letter from Frederickson Intl ltd-Arrow global

nicplymstock

Hello all
I have received a letter today which is all a bit odd. About 5 years (a student at the time) ago i had an overdraft with HSBC which just stood stagnant (in debt) for some time. When I got a job with a good salary, i started paying back about £100 a month from my working bank account to HSBC through online banking. I went into HSBC and asked them if I could have a statement or anything to do with the account as I had not heard a thing from them for ages and had been making payments. They looked on their screen and said due to the inactivity the account had been passed to a debt collection agency, and that because i had paid some monies over the last few months, that's why they hadn't contacted me about this. I had never had any form of receipt though for the monies I paid, although I could prove through my online banking I imagine if I asked for statements. I need to add that when I asked the man at HSBC who was in charge of the account he said he didn't know the company's name as it was not dealt with in the branch, but they (DCA) would get in touch with me more likely etc.

I got a letter today saying I owed them £258 for their client 'Arrow Global Ltd'. I did some looking on this forum and saw one or two others have had this. I called them, didn't give much away becuase they were asking for my details, and I asked who the debt was and it is HSBC.

I suspect there IS a small ammount of money outstanding, but I have not heard from this company ever so I had no idea of any remainer left. The letter says 'you have failed to pay the balance of £258 which remains outstanding despite repeated requests for payment. Our client now requires payment in full to avoid further action'

Is there anything I can do seeing as HSBC didn't inform me about the account moving to a debt collection agency (until I went in to see them) and I have not had 'repeated requests' ever. As I said, i have paid them in the past- so it seems a bit odd after years of silence
thanks if you have read this far
nic

nicplymstock

Hello
Having searched through the site and found some useful ideas, is the best approach to write to them with £1 postal order asking for the consumer credit agreement? Or should i ask them to prove the account is mine etc?
thanks
nic

nicplymstock

Hello
if anyone could offer some advice I would be so grateful- got a bit stressed last night about it all. Someone mentioned that overdrafts are a bit different? it that the case do you think?
thanks

rnb_3

hi nic,
im afraid bank accounts/odrafts dont fall under the s77/78 area of the cca1974 due to their exemption under partV, so there is no point asking for the credit agreement. u can however ask to see details of the debt, statements etc detailing the debt in full, as u believe there may be unfair charges on the account. u can do this either by sending a recd del letter in reply to theirs or via a Subject Access Request whereby they have to send u ALL the data they have on u, but this will cost £10 and they are allowed up to 40 days plus service to return the information.
id go for the former give them 7 days to comply and see what response u get.
oh by the way dont sign anything, print your name.

nicplymstock

Hi
Thanks for your advice. I had a think about it last night and I am wondering if the account has been inactive for 6 years-would this change anything?
thanks again

nicplymstock

Hi Rnb
I am wondering whether to leave it alone- will they persue this debt do you think? are they allowed to suddenly increase its value by adding charges/ admins etc?
are they likely to put a ccj on me do you think?
thanks again
nic

rnb_3

nicplymstock wrote: »

Hi Rnb
I am wondering whether to leave it alone- will they persue this debt do you think? are they allowed to suddenly increase its value by adding charges/ admins etc?
are they likely to put a ccj on me do you think?
thanks again
nic

personally, now they have your contact details i would follow it up and see if there are unfair charges on the account. these people generally dont play fair and litigation is often an easily accessible tool for them. ask for a breakdown of the debt and statements in proof thereof. u may even find u have a claim agst them!!!!
one clarification, is this a DCA acting on behalf of the bank, or have they purchased the debt?

nicplymstock

rnb wrote: »

personally, now they have your contact details i would follow it up and see if there are unfair charges on the account. these people generally dont play fair and litigation is often an easily accessible tool for them. ask for a breakdown of the debt and statements in proof thereof. u may even find u have a claim agst them!!!!
one clarification, is this a DCA acting on behalf of the bank, or have they purchased the debt?

Hi there
Not sure, will have to check the letter. I think they are acting on behalf of the bank. Do I need to give them a dreaded phone call?

rnb_3

NEVER phone these people, they are trained to get u to agree/admit to all sorts, its how they get paid. send letters recd del, keep copies and dont sign, just print. also add on the letter that all correspondence must be in writing in future as u will not respond to any other form of communication.
the reason being that they could agree to anth on the phone making it extremely diff for u to prove, even with a recording device.
if u dont get a satisfactory response in the 7 days then either go to a branch and ask for statements regarding this account for the last 6 years or send a SAR with £10 postal order to the original creditors regstd business address.
i take it u have never asked for any unfair charges back on this account?

nicplymstock

Hi there
No- I have never asked for any charges from this account- I don't even know the account number or sort code at all.

should I write to HSBC before writing to the horrible debt people?

thanks

rnb_3

the 'horrible debt people' are now in charge of the account so i doubt u will get much response from HSBC except for referring u to them. but the statement issue is worth a try.
what correspondence have u had exactly?