Restons solicitors

robakataz

Just need a little advice for my wife about a very old debt i will try to give you a brief rundown of the last 13 years .

13 years ago my wife had a few problems and got into debt with HSBC over a loan/credit card and overdraft and decided the only way after advice was to go to a debt consolidation company .Well needless to say she did and stayed with them for 12 years based on the problems with HSBC .. About a year ago she finished with them as she only owed a small amount to other companys which she cleared rather than keep paying the debt cons company more money .

Well today a year later she received a letter out of the blue from RESTONS saying that she owes HSBC £1,240 for an overdraft .. And that they have been instructed to enforce a judgement by way of a WARRANT OF CONTROL ..Now bearing in mind this is originally a 13 + year debt which was part of her agreement to clear over many years with her consolidation company as far as she is concerned , The letter also states that " out client is still prepared to consider realistic repayment proposals to avoid a cause of action "

Well now her personal life has changed 360 degrees as my wife is now medically retired from her nursing job since september 2017 due to years of spine conditions and im her carer full time .We are both now on the benefit system and have virtually no spare cash to offer .. Now my main question is does she still owe this or have to honour it after being with a debt company for 12 years and also because of the age of the debt and the fact that she has had no dealing/correspondence or phone calls with anyone concerning any debts for a very very long time . Any help would be appreciated .. cheers .

sourcrates

Hi,


The words Debt Consolidation Company always set alarm bells ringing.


I am assuming it was a private debt management company that charged her a hefty fee initially, then a 30% fee on a monthly basis, is that right ?


By paying it over the 12 years, she has, obviously, been acknowledging the debt, so its not statute barred.

As with any debt you are dubious about, send them this letter, it asks them to prove liability for the debt, which they must legally do when asked :


https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2607247/letter-when-you-know-nothing-about-about-the-debt-aka-prove-it-letter

robakataz

hi there she says there was no fee intially and just a small amount a month for there services including clearing debts maybe 150 a month over the 12 year or so period ...they were called gregory pennington and they set her up with new bank account with think banking ( RBS ) .. I think what we need to do is also contact the company who was supposed to be dealing with all of this for all those years i guess on monday .. Thanks for the link will look into that cheers .

mbmonty

Restons have "form" for this and other unscrupulous ways of turning an aged debt into a nice shiny new CCJ.

You are lucky if you have been contacted before the event.

I read on another forum that they are called "back door" CCJ's and they did it to my Brother in Law/

They take a debt that is off statute but where they have found the debtor with some sort of debt entry in the Credit Ref DB's

They then file a Court claim at the 15 year old address even though they know the new address, they even ignore any notice from current resident of 15 year old address. What use is a pre-action protocol when they pull a stunt like this!

Once they have got the CCJ through the Northampton centre they write to the debtor at the current address saying "our client has obtained a CCJ, the do not give any reference number of the CCJ but threaten the Warrant of Control which they will pursue.

They know it costs anyone not on benefits £250 to set aside the CCJ and even then they object to any attempt on the basis that they dispute the chance of the debtor to have a defence.

Then they go for the warrant of control, it is only a County Court Bailiff and in my BIL's case he had not lived at the "new" address of the CCJ for years, he is an alcoholic and drug addict, homeless etc. Of course it caused great stress for his family and lots of confusion about names. He was on the Credit Ref DB there because his bank account is still there and they reduced his overdraft and put an entry into the system.

Restons have a reputation for being hard SOB's to deal with.

According to companies house the MD has his residence in Andora which is a tax haven,

If you find they have breached procedure, report them to the SRA and the FCA, the more people that do the sooner this shoddy practice will be stopped or the CPR changed to show that they have made an effort to find them on the CRB and serve papers there.

Abusing back door CCJ's are the new favourite for debt collectors, because they can serve at an old address even though they have an alert on yoru name and free per use access to credit reference database.

Huge increase in CCJs, up to 300,000 in first quarter 2017

Registry Trust has published the statistics for CCJs for the first quarter of 2017. They are shocking, with almost 300,000 consumer CCJs, the highest number for ten years. The details are:

• 298,901 CCJs were registered against consumers in England and Wales from January – March 2017;
  • this is an increase of 35% on the same quarter in 2016;
• the average size of a CCJ fell to £1,495;
  • this is a historic low and 17% down on Q1 2016;
  • the size of CCJs has been falling for the last eight years. In 2008 the average was more than twice as high at £3,662.

As the graph below shows, CCJs have been rising for the last year.

https://debtcamel.co.uk/huge-increase-ccjs/

robakataz

Thanks for the reply i have done some research on these people and they are not painted in a good light for sure .. We are just about to phone my wifes old debt management company and see what they have to say becuase its her old bank and they should have sorted all this as thats the original reason we used them and when she left them she had 0 debts according to them .. Hopefully they will stop this in its tracks .. cheers .

mbmonty

You might want to start with a Subject Access Request from the old company, under GDPR these are now quicker and free.

It stops them conveniently "losing" anything!

National_Debtline

Hi robakataz


My concern about the letter your wife has received is it say they are looking to enforce a judgment by way of a warrant of control. That means they are considering applying to use bailiffs and suggests they already have a CCJ.


You should certainly contact Gregory Pennington to confirm whether the overdraft was included in the debt management plan (DMP) but you also need to know if and when a CCJ was obtained. Your wife can check her credit file for free for any CCJs, or for a small fee check at www.trustonline.org.uk. Both will only show CCJs made in the last 6 years. Or she could ask Restons for further information.


I would suggest she asks Restons to suspend any further action in the meantime, being careful not to acknowledge the debt. If you could update us when you know more, we'll be able to offer further advice.


Best wishes


Susie
@natdebtline

mbmonty

I think you are right Susie you have to be REALLY careful NOT to acknowledge the debt

With my BIL they did it very quickly and apparently it only costs them £2 to file the claim (but £250 to undo judgement!!!), here is why we have such abuse of these so called back door CCJ's.

It is a massive waste of the Courts time as well.

robakataz

Hi thanks for replys .. Heres a quick rundown .. wife contacted GP this morning about the overdraft and asked why this had not been sorted out after 12 years , there answer was " when u rang us we stated that you will still owe the bank the overdraft if you leave us " .. Which my wife is adamant was not said and what was said was that she only " owed a small amount to a home shopping company and would be best to pay this debt herself instead or keep paying GP " Which she did so for 2 year we thought we was debt free until last saturday .

So with GP saying they didnt sort this debt we really dont have a leg to stand on as being with GP is like we acknowledge the debt anyway as we only left them just shy of 2 years back .. Well after a lengthy phone conversation with RESTONS my wife has agreed to pay a set amount per month they initially wanted 130 a month out of my wifes PIP as that in there eyes was extra income !! Well we eventually got it down to 50 quid as they would not even consider less .. But now we will seek legal advice from someone and see were we stand on a legal standpoint ..

Yes she shouldnt have acknowledged the debt but GP left us in no position not too as they last made a small payment to this 1 month before we left them but then failed to advise or tell the wife after she rang and asked what was left to pay .

Prestons were adamant that numerous letters had been sent to us over the last 18 months which we argued wasnt the case and it wasnt untill saturday that we opened a letter and found out this is a problem and hence the reason we phones to find out what was going on . Well if anyone here knows of any free advice service we could use just to find out face to face what our legal rights are i would very much appreciate it all the best cheers rob .

sourcrates

mbmonty wrote: »

I think you are right Susie you have to be REALLY careful NOT to acknowledge the debt

With my BIL they did it very quickly and apparently it only costs them £2 to file the claim (but £250 to undo judgement!!!), here is why we have such abuse of these so called back door CCJ's.

It is a massive waste of the Courts time as well.

Sorry, missed the bit about the warrant of control, it would depend when Restons obtained the CCJ, if its longer than 6 years ago, they would need to go back to court in order to enforce it.


If its not showing on her credit file, or at trust on line, it would suggest that is the case.

National_Debtline

Hi robakataz


Thanks for the update. Unfortunately it doesn't sound like there is going to be any basis to argue they are out of time to collect the debt as there hasn't been more than 6 years where the debt has not been paid.


The next step is to find out whether there is actually a CCJ. If there is, your wife will have an option to apply to the county court to ask them to approve the payment plan. I would suggest contacting one of the free debt advice agencies who can explain more on your wife's options, and what a reasonable offer of payment is.


I hope it all goes well


Susie
@natdebtline