Hfo

Toomuchmonth

I am hoping someone can advise me on this. In 2002, I took out a Barclaycard and due to some upheaval, I defaulted in July 2005 with the balance at £1,807.

I received a call at work :eek: on Friday (yes, 2010!) from HFO claiming they'd been writing to me about this debt at the address i've been at 2 and a half years (I haven't received anything). I was caught on the hop at being called at work and gave them my mobile number to call me (which I now understand was a stupid thing to do). They called on Saturday and I requested copies of the letters they had sent me.

This evening I have received an email with an (alleged) letter from Barclaycard in May 2006 saying they have assigned my account to HFO.

The email also included a letter from HFO, dated today (13th December 2010) of "Notice of Assignment of Debt, stating the amount of £3,236 :eek: along with copies of my credit report - I can happily post a link to all these documents tomorrow evening.

I'm not disputing I owe the original amount, however, can they really double the debt?

I understand I should write and ask for a copy of the original agreement but what other steps should I take? Can I insist that they only contact me by mail and if so how? I really don't want them contacting me at work again.

Please advise me on how I can sort this mess out without paying double the amount!

Tixy

Hi and welcome

Yes you can insist that they only contact you by post and to your home address - this is a template you can send http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=11571485&postcount=4.

Then I would write to ask for proof of the debt (they may have sent something by email but I would ask for it again in writing) - prove it letter - http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=11570893&postcount=2

Then after that you could consider asking for the consumer credit agreement and for a full breakdown of the balance they say that you owe. With that breakdown you'll be able to work out whether the charges and interest applied equate to the increase in the debt. You should also be able to check whether these charges are in accordance with the original agreement.

If you are in a position to do so you could consider offering HFO a reduced full & final settlement. http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/factsheet.php?page=24_full_and_final_settlement_offers

fomirster

The letter from Barclaycard is a forged one, Barclaycard don't send these assignment letters out, it has been made by HFO. You will notice on the bottom of the letter there is no name, it will just say Barclaycard.

They are not allowed to ring you at work, make a complaint to the OFT through the consumer direct website. Send them a harrassment letter and state you will only deal with them by letter as well, this will stop the phone calls.
DCA's especially like HFO intimidate you on the phone in to paying what you can't afford.

You say that the letter from Barclaycard says that the account was sold in 2006? If this was sold in 2006 it would of been sold to HFO capital in the caymens Islands. HFO services will claim they are acting for HFO capital who bought the debt. This is not true, HFO capital caymen and HFO services have a contract running between them from Jan 06 to Jan 2011 called document CP2. This states that all current and future accounts are automatically re-assigned to HFO services, so HFO Capital never own the account for longer than a second.
Check the letter from Barclays to see if it says HFO capital or services?

Ask HFO to confirm who owns the debt and company number. They will tell you it is HFO capital Ireland. This is impossible as they were not incorporated back then, it has to be Caymen and therefore it's owned by services.

Phone Barclaycard and ask them who the account was sold to, It is possible back then it was actually sold to Roxborough UK Ltd, which is their in house solicitors. Check all of these as it is likely this is the case and would get thrown out of court if they tried as they don't own the debt and all the paperwork is incorrect.

It is also possible as the agreement is pre 2007 that it is un-ebforcable anyway. HFO specialise in buying sub prime debts.

You must send a CCA request with a postal order to HFO and a SAR request to Barclaycard.

Ask HFO for a statement of account. They are not allowed to put charges on the account which are not in the origional agreement. They also are not allowed to have put interest on until they actually made contact with you and not when you have put the account into dispute.

I don't advocate not paying your debts, but you can put the ball back into your court and watch them squirm. When they know you know the law and your rights their attitude changes. Remember that Barclaycard have written this debt off and have received the relevant tax benefit and money from HFO. HFO have paid about 10p in the £1 for this debt, they didin't have to buy it, they know that they are sub prime and can be challenged and are often un-enforcable, but they still bought them. You never borrowed any money from HFO, Barclaycard have written it off and aren't interested.