capquest chasing me for a debt 5 to 6 years old.

mandjaz06

Hi.
I have been reading through a lot of threads for few weeks now relating to capquest.
About a month a go I started receiving calls from capquest. I denied any person by such name lived here. They are asking for me by my maiden name.
They are chasing me for a halifax credit card debt for £1984.00. I had this credit card back in 2003 and to my knowledge stopped paying in July 2004 due to my partner and I seperating. I was in a debt plan back then, young and stupid. After the split, I do not recall making any payments to the debt plan but this is now a big question mark.
I took the advice of a similar thread on this site and sent off a statute barred letter last week. Believing it to be statue barred now that it was August. They have replied yesterday stating that the last payment showing on the account was for £5 on 25/4/2005 therefore the account is not statute barred
Now, I am not sure whether to take their word for it or not. I have now sent a prove it letter asking for original cca and proof of payments. Have I done the right thing? I am a homeowner so naturally this is worrying me incase I am made bankrupt. They are still under the belief I have my maiden name and any letters sent to them I have just kept to writing my maiden name too.
I am also currently in a debt plan just now for other debts since my business failed. Could I easily add this on to the debt plan or should I fight it?
Sorry this is a bit long, just tried to paint the whole picture as best I could. Thanks and any help much appreciated. My tummy is in knots over this.

bottleofred

Hi Mandjaz and welcome to the forum,

As far as I'm aware, it's up to them to show you proof that the payment was made and that you owe the money. They have been known to lie before nice people that they are! I'd be amazed if they made you bankrupt over this, as it'll cost them money and they are in the business of recovering it, not spending it. You should now wait to see what comes back regarding the prove it letter. Someone with more knowledge will be along to provide additional assistance soon.

DarkConvict

It should possible to add the debt, but it would cause some issues as all the payment have to be changed. Its not a new debt so it wouldn't break the terms of your DMP.

But you should fight this. its not uncommon for them to magic up a payment, but when pressured for details such as what was the bank name, account number and sort code, they tend to flail and stop replying/chasing requests for payment.

They have to prove that the account holder made the payment, any old payment won't do it needs to come from you, or an authorised rep say your mum paid for you on a regular basis.

If they do provide details of a bank account, and it is actually your bank account. Then get a statement from your bank (they do keep them for 6 years) and see if any such payment was really made. if not, then go tell them to take a long walk of a short cliff.

saltnvinegar

Hi Mandjaz06

You have definately done the right things.

Make sure from this point forward though that you do not speak to them on the phone again ever. Ensure everything is put in writing from this point forward.

You may also want to think about making a Subject Access Request (see template letter below). It'll cost you a tenner but will be worth it especially if they cannot show evidence of payments. Make sure you send postal order only and do not sign any letters.

They cannot 'just make you bankrupt'. There are many procedures to go through before this stage and as has already been said it costs them money to do this and to ask for bankruptcy for a debt of less than £2k would be seen as vexatious also.

As said you're doing the right things and this should be enough to get them to back off a little (especially as you're not going to phone them right? )

Try your best to not let it worry you for the moment and lets see what they come back with.

SNV

Data Protection Act 1998

Subject access request

Dear Sir/Madam

ACCOUNT NUMBER: xxxxxxxxx

Please supply me with all data that you hold on me. This includes in particular, but is not limited to, the following:-

1. The original signed, executed credit agreement and any terms and conditions that applied to the account at the time of default and at the time the account was opened.

2. Transcriptions of all telephone conversations recorded and any notes made in relation to telephone conversations by your company, or by any previous creditor

3. Where there has been any event in my account history over this period which has required manual intervention by any person, I require disclosure of any indication or notes which have either caused or resulted in that manual intervention, or other evidence of that manual intervention in relation to my account formerly held with ORIGINAL CREDITOR.

4. True copies of any notice of assignment and/or default notice or enforcement notice that you or the original creditor sent me, with a copy of any proof of postage that you hold.

5. Documents relating to any insurance added to the account, including the insurance contract and terms and conditions, date it was added and deleted (if applicable).

6. Details of any collection charges added to the account; specifically, the date it was levied, the amount of the charge, a detailed financial Breakdown of how the charge was calculated, and what the charge covers.

7. Specific details of the fees/charges levied by any other agency in respect of this account and a detailed breakdown of said fees/charges and what each charge relates to and on what date said fees/charges were levied.

8. A genuine copy of any notice of fair use of my data as required by the Data Protection Act 1998

9. A list of third party agencies to whom you have disclosed my personal data and a summary of the nature of the information you have disclosed.

10. Copies of statements for the entire duration of the credit agreement.

I enclose the statutory maximum fee of £10. You have 40 days in which to comply.

If there is specific information which you require in order to satisfy yourself as to my identity, please let me know by return. However, please note that the above address is the one which you normally use to communicate my private business to me and which you have hitherto found to be acceptable.

Yours faithfully,

mandjaz06

Thanks so much for getting back to me all of you. I am new here and took ages to find this thread again haha!

I am glad to know I have done the right things so far. I have no intention to make any communication via telephone. I thought with denying I lived here they would push off but then the letters started rolling in. This is when I first started to make contact via recorded delivery mail.

Saltnvinegar, thanks so much for the template. I think it is a cracker. I just hope I can get rid of this forgotten debt once and for all. Been trying hard to sort my finances out badly just now with all my recent debts. The last thing I needed was this coming back to haunt me

Just wish I could remember for sure what the dat was that I last made payment. But I suppose without their proof then they are pretty much stuffed....good to know. Hope they play fair on this although I highly doubt it going by other peoples stories of the cowboys.

Thanks so much again and I shall keep you posted.

Hannah_10

They aren't going to play fair but then they never do. Toddlers rarely share thier toys nicely either but if you're not expecting them too then it's not a stressful experience watching little Timmy take little Tommys red car off him- you just pass it back totally unphased, six times if you have to. That yeah yeah seen it all before attitude is the same one you'll learn to take with the creditors. They have the same amount of powers as the Avon lady- seriously. They know this and that's why they frighten you, actually see the link in saltnvinegars signature on that subject, he's writen it very well.

Knowledge is most definately power, so for every concern you have pop back and share it until you run out of things to worry about. I laugh now when one particular DCA (debt collection agency) call me, I'm having a whale of a time reporting them to the regulator (which costs them more than the value of my debt in fines each time they give me reason to). Sadly for them, I do actually know of lots of thier rules and they do break them at pretty much every contact. I am thoroughly having a ball holding them to account for thier dirty tactics!

mandjaz06

Hi Hannah

Thanks for your reply.I have to admit, I am at a complete loss when it comes to dealing with them and knowing what to look out for and how to get around them. If it wasn't for my hours of reading online about different cases then I wouldn't have been able to do as much as what I have already.
It is a great comfort to know that when something else progresses with the parasites that I can come and update you all and put our heads together to see what the best next move is. Like a game of chess really haha!

Hannah_10

Definately like a game. Just remember it's one in which they CANT take any horses or castles belonging to you though!

mandjaz06

Hehe, I liked that answer :rotfl:

handyman123_2

Hi Mandjaz06, It's just CrapQuest up to their old games, I went through all this with them at the start of the year, it took 5 months but I WON eventually I received a letter from them stating that after they had examined the evidence themselves, the debt was statute barred and the would not pursue the matter further.

So chin up girl, follow the advice of the good folk's on DFW and you won't go far wrong.

Regards to all, handy.

mandjaz06

Thanks Handy.
I am unsure though whether the debt is statute barred now or not though. It could be possible that I paid the debt plan on in april 2005 like they are saying. I wont back down though, I really hope I am as successful as you have been. Well done on your victory.
I am just wondering, could I not try stretch this out for another 8 months atleast then and that way it would definitely be statute barred. How do I keep them hanging that long though?