Disputed Barclaycard Debt - Hoist Finance

Blondetotty

Hi all, I wonder if someone can help.  My partner has been getting periodic letters for years about a Barclaycard debt of over 8k.  He's contacted the various recovery agencies saying he never had a Barclaycard and that's always been the end of it.  Lately Hoist finance have been nagging him about it so I stepped in, looked at this forum and wrote the suggested letter requesting the documentation under Section 78.  Hoist have just replied with a copy letter from Barclaycard stating

"We refer to your request for documentation under Section 78 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 which under which we must provide a copy of the executed agreement (and any document referred to in it) and a statement of the account.  We need to advise you that, regrettably, we are currently unable to fulfil your request.  As such, we are not currently able to to enforce our agreement with you and the agreement will remain unenforceable until such time as we are able to fulfil your request.

What this means for you.
Whilst discussions continue we know that we are not able to enforce our agreement with you, but our rights continue to exist under the agreement.

Your current outstanding balance is £8,xxx.xx and you will need to continue to pay the debt that's accrued on the account and make payments in accordance with your statements.

It is important to note that, where debt has accrued on your account, we will, where required, report to credit reference agencies (which may impact your credit rating), demand payment from you, issue a default notice, and instruct a third party to demand payment or otherwise seek payment from you.

This completes our obligations under Section 78 of the act"


The covering letter from Hoist states that they are enclosing a copy of the varied terms and conditions because the original creditor is unable to provide historic terms and conditions.  They also state that they bought the account on 27th January 2014 and are the legal owners of the account.  They've also enclosed a financial statement form.

What has confused us is that they've not proven that he owes the debt.  He says he never had a Barclaycard, and in fact never had a credit card until I met him.  He says it's possible his ex wife may have had one and I'm wondering if she took out a card and he was a joint card holder, but not a joint account but he can't remember. He has got the funds to pay it off but he's reluctant to because he's really sure it's just not his account.  We can't ask the ex wife because we've no idea where she is (running joke, under the floorboards) but can anyone advise where I can go with this now.  Hoist are giving him a 30 day hold before collection activity is resumed.

Help!

sourcrates

A number of things stand out here.

First, he should not have done a CCA request, that as much admits liability, as you cannot CCA someone else`s debt now can you.

The "provit letter" would have been the correct response, however, what`s done is done, moving on from that, it appears Hoist have shot themselves in the foot, and admitted as much in writing.

They state they bought the account in 2014, assuming he has not paid anything towards this debt, and the CCA request was the first written acknowledgement he has made since 2014, and no legal action has been taken, the account will have become statute barred some time during 2020.

You/he should write back stating the above, that the account is in dispute, but would be statute barred anyway.

Blondetotty

Hi sourcrates, I copied the provit letter from Fermi on the sticky, it was the post dated 2010.  Was that not the right one to use?  I copied it word for word and sent it off

Blondetotty

Sorry, pressed enter too soon.  They have been sending him letters over the years and calling him.  He spoke to them initially at the start and asked them to send him the proof but nothing happened except a few more letters now and then.  He's  since blocked the numbers they use so he's not spoken to them in a year or two.  The only written letter was the provit one I sent last month and we've been together 7 years.  He's adamant he's never had the card, nor has he written to them since they started asking for the debt payment.  

sourcrates

If it was the provit letter then that`s fine, doesn't matter now anyway.

Your next move should be to find the statute barred letter, there is a hybrid version somewhere on site, that denies any liability for the debt, and states that it would now be statute barred anyway, that is the version you want to send to them.

Hopefully they will respond by agreeing with you, and won`t pursue the account any longer.

JFYI a simple contract debt can be chased for 6 years (England & Wales) five years in Scotland, after that, as long as no payment/acknowledgement or legal action has been taken, the limitation act see`s to it that debts cannot be chased forever, and they become what`s known as statute barred, which means no legal action can then be taken to re-cover the debt.

This is the point you are at now.

Blondetotty

Thank you for your help, that's awesome.  I'll do that letter now

Brie

Is it possible that it's an even older date from a card company that Barclaycard took over?

As I recall I took out my first credit card that was with Frizzel Bank.  This was taken over my Morgan something, which was taken over by Fish, that was then taken over by Barclaycard.  Barclaycard have no credit agreement with me at all just them saying that they've taken over the previous account.  I think that was possibly 20 years back.  They have likely taken over other cards as well - Barclays bought Woolwich so might be something there.  

I'd just keep asking for proof of the debt and that there was an agreement from somewhere that has the right signature on it.  It might be sufficient to get previous addresses from them as that might prove with whom and where the credit agreement originated.