Response from PRA Group/Westcot re unenforceable debts

np1v08

Hi and happy new year! 

I'm seeking a quick validation check on a letter I received regarding a couple of my NatWest Retail debts in 2024. Both accounts (loan and credit card) were defaulted by NatWest in January and February 2020 respectively and so they will be dropping off my credit files at the end of this month and next month. PRA Group bought both debts in 2024.

PRA Group had already written to me confirming they couldn't obtain the CCAs I requested back in September 2025, and the accounts were marked as unenforceable. However, yesterday I received a letter from Westcot who are now managing the accounts. Westcot has been in contact with PRA Group again who provided a further response that was attached with Westcot's letter, as follows:

"I appreciate you had expressed concerns regarding the enforceability of your accounts. Having reviewed the available details, I can confirm that unfortunately as we were unable to provide the requested agreement for each of your accounts, and as such they would remain unenforceable.

What this means for you
This means we are unable to take enforcement action against you to recover the outstanding balances.

That said, please allow me to clarify a misunderstanding, the question of enforceability relates only to whether we can enforce your agreements in court. It is important to note that this does not mean that your debts have been written off. As such, while unenforceable we are within our rights to:

• Contact you and ask you to repay what you owe.
• Pass your details onto a third-party collection agency.
• Continue to report your account with the credit reference bureaux
• Send statutory letters and annual statements.

We will provide the agreements to you immediately if we receive them from NatWest in the future. Your accounts will then become enforceable again allowing us to take appropriate action to recover the outstanding balance if necessary."

Westcott have asked me to respond by 26th January to arrange repayment of the outstanding balance. However, as I understood it, they cannot do anything meaningful such initiate a CCJ or default the accounts (as they have already been defaulted) without the CCA. I'm not inclined to just ignore Westcot's letter, and would it be sufficient to respond simply to confirm I have no intention of making any further repayments to these debts whilst they are marked as unenforceable? I was previously making montly repayments through a PayPlan DMP but now these debts have been removed by PayPlan and are not included.

Thank you in advance 🙂

sourcrates

Allow me to clarify a few things.

Wescott are managing the account, it has been assigned to them on an equitable basis only, which means all they can do is collect the debt, they cannot take enforcement action, even if they wanted too, as they don`t own it, PRA group do.

And yes, its been known all along that the term "unenforceable" only refers to the creditors ability, or lack of it, to obtain a county court judgement, they can still pursue collection activity, but that is all.

Honestly Wescott are just an uninterested 3rd party to this arrangement, they are telling you nothing we did not already know here, they are of no consequence whatsoever in this matter, and responding to them is a complete waste of your time.

Rob5342

As they haven't produced the cca the debt remains unenforceable and they can't take any legal action against you. What they say is correct, but it's just meaningless bluster to try and make you pay when they know they don't have a leg to stand on. 

I'd just keep quiet, acknowledging the debt might reset the statute barred clock, and they could well be trying to trick you into doing that. 

ManyWays

I think it is helpful to make one clear statement to PRA that you will not be paying the debts while they remain unenforceable. Have you already done this? 

fatbelly

What this means for you

This means we are unable to take enforcement action against you to recover the outstanding balances.

That's as far as you need to read

np1v08

ManyWays said:

I think it is helpful to make one clear statement to PRA that you will not be paying the debts while they remain unenforceable. Have you already done this? 

Yes, I did put that in an email to PRA some time before Christmas. I thought I needed to reiterate the point to Westcot as well, but as others here have commented, it seems it's not necessary or even useful to do so!

Rob5342

Yes just ignore them, they are essentially just saying please give us some money for this worthless debt we can't enforce. 

ManyWays

Provided you have said it once, that is fine. 

SPM87

I just want to add something additional here. I am of the suspicion that the ones they know they have trouble re-enforcing the debt they pass on to the likes of a Wescot to push for them. So if Wescot are chasing you are a long way off any type of litigation action and therefore them chasing the debt is far more positive than negative. At the very least they have less confidence in it for whatever reason than pushing direct.

np1v08

SPM87 said:

I just want to add something additional here. I am of the suspicion that the ones they know they have trouble re-enforcing the debt they pass on to the likes of a Wescot to push for them. So if Wescot are chasing you are a long way off any type of litigation action and therefore them chasing the debt is far more positive than negative. At the very least they have less confidence in it for whatever reason than pushing direct.

Oh really? I hadn't considered that angle, but I'm very encouraged by it! Thank you.