Cabot Financial in behalf or Merlin Europe

dawn389 · 17 March 2017 at 3:04PM

Good call, I'll ask to back date it, but it's very unlikely they're willing to do so, as "we can't bend the rules and regulation, blah blah".

If I choose to pay this and have it marked as fully settled, can I still legally pursue it afterwards and get my money back?

sourcrates · 17 March 2017 at 3:12PM

dawn389 wrote: »

Good call, I'll ask to back date it, but it's very unlikely they're willing to do so, as "we can't bend the rules and regulation, blah blah".

If I choose to pay this and have it marked as fully settled, can I still legally pursue it afterwards and get my money back?

No, it will be extremely hard to get any money back once you pay it, and paying it wont remove it anyway.

StopIt · 17 March 2017 at 3:32PM

dawn389 wrote: »

Good call, I'll ask to back date it, but it's very unlikely they're willing to do so, as "we can't bend the rules and regulation, blah blah".

If I choose to pay this and have it marked as fully settled, can I still legally pursue it afterwards and get my money back?

Actually, you can use the regulations to your advantage. If you can say I don't know this debt, so how can I have an account open from 2008 until 2011 without defaulting? A default should be registered at the breakdown of the relationship so usually 3 months after non payment commences.

Also, don't pay it if you dispute it! You wont get your money back AND it will not affect the default at all.

dawn389 · 17 March 2017 at 3:41PM

If it's fully paid, as a compromise to make this happen faster, are there any law / rules / regulation that prohibits them to back date it by 6-7 months so that it doesn't show anymore on the file?

However, they're saying the account was opened in January 2008, the default is recorded in October 2011, nearly 4 years. What sort of retail agreement will last 4 years, why did it take them so long to report it / mark it as default?!

StopIt · 17 March 2017 at 3:51PM

dawn389 wrote: »

If it's fully paid, as a compromise to make this happen faster, are there any law / rules / regulation that prohibits them to back date it by 6-7 months so that it doesn't show anymore on the file?

However, they're saying the account was opened in January 2008, the default is recorded in October 2011, nearly 4 years. What sort of retail agreement will last 4 years, why did it take them so long to report it / mark it as default?!

If you pay it, they wont do a thing.

If however, it can be shown that whatever this account is should have been defaulted earlier, regardless at the moment of whether it was yours or not, it needs to be backdated. once off your file, the only thing you need to do is then complain to the FOS that Cabot still haven't proved that it is yours, but that wont be a concern time wise.

DON'T PAY IT, DO NOT ACKNOWLEDGE THE DEBT. All you need to do is query when the debt was sold on, and if it was earlier than 2011, why it wasn't defaulted then. It's a legal requirement that default dates added to your credit files are accurate.

Also, to answer your question, many things! Like buying a car etc which they also do.

dawn389 · 17 March 2017 at 5:12PM

Looked again through all paperwork including credit file.

Facts:

1. they're claiming the original debt as with Barclays Finance for £1,111.68 for £30.88/month taken in January 2008.
2. they're claiming the outstanding balance is £706.22
3. that would mean the total amount paid before defaulting was £405.46, divided by £30.88/month = 13 months paid.
4. 13 months from January 2008 would mean February 2009 is the month when the last payment was made.
5. let's assume no payment after that, 3 months later a default should have been recorded on the credit file, so that's May/June 2009.

What happened from June 2009 to October 2011? Shouldn't the default be registered sometime in 2009 rather than 2011, therefore shouldn't this be statute barred / removed from the credit file?

Am I wrong?

sourcrates · 17 March 2017 at 5:26PM

dawn389 wrote: »

What happened from June 2009 to October 2011? Shouldn't the default be registered sometime in 2009 rather than 2011, therefore shouldn't this be statute barred / removed from the credit file?

Am I wrong?

That would be correct yes.

You could argue the default should of been placed much earlier, but that would have no bearing on the accounts statute barred status, but it would fall off your file quicker.

The clock runs from the last payment made or written acknowledgement, the default date is irrelevant to its SB status.

You could send the statute barred letter, but there track record of replying is not great is it.

Maybe address any future communication to there compliance manager, they usually respond to compliance issues.

dawn389 · 17 March 2017 at 5:31PM

How about a call?

sourcrates · 17 March 2017 at 5:39PM

dawn389 wrote: »

How about a call?

Trying to get your point of view across to a debt collector on the phone, is akin to knitting fog in my experience.

Trying to resolve issues over defaults, statute barred accounts, and the like is even harder, as they will just deny everything, you can by all means try, but usually nothing said in a telephone conversation can be legally binding, so they may admit its statute barred on the phone, but may not back that up in writing, which is what you need.

I find keeping everything in writing is the only way to conduct business with these people where anything to do with debt is concerned.

dawn389 · 17 March 2017 at 7:17PM

OK, thanks ever so much for you help!

I spoke to one of the senior managers and he filed a 3rd complaint today while looking into the details of the default and any other paperwork. He agreed that data doesn't add up and he's going to deal with it.

He'll follow up with a letter next week.

Cabot Financial in behalf or Merlin Europe

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free