Engage with Cabot now or wait until court action?

Debt2Recovery

What is the consensus on engaging with debt collector companies like Cabot? Engage with them or ride it out until court action and hope to get the case dismissed on a technicality or settle at a late stage? Risky strategy perhaps!

For transparency I have several defaulted credit card debts (I got into serious financial problems in 2022). Some but not all have been moved to debt collection companies either sold on or for administration purposes. I have been engaging with other debt collector creditors providing updates on my financial situation etc.

There seems to be a differing of opinion on here whether to engage with them or not? Or to only engage when you have to ie court action? I imagine the age of the original credit agreement may play a part in this strategy because they would be more difficult for the creditor to find if at all. 

Any views welcomed. Thanks in advance.

Rob5342

Id say make a CCA request to begin with. If they cant produce it then you can forget the debt, if they can then make a small monthly payment to keep them happy, and save up to make a reduced settlement offer to clear it. 

sourcrates

It really depends on you, and how you want to deal with things.

You can go radio silent and only agree terms if they start a court claim, its 70/30 in your favour it will never happen.

Or you can engage and make arrangements with them, it`s entirely your decision.

The strategy you adopt will depend on your personal circumstances.

Debt2Recovery

Rob5342 said:

Id say make a CCA request to begin with. If they cant produce it then you can forget the debt, if they can then make a small monthly payment to keep them happy, and save up to make a reduced settlement offer to clear it. 

Thanks @Rob5342 🙏 Original debt was with Santander sold to Cabot (letter from Santander with accompanying ‘welcome’ letter from Cabot arrived last week). Would CCA request restart statutory limitation period? I’m 2.5 years in since last communication to Santander. Also credit agreement signed in 2018 highly likely they would be able to get hold of it? Based on your experience what do you think would they be able to get hold of it as quite recent? 

Debt2Recovery

sourcrates said:

It really depends on you, and how you want to deal with things.

You can go radio silent and only agree terms if they start a court claim, its 70/30 in your favour it will never happen.

Or you can engage and make arrangements with them, it`s entirely your decision.

The strategy you adopt will depend on your personal circumstances.

Thanks @sourcrates 🙏 Sound advice I think. I’ve engaged with all the other debt collection companies but fancy playing chicken with these! You say 70/30 it won’t happen. Do you think it is a random chance they just choose someone to go after and take to court. Or are they more strategic weighing up chances of success etc? 

Rob5342

Yes it probably would restart the limitation period so that's something else to consider. I've got a 2017 MBNA card that they found the CCA for.

There's no clear answer really as it depends how you want to play things. Playing it safe might reduce the worry but take a risk and you could end up better off. There are likely to be discount offers before they try anything else and you can still make a payment offer if they try and take things further. 

Debt2Recovery

Rob5342 said:

Yes it probably would restart the limitation period so that's something else to consider. I've got a 2017 MBNA card that they found the CCA for.

There's no clear answer really as it depends how you want to play things. Playing it safe might reduce the worry but take a risk and you could end up better off. There are likely to be discount offers before they try anything else and you can still make a payment offer if they try and take things further. 

Thanks again @Ron5342 makes sense and good advice 👍