Bit of advice regarding debt owed to CapQuest

adz3785

Great stuff George, Im going to ring our mortgage advisor today to see if/when the application for the mortgage is being submitted, then i will ring Abbey to see if they can speed up my request and that will give me an idea of when to expect the documents ive requested.

Then if ill be receiving the documents too late Ill try to ring Experian and explain the situation to see if they can put a note against the debt for me, will they need proof that the debt is actually in dispute?

BenS1

Subbing. In a very simular situation but the DCA is different

GeorgeUK

They won't need proof of any dispute - if you tell them that you don't agree with the amount owed, then you are disputing the debt. That's the bottom line. Whether that dispute is valid or not is not for them to decide.

I would contact experian and get them to put a note on no matter what. At least that way there won't be any automated credit checks taking place on your file and assuming this entry is correct.

EllBee

Hi all,
I wonder if anyone can offer some advice/suggestions on dealing with this.

I had a credit card with Capital One and I'm now dealing with CapQuest in order to repay the outstanding balance which seems to be fluctuating with every letter!

Firstly, I received a letter dated 20th June giving an outstanding balance of £2081.96. The letter stated 'If you contact us before 3rd July 2009 I can offer you a settlement figure on your outstanding balance. That means you only have to pay £1061.80 to clear this account with us and, if required, you can pay this over a 3 months period.' Needless to say I opted for this option, making one payment of £20 and 2 payments of £350 on 25th June and 31st July, thereby leaving me, to my calculations, an outstanding balance of £341.80.

I received a further letter from CapQuest dated 3rd July (which for some reason did not reach me until the end of July!) giving me an Agreed Settlement Figure of £883.30 to be paid in 3 instalments, the first payment to be received in their office by 1st August. At this point the outstanding balance was given as £1731.96.

I then received a letter dated 3rd August from H L Legal Solicitors stating: 'TAKE NOTICE that if you fail to repay the arrears on the arrangements you have made of £0.00 (yes, really!) by 11th August 2009 Court proceedings may be issued against you for £1731.96 plus further costs that will be added.' I wrote to the person who had sent the original letter enclosing copies of all their correspondence on 7th August. No reply has been received from this person. However, I received a letter this week dated 21st August 2009 requesting that I contact their office as a matter of urgency. The balance on this letter was given as £1381.96! Upon contacting the office I was told that I owed this amount. When I queried this and explained the payments already made the rude little man on the phone stated that because I had not kept to the agreement and no payment had been received in July the settlement figures had been withdrawn. He informed me that if I made a payment of £750 immediately the matter could be settled. I told him that I couldn't make a payment of that amount and, at that point, I made an arrangement to pay £50 by the end of this month (I was prepared to pay the £341.80 which I believed was the outstanding balance, as agreed originally but wanted to get off the phone to check the correspondence I have before making a commitment to pay anything more).

The original letter offering the settlement figure of £1061.80 gave me 3 months if I contacted them before 3rd July, which I did, making payments of £720.00 within a 2 month period. I wrote to the originator of that letter again, copied to the FOS outlining all of the above and stating that as far as I am concerned I am within the time limit to repay the balance of £1061.80 and requesting his response, in writing. (I always like to have written confirmation when dealing with these people for obvious reasons!!!)

I then received a letter from a Quality Assurance Officer stating 'On 19th July CapQuest wrote to you with an offer of a full and final settlement for £1061.80 if you made contact with CapQuest by 3rd July 2009. Having investigated your account I can confirm that you did not contact CapQuest to accept the full and final settlement by 3rd July 2009 and therefore the offer was withdrawn. Unfortunately, due to CapQuest not receiving any response from you within the timescale set in their letter regarding the full and final settlement I can confirm that the offer has been withdrawn and the balance of £1331.96 remains outstanding.'

I responded to this enclosing copies of all correspondence confirming that I had contacted CapQuest before 3rd July and their letter confirming when payments were received.

I have today received a further letter from CapQuest in response to my complaint received via the FOS - so they are dealing with it! This letter states that CapQuest are willing to renegotiate a full and final settlement and my account is on hold for 14 days. I am requested to contact the writer directly to discuss my account in order to resolve this matter quickly and amicably.

I'm convinced that I should only have to pay the remaining £291.80 which is the outstanding amount of the full and final settlement figure stated in their letter of 20th June which I accepted.

I intend calling the Quality Assurance Officer on Monday to discuss this (hopefully I will record the conversation - I don't trust them one little bit!!) and intend requesting written confirmation of any agreement before making any further payments. If anyone has any suggestions or advice on how to proceed when I ring up I'd be very grateful!!!

If anyone is still awake after this lengthy and rambling post - I'm sorry its so long and thank you for sticking with it!!!

EllBee

GeorgeUK

EllBee, it would be better to start your own thread on this, but was the original settlement agreement and full and final settlement and did you get written confirmation of this? If so then i agree that you should only have that last installment to pay - if not, they may be able to get around the FOS by arguing it was a partial settlement.

EllBee

GeorgeUK wrote: »

EllBee, it would be better to start your own thread on this, but was the original settlement agreement and full and final settlement and did you get written confirmation of this? If so then i agree that you should only have that last installment to pay - if not, they may be able to get around the FOS by arguing it was a partial settlement.

Hi George,

Thanks for your reply. I thought I should start a thread of my own but for the life of me I couldn't figure out how to do it! Its probably really simple but it was late when I found the CapQuest threads last night and this company are driving me mad!! I moved my post twice before I found this thread!

The letter CapQuest sent with regard to a settlement figure (dated 20th June 2009) stated................ 'If you contact us before 3rd July 2009 I can offer you a settlement figure on your outstanding balance. That means you only have to pay £1061.80 to clear this account with us, and if required, you can pay this over a 3 months period.' I replied to this in writing on 25th June 2009 accepting the offer of the settlement figure to clear the account and stated that I wished to pay over a 3 month period. I enclosed a cheque for £350.00 as an initial payment. Prior to that I had made a payment of £20. CapQuest had cashed the cheque by 30th June.

I then received a letter dated 3rd July 2009 with an agreed settlement figure of £883.30. However, this letter was not received until 29th July. It stated that:
'1. The settlement amount is £883.30.
2. The number of instalments is 3.
3. The first payment must be received in this office by 1st August 2009.
Failure to comply with the above may result in the offer being withdrawn.'

Obviously, by the time I had received this letter it was too late to ensure a payment was in my account by that date and, adding on the £370 I had already paid this actually made the settlement figure £1253.30, more than the original figure they had offered!

I've read a lot of adverse comments on this company so am prepared for a fight but equally I'm prepared to listen before blowing a gasket!!!!! :eek:

EllBee

GeorgeUK

You wrote to them and enclosed a £350 cheque on 25th June?
When was the cheque cashed?
Was the letter sent by recorded delivery?

The thing that i'm concerned about is the settlement letter that they originally sent to you and which you replied to.
Did the letter state that it was a full and final settlement or was it a partial settlement?
Did it state that you would be absolved from any future liability or did it just ask you for payment?

A Full and final settlement which states that you will not be pursued for future payments is what we usually suggest you insist on before making payment of a settlement.

If they say it was a partial settlement, then this just means you were making a large value payment towards the deby. Some creditors then don't contact you for a few months or sell the debt on to another DCA. This is why it is best to insist on a full and final settlement. The wording of their letters is very important.

EllBee

GeorgeUK wrote: »

You wrote to them and enclosed a £350 cheque on 25th June?
When was the cheque cashed?
Was the letter sent by recorded delivery?

The thing that i'm concerned about is the settlement letter that they originally sent to you and which you replied to.
Did the letter state that it was a full and final settlement or was it a partial settlement?
Did it state that you would be absolved from any future liability or did it just ask you for payment?

A Full and final settlement which states that you will not be pursued for future payments is what we usually suggest you insist on before making payment of a settlement.

If they say it was a partial settlement, then this just means you were making a large value payment towards the deby. Some creditors then don't contact you for a few months or sell the debt on to another DCA. This is why it is best to insist on a full and final settlement. The wording of their letters is very important.

Thanks for your reply. My cheque was cashed on 30th June 2009. Bank statements confirm this, as does a letter from CapQuest.

Their letter offering a settlement figure on the outstanding balance doesn't mention a full and final settlement or partial settlement. It states that I only have to pay £1061.80 to 'clear this account with us' (perhaps the 'with us' is the key!)

Reading through their letters again they are a little ambiguous. They appear to be making a proposal for me to clear the debt but perhaps, in reality, they are making an offer and then, as you say, they will sell the debt on to another DCA!

As far as I am concerned, cashing the first cheque for £350 before 3rd July suggests to me that they have accepted my agreement. Interestingly, they never replied to my letter accepting this. Their next letter, dated 3rd July (received on 29th July!) offering an agreed settlement figure of £883.30, does state that this settlement figure will be accepted in full and final payment of the outstanding account!! I wonder if they held back on sending this out so that I had no time to accept their offer.

When I rang CapQuest following receipt of a letter asking me to ring urgently, I was told that if I made a payment of £750 immediately they would accept this as a partial settlement. At that point I said I couldn't make that sort of payment immediately and settled on £50 a month.

I have some money coming to me soon (a PPI claim that was upheld!) but don't feel inclined to pay any more than £50 a month, although I would be happy to get these people off my back!!

I'm off to work not but will check on here later today. I'm so confused now I can't even think straight, after a very restless night mithering about this, so I think tomorrow may be good to call the Quality Assurance Officer.

Thanks so much for your help.

Ell Bee

adz3785

Bit of an update......rang CreditExpert (Experian), I have renewed my membership with them for a month, so that i can email them the information about the debt owed etc...

I have emailed them requesting that a note is put onto the debt saying the debt is currently in dispute and is on hold etc..

Hopefully that should do the trick for the time being,

adz3785

Another update.....Ive received a reply from Abbey....

Basically because ive changed address from the one that would be listed on the account, they want me to do a "Change of details form" and to send a copy of my drivers licence, bank statement or utility bill.

Also on the letter is some !!!!!!!! about whats currently happening with the bank charges etc...

So ive filled the form out and im going to copy my drivers licence and send it off tomorrow.