Cabot - Advice Needed

Dannydebt

Long story coming up sorry !

In 1999 I defaulted on a Bank of Scotland current account (The balance was £900) this was in joint names with myself and my wife. The debt was passed to Blair Oliver and Scott and we agreed repayments with them, in 2006 the debt was passed to Cabot and was now £5450 !, this was queried as Blair, Oliver and Scott had insisted that as part of agreeing repayments interest would continue to be charged but would be removed when the debt was cleared (Or words to that effect).

Cabot accepted the same repayments as Blair, Oliver and Scott and continually told us that the bank was having trouble locating the statements to see why the debt was now £5450, then in February 2010 the provided statements from the bank, I say statements as they were so obviously doctored !, they contained no years !, only one transaction in supposedly 3 years, and although were supposed to be from 2003 they had the Pay wave symbol on the statements, this was not on statements in 2003 !. So I wrote back pointing out the abnormalities in the statement and inviting them to take legal action.

We have continued to make repayments to them and have heard nothing until this morning when I took a telephone call from the them for my wife, I advised them that she can only use the RNID Type talk service and I would be better to write to her, they were okay and friendly and said they would, but she has today wrote to them to confirm everything should be in writing.

They also for some reason contact her and never me even though in the past it has been pointed out that it was a joint account !, and I still do not know how they got the telephone number as it is ex-directory !!.

We will wait and see what they now do but I am tempted to let them take legal action as I would love to show the court these bank statements, and also find out why a £900 debt is now £5.5k !.

Has anyone got any advice as to the best course to take now ?, do we offer a settlement close to the original debt figure or ??.

Thanks.

Tixy

I would write to them and ask them for a full transaction history of the account - it doesn't need to be original statements (and they wouldn't keep a copy of paper statements themselves, even if you did ask for statements it would be likely they would reprint them).

If they don't supply a full transaction history in a reasonable time period (probably 30-40 days) then I would do a formal subject access request under the data protection act - in you did this they have to provide the full information on the account and the full transaction history within 40days (but it costs £10 to do a SAR).

If you are in a position to do so you could certainly offer a reduced full & final settlement, but I'd probably wait until you have seen the transaction list before doing so, as it may help you decide what to offer.

Dannydebt

Tixy wrote: »

I would write to them and ask them for a full transaction history of the account - it doesn't need to be original statements (and they wouldn't keep a copy of paper statements themselves, even if you did ask for statements it would be likely they would reprint them).

If they don't supply a full transaction history in a reasonable time period (probably 30-40 days) then I would do a formal subject access request under the data protection act - in you did this they have to provide the full information on the account and the full transaction history within 40days (but it costs £10 to do a SAR).

If you are in a position to do so you could certainly offer a reduced full & final settlement, but I'd probably wait until you have seen the transaction list before doing so, as it may help you decide what to offer.

Thanks for that, but who do I ask for the Transaction List Cabot or the orginal lender (Bank of Scotland), and again if I do a SAR is it on Cabot or Bank of Scotland ?.

Thanks.

thechippy

As Cabot now own the account, send it to them.
Personally, I'd just SAR them straight away, otherwise they'll just continue to !!!!!! around the issue.

Cabot are real dodgers and known for adding unlawful interest.

I'd be asking them for a copy of the documentation / legislation upon which they rely to charge the interest....;);)