Threats from Mackenzie Hall!

cameron24

hello, this is my first time posting here.. dont know if i am doing it right..

I received the 4 letters from companies called Telogram, H L Legal solicitors and Mackenzie Hall twice. As far as i am aware I do not owe anything.

Yesterday I received a letter from Mackenzie Hall saying I owed just over 9000.00!! As if.. I have never missed any paymets to credit cards, or loans that i have had. They have told me to fill in a standing order form to pay off the debt, 400.00 a month until the debt is paid off. If I do not pay the money they threatened me with litigation proceedings, seizure of assets etc. They also said that they wrote to me last week to advise me that they would be taking proceedings if I didnt pay. I did not get this letter. I havent been told who i supposedly owe the money to either or where it came from.

Needless to say, I won't be filling in the standing order form.

any advice would be good... as although i am sure that i do not owe any money, its still a weight on my mind. Especially the thought that someone may turn up to my door demanding payment.

Thanks

cameron24

tealady

Hi cameron and welcome. Somewhere on this site are letter templates. You can write to the company BUT you must state you do not acknowledge the debt. I think there is a small fee you have to send them to get a copy of any credit agreement (£2 comes to mind). DON'T acknowledge in any way that you owe ANYONE. Hope this helps.

Crown

Hi and welcome,

Here is the mentioned template letter
--

I do not acknowledge ANY debt to your company. I require you to supply the following documentation before I will correspond further on this matter.

1. You must supply me with a true copy of the alleged agreement you refer to. This is my right under your obligation to supply a copy of the agreement under the legislation contained within s.78 (1) Consumer Credit Act 1974 (s.77 (1) for fixed sum credit) - your obligation also extends to providing a statement of account. I enclose £1 in payment of the statutory fee.

2. A signed true copy of the deed of assignment of the above referenced agreement that you allege exists.

3. You are notified that you are obliged to supply these documents, whether you are the original creditor or not under S189 of the CCA 1974.

4. I would also like to point out that under the Limitation Act 1980 Section 5 “an action founded on simple contract shall not be brought after the expiration of six years from the date on which the cause of action accrued

Non-compliance with my request is a criminal offence under the above Act and will result in a report being submitted to the relevant statutory authorities, therefore if I do not receive evidence that I owe your company any monies by 6th February 2006, I will have no hesitation in passing your details to the Office of Fair Trading.

As you are aware, a credit agreement that is not properly documented and signed by the customer is totally unenforceable under the CCA and therefore is a complete defence to any court claim that is issued.

Take note at this stage, that any legal action you may contemplate will be both vigorously defended and contested.

Regarding your threat that a Doorstep Collector will call the owner of this property is denying you or anybody working on your behalf access onto their estate or grounds in relation to this disputed debt, should you or any agent acting for you attempt to gain access to the estate or its grounds, then you will be ignoring your denial of access and the owner of "insert your address", will take legal steps to sue both you and or your agents for trespass, please also note that having a letterbox on the property gives you or anyone working on your behalf neither implied nor expressed rights to enter the properties boundaries, again any instances of trespass WILL lead the property owner to sue both yourselves or any agents working on your behalf

rog2

Hi Cameron - The 'Telogram' seems to be an invention of Mackenzie Hall, and, in my opinion, it borders on the edge of legality in that they send out so many of these offensive red cards that everyone knows what they are, and who they are from. It is very important that you do NOT phone the number.
Mackenzie Hall are a particularly nasty bunch of people who appear to specialise in the collection, or attempted collection, of debts which are often uncollectable by law - for example very old debts, often debts where no contact or payment has been made in over six years, and which would be covered by the Limitations Act, making them 'statue barred' and uncollectable.
They send out these 'Telograms' and very officious letters which threaten 'Litigation' in order to 'scare' people into paying debts, often without first ascertaining whether or not the debt is even genuine.
If they do not reply to your letter, within the time span, then you should report this bunch of bullies to the Kilmarnock Trading Standards Office, where the name of Mackenzie Hall is well known.
Quite simply they are a bunch of 'legalised thugs'.

Tootsie_Roll

rog2 wrote: »

Hi Cameron - The 'Telogram' seems to be an invention of Mackenzie Hall, and, in my opinion, it borders on the edge of legality in that they send out so many of these offensive red cards that everyone knows what they are, and who they are from. It is very important that you do NOT phone the number.
Mackenzie Hall are a particularly nasty bunch of people who appear to specialise in the collection, or attempted collection, of debts which are often uncollectable by law - for example very old debts, often debts where no contact or payment has been made in over six years, and which would be covered by the Limitations Act, making them 'statue barred' and uncollectable.
They send out these 'Telograms' and very officious letters which threaten 'Litigation' in order to 'scare' people into paying debts, often without first ascertaining whether or not the debt is even genuine.
If they do not reply to your letter, within the time span, then you should report this bunch of bullies to the Kilmarnock Trading Standards Office, where the name of Mackenzie Hall is well known.
Quite simply they are a bunch of 'legalised thugs'.

More misinformation, innaccuracy but an opportunity for you to get on your soapbox!!

The 'Telogram' is sent by Capquest who are also H L Legal (or more specifically use the H L Legal headed paper). It is enitrely legal and what evidence do you have to back up your statement 'everyone knows what they are'. Whilst I accpet that most people on this site do 'everyone' is overstating your case significantly - but as usual why let the facts get in the way.

You also completely misunderstand how statute law works - these debts are not 'uncollectable' as you state; I have corrected you on this point in the past but you convieniently ignore this. They are 'unenforcable' through the courts - entirely different. The debt is still owed, it is absolutely correct for a letter to be sent out asking for payment.

To the OP - please follow Crown's advice which is spot on.

inmypocketnottheirs

Tootsie_Roll wrote: »

You also completely misunderstand how statute law works - these debts are not 'uncollectable' as you state; I have corrected you on this point in the past but you convieniently ignore this. They are 'unenforcable' through the courts - entirely different. The debt is still owed, it is absolutely correct for a letter to be sent out asking for payment.

To the OP - please follow Crown's advice which is spot on.

Unenforceable - uncollectable - who cares? Surely it amounts to the same thing.

Tootsie_Roll

inmypocketnottheirs wrote: »

Unenforceable - uncollectable - who cares? Surely it amounts to the same thing.

It matters because it is incorrect and potentially misleading to the good people who post on here and could easily lead them down a route that is extremely ill advised ! It also implies (together with the rest of his post) that the company concerned are breaking the law/going against the guidelines when nothing could be further from the truth.

Do you really think it is a good idea to have completely misleading information on this site that tries to help people in financial difficulty ?

rog2

inmypocketnottheirs wrote: »

Unenforceable - uncollectable - who cares? Surely it amounts to the same thing.

Totally agree with you - in fact if anyone is in any doubt they can look at Section 2.14 b of the OFT Debt Collection Guidelines, which can be viewed at the following link:

http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/consumer_credit/oft664.pdf

Whilst Section 2.14 a clearly states that "we accept legally that the debt does exist" Section 2.14 b goes on to say:

"It is the methods by which the debt is collected that can be unfair as follows:

* It is unfair to pursue the debt if the debtor has heard nothing from the creditor during the relevant limitation period.

* If a creditor has been in regular contact with a debtor before the debt is statute barred then we do not consider it unfair to continue to attempt to recover the debt.

* It is unfair to mislead debtors as to their rights and obligations, for example falsely stating or implying that the debt is still legally recoverable and relying on consumers not knowing the relevant legal provisions, and

* continuing to press for payment after a debtor has stated they will not be paying a debt because it is statute barred could amount to harassment, contrary to Section 40 (1) of the Administration of Judgement Act 1970."

I note that the OFT use the word 'recoverable' but there can be no dispute as to what they are saying.

cameron24

Thank you for all for the advice, i am still thinking that maybe i should just not reply at all. I suppose that by not replying they cant prove anything.

I'll wait for a letter stating exactly where the debt originated from and then try and deal with it then, probably using the letter template above if thats the case.

I have had credit reports done as soon as i rec'd the first telogram letter after reading what other people had been through on this site. Nothing had shown up on that, so i am confident that this 9000.00 debt they are trying to recover isnt mine.

I'll keep you updated!

Thanks again,

Cameron24

rayday2

I think from what I guess that until you send out a letter that crown produced for you, you will not be able to prove either way whether this debt is collectable or not.

I personally would be proactive and not wait for them to prove but insist on them proving, also you are giving them a time span which is better than looking over your shoulder for months. Communication is the key to solving all problems!