself bankrupt in November 2007 and i was discharged in May 2008. One of the debts on the bankruptcy was a loan from cahoot. I thought i had heard the last of it with the discharge but last year I received an ARREARS INFORMATION SHEET from Santander who own Cahoot/abbey. I was not happy to receive this unwanted reminder so i called the number on the info sheet which was their collections line. They said the letters were issued automatically and will continue to come every 6 months even though i requested they stop them.

On their Info sheet it makes a point of saying the notice is in compliance with the consumer credit act 1974 because my account is in arrears and then each time goes on to say please contact us to discuss your missed payments.

In a hope of stopping the letters I wrote to their data controller in April 2010 by registered post asking them to reflect that the debt was settled on their system and with the credit reference agencies. I have received no reply to request as to date.



What i want to ask is :

Should they still be contacting me ? (I feel like they are harassing me)

I know there are guidelines in regards to harassment of debtors by creditors does a letter every six months after bankruptcy qualify as harassment ?

Are they breaking any law by still contacting me ? (so that i can state it in a letter) ( I know that in America a creditor can not contact you after bankruptcy by law, do we have a law like that ?)

Do you have any advice on what i can do ?

Thank you for your time

Hi maxx8uk and thank you for your message

No. They should not be contacting you.

The creditors are required by law not to contact you regarding your debt once your bankruptcy has come into effect. If you are still being contacted by creditors you should remind them of this fact.

When you are automatically discharged from bankruptcy, no formal certificate of discharge is usually issued by the court.

If written evidence is required, you can apply to the court which dealt with the bankruptcy and get a certificate of discharge.
A fee is payable to the court for the provision of a certificate of discharge and any additional copies.

Once you have your certificate, send it off to the creditor who is chasing you.

The debt could have been sold off, but the note of your bankruptcy may have been misplaced.

Hopefully this should sort things out. If they still chase you for the debt then complain to your local Trading Standards Dept and the OFT.

Hope this helps

Regards
Sue

tigerfeet2006

Maxx, send this letter to them and if they still act up then as suggested report them

Obviously adjust to suit.

Your Address

Date:

Creditor's Name
Address.

NOTICE: Pursuit of a debt included in a bankruptcy. Do not ignore this letter. You must cease collection activity IMMEDIATELY.

Dear Sir/Madam

Account No: *****************

You have contacted us regarding the account with the above reference number, which you claim is owed by ourselves.

I would point out that the account was included in my bankruptcy which commenced on <date>.

Consequently, the debt in question is no longer my legal responsibility.

ALL contacts and claims regarding the debt MUST be addressed to the Official Receiver's Office dealing with the case.

My case was XXX of 200X, at <somewhere> County Court, and the address of the Official Receiver is below.

<Address of the OR.>

A copy of the bankruptcy order is enclosed for your convenience.

Please note that the Official Receiver has requested that all future contact from your company regarding these accounts is reported and forwarded to themselves, and that continued contact with myself may result in Official Receiver taking enforcement actions against your organisation.

Please also note that we are familiar with the ‘Office of Fair Trading Debt Collection Guidance’ which states that it is unfair to send demands for payment to an individual when the debt is not due.

In not ceasing collection activity whilst investigating a reasonably queried or disputed debt you are using deceptive/and or unfair methods.

Furthermore, ignoring and/or disregarding claims that debts have been settled or are disputed and continuing to make unjustified demands for payment amounts to physical/psychological harassment.

In addition, your continued telephone calls are in breach of the Office of Fair Trading guidelines. If you continue with them after the receipt of this letter an official complaint, together with a log recording the times and frequency of the calls will be passed both to that office and to the Trading Standards office.

This type of debt collection method is contrary to the ‘Administration of Justice Act 1970’ in that it is intended to cause alarm and distress to the recipient. Your methods will not be tolerated. A formal complaint will be submitted to the relevant authorities. This will be relevant to questions of your fitness to hold a licence under the Consumer Credit Act, whether or not it results in a prosecution.

Take further note that continued telephone calls after the receipt of a request not to call may constitute a criminal offence under Section 127 of the Communications Act 2003.

We await your written confirmation that this matter is now closed.

We look forward to your reply.

Yours faithfully



A N Other


(with thanks to Fermi)

Also get your CRF's cleaned up, follow this thread https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/677875

Maxx8uk

Thank you for your help Sue and Tigerfeet.

I will try sending an edited form of Tiger's form letter but i'm not holding out much hope as I wrote to Santander's Data Controller back in April to try to get them to correct their information. It shows that I have gone through Bankruptcy on their system but they still class the account in arrears rather than settled or partially settled. I sent him a copy of the bankruptcy order and the discharge notice.

I just spoke to the collections department (the number on the Arrears notice). They say that the notices Have to be sent to me due to what they call a new law as stated within the notice of arrears. The notice of arrears says it's being sent in compliance with the Consumer Credit act 1974 so it hardly seems new.

They made a point of saying the notice of arrears is a statement not a collection notice. Can they hide behind this ???
They just seem to be using the notice as a form of harassment they couldn't even tell me if or when the letters will stop so as the account will never be out of arrears they could come forever.

They said they can't stop it and that if i wanted to complain i need to call santanders normal customer service line.


I will give them a call to lodge a formal complaint later this week.

After that I will have to try Trading standards or the OFT.

Sue will trading Standards or the OFT be able to help seeing as it's statement of arrears rather the a collection notice ?


Once again thank you both for your help.

philnicandamy

Along with what ccs sue suggested & TF try lodging a complaint with the ICO office as well, they proved very valuable when barclays continued to hound me after bankruptcy

http://www.ico.gov.uk/