UPDATE 2! EquiDebt & CAS & NOW Marlin & Advantis - HELP PLEASE!

asmwp

Hi all, firstly I have been reading this for some time and it is very apparent that this a very friendly and helpful forum and so I have chosen to turn to you all for any advice that you may be able to provide.

Firstly I have an unblemished credit history and any credit that I do have is completely in order and totally up-to-date.

Now, out of the blue, at the end of February 2013 I received a letter from a company called EquiDebt. The letter stated that they were acting on behalf of a company called MCE Portfolio and that intended to recover an outstanding amount of £1534.05. It also stated that the debt was not in dispute as I had made payments towards before. Also there was no mention of what the debt related to and as I have never heard of or knowingly had any dealings with a company called MCE Portfolio so I chose to ignore it.

On the 18th March 2013 I received another letter from EquiDebt which is headed 'Notice of recovery action' and also included a settlement offer for £920.43. At this point I decided to act. I used a template (not a CCA one) that I found on this forum and sent a recorded delivery letter stating that I have no knowledge of any such debt with MCE Portfolio and unless they can provide evidence that the debt is indeed mine then I now consider the matter to be closed.

I have received no such evidence. What I have received is yet another letter on 15th April 2013, this time from a company calling themselves 'Credit Ancillary Services', which is obviously part of EquiDebt as they even share the same address, this time headed with 'Final collection notice'. They state that they are taking this action because 'you appear to be either ignoring our contact attempts or refusing to discuss repayment terms' and 'you have left Equidebt with no other choice but to escalate to CAS'. They also state that they 'will use publically held data to determine what happens next' (what does that mean?) and that i have '20 days to make an offer of payment'. I do know after looking at my Experian account that EquiDebt logged 4 separate queries on my credit report on the same day on 28th March 2013.

So I still have no idea what this relates to and have no idea what to do next, any suggestions?

fermi

Possible follow up ---> http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=57703407&postcount=3

asmwp

Thanks for your advice fermi. Should I send the letter to EquiDebt, CAS or both?

fermi

I would send the letter to the shared address. Then on the letter inside address it to both trading names.

Address the letter to their "Compliance Manager".

For good measure I would also send a copy via email.

To : [EMAIL="VikkiW@equidebt.co.uk"]VikkiW@equidebt.co.uk[/EMAIL] and [EMAIL="asimk@equidebt.co.uk"]asimk@equidebt.co.uk[/EMAIL]
And CC to: [EMAIL="enquiries@cascollect.co.uk"]enquiries@cascollect.co.uk[/EMAIL] and [EMAIL="enquiries@equidebt.co.uk"]enquiries@equidebt.co.uk[/EMAIL]

They should get the message at that point. :cool:

asmwp

Excellent, thank you very much for advice, I will do that right now! :-)

asmwp

I have now emailed a copy of the letter and sent same as recorded delivery. Should I do anything more with regards to the 20 days limit or should I just wait for a response?

fermi

I would wait and see what happens. These fools aren't worth expending too much effort on.

asmwp

That is very reassuring to know, thanks.

asmwp

:j After following the excellent advice that I have received from this forum, especially Femi!, I have had yet another letter from Equidebt 'sincerely aplogizing' for all the 'distress and inconvenience' that they have caused and they they 'have deleted your details from our system and we will not contact you about the account again' Woohoo! :beer:

Thanks everyone, I sincerely hope that this is indeed the end of the matter.

There is one thing that is niggling me, the original letter from Equidebt referenced a company called MCE Portfolio, the retraction letter refers to a company called Marlin Financial Services, are they the same company? I have heard many horror stories in relation to Marlin's attempted recovery processes.

fermi

Great news. Thanks for the update.

fermi

asmwp wrote: »

There is one thing that is niggling me, the original letter from Equidebt referenced a company called MCE Portfolio, the retraction letter refers to a company called Marlin Financial Services, are they the same company? I have heard many horror stories in relation to Marlin's attempted recovery processes.

If effect they are. They are both part of Marlin Financial Group.