Debts of £35k Wiped

Lapchien66 · 29 January at 4:28PM

Last October my brother-in-law mentioned that he was getting loads of text messages asking him to increase the money he was paying the debt collection companies, and it was causing him great anxiety. I do have some experience of dealing with debt collection companies from years ago – I asked him to share what they said he owed.

It turns out that he had 3 debts that he was paying £20 per month to each one. They were for 2 old credit card debts, for MBNA and HSBC, and 1 loan from Northern Rock.

The totals were around £10,000 for HSBC, £5,000 for MBNA and £20,000 for Northern Rock. He had been paying £60 a month to these, for around 8 years. They were all no longer on his credit file. He is over 70 and would likely have never paid these off.

I sent a consumer credit agreement request to all 3 and told him to stop paying. I also sent a postal order for £1 to each one. He was a bit apprehensive, but I told him to stop panicking.

They were all being chased by the same debt collection firm. A few weeks later, they responded to all 3 requests.

The MBNA and Northern Rock responses were that they did not have the paperwork and as such, the debts could not be enforced if they took him to court. The HSBC one was a bit different, they said they had written to them to get the paperwork.

I wrote back on his behalf; to say that on the unenforceable ones, he was now stopping payment and would not be making any further payments. They wrote back and said that they had now closed these accounts.

A few weeks ago, they threw in the towel on the HSBC one, saying the same – they could not obtain the paperwork, so it was unenforceable. After an exchange of letters, they have said that this one is now closed as well.

You can imagine the relief he now feels. All his debts wiped out, just from a few letters and the price of a couple of stamps and some postal orders for £1.

That’s not the end though. I have written back to them on his behalf to claim back any extra fees, charges and interest they may have added, as these are unlawful, especially as they do not have the assignment or agreement paperwork. Hopefully he will get some of his money back.

If the debt collection company had not pressured him to increase what he was paying each month, he would likely have just carries on paying them.