Where do I stand with Cabot? Any help gratefully received, thank you!

db3333

Hi,

I had a handful of debts over 11 years ago that I initially set up a plan to pay through Stepchange and eventually made my own agreements with the debt collection agencies (4 in total).

I never missed a payment.

This year, Cabot Financial began hassling me to do a new financial assessment. This became harassment as they were contacting me by text, phone, email and letter multiple times a week. I eventually went online and completed their forms, where they then told me I didn't earn enough to cover the debt repayments but I set up another direct debit anyway.

I then wrote to them with the template letter, asking them to prove the debt and paid them the £1 fee for this.

Within a week, they emailed and also wrote to me saying they couldn't prove the debt but that it was very important I continue paying them as I still owed the money. The letter was quite threatening in tone so I emailed back and told them I was cancelling all payment as they couldn't prove I owed the money.

They continued to email and write, again demanding I continue to pay. They also kept asking me for details of old addresses as they had an old debt they though might be mine ( I have lived here 7 years so this would be statute barred anyway, plus I have already been paying the debts I owe)

Then they emailed again and said they were reporting themselves for an internal investigation.

Today, 3 months after they said they couldn't prove my debt, I have received a printed copy of what they are claiming is the original credit agreement.

There is no signature of mine on it anywhere, only my name and former address at the top.

There is a tiny box ticked that just says 'signature of customer'.

There are 2 boxes with grainy signatures at the bottom - one says it was signed on behalf of the issuer and is dated 2013, the other box next to this has a very tiny signature, not readable and is dated 19th March this year, so exactly a month after they told me they couldn't prove my debt.

Has anyone else had similar issues with Cabot? And does this class as proof I owe the debt? The letter says 'copy' in red at the top of each page. This could also have been printed at any time.

Do I still need to pay them as they are telling me if they have not provided proof I signed this agreement and there is a date of 2 months ago it was signed by someone else.

I currently have no CCJ's and have managed to rebuild my credit since getting into debt years ago so don't want to risk not paying if they can take it to court and ruin my credit rating. At the same time, I don't want to hand over money to a company if this isn't enough proof I owe the debt.

Thank you in adavnce for your help.

fatbelly

It sounds like what you did was a formal request under s77-9 CCA for a copy of your credit agreement. The 1974 Act still specifies a £1 fee so that is why it sounds like what you did.

The debt is then unenforceable until they comply. They can comply by reconstructing the original agreement

Only a court could say whether that reconstruction is valid. It does not need a signature but must have your name and address as they were at the time. So I think your position is that it is unenforceable and they should either start a court claim or give up.

Most of the Act is due to be repealed probably next year, but this should not be retrospective so you should be ok.

db3333

Thank you :0)

Yes that is what I did, I just forgot what it was called. So you think I can just ignore them?

It does have my name and old address on but the date at the bottom is only 2 months ago and the debt was passed to the original collector between 10 & 11 years go.

If they take it to court, would I automatically get a CCJ, even if I then offer a payment arrangement?

fatbelly

There are two big Ifs there:

If they start a court claim…

If the judge agreed that they had complied...

Then you would get the opportunity to pay it in full (30 days) or a judgement recorded, which could well be to pay by instalments.

Even if I saw the reconstruction I could not be definite. But I cannot see why a recent date would be on it except to say 'date of reconstruction'

db3333

Thank you for taking the time to answer again.

I'll have a think about it and maybe offer a small settlement figure.

A_Geordie

Today, 3 months after they said they couldn't prove my debt, I have received a printed copy of what they are claiming is the original credit agreement

This is crucial if Cabot have stated the above in writing then the signature on the contract needs to be studied by you and verified whether that is your signature or not. If it is not, then this now becomes a question of authenticity and it is up to Cabot to prove that the signature is in fact yours. You should be able to easily rebut this by using your driving licence or passport as evidence.

I would not be accepting that this is the slip of the tongue type situation because reconstituted agreements are made up of available materials and template documents that were used at the time the agreement was signed. More importantly, any signature would be omitted from the reconstituted version for that reason.

Without making serious allegations of forgery (which is what some of these companies actually do), you could take the position of saying "I do not recognise the signature and do not admit having signed this agreement."

If it truly is an original agreement, you could make a subject access request to the original creditor and request a copy of the original signed agreement, which is where Cabot would have obtained it from in order to make that statement. If the original creditor claims nothing exists, that would raise suspicions of potential forgery/misrepresentation by Cabot.

Perhaps you may want to refrain from making any small settlement figure just now until you have gathered further facts and information.

Other than the credit agreement, were there any other documents they supplied to you?