redcastle recoveries. advice needed please.

laney26

Hi,

Could do with a little advice please.
Aproximatley 5 and a half years ago my husband took a car out on finance which was later part exchanged with the crysler group.

Fast forward.... about a month ago had a letter from redcastle recoveries saying that we owed them nearly £1700. We had no idea what this was and had never had any correspondence about any such debt. After some digging we got written evidence from the chrysler group that their was no outstanding finance on the vehicle and that everything was paid off from our point of view.
Sent copies of this off via recorded delivery to redcastle. A week later get a call from them still chasing payment and we advised them that we had sent all details to them via rec del and that we had no debt with them. They said they hadnt recieved or it was still amongst their mountains of paperwork:cool:.
Thinking tbh this was the end of the matter. Had another letter today from Resolution Legal services demanding payment. Found out this was part of the same group. Gothia)
They have said they "might" recommend to their solicitor the following actions...
Atttatchment of earnings order.
Warrent of execution.
Issue a stat demand through the court.


In big red letters at the top of the lette is states NOTICE OF INTENDED COURT ACTION
Am i correct that they havent a leg to stand on.

Any advise on what to do?:D

bottleofred

Hi Laney26,

Keep the information you received from the Chrysler group and you could also send the prove it letter which I'll attach below. It's up to them to prove you owe the money though.

I hope this helps

1 High Street,
Newtown,
Kent
R21 4RH
October 9, 2007

The Loan Company
Company House,
Church Street,
Newtown,
Kent,
R1 7HG

Dear Sir/Madam

Ref: xxxxxxxxxxx

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

We would point out that we have no knowledge of any such debt being owed to The Loan Company.

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 it is uncertain that they are the debtor in question.

We would also point out that the OFT say under the Guidance that it is unfair to pursue third parties for payment when they are not liable. 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.

We would ask that no further contact be made concerning the above accounts unless you can provide evidence as to our liability for the debt in question.

We await your written confirmation that this matter is now closed. Otherwise we will have no option but to make a complaint to the trading standards department and consider informing the OFT of your actions.

We look forward to your reply.

Yours faithfully





Mrs A N Other

RAS

Hi


You need to be very careful when communicating with them as this debt is almost statute barred (if it applies to you).

The above letter is OK but in any other communication you need to add " I do not acknowledge any debt to your company, or any related company."

bottleofred

Hi Laney,

Just send the prove it letter and wait to see what happens. Only communicate with them by post and as ras has said, make sure you mention "I do not acknowledge any debt to your company or any related company" etc in all correspondence. Send the prove it letter by registered or recorded delivery.

RAS

laney26 wrote: »

Sorry for being a bit thick but does it matter that ive already sent the letter back to redcastle recoveries stating that the debt was settled? Is it worth also putting on the prove it letter that' i have no knowledge of debt' or just send the prove it letter as it is? Thanks for your help btw.

if they can prove the debt exists, then your previous letter may impact on the statute of Limitations.

But the Prove it letter is fine as it stands.

laney26

RAS wrote: »

if they can prove the debt exists, then your previous letter may impact on the statute of Limitations.

But the Prove it letter is fine as it stands.

Hi, im back again. Im looking for some more help if possible.
We have recieved back after lots of letter from them that they were contacting the original lender ,the signed credit agreement.

Ive looked through it and its for a fixed sum loan agreement from jan 0/6 for extended warranty on a car that we sold on. Im not quite sure how to proceed from here. Do we still owe the debt? Strangley though i have looked at my husbands credit file and there is nothing on there that states its defaulted or anything. My husband cannot say 100% wether he received any letters of default as it was so long ago and that work addresses have been changed. To my knowledge the only contact he heas had is from this debt collection agency from around june/july this year. Any help would be great. thanks.

Tixy

Do you remember taking out the extended warranty? does it have OHs signature on it? this was taken out in Jan 06, when was the car originally bought? when was the car part-exchanged? how long was the agreement for? was this payment taken from OHs bank account seperate to the payment for the car finance? if so can you look back to check when it stopped?

However sending you proof that there was an agreement does not count as proof that a debt exists now in relation to this agreement. Is the original agreement all that they have sent? If so I would write back with another version of the prove it letter. Mention that they have so far failed to provide proof that a debt exists.

laney26

Tixy wrote: »

Do you remember taking out the extended warranty? does it have OHs signature on it? this was taken out in Jan 06, when was the car originally bought? when was the car part-exchanged? how long was the agreement for? was this payment taken from OHs bank account seperate to the payment for the car finance? if so can you look back to check when it stopped?

However sending you proof that there was an agreement does not count as proof that a debt exists now in relation to this agreement. Is the original agreement all that they have sent? If so I would write back with another version of the prove it letter. Mention that they have so far failed to provide proof that a debt exists.

Thanks for your reply tixy
In answer to your questions. It does have his signature on and the car was bought at the same time. But as i mentioned in my earlier post the car was sold on in part exchange at a later date. My o/h thought all outstanding finance woud be paid, mistake:(.
He cant look back at the bank account it was paid from as it was a works account and it as been closed for a few years now.

You mention another form of prove it letter, any ideas of wording as i have only seen the one i sent originally asking for the credit agreement. Oh the agreement was a fixed sum loan agreement for 60 months and it says on the credit file about 6 lots of U,s. no deault or anything. Thats confused me to be honest.

Thanks for your help it is appreciated.

Tixy

The prove it letter in red's post above #2 just denies you owe the money, it doesn't actually ask for the CCA. Is this what you sent or did you do a CCA request (with a £1 fee)?

If you did send the prove it letter from above and they have sent back the CCA then I would write to them again stating that providing the CCA does not prove the debt still exists. You could also ask for a full statement of all transactions on the account.

It sounds like this debt is probably still quite a way off being statute barred (as that would be 6years from the date of the last payment, which it sounds likely is when he traded the car in -say if he had the car 18months then this would be around 4years ago) and I think if they can prove you owe it then you are probably not going to be able to sit it out until it does go statute barred (eg if it is still another 2years they may well take court action before then).

The other option you might have is to see whether the CCA you have received is legally enforceable in court - the CCA has to contain certain specific prescribed terms to make it legal, if it does not (and there are a lot that are deficient) then they cannot take you to court, or you could defend against it if they tried. If you did find it was unenforceable then you could decide not to pay anything (although they will still be able to report to your credit file and still be able to chase you for payment), or you could offer to settle the debt for a low ful l& final settlement, that way getting the debt shown as settled on your credit file, and being certain they cannot chase you further.

If you decide to check whether the CCA is enforceable then I would suggest you ask advice on this forum - http://forums.all-about-debt.co.uk/index.php - where people there are best placed to advise you.

laney26

Tixy wrote: »

The prove it letter in red's post above #2 just denies you owe the money, it doesn't actually ask for the CCA. Is this what you sent or did you do a CCA request (with a £1 fee)?

If you did send the prove it letter from above and they have sent back the CCA then I would write to them again stating that providing the CCA does not prove the debt still exists. You could also ask for a full statement of all transactions on the account.

It sounds like this debt is probably still quite a way off being statute barred (as that would be 6years from the date of the last payment, which it sounds likely is when he traded the car in -say if he had the car 18months then this would be around 4years ago) and I think if they can prove you owe it then you are probably not going to be able to sit it out until it does go statute barred (eg if it is still another 2years they may well take court action before then).

The other option you might have is to see whether the CCA you have received is legally enforceable in court - the CCA has to contain certain specific prescribed terms to make it legal, if it does not (and there are a lot that are deficient) then they cannot take you to court, or you could defend against it if they tried. If you did find it was unenforceable then you could decide not to pay anything (although they will still be able to report to your credit file and still be able to chase you for payment), or you could offer to settle the debt for a low ful l& final settlement, that way getting the debt shown as settled on your credit file, and being certain they cannot chase you further.

If you decide to check whether the CCA is enforceable then I would suggest you ask advice on this forum - http://forums.all-about-debt.co.uk/index.php - where people there are best placed to advise you.

Hi, me again. I am writing to them again asking for more proof of the alleged debt. If its not too cheeky would it be possible that i could pm you a copy of my letter so you could give it the once over before i send it.
Thanks very much:)