Advice needed ASAP please!

jumpingbeanz

I had something on hire purchase from Perfect Home and I paid a lot of it off when they went into administration.

I had a phone call from someone at the store and they said there was nothing left to pay.

Anyway, a while after, I started receiving letters from a company called Perch/ACI saying that I owe £xxx of money (hundreds more than it would have been).

So I contacted them saying this isn't right. I wanted to know why they said I owe nothing and how they suddenly get this huge figure. I asked for some proof or a statement of account, notice of assignment, breakdown of payments made etc.

They emailed me back saying that they have none of this and (in their own words) they say "while this is unenforceable, we still hold you responsible for payment"

I told them I won't be paying anything as they have no proof that I owe it. Just a copy of original agreement from years ago.

Then, few months later, I now have a letter from another company acting on their behalf, threatening me with a CCJ if I don't pay immediately and that I have ignored all contact. I have emailed these people as well with a copy of the email ACI sent me. They chose not to respond to that email and just so say that I am ignoring them.

I want to know what to do next please as if they try for a CCJ, will they get it? Do I fight it? Ignore it? Not sure what to do. Thanks for listening.

Brie

It's possible that Perfect Home's records hadn't been updated to show your zero balance when the list of accounts was forwarded to the administrators or to the debt collectors. That would account for some of what they say you owe. Companies will also add service charges which are often well in excess of the actual debt (if there was one). That's why parking firms send a PCN invoice for £40 which eventually escalates to a few hundred.

I would suggest that you send the prove it letter. Keep a copy of it and any correspondence. Refuse to engage in any phone calls with the company and insist that you will only deal with things by snail mail.

I suspect the threat of a CCJ is just part of their scare tactics to get you to cave in and agree to pay them something. I would ignore that bit for now but do come back should you actually get a summons to court. Should that happen (highly unlikely) then your defense will be that you asked for proof and they have not provided it.

jumpingbeanz

Thank you, I will send that now

ManyWays

I now have a letter from another company acting on their behalf

Is this letter a "Letter Before Action"? This may have various headings but there will be a form attached headed "Reply Form". If there is one of these, you must NOT ignore this. Come back and ask how to fill it in.

sourcrates

OP has already been advised no paperwork can be found, so sending a prove-it letter now is a waste of time really.

Usually companies "acting on a creditors behalf" have absolutely zero powers to do anything except to ask you to pay.

Unless the debt has been legally assigned to this company, they can`t do anything.

Who is this new company you mention, what`s their name?

The ambiguous nature of the letters that state you have ignored all contact, are standard DCA templates designed to cause uncertainty, in the hope you will pick up the phone and simply pay them, regardless of whether you actually owe the money or not.

They like to mess with your head by using threats they know they cannot follow through with.

"I want to know what to do next please as if they try for a CCJ, will they get it? Do I fight it? Ignore it? Not sure what to do. Thanks for listening".

The civil procedure rules dictate a "letter before action" must be sent before a court claim can commence.

Its a document designed to come to an amicable arrangement without the need to progress to court, part of this document allows you to request evidence of your liability, something they had trouble obtaining previously, and most likely would again, in which case it would all end there.

Likewise if they chose to ignore civil procedure rules and go straight to a claim, its imperative you defend it as they would still have to provide the same evidence to the court.

In situations such as this, the messages they send out are 1% truth, and 99% bluff.