Moneybox 24/7 has sold on debt - but I got a redress? 5 February 2022 at 5:14PM in Debt-free wannabe 4 replies 293 views

cluelessnurse

Hi there.  Just wondering if this is right, or even legal...I took out a payday loan with Moneybox 27/4 way back, about 15 years ago. They should not have lent me money as I was not in a position to pay it back  - but I was desperate with 2 small kids to feed and took a risk.  Inevitably I was not able pay it all back before I got into difficulty and started a DMP, which included them, this is finished now but there was still a balance with Moneybox which I thought was written off as I know this company went into liquidation a couple of years ago.  I was actually awarded a redress from Moneybox which I thought was for poor lending practices.  This only works out at a few pence as a percentage of course and I have not seen any of it.  However, I just had an email from Lantern who have apparently bought the remaining balance from Moneybox and are now threatening me with action and reporting to my credit file.  I know they can' report as the default was over 6 years ago but the main question is - can they pursue me for the money?  I thought if I got a redress then they were admitting to poor practice and had closed my account?  I could be very wrong but hopefully one of you clever people will know the answer to this....many thanks!

sourcrates

This is one of those grey area`s of contract law, unless it was specifically stated in your complaint redress, that any balance would be cleared, or written off, then I`m afraid it will still be due.

Your redress would normally only consist of a refund of interest and any charges, the actual balance on the account would still be payable.

However, you say the default was longer than 6 years ago, have you written to them at all during that time, when did you make your complaint ?

The cause of action date for loans is normally now regarded as the date of default, however, any letter or payment, would reset that time scale.

What we need to know is, has there been any clear 6 year period where no payment or written acknowledgement by you has occurred ?

If you can answer YES, then the account will be statute barred, if its NO, then there are other things we can do.

cluelessnurse

Hello Sourcrates, gosh it has got busy on this site so thank you for taking the time to reply to me again!  I was in a DMP from 2014 which they were included in. Then I did a "challenge your debts" thing with a company called Fieldfisher. They said if the company can't find the original agreement then it is unenforceable.  So they wrote to them and got back to me to say, "We have requested a copy of this debt's original credit agreement; in compliance with s77 of the CCA. We are waiting for 24/7 Money Box to respond to our request". They never got back to me or Fieldfisher with this information and there was no further contact. That was in April 2018.  Also, last year they sent me an email asking if I wanted to be included in the redress payouts.  I nearly didn't do it but in the end, I clicked on yes, as I thought this was about bad lending practices but it seems this is not the case. The new contact from Lantern states that, "The default showing on your credit report from 247 MoneyBox will be marked as ‘sold/transferred’ or 'deleted' and we will now continue to record the default in our name. This information will remain on your report for 6 years from the date of default".  However, there is no current record on any of my credit files - I use 'checkmyfile'. This is a little complicated so thank you again! 

sourcrates

Making a request for information under sec 77/79 consumer credit act, is one of your statutory rights, and there is no cost involved to do so, you usually do this yourself using the National Debtline template letter, it doesn't require any 3rd party involvement, you just send a simple letter.

I do hope this company didn`t charge you anything for this "service" ?

Also the letter from Lantern just uses generic wording not specific to any one case in particular.

It won`t be statute barred then, as you acknowledged the debt in 2018, the good news is the creditor never responded to the CCA request, so that means your account is unenforceable, until they do respond, however long that may be.

I would write to Lantern informing them of the lack of compliance with the CCA request on the original creditors part, and that until such time as the request is actioned, you will not be paying the account.

The next move will be up to them.

cluelessnurse

Dear Sourcrates,  thank you so much!  I will contact them with your suggestion. In terms of payment for that service - yes, I did pay and it wasn't what you would call cheap.  They actually contacted me (must have got my information from the DMP or something) saying they had a scheme where I paid 'an affordable amount' every month for a year then they promised to continue working on my 'case' until everything was sorted.  However they seem to have stopped offering this service now as I contacted them recently about this and the guy on the phone did not know anything about it  - he promised to get back to me but he did not. So they did not live up to their promise there.  I now realise that I could have done all this myself but they give you the hard sell about how difficult it is to do yourself and you think to yourself, well, if a solicitor sends the letters it is more likely to be successful.  To be honest I did get a good result from them on a few other old accounts but I feel pretty miffed now that they are ignoring me.  I have learned more on this site than anywhere else about how to handle things myself - so thanks again!