CapQuest threats - worried sick

tinacee1

My brother has been ill for a couple of years now and has not worked since 2005. A debt was passed on to Capquest from the Halifax building society originally £300 but rose to £425.

He had been paying £1 a month to Capquest (this was sorted out with the CAB) as he is on Invalidity Benefit..

A letter arrived this morning to say that investigations by them have indicated that he is in employment, and that proceedings have been instigated and the Court awards judgement, he will be required to pay the monies owed forthwith. HE HAS NOT BEEN IN A JOB FOR OVER 2 YEARS.

This letter even says that the judge may decide to commit him to prison if he does not attend to be questioned, or attend but refuse to take an oath or answer questions.

I am so worried about him as he is a very ill man (on 11 tablets a day) he has extreme breathing problems. He has to attend a specialist on a regular basis.

Please advise as i am fearful for his health because of this threatening letter. He has never denied owing this money and thought that the arrrangement through the CAB was alright.

This company never seem to let up and they had been ringing him but as he is in sheltered accommodation now they don't have his new number. Thank goodness. Your advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in anticipation.

midge61

Hi

I think you will find it is nothing but a threat to try to scare hm into paying more. I would take the letter into CAB as they will not be impressed by it at all. I'm sure they will contact Capquest on your brothers behalf and sort it out for him.

Iamthesmartestmanalive

Ask them what their proof is, of course if they decide to take it to court and do have proof he's screwed and claiming he is too ill to attend when he is clearly not will just !!!! off a judge even more

What sort of work are they claiming etc?

If he is getting paid for anything at all he could be in trouble though as generally speaking courts dont like scammers

satelliteone

Really disgusting tatics, this company need shutting down.

I_know_my_ABC_and_my_CMYK

The onus is on Cap quest to prove your brother owes the debt not the other way round. Have look on the consumer action group website on the debt section. There is a letter on there to copy and send to the debt collection agency with a postal order for £1 asking for a true copy of the original credit agreement your brother signed. The chances are they wont have it, If they don't send you this within 14 days you can legally stop payment to them. If you have still not got this after a further 30 days the DCA can be fined up to £2500 (i think). Trading Standards deal with this area as well as the OFT. You can report them for their harassment to TS who will sort it for you. As for the calls the easiest way would be to change number or add a service onto the phone called choose to refuse (if its with BT) you can block up to 10 numbers with this so they cannot connect to your number. Always deal by letter only and never by the phone. Send a letter stating phone calls will not be accepted letters will be answerer. If they fail to comply with this request again they are up the river without a paddle. Don't let them wear you down, company;s like this a parasites and bleed people dry. They bully and insult those who are in a bad situation usually through no fault of their own. Another thing to remember unless the law has changed a DCA cannot hold the credit agreement only original creditor can which means the DCA is legally NOT entitled to the debt even though they have paid for it. Good luck, One last thing look for the posts made by a guy called diskmandave on the consumer action group website.

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/debt-collectors-debt-collection/71386-diskmandave-robinson-way-co.html

This will be useful
http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/debt-collectors-debt-collection/99361-you-being-harassed-telephone.html

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/debt-collectors-debt-collection/123754-debt-collection-practice-review.html

soolin

Just one thought here just in case..whilst your brother does not go out to work he doesn't dabble on ebay or Amazon does he? This is just the type of story that crops up on some of the other boards i read where someone basically turns a small profit from something that started out as a hobby and doesn't realise they are in fact trading.

liamsmum05

i hate this company im with them paying them £5 a month for a credit card i had until i found this site i had nothing but threats phone calls everyday i got to the stage i was being harrassed so much i changed my number.
unless they have any proof they cannot do anything.ring them askl them to send valid proof in the post of him working and how they found this out.

Alpha47

Hello
Just thought I would mention the Office of Fair Trade have written to me today. I complained about this awful company in the summer. They were threatening me with bankruptcy for a debt I knew nothing about.

At the time I contacted consumer direct about it, and now the OFT want to challenge the company's right to hold a licence and are asking for info on what happened to me. I am of course happy to help the OFT take action against them.

Also very grateful for all the help I got on this board.

So please complain about them because it does seem to work in the end, I started with Consumer Direct.

Good luck
Alpha

I_know_my_ABC_and_my_CMYK

Trading Standards have been compiling a file of complaints on this DCA for quite some time now over the methods they use to get people to pay up. They are not concerned whether the debt actually belongs to you or not. They send letters out to everyone with the same name in the same town hoping that someone will pay up regardless of that debt being theirs or not. Most people will pay due to fear. This company is happy to take numerous payments for one debt off several people and if the actual debtor hasn't paid they will still pursue that person. They have been sailing very close to the wind for a number of years now. It's well past time for the OFT to reign them in.

mcjordi

i know its easy to say but dont worry, i have a letter hear from capquest being all nicey nicey because they know fine well that i dont have a signed credit agreement with the company they are collecting for; and i quote "we are open to suggestion on how to settle this account" well one sugeestion is leave me alone and write it off your own problem for not getting a credit agreement, most catalouges dont get you to sign one so there problems not ours.
my mam owed thousands, she was really ill up till march 2004, when she passed away, i threatend her creditors will legal action if they did not leave here alone, baliffs did turn up and faced with me at the door they lets say went away, ( i am not some muscle bound idiot) i just love my mam, and nothing was going to get to her. i got her debts from around £10k mark to £500 to provident who werent budging. they all apologised for causing distress to myself and my mother and be assured they would not be persuing any of the money owed, provident got £1 a week (advised by a close) friend who was an area manger that if something is paid every three months then theres nothing that can be done under there own rules.
hope all goes well