Disenfrachised youths, immoral politicians and then there was Ruthbridge

cmickr

Firstly may I say a big thank you to all on this website for helping me finally realise a six year dream of being almost completely debt free (when i say almost i owe £400 on a credit card but all is up to date and in good health). I have recently had dealings with Roxburghe, Credit Account Management and most recently Ruthbridge. The debt with Roxburghe was almost statute barred but I am now in a respectable job and earning decent money so I decided to pay it off (£400) which ended in May and it has now been removed from my credit file after 6 years. Credit Account Management this was more tricky. They claimed i had two catalogue accounts with some company or other and held a debt in the name of Michael Roberts, problem was that my full name is Christopher Michael Roberts and although i do go by the name Michael I have never used it for any applications or on any official documents. I pointed this out to them and after some exchanges through the post (from templates your members have posted), some by e-mail and once by phone they removed the defaults from my file and apologised for the inconvenience (And i might add they were very courteous on the one occasion i did call them, which by reading other posts i believe to be fortunate). So I now believed I was debt free, happy and looking forward to getting a strong mortgage offer next year and finally setting up home after the absolute foolishness of my younger years.

So all looks good right? Well not quite as good as I thought. In March 2011 a company named Lowell Portfolio 1 left two unrecorded searches on my credit file, one at my previous address and one at my current address. It concerned me at the time but I have been checking my credit file weekly for two years and knew i had paid off everything or was well on the way and convinced myself this was nothing to worry about. Then yesterday I received a letter from the lovely folk and seemingly eternal chancers at Ruthbridge stating i owed them £705.09 for an unsettled Barclaycard account. Interesting. Now i know that the line is to ignore it , CCA them and inform them that this debt is now statute barred but there is more to it than that. In 2002 i defaulted on this account. In 2003 my mother (being the wonderful lady she is) paid the debt off which was at the time held by Cabot and was for around £350 if I remember correctly and they then sent a letter to confirm receipt of payment and i thought one of my youthful mistakes was done. This debt dropped off my credit file over two years ago and never said settled or partial but i paid no attention - I hadn't been chased and it had been removed. I no longer have the receipt of payment (as I somewhat naively threw it away trusting Cabot) and now have received this letter which has absolutely infuriated me. How can these people can be allowed to trade and act anywhere in the civilized world, I want to complain to/moan at /or make the lives a misery of these people but I am concerned that if I do it could open up a can of worms that will end in me having to pay something that is grossly inflated and absolutely not owed. So after all my wordiness and ranting it comes down to this - do I act? Do i challenge this company and seek legal advice because they have made two searches of my credit file and sent me a letter trying to extort/con me out of money. My credit score is 803. Which when i started this journey 3 years ago was sub 300 and the only indicator of what is stopping my credit score being perfect is recent searches made on my file by Lowell/Ruthbridge. I hate chancers, I believe in the good in people and this country needs people to fight for the everyday working man, for the man in the pub, for the guy working 12 hours at the local take-away until two in the morning but everyone is afraid. :mad: The corporations ALWAYS win, one way or another and they act immorally because they have no fear of retribution. Does anyone have any advice or is it simply a case of leave well alone and be another member of the silent majority sitting here and taking it by the bullying corporations? This company have been paraded around though the national media and yet they still act unethically, they still chase unenforceable debt and I still read forums talking about the scare tactics they have been using as recently as last week with the threats of bankruptcy, seizing assets and as in my letter "further actions". Ok so we see some success, people who regularly visit this site will proudly tell you that there are those out there who win. That's great, it is great that justice is still around in one form or another but this doesn't stop this happening and for every winner there are ten losers. The poor folk who have never come across these forums and have paid off these harassers in fear and through intimidation. The government wont act, the police have no powers, the CAB don't have the resources and solicitors complete this cycle by charging an earthly sum for their time. So how do we rise up? How do we stand together and start the ball rolling for a political shift? How do we have our voices heard so those in whitehall feel the anger of the nation and see a unified and solid front determined to end this indefintely?


My letter is signed by Marcus Graeme of Ruthbridge and you, Sir, are a chancer who needs to be brought down and exposed as the bullying conniving life-ruining signature boy of a cowardly company.


I really appreciate if you have taken the time to read my rant and would like your thoughts on what to do. Do i waste my time? Do we try to start something? Or do I let my rage die down and allow their next victim to suffer the fate of ignorance?


Thanks!
Mick