How much can a debt collector add to a debt?

mr.ton

Fribourg wrote: »

If this is the wrong forum section, please move it to the right one.


My credit card company sold my debt to a debt collector.

My balance on the 20th of June was 7315 pounds. with this crecit card

This company contacted me on the 8th of July and they are asking for 10454.55 this is an increase of 3139.55 is this legal??

I'm not contesting the original debt, but this is pure extortion in my view.

Thanks for your time, any help would be really appreciated

They have no legal authority to do this whatsoever.
Report these leeches to the OFT & trading standards.

DarkConvict

There is no need to goto the OFT straight away.

You just need to argue the difference between the balance, stating there is no contractual obligation for them to have increased the size of the debt, as listed down in the OFT guidelines.

I to agree with DVardyShadow. They are upping the balance to get a greater payout.
If you can afford an F&F offer, I would make them one but with the addition of stating the balance is not correct and you are only liable for ~£7000 not the ~£10000 stated as they had no contractual obligation to be able to increase the debt by adding of further charges or interest.
As such your offer F&F offer is £xxxx which is xx% offer of the amount that you owe and as such ... rest of F&F terms.

If you cannot afford a F&F offer and want to make repayments, I would argue the balance first and only if deadlock is achieved take it to the OFT and if needed to the FOS to get the figure corrected.

Fribourg

Well, I'm not in position to offer a F&F at all, I did send them the CCA Request, I will wait the 12+2 days, mean time, on monday will send a SAR request to Lowell, seems they are the mother company of all the others, so only problem is up to 40 days before I get something back. If HFO does not appear on that SAR, then seems will need to send s SAR to them too.

mr.ton

tedsd wrote: »

Just googled HFO and it seems they have many aliases (can't spell that) and have attracted the attention of the local trading standards office who allegedly have 2 members of staff dedicated to dealing with them... sound well dodgy to me.

Thats typical of many DCA's - they give themselves many differing names in order to sound more important than they actually are.
Its all part of their intimidation silly tactics.

Hannah_10

Have Lowells written to you before then? If they have I missed that. Not sure how wise it'd be to rope them in if not.

Fribourg

Hannah_10 wrote: »

Have Lowells written to you before then?.

They did on the sister CC, the Mastercard from Barclaycard, so HFO is on the Visa, and Lowell on the mastercard

Hannah_10 wrote: »

Not sure how wise it'd be to rope them in if not

Sorry, I don't get what you mean

Joshellie

I received a letter from HFO Services today, which was regarding a Barclaycard I took out in 2005. The credit limit was £400.00 and I never exceeded it. Admittedly I haven't paid it since 2006, my business collapsed at the end of 2005. HFO Services now say I owe £1171.18 and give me 3 days to pay it in full or bailliffs will visit my home etc.etc. They also say that 'my dossier' indicates that I can pay!!! Page 2 is headed HFO Services - Field Investigation Sheet. Below which is a photograph of a street near my home. Also attached is an Experian credit report.
Should I ignore this and wait for court papers or should I contact them - I am a pensioner and my partner is having cancer treatment so at the moment we have all the stress we need. I'm inclined to wait but he says we should contact them. I think £700 in interest and penalty charges are excessive.

FTW

Joshellie wrote: »

I received a letter from HFO Services today, which was regarding a Barclaycard I took out in 2005. The credit limit was £400.00 and I never exceeded it. Admittedly I haven't paid it since 2006, my business collapsed at the end of 2005. HFO Services now say I owe £1171.18 and give me 3 days to pay it in full or bailliffs will visit my home etc.etc. They also say that 'my dossier' indicates that I can pay!!! Page 2 is headed HFO Services - Field Investigation Sheet. Below which is a photograph of a street near my home. Also attached is an Experian credit report.
Should I ignore this and wait for court papers or should I contact them - I am a pensioner and my partner is having cancer treatment so at the moment we have all the stress we need. I'm inclined to wait but he says we should contact them. I think £700 in interest and penalty charges are excessive.

There are multiple OFT breaches contained in what you've said above - which doesn't surprise me, being that it's HFO.

Online, you will find 'Office of Fair Trading Guidelines on Debt Collection' (you'll normally need Adobe Reader to see them), which is worth a read.

Then, the OFT website have a downloadable complaint form.

Complete a form for EACH and EVERY breach which that letter commits, and I can tell you a fair few just by what you've said.

Post the text of the letter on this thread (don't paste any amounts or personal details though - just the body of the text), and any OFT breaches will be pointed out in full.

But even if you read through the guidelines document and then compare it with the text on the letter, you'll find a fair few of them on your own.

For example, if the letter states that HFO accept payment by credit card (which it probably will!), then that falls foul of the 'not encouraging further borrowing' guideline.

I have heard about HFO using 'the dossier' and photographs of streets.

This is blatant intimidation, which also merits not just OFT and Consumer Direct intervention, but I'd be inclined to contact the police as well.

If you do make a police complaint about that, it wouldn't be a first.

And no, contacting HFO is absolutely NOT advisable - certainly not by phone.

The only contact you need to do is to send HFO a CCA request by recorded delivery (do NOT sign your request, or sign anything if they ask for your signature!).

Joshellie

Thanks for your information, unfortunately my scanner is playing up and after trying all morning to get it to work, I give up and will type out the letter from HFO verbatim.

''I have attempted to contact you several times recently, with the offer that HFO has for you in connection with your account. The current balance is £1171.18.

Your debt is now due for immediate payment and we require payment in full within 3 days.

After 3 days account will move to the solicitor's desk for legal action against you for the total balance outstanding, with applicable court costs and solicitors fees.

Your dossier indicates that you can make contributions towards this outstanding debt. Once HFO obtains judgment against you, we will seek to enforce our judgment by way of a Warrant of Execution. Court appointed bailiffs will visit you at -my address inserted - (currently registered in the name of) The Bailiffs will seize your assets which will then be sold at public auction in order to pay your debt. Or HFO may also instruct its solicitors to secure an Order to Obtain Information against you, which means that you will be asked to produce your financial documents. If it is found out that your financial situation is better than what you represented, the court might consider taking a stern action against you.

I would wish for us to avoid such an outcome which makes paying off your debt a far more expensive proposition. Please contact me for an amicable resolution to your case.''

The letter is signed by Pratik Munjal.

Apart from the spelling mistakes and grammar - which seem odd for an organisation, there are a few items of intimidation I think.

I would be interested to hear your views on this.

mr.ton

Tell HFO to get lost.
They have no legal authority to any money off you, only a court does.
Report them to the OFT & trading standards.
Its not for them to say what a court will or will not do.
You'll need a CCJ 1st & defaulted on it before bailiffs were ever called out (and even that would be a last resort once all other avenues had failed)