1st Credit ( Barclay Card ) Threatening my OAP Mum

dementedhousewife

My mother had a credit card with Barclay Card about 8yrs ago.
She went through a messy seperation with her husband and her income
stopped from him so could no longer afford her payments..
So she went to the CAB who sent Barclay Card an I&E.
A few years past and my mother moved address..
Few weeks back she was contacted by 1st Credit, who demanded the whole balance of £600.
I contacted them and advised that there no was no way that they were going to get the whole balance in fact since she has not been contacted in
8yrs the account was Statue Barred.. they then proceded to tell me that
a payment was made by credit card in 2005.. i was stunned as my mother
has no cards.. After calling them back a few times they finally admitted that
a payment belonging to someone else was paid to the wrong account..
I.e my mothers.
Anyway after alot of arguing they said that they are going to order the statement from Barclays,, but will take about a month..


Has anyone else had any dealings with these

smithja

http://www.insolvencyhelpline.co.uk/debt_factsheets/harassment_of_people_in_debt_by_creditors.htm

I would take a look at this link, I think quoting some of it may help. As long as there has been no contact for 6 years then the matter is over.

Hope it helps.

James

dementedhousewife

Yeah thats what i told them but they were so !!!! sure of themsleves..
Saying that they did loads of credit searches on her to find her ect..
They are real nasty

thedebtprofessor

i would be weary of going down the route of harassment on this one. when you take out a credit agreement it is up to you to inform your creditors of a change of address and ensure any minimum payment is still being made. if change of address occurred and the debt is simply forgotten about, the creditor is perfectly within their rights to take whatever action is necessary to retrieve the original amount borrowed, however unfair this may seem!

if your mother took the card out and proceeded to make payments (deemed as contact by the court) for a few years, and the debt was taken out 8 years ago, you need to determine when the last payment was actually made.

If a payment was made less than exactly 6 years prior to contact you cannot defend the debt on the basis it is statute barred (limitation act). in fact it doesnt matter how long ago the debt was taken out, but if the last contact (including payments) were made more than 6 years ago, then yes, she can defend the debt based on limitation (statute barred)

i would also phone the creditor and ask they supply you with a copy of the original agreement. debts of this age tend to be sold to companies at a drastically reduced percentage of the default balance and so may not be 'prime debt' - ie unprovable as documents no longer exist. in these instances DCA's tend to rely on lack of knowledge and/or ignorance to obtain payments from debtors.

the request for the agreement should be made under the consumer credit act and the creditor has 28 days to supply the agreement. if they are unable to supply the agreement they cannot prove the debt exists. after the 28 day period the creditor should place the debt on hold/close. if they pursue court action without documentation it could prove a costly exercise for them.

give yourself as much ammunition as you can - get the copy of the original agreement as well as statements!

hope this helps,

best wishes,

thedebtprofessor

dementedhousewife

Yes i asked for all information on the account but they got really funny with me and said that it would take a month to get.
My mother did send them her new address but they still didnt get back to her
she is really worried bless her.
Old single lady, only income a pension and they send her letters saying they
going to send baliffs round to her flat.

jonesMUFCforever

I think to be fair you missed a couple of words from your last sentence -'Old single lady, only income a pension etc' who managed quite well to spend on the card when it suited.

thedebtprofessor

dementedhousewife wrote: »

Yes i asked for all information on the account but they got really funny with me and said that it would take a month to get.
My mother did send them her new address but they still didnt get back to her
she is really worried bless her.
Old single lady, only income a pension and they send her letters saying they
going to send baliffs round to her flat.

this is another issue, if they are saying they are going to send bailiffs round, they MUST first obtain a court judgment against her. if they have sent a letter saying specifically 'we are sending to bailiffs round' this would be harassment.

if however they state 'we may apply to the court for a warrant of execution for the court bailiff to seize goods from your property' this is not harassment, but a statement of procedure.

DO NOT WORRY. they may also say 'we will send a representative to collect the balance from your property' - this is simply a tactic for you to phone up and make offers to pay or a higher offer if they havent accepted previous offers. 'representatives' have no legal right of entry into any property and cannot seize goods. nor can they harass you into making an unrealistic payment arrangement.

change of address - great - she has upheld her side of the agreement.

the 1 month thing means that the DCA probably doesnt have the paperwork on site, and backs up my thinking that paperwork may not even materialise at all. having said this its been my experience barclays are usually quite good with their paperwork.

i would speak to them again or even better, write requesting a copy of the original agreement under the consumer credit act. failing this they are committing a criminal offence if they fail to supply the agreement within the prescribed period (i believe 28 days from memory)

no agreement = no enforceable debt.

i think it will need to be a waiting game from then on. like i said do not worry about bailiffs - this will only happen once judgment has been obtained and subsequently defaulted on. representatives of the DCA have no legal right of entry - they must be court officers granted a warrant.

last ditch scenario - if they do produce paperwork (and the debt is NOT statute barred), get her to speak to the CCCS (www.cccs.co.uk) and make realistic offers of payment - they will supply a statement of income and expenditure and creditors are generally ok with accepting these offers of repayment, unless you own a house.......let me know if mother owns her property and i'll let you know what they might try to do....its nothing to worry about!

also look into applying to the court for a time order. this will effectively hold the debt while your mum pays court ordered instalments. the creditor is legally unable to pursue further action as long as the time order is in force - ie she doesnt default on payments. your CAB or solicitor should be able to advise you on this.

best wishes,

thedebtprofessor

dementedhousewife

Thank you
My mother only rents her property...
I will wait for them to send over the information that i requested..
When i spoke to them i did try to arrange a small payment each month
but they did refuse..Saying that they wanted the full balance.

CannyJock

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

I think to be fair you missed a couple of words from your last sentence -'Old single lady, only income a pension etc' who managed quite well to spend on the card when it suited.

Reread the OP.

CannyJock

dementedhousewife wrote: »

Thank you
My mother only rents her property...
I will wait for them to send over the information that i requested..
When i spoke to them i did try to arrange a small payment each month
but they did refuse..Saying that they wanted the full balance.

They're working on the basis that if they apply enough pressure then you'll pay the debts on your mother's behalf. They don't care where the cash comes from - if they haven't already suggested this to you then I'd bet a pint that they will.

Stick to your guns on this one - couple of other great threads elsewhere in the forums on dealing with heavy handed debt collection agencies. Few of them are priceless where the debt didn't even belong to the person but the agencies have a "one-size-fits-all" procedure that they follow.

dementedhousewife

I actually said in the first one that she went through a nasty separation with her husband who left her with no money.
She was a housewife with no income