Lloyds Bank/APEX/Moorcroft - Chasing Settled Account

Bosniavet96

Hello

I need some help & advice in relation to a letter I have just received, purporting to be from Lloyds Bank.
In the letter, they inform me that I have failed to come to an agreement with them over a debt of just over £150.00 & that they have passed the matter to a debt collection agency named Moorcroft Group PLC.
I did have a debt with LloydsTSB, which had been transferred to a company/organisation named APEX, & this formed part of my DMP which was settled in June this year. Admittedly, I did settle for slightly less than the outstanding balance, which is the exact amount mentioned in this letter.
This debt was settled, & was also in the name of another entity when this happened, I have received no communication from either APEX, Lloyds or any other organisation about this amount before.
Does anyone else have experience of this? Is Moorcroft or APEX known to be a part of Lloyds or any of their predecessors? What righst do I have in relation to this?
I have not contacted Moorcroft, & Lloyds have given no correspondence address, but I have contacted the provider of my DMP (a well-known debt charity) to ask for all correspondence relating to the debt. Who can I turn to - FCA? Ombudsman? or the media?
I am not happy about this - has anyone else had this experience?
Thanks in advance.

sourcrates

Hi,

Moorcroft and Apex are debt collection agencies.

So you settled the debt by making an offer on it, which was accepted by the creditor, yes ?

Did you get anything in writing to back this up ?

You should have a letter from the creditor stating the offer you made will settle the debt, and neither they nor there agents, will chase you for the remainder.

Do you have such a letter ?

If not, they are within there rights to sell on the remaining balance, and the new owner to chase you for it.
Underhand, even deciteful maybe, but perfectly legal.

Bosniavet96

Hello, Thank you for your answer. No, I did not receive a letter from APEX as all correspondence & negotiations were dealt with by my DMP provider. My major issue is that the debt had (I was told) been passed to APEX by LloydsTSB some years ago - so how can they even be involved anymore? I am awaiting a reply from my DMP provider on Monday before I make contact with anyone. An other issue is that Lloyds have not sent me any previous correspondence, although it is implied in the letter that they have, & they have (not surprisingly, given my previous experience with them) not given any address for the office or employee who purportedly sent the letter. My last dealings with Lloyds TSB involved them harassing my elderly parents with phone calls & only stopped when I threatened action, & previously I was getting letters from an individual, who it seems later was a fictitious name to put on letters, who worked in offices in both Brighton & Andover, with a telephone extension that rang in Mumbai!. Lloyds have a history of sending me letters claiming I have not replied to previous correspondence, when in fact they have (at their own admission) done no such thing.
I am aware that some Banks have claimed to have passed debts to a collection agency, when in fact the agency was a front set up by them to worry creditors & that the FCA & ombudsman had instructed them to stop this. If APEX is not part of Lloyds, & Lloyds sold on the debt, how can Lloyds make a claim for supposedly outstanding monies?
Now, I have to go as I need to attend a family memorial service, but will check the thread later today, thanks in advance for any help & advice.

[Deleted User]

This is why I've always had settlement of an account put in writing.

With each debt paid off, I obtained an immediate printout, showing the final payment, and the zero balance.

I then, immediately asked for an account statement from head office, showing all payments made to the account, and the final zero balance.

Despite settling my final debt over 3 years ago, I still have all the printouts, in case somebody tries to claim one of the accounts still has a balance.

I realise the OP's situation is a little different, but the principle is the same, get everything in writing, and keep hold of it.

sourcrates

Creditors can appoint debt collection agencies to manage accounts for them, and still retain ownership of the debt, this is very common practice.

Check you credit file, the owner of the debt will be listed there.

Yes on occasion, some companies have used fictitious names of debt collectors, Wonga for example, and they have been fined heavily by the FCA for doing so.

Apex are one of Cabot's disciples, and are very real, there only association with Lloyd's is as a client.

Now, getting back to the debt in question, if your DMP company (I`m assuming it was step-change ?) negotiated the settlement deal on your behalf, then they should of kept records to that effect, and should have no trouble proving this account was settled.

All you need is a copy of a letter/email, stating the amount paid was in full and final settlement, and that should be enough to put this to bed once and for all.

As Bob says above, make sure you have everything in writing where money and debt are concerned, you just never know when you might need it.

Bosniavet96

Thanks again folks. I am in the process of getting the details from my former DMP provider, but there is still the issue of Lloyds claiming they have been contacting me - this is a blatant lie, & they need to be held to account over this. I need a contact address so that I can send a letter outlining the situation & demanding an explanation & evidence relating to this issue. Banks have been getting away with these sharp practices for too long. I allowed Lloyds to get away with things before, I am not willing to let it go this time, a reckoning is due. I am willing to do what it takes to get them to explain themselves, even to the point of media exposure, which will not help my personal situation, but this is too much.............
I take it that I need to try & contact Lloyds before reporting them to the FCA/ombudsman?

sourcrates

It's a standard opener from a creditor, all lies mostly, I agree, but as with all there letters, they are designed to get you to contact them, that's the whole point of them, carefully worded to get the reaction you are describing now.

It's there standard "motis operandi".

Brassduck

Hi,

Please excuse me jumping on this thread but new to the forum and this is what I fear could happen to me and am hoping for some advice and peace of mind around the wording of a debt settlement letter. I have negotiated a settlement on a Barclays account which is with Moorcroft. I asked for them to put in writing that this will be a full & final settlement and that I will not be pursued for any more money on this account. They have written…

"We write to confirm we and our client are prepared to accept £*** as a partial settlement of your account. Provided that payment is made in accordance with this letter, neither we nor our client will take any further steps in relation to recovery of the remaining balance.(Any record on your credit file will be updated to reflect this)."

I am concerned that this wording still leaves me open to the remaining debt being sold to another DCA for recovery. Am I being over mistrustful here?! Or could this happen. This debt no longer appears on my credit file as the 6 year default lifted in 2015, so I am not concerned about that.

Thanks for your time.

sourcrates

Brassduck wrote: »

Hi,

Please excuse me jumping on this thread but new to the forum and this is what I fear could happen to me and am hoping for some advice and peace of mind around the wording of a debt settlement letter. I have negotiated a settlement on a Barclays account which is with Moorcroft. I asked for them to put in writing that this will be a full & final settlement and that I will not be pursued for any more money on this account. They have written…

"We write to confirm we and our client are prepared to accept £*** as a partial settlement of your account. Provided that payment is made in accordance with this letter, neither we nor our client will take any further steps in relation to recovery of the remaining balance.(Any record on your credit file will be updated to reflect this)."

I am concerned that this wording still leaves me open to the remaining debt being sold to another DCA for recovery. Am I being over mistrustful here?! Or could this happen. This debt no longer appears on my credit file as the 6 year default lifted in 2015, so I am not concerned about that.

Thanks for your time.

Hi,

You should be ok with that, it covers most of the bases.

Keep it in a safe place.