Advice needed regarding CapQuest

Yaz545

Hi all,

My mum had a finance agreement originally set up with a partner of Barclays (Clydesdale) in 2004 which was subsequently bought by CapQuest around 2007. The original amount was for just over £4k - there were a few overdue charges added in the following couple of years. However the remaining balance is currently nearly £5.5k?! 15 years on, I find it hard to understand how?
They have sent a couple of letters offering money off a one off payment, but if my calculations are right, it would still be more than what is owed back.
After reading a previous thread on here, I wrote to CapQuest mentioning CCA 1974, asking for a breakdown of the account and also questioned whether and extra charges had been put on as the balance seems so off.
They replied saying "we do not accept thst we are the creditor as envisaged by the statute. However we are willing to assist in obtaining that which was requested."
After stating that the account is on hold for now, they wrote thst they "last updated interest to this account in 2012, however can confirm we no longer apply interest to this account". - I don't understand, what interest? My mother never agreed to interest charges?
Should I question this further or wait to hear back from them first?
Thank you in advance.

fatbelly

Well firstly they are the creditor if they now own the account so that's a bit odd. s189CCA clearly says "creditor" means the person providing credit under a consumer credit agreement or the person to whom his rights and duties under the agreement have passed by assignment

Also I'm a bit surprised they responded to your letter if this is your mum's account. I presume you convinced them that you were acting as your mum's agent and that this happened recently. It seems that that may count as acknowledgement of the debt unless this was a formal s77 request under CCA1974.

When did your mum last make a payment to this? If there was a six-year period of no payment or acknowledgement in writing then this is statute barred and she can tell them to stop collection activity.

sourcrates

It sounds as if the account was sold on without first being defaulted, so it may have been sold as a live account, this allows the new owner to continue applying interest in accordance with the original agreement.

Fatbelly raises a very important point, if no payment or written acknowledgment has been made in any period of 6 years or more, then the debt will be statute barred, and you will not have to pay it.

Can you clarify if this is the case or not.

Yaz545

Hi both, thank you for your replies.

Yes I sent the letter on behalf of my mum. She's been paying monthly so there has contact.
The original agreement was 0% interest, which is why I'm confused as to why they have said they were applying interest?

"Well firstly they are the creditor if they now own the account so that's a bit odd. s189CCA clearly says "creditor" means the person providing credit under a consumer credit agreement or the person to whom his rights and duties under the agreement have passed by assignment " - also don't understand why they they're denying this too.

I can wait to see what they get back to me with, but just to confirm, they can't apply interest charges if the original agreement didn't have interest right?

Thank you

Yaz545

Hi both, thank you for your replies.

Yes I sent the letter on behalf of my mum. She's been paying monthly so there has contact.
The original agreement was 0% interest, which is why I'm confused as to why they have said they were applying interest?

"Well firstly they are the creditor if they now own the account so that's a bit odd. s189CCA clearly says "creditor" means the person providing credit under a consumer credit agreement or the person to whom his rights and duties under the agreement have passed by assignment " - also don't understand why they they're denying this too.

I can wait to see what they get back to me with, but just to confirm, they can't apply interest charges if the original agreement didn't have interest right?

Thank you

WhenIam64

but just to confirm, they can't apply interest charges if the original agreement didn't have interest right?

It will depend on what happened. If the terms of the loan were breached and the whole amount became payable i.e. a debt then they may be asking for statutory interest at a daily rate of 8%.

This rate is discretionary in court so a judge may decide to award 3% rather than 8% but most people want to avoid court so pay it.

What actually happened so that it was transferred from Clydesdale to Capquest. Also FB's question about when was the last payment / acknowledgement is very relevant as it looks like a statute barred debt where Capquest are trying it on.

The next letter from them should have the answer.