Cabot Financial double entry judgement on credit file and harrassment HELP!

dadof2youngboys

I'm a newbie to this so I apologise for the long explanation but I am at my wits end.

Back in 2004 I had a car on HP from Online Finance, it got written off 6 months after I got it and I had a payout that did not settle the balance owing. I had no gap insurance as this was not offered to me and I did not know it existed. The original car was for £11,500 with interest it was total repayable £17,400 something (high interest I know but I was young at the time) repayments were around £290 a month over 5 years if I can recall correctly. I had a pay out of £8700 from my ins. company which I gave online finance plus they had £1740 of payments from me. Online finance still wanted all the remaining interest which I said was unfair and refused to pay the £6960 after only having the car for 6 months and it essentially did not exist anymore.

After this it all went quiet, then back in 2007 I had Cabot financial contact me saying there was a debt of £7006.76 and they entered a default against me on my credit report. Online finance were taken over by GMAC and they had passed the debt on to Cabot. I then had two entries on my credit file for the same debt but for slightly different amounts. GMAC's was showing as settled for £6960, and then I had Cabot's which was also showing as settled and then they changed it to "default". I sent Cabot a copy of my of my Experian report showing that GMAC's entry was settled but they still said I owed them £7006.76 as well as the money to GMAC!

This stayed on my credit file until 2013 and both entries disappeared.

I have not made payment against this debt with the original creditor online finance since 2005 when they received the lump sump payment from the insurers. GMAC have taken Online over, years ago when I asked Cabot for proof, there was no record of a finance agreement as Cabot claimed it was lost in the transfer between online and GMAC. I do not think that I have admitted the debt by sending them a copy of my credit report stating that GMAC was settled, or have I?

Today I have received 2 letters one from Cabot financial saying they have passed the debt to Scotcall, both letters are dated the same date and arrived in the same envelope, which is confusing.

Cabots states that we have not come to a mutual agreement to repay your account and they have passed it to Scotcall.

Scotcalls is an IMPORTANT NOTICE - IMPENDING DEBT COLLECTION VISIT. We have been authourised to recover the above debt which has been outstanding for some time.
It is really important that you make payment within 7 days from the date of this letter (17/2/14) to avoid the matter being escalated to the next stage of the debt collection process which involves a Home Visit.

Can they do this?? Am I right in thinking that Cabot have bent quite a few rules by entering a double judgement on my credit file and they are now passing the debt around to get payment if though it is statute barred?

Help please as I have tried talking to Debt help lines in the past who didn't really help, Experian were useless when I told them it was a double entry for slightly different amounts, but they did nothing, so I just sat low and waited for 6 years to pass and now I am being harassed by multiple companies, HELP!

happy_bunny_2

So the defaults fell off your file? If so, I wouldn't worry about the double entry, its history.

The last time you acknowledged the debt was 2007? Worst case, if that letter with the credit report did acknowledge it. In any case, if you have not paid or written since then it is statute barred.

They also have no agreement.

Send them the statute barred letter and tell them to go away as you will not be paying. Under OFT guidelines, nothing they can do. If they refuse, report them to the OFT and ignore them.

PaulW922

This must be distressing for you. Even if the debt is statute barred, Cabot are still entitled to ask you for the money but they are not allowed to suggest that they can take any kind of action,such as a CCJ where that it not possible. I would just be 100% sure over the dates before you tell them you are not paying.. After that they should not continue to hassle you, as Happy_Bunny indicates.

As an aside, I think you also need to understand that it is certainly not unfair for the finance company to still want to be paid for the car even though it was written off. They lent you the money and supplied the vehicle. After that it was in your care and was your responsibility. Hopefully that will not matter this time but it is something to bear in kind for the future.