Received letter from HFO Services at my parents address

Tryingtobefree_2

Hello all and thank you in advance for any advice you are able to give.

I had a c/c with citi, last contact was Nov 2006, until I moved house. They had been really unhelpful in understanding my situation at the time (I was depressed and had an eating disorder) no excuse for running away from the situation and I don't condone my actions but I was young at the time.

So since then I have heard nothing until my mum passed on a letter to me yesterday, from HFO services advising that citi had sol the account, including all legal righs and obligations associated, to HFO Capital and is currently being managed by HFO Services.

Now they are stating that I owe £3012, I had thought I owed citi £1000. They advise it will undergo a pre-litigation review next week.

Im getting married in June this year, am still off work with my 11 month old baby, although currently looking, after having been made redundant whilst pregnant. I can't bring myself to tell my fiance as he is under a lot of stress at work.

I could possibly gather £500 - £750, should I make an offer?

Because the letter was sent to my parents house, could I ignore it or would this affect my parents? I do want to get this sorted so I know running is not the answer.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

GeorgeUK

This will not affect your parents. The debt will be against an individual - not the address.

How confident are you about the date of last payment/contact? If you have not made a payment or acknowledged the debt in writing for 6 years (5 in Scotland), then the debt may be statute barred.

If you were to make an offer of payment and this was rejected, this would be considered an acknowledgement of the debt and the statute barred clock would reset. Until they contact you (rather than writing to your parent's address), i would just wait it out.

Tryingtobefree_2

Thank you GeorgeUK, I guess I was really worried that they would send someone round to my parents house, I've heard some really bad things about HFO. Do you think they could do this?

Should I return the letter stating 'recipient no longer at this address'? Obviously I have already opened the letter unfortunately.

Also what if they send me a court summons or something to my parents address?

GeorgeUK

If a court summons is sent, it will come from the court, not the DCA.

If someone did come to the door, your parents can just inform them that you do not live there - they are not bailiffs. They have the same legal powers as the paperboy. NONE!

I would leave the letter and not contact them until they get in touch with you. Also, do not get a copy of your credit file until Nov 2012.

If they do get in touch with you, you can then make an offer - it may be worth putting some money aside to deal with this should you need to deal with them. You would probably be disputing the amount of the debt anyway and this would take you closer to the statute barred date.

FTW

Agree with GeorgeUK on one thing, but disagree with another.

He's right to say not to contact them until they contact you. But I wouldn't put any money aside to pay them off - you have other priorities than dealing with them.

Even if they do eventually contact you, first thing I would do is send them a CCA request (via recorded delivery, and remember to provide no signatures at any point).

If it's a Citi account from 2006, the chances of that request being fulfilled are slim, and - as any DCA knows - a CCA request in default means they can legally do nothing.

System

If your parents' address was the last one that they had on file for you (I.E. you failed to update your address with them) then surely writing to you at your parents' address is counted as a valid contact.

fermi

!!!!!! wrote: »

If your parents' address was the last one that they had on file for you (I.E. you failed to update your address with them) then surely writing to you at your parents' address is counted as a valid contact.

Valid contact for what exactly? Restarting the statute barred clock?

It's certainly not 'valid' for that.

redpete

If you ignore it then your parents are likely to get more letters, possibly telephone calls and possibly doorstep calls.

System

fermi wrote: »

Valid contact for what exactly? Restarting the statute barred clock?

It's certainly not 'valid' for that.

So if I move and don't tell any of my creditors my new address then I can claim my debts as statute barred if they fail to trace my to my new address and contact me there within 6 years?

BackOnTrack

!!!!!! wrote: »

So if I move and don't tell any of my creditors my new address then I can claim my debts as statute barred if they fail to trace my to my new address and contact me there within 6 years?

AFAIK that is correct.

fermi

!!!!!! wrote: »

So if I move and don't tell any of my creditors my new address then I can claim my debts as statute barred if they fail to trace my to my new address and contact me there within 6 years?

Actually, yes. As daft as it sounds.

The Limitation Act specifically states that acknowledgement of the debt is only effective for starting the 6 year period over again IF it is in writing from the person liable AND signed by them. The creditor can write to you every day for the entire 6 years, and it would have no legal effect whatsoever.

However, if before the 6 years are up the creditor starts (and then obtains) a CCJ, then that won't apply.

A creditor can do that as court papers for a CCJ can legitimately be sent to your "last known" address.

If a creditor's stupid enough to let things go the full 6 years without them issuing that court claim, then the debt would indeed be statute barred.