Selling a debt twice?

PositivelyMental

Hi all
I bought a car from Welcome Finance back in 2006. After 2 years, I was in a position to buy a car outright and didn't want to buy the car I got from Welcome so i arranged to give welcome the car back. Everything was fine and we agreed that the closing balance for my account was £128.01. I valeted the car, bought 4 new hub caps, generally made it look nicer than it was when i originally bought it. They sent some RAC bloke out to inspect the car and the following day, someone from another company came and collected it. The man who collected it left a receipt and wrote on it that the car was immaculate. I then get a bill from Welcome for £682 because the car was in bad condition? Apparently the RAC man had said it was dirty, hub caps were scratched etc and it only had one key despite there being 2 on the keyring. I have always disputed this amount and said if they agree to the £128.01 that I ACTUALLY owe, i will clear that debt immediately. They refused! So i left the debt until they sorted themselves out. They then sold this debt to Mackenzie Hall and because I don't agree with the amount, i only offered them £1.61 per month to pay the debt to which they agreed. I have been paying them since Feb 2012.
Last week I had a letter from Welcome Finance to tell me they have sold the debt to Cabot Financial on the 25th June 2013. (first i've heard of it, i've still been paying mackenzie hall).

Thing is, it was no longer Welcomes debt to sell so how did they sell a debt that they already sold in 2012? Can they do this? Nobody has written to me to tell me its changing hands until i got this letter and that was apparently 4 months after it had been sold.

Sorry this is so long winded :mad:

michael1983l

They may not have sold the debt on to Mackenzie Hall so they might have only been acting on Welcome Finances behalf. So yes they would be able to sell it on in that case.

Also paying anything towards a debt you dispute is not a good idea. If you do not owe the money and you can prove it then fight it properly.

PositivelyMental

Oh I have disputed this debt until I am blue in the face. I have sent proof of why it is the wrong amount and they just don't care! I copied the receipt i received from the guy who collected the car and they said his opinion means nothing as they didn't use him to assess the car. Only the opinion of the RAC counted. Im very confused as to why he wrote that i only supplied one key when there was clearly two on the keyring and he also counted a blemish in the paintwork which was there when i bought the car! There was nothing wrong with the paint, it just wasn't as smooth as the rest of the car. (I drive cars not spray them) I am only paying this small amount because I do owe them something. But I am only going to pay what I owe! I offered such a small amount to drag it out as long as possible. If they agree to the original amount, then they can have the balance in full. Until then, I will pay £1.61 per month.
I am pretty sure when I first heard from Mackenzie Hall, they said they had bought the debt from Welcome.

michael1983l

Have you reported Welcome to the FOS?

PositivelyMental

No I haven't reported them to anyone. I was under the impression they didn't exist anymore until I received this letter! :undecided

michael1983l

PositivelyMental wrote: »

No I haven't reported them to anyone. I was under the impression they didn't exist anymore until I received this letter! :undecided

Make a complaint to the FOS about whoever is chasing you now. Assuming you have already made a complaint directly to them disputing the amount owed and they haven't attempted to resolve it for you.

PositivelyMental

Ok well I have just made this months payment and paid mackenzie hall. Until I speak to Cabot, I won't be sending them anything.

I will dispute the amount and offer the full amount if they agree to what I actually owe, as opposed to what welcome are trying to rip me off for! It's causing so much trouble for such a stupidly small amount of money!

The only thing I will struggle with is that i can't find any paperwork for that car or old letters from Welcome. They seemed to disappear when i moved!
Thanks for your help. I doubt this will be the end of this matter as it has already dragged on for so long. But i will contact Cabot and see where we go from there! My feeling is, if they have bought a £580 debt, they aren't going to agree to me paying the real amount of £90. Too much of a loss to them!