Abbey letter out of the blue

squeek

yesterday we got a letter from Abbey saying we owed them over £2000.
we have no idea what they are talking about.
they have even involved someone called capquest debt recovery, and we got a letter from them also yesterday.
they have addressed it to us in name and the address.
we did have an account with them about 10 yrs ago.
do we need to worry about this seeing as its not our bill ? and that we havent had an account with them for many years.
we have had no communication with abbey , this has come out of the blue.

Amber07

Well, I reckon the first thing to do is phone them and find out what they are on about, and what they say the debt refers to.

Could be a mistake on their part, you won't know until you ask

Treadmill

If the account was overdrawn when you left it you might have been racking up charges for being overdrawn, after ten years though it will be statute barred so unenforcable

adea

Don't phone capquest!
They are a dodgy company who try to extort money using scare tactics.
The first thing to do would be send, via recorded delivery, a prove it letter and make them prove that the debt is yours.
http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/debt_advice.php#6 has a template letter to use. It's the 2nd from the bottom.
HTH

churchrat

Amber07 wrote: »

Well, I reckon the first thing to do is phone them and find out what they are on about, and what they say the debt refers to.

Could be a mistake on their part, you won't know until you ask

as the other poster has said, DO NOT PHONE. Always communicate in writing. I would suggest you ask them to prove it-- there are templates on the dfw board, although as Treadmill says it is unenforcable.

goodluck

AMILLIONDOLLARS

Could well be a case of ID Theft!

AMD

squeek

yes we wondered that, as we did have fraud take place on our halifax card a few months ago.

oh and reading that abbey letter properly, it says they have sold the debt on to capquest. this is a bit like scottcall i expect:rolleyes:
if they are stupid enough to buy old unpaid debts they can only expect nothing.

julie1969_2

Hi
I also recieved a letter from Abbey and Cap quest,I called them ad said I knew nothing about this back to 1996.
They said they will put on hold and get the abbey to send statements.
Are they able to claim this after 13 years?

Julie

Nessa56

julie1969 wrote: »

Hi
I also recieved a letter from Abbey and Cap quest,I called them ad said I knew nothing about this back to 1996.
They said they will put on hold and get the abbey to send statements.
Are they able to claim this after 13 years?

Julie

I don;t think they can get anything after 6 years if there has been no contact or no payments etc by yourself. I am no expert but I am sure somebody more knowlegeable will be along soon to help you

good luck

v
x

adea

julie1969 wrote: »

Hi
I also recieved a letter from Abbey and Cap quest,I called them ad said I knew nothing about this back to 1996.
They said they will put on hold and get the abbey to send statements.
Are they able to claim this after 13 years?

Julie

This debt would be classed as staute barred after 6 years if you have made no acknowledgement in any way.
NEVER phone c*apquest, always deal with them in writing, using recorded delivery.
Send them the prove it letter and let them do all the chasing, chances are they will not be able to find anything.

Ames

If there's been a period of 6 years without payment or acknowledgement in writing then it's statute barred and you don't have to pay. This still applies even if you acknowledged it after 6 years, or if you admitted it on the phone. The exception to this is if there's a CCJ, then they have 12 years, but have to go back to court if it's over 6.

Do not, ever, phone a debt collection agency, they're trained bullies and will do anything to get you to pay. They have to be a lot more careful in letters because then you can prove what they said, if it's against the rules.

It could just be a phishing letter - sent to anyone with a similar name to a debtor. Or your old account had charges or something added, but it's irrelevent - it's statute barred.

You'd be surprised how many people do fall for the debt collection tactics and pay debts that are statute barred, or not even theirs. It's how the bottom end of the industry makes their money - they buy the debts for a few pennies in the pound, taking a gamble that they can get something back. If they buy a £1k debt for £100 or less, they don't have to get payment on many debts to be making a big profit.