Notice of Appointment Letter from ACI On Behalf of Intrum

landghove

Had a letter today from ACI saying they are writing on behalf of Intrum who have instructed them to collect an outstanding debt owed to HSBC of £6,536.

This is the first communication I have had about this debt in over 16 years.

Do I need to send the Statute Barred letter to both ACI and Intrum?

If a CCJ was raised say 17 years ago what is the validity of that now?

Thanks.

sourcrates

You should send the statute barred letter if you recognise the debt and are sure of its age and status, if you are not certain, then send the prove-it letter first.

Send to both companies if you wish.

If a CCJ was ever granted on this debt, that would be enforceable for 6 years, after which any enforcement action would have needed special permission of the court, this permission would normally have to be applied for before the initial 6 years ran out, if nothing is showing on your credit file, it either was never there, or has timed out.

landghove

Thanks Sourcrates...I have checked my Experian report and there is nothing there...though it only goes back 6 years....and this happened around 17 years ago.....

I have drafted the template letter already....but taking into account how long this happened would ACI or Intrum actually be able to do anything?....what purpose would the SB letter serve?

ManyWays

If you tell the firm its statute barred, they have to agree or prove it isnt.
If you ignore the debt, they can go to court and you have to try a statute barred defence there.
Much better to get this sorted now rather than go through the stress of a court case. 

RAS

Rather than drafting a letter, use the one in the stickies on the front page of the subforum. It's with the Prove it letter.

If they don't reply promptly, make a formal complaint.

Chickengravy40

I had the exact same letter from them, also from an HSBC debt from around 10-15 years ago. I've sent the statut barred letter so fingers crossed. It's the 'cause of action' date that worries me though with it being an overdraft 

landghove

Chickengravy40 said:

I had the exact same letter from them, also from an HSBC debt from around 10-15 years ago. I've sent the statut barred letter so fingers crossed. It's the 'cause of action' date that worries me though with it being an overdraft 

Let us know how you get on, I do wonder if they just bin the SB letters, not sure what weight they really have.

Chickengravy40

landghove said:

Chickengravy40 said:

I had the exact same letter from them, also from an HSBC debt from around 10-15 years ago. I've sent the statut barred letter so fingers crossed. It's the 'cause of action' date that worries me though with it being an overdraft 

Let us know how you get on, I do wonder if they just bin the SB letters, not sure what weight they really have.

I've had another letter today saying they're now sending a company called Verity to my home address as I've failed to respond so it looks like they've completely ignored the SB letter.
Have you had any progress?

sourcrates

@landghove @Chickengravy40 If your initial letters get ignored, then send this to them, as always, read carefully, and edit to your circumstances.

The FCA don`t investigate individual complaints, but do keep a record of complaints, so if enough are received, they will take action. If you don`t get a satisfactory response this time, you can ask the FOS to intervene, they will write to them and tell them to deal with your complaint.

Possible letter if previous letters are ignored.

Report them to the FCA and Trading Standards as well.

Quote:
I do not acknowledge any debt to you or any other company or organisation that you claim to be representing.

Acc/Ref No: *******************

FORMAL COMPLAINT under the complaint procedures set out by the Financial Ombudsman.

Thank you for your letter dated xx/xx/xxxx, the contents of which are noted.

On xx/xx/xxxx I wrote to <Name of debt collector> regarding a debt that was alleged to be owed by myself. That letter was received and signed for on xx/xx/xxxx as confirmed by Royal Mail tracking.

In this letter I pointed out the following items:

1) Under the Limitation Act 1980 Section 5 "an action founded on simple contract shall not be brought after the expiration of six years from the date on which the cause of action accrued".

2) The FCA say in their Consumer Credit sourcebook "...a firm must not attempt to recover a statute barred debt in England, Wales or Northern Ireland if the lender or owner has not been in contact with the customer during the limitation period." 7.15.4

3) The last correspondence/payment/acknowledgement or payment of this debt was made over six years ago and no further acknowledgement or payment has been made since that time. Unless you can provide evidence of payment or written contact from me in the relevant period under Section 5 of the Limitation Act, I suggest that you are no longer able to take any court action against me to recover the alleged amount claimed.

4) The FCA Consumer Credit sourcebook states further that "A firm must not continue to demand payment from a customer after the customer has stated that he will not be paying the debt because it is statute barred." 7.15.

Therefore it is clear that your original contact regarding this debt may well have been in breach of the FCA Rules referred to in item (2).

Furthermore, your second letter is in breach of the FCA Rule referred to in item (4) and constitutes harassment.

As you are no doubt aware, breaches of the FCA Rules are treated seriously by the FCA when considering your fitness to hold a Authorisation with the FCA.

Therefore I wish to formally notify you that unless I received confirmation that this matter is now closed, then I will not hesitate to make a formal complaint to the 'FCA' and also to 'Trading Standards'.

Furthermore, any attempted contact (other than to confirm that this matter is now closed) by any:

• "trading style" of the <Name of debt collector> group
• constituent member of the <Name of debt collector> group
• a third party acting on your behalf
• a third party that claims to have been legally assigned this debt

will result in an immediate complaint to the aforementioned regulatory bodies.

Also please note that any legal action you may consider will be FULLY and VIGOROUSLY defended, and you will be put to a strict proof of the alleged debt and any payment or acknowledgement that you claim within the relevant limitation period.

In line with the protocols on pre-action conduct, I therefore request a independently verifiable copy of any acknowledgement or payment that you may claim was made within the limitation period. Failure to comply with this reasonable request will result in your actions being brought to the attention of the court.

Furthermore, you may consider this letter a FORMAL COMPLAINT under the complaint procedures set out by the Financial Ombudsman. If you wish to correspond with myself with any other purpose than to confirm that this matter is now closed, then I require you to supply me with a written copy of your complaints procedure and a "final response" that I may forward to the Financial Ombudsman with my complaint.

This COMPLAINT is not going to go away and ignoring this problem could potentially make your situation worse. I therefore strongly recommend that you send written confirmation that no further contact will be made concerning the above account and confirmation that this matter is now closed.

I would appreciate your due diligence in this matter.

landghove

Chickengravy40 said:

landghove said:

Chickengravy40 said:

I had the exact same letter from them, also from an HSBC debt from around 10-15 years ago. I've sent the statut barred letter so fingers crossed. It's the 'cause of action' date that worries me though with it being an overdraft 

Let us know how you get on, I do wonder if they just bin the SB letters, not sure what weight they really have.

I've had another letter today saying they're now sending a company called Verity to my home address as I've failed to respond so it looks like they've completely ignored the SB letter.
Have you had any progress?

Nothing received yet but am sure its only a matter of time. I sent the SB letter to both ACI and Intrum via Royal Mail recorded delivery.

Thanks to @sourcrates for the above information.

Chickengravy40

sourcrates said:

@landghove @Chickengravy40 If your initial letters get ignored, then send this to them, as always, read carefully, and edit to your circumstances.

The FCA don`t investigate individual complaints, but do keep a record of complaints, so if enough are received, they will take action. If you don`t get a satisfactory response this time, you can ask the FOS to intervene, they will write to them and tell them to deal with your complaint.

Possible letter if previous letters are ignored.

Report them to the FCA and Trading Standards as well.

Quote:
I do not acknowledge any debt to you or any other company or organisation that you claim to be representing.

Acc/Ref No: *******************

FORMAL COMPLAINT under the complaint procedures set out by the Financial Ombudsman.

Thank you for your letter dated xx/xx/xxxx, the contents of which are noted.

On xx/xx/xxxx I wrote to <Name of debt collector> regarding a debt that was alleged to be owed by myself. That letter was received and signed for on xx/xx/xxxx as confirmed by Royal Mail tracking.

In this letter I pointed out the following items:

1) Under the Limitation Act 1980 Section 5 "an action founded on simple contract shall not be brought after the expiration of six years from the date on which the cause of action accrued".

2) The FCA say in their Consumer Credit sourcebook "...a firm must not attempt to recover a statute barred debt in England, Wales or Northern Ireland if the lender or owner has not been in contact with the customer during the limitation period." 7.15.4

3) The last correspondence/payment/acknowledgement or payment of this debt was made over six years ago and no further acknowledgement or payment has been made since that time. Unless you can provide evidence of payment or written contact from me in the relevant period under Section 5 of the Limitation Act, I suggest that you are no longer able to take any court action against me to recover the alleged amount claimed.

4) The FCA Consumer Credit sourcebook states further that "A firm must not continue to demand payment from a customer after the customer has stated that he will not be paying the debt because it is statute barred." 7.15.

Therefore it is clear that your original contact regarding this debt may well have been in breach of the FCA Rules referred to in item (2).

Furthermore, your second letter is in breach of the FCA Rule referred to in item (4) and constitutes harassment.

As you are no doubt aware, breaches of the FCA Rules are treated seriously by the FCA when considering your fitness to hold a Authorisation with the FCA.

Therefore I wish to formally notify you that unless I received confirmation that this matter is now closed, then I will not hesitate to make a formal complaint to the 'FCA' and also to 'Trading Standards'.

Furthermore, any attempted contact (other than to confirm that this matter is now closed) by any:

• "trading style" of the <Name of debt collector> group
• constituent member of the <Name of debt collector> group
• a third party acting on your behalf
• a third party that claims to have been legally assigned this debt

will result in an immediate complaint to the aforementioned regulatory bodies.

Also please note that any legal action you may consider will be FULLY and VIGOROUSLY defended, and you will be put to a strict proof of the alleged debt and any payment or acknowledgement that you claim within the relevant limitation period.

In line with the protocols on pre-action conduct, I therefore request a independently verifiable copy of any acknowledgement or payment that you may claim was made within the limitation period. Failure to comply with this reasonable request will result in your actions being brought to the attention of the court.

Furthermore, you may consider this letter a FORMAL COMPLAINT under the complaint procedures set out by the Financial Ombudsman. If you wish to correspond with myself with any other purpose than to confirm that this matter is now closed, then I require you to supply me with a written copy of your complaints procedure and a "final response" that I may forward to the Financial Ombudsman with my complaint.

This COMPLAINT is not going to go away and ignoring this problem could potentially make your situation worse. I therefore strongly recommend that you send written confirmation that no further contact will be made concerning the above account and confirmation that this matter is now closed.

I would appreciate your due diligence in this matter.

Hi I sent this and just got a response, is this the end of it now? I notice they've said THEY won't contact me but it's been returned to Interim?

Thank you for your recent email. We have carefully reviewed your account and can confirm that your account is statute barred under the terms outlined in CONC 7.15 of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Handbook.According to CONC 7.15, a debt becomes statute barred if the creditor has not pursued legal action or received a payment from the debtor for a specified period (usually six years in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and five years in Scotland). This means that while the debt still exists, it is no longer legally enforceable through the courts.We have updated our records accordingly. The account has been closed, and it has been returned to our client, Interim. You will no longer receive communication from us regarding this matter.If this email doesn’t fully address your query, please reply, and we’ll be happy to assist you further. Alternatively, you can reach us directly at 01253 531 528.