Cabot Financial - wanting more

coffeeforme

Around 16 years ago I signed up with a debt recovery company to sort out a mess I'd gotten myself into with loans and credit cards.  Over the years I made regular payments on time, sorted out my finances, got my credit score back to almost perfect and never made the same mistakes again.
However the debts incurred back then were sold on to other companies - passed around... and I've always paid a regular amount to whoever owns the debt.

Now it's been owned by Cabot for a while, always paid them on time regular amount - no issue.
Today they've sent me a letter explaining they can obtain personal data from credit reference agencies and can see there has been an improvement in my situation - therefore believe I can pay them more.
They then go on to threaten to pass my details to their solicitor to look to obtain a ccj against me if I don't contact them in regards to this.

This doesn't seem a legitimate practice to me? 
Can anyone advise on this? This letter is very concerning and do not wish to respond incorrectly causing myself more grief.

sourcrates

Hi,

Its just one of a series of standard template letters Cabot, and other DCA`s send out on a regular basis.

They have absolutly no idea what your circumstances are unless you tell them, debt collectors love to play mind games with you, don`t be fooled by it.

Simply write back stating you are paying what you can afford, and no more, if you want to further back up your case, include an income/expenditure sheet showing whats affordable to you.

These type of letters are designed to, lets say, encourage you to contact them, just incase you`ve won the Euromillions Jackpot or similar, sending the above should put them off further action, and shut them up for another year or two.

On another note, I am just a tad curious/concerned as to the nature of this "debt recovery company" you mention, was it a paid for service, are you still paying them ?

coffeeforme

The original Debt company I believe went bust after some years, the accounts owed were sold to other companies - who in turn sold them on as the years passed.

sourcrates

coffeeforme said:

The original Debt company I believe went bust after some years, the accounts owed were sold to other companies - who in turn sold them on as the years passed.

Your not paying anyone a fee for any service here are you ?

Because it sounds very much like you signed up to a debt management plan with a fee charging debt management company.

Please tell me your not paying anyone a fee to "manage" these debts for you ???

coffeeforme

Not that I'm aware of, I pay Cabot a fixed monthly fee by direct debit - I've not seen any account charges on the statements.
I believe the original company did have charges, I was young and naïve at the time so ended up paying a large fee to enter the arrangement. 

sourcrates

Ok, so you were in a debt management plan, paying a fee to a company to mange the debts for you, but your no longer in that arrangement, is that right ?

Is this debt with Cabot your only debt ?

Appologies for all the questions, i`m just trying to understand your situation better thats all, i don`t want you to be paying good money for something that can be had for free.

Galloglass

Today they've sent me a letter explaining they can obtain personal data from credit reference agencies and can see there has been an improvement in my situation - therefore believe I can pay them more.

Why don't you do the same and find out what they know. Get your reports from the CRA's and see what debts are on them.

The next step would be to work out which are simple debts which may not be statute barred; and which may be covered by credit agreements (and ask for copies)

Before changing anything, sit down and review where you are in your debt journey. You may be closer to the end than you think e.g. full and finals.