Cabot financial offering refund?

julieannebartello
julieannebartello Posts: 5
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edited 9 December 2017 at 7:28PM in Debt-free wannabe
OK I'll try to get the details in here in as compact a way as possible.

Sometime around 2006/2007 I defaulted on a personal loan and overdraft with HSBC. This was mostly due to astronomical charges at the time which snowballed. (Did try to claim back but was unsuccessful) the total was somewhere around £2.5k I believe.

2008 I arranged to pay them back at £10 a month. I set up a standing order for this and that carried on for several years. Should mention at this point I was dealing with HSBC in house debt collection/lawyers.

2010 I moved house but no longer had details to contact anyone to tell them. Wasn't an issue as I was still paying the standing order.

Now at some point possibly 2015 (can't remember exactly) I accidentally cancelled the standing order. I wasn't overly fussed about it and thought ill deal with it when it comes back around to bite me in the butt!

Mid 2016 I started getting calls from Cabot financial who wouldn't discuss anything with me until I confirmed details about myself. And I wouldn't confirm details over the phone as at this point I had no idea who they were or why they were calling. They kept saying they'd send me a letter. Never received any letters so never gave it much thought.

December 2016 eventually got a letter after one of these calls and that's when I realised they were chasing the HSBC debt. Logged into the website using the details they provided... Seen how much debt there still was and decided to ignore it as I was working on clearing some other debt at that point.

Never heard from them again... Not even a phone call. Until today I got a letter saying I'm due a refund. First line on the letter states "as prescribed by Scottish law, we can only no longer accept payments on this account". They've sent a refund slip to chose between cheque and bacs for the refund and info about how to cancel and direct debits/standing orders in regards to the debt.

Is it possible Cabot financial maybe acquired the debt in 2012, and due to not having Co tact in that time are now not allowed to chase it. So refunding the payments I made in the time between them acquiring it and me stopping payments?

Now I'm a suspicious person so can't help but think it's a scam to try and get me to acknowledge the debt or for them to confirm they have the right address for me. Neither of which I'd rather do right now.

So, legit or scam?

Comments

  • fatbelly
    fatbelly Posts: 20,380
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    Possibly Legit

    DCAs have been reminded by the FCA that Scottish law says statute barred debts are 'extinguished'. Therefore they do not exist and DCAs must not collect money against them, and must refund any collected in error.

    However, from your description there never was a period of 5 years when you did not acknowledge the debt. It is possible that all the time you were paying HSBC (as they are notoriously incompetent) they had failed to tell you about the debt being sold and at the same time were failing to pass your payments on.

    Surely under that scenario Cabot would have nothing to refund?

    I think it's your call.
  • sourcrates
    sourcrates Posts: 28,717
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    Now I'm a suspicious person so can't help but think it's a scam to try and get me to acknowledge the debt or for them to confirm they have the right address for me. Neither of which I'd rather do right now.

    So, legit or scam?

    Hi,

    No, its legit, they cant make up stuff like this, then renege on it, they would be inundated with complaints and the FCA would take away their consumer credit license, and they would be out of business permanently.

    Take the money, i would say fatbelly`s assumption is most likely partly correct.
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  • I'm not to sure about this. I received the same letter and called them up.

    The call handler, UK based, seemed to stutter and stammer her way through the call and asked for new address and telephone numbers, which I refused until it was explained what the letter was about. She had to put me on hold 3 times when I asked certain questions.

    She told me the refund did relate to what you have been discussing above, but that it was due to me paying them the refund balance to them last year via cheque for a card that defaulted in 2007. I explained that I had and completed a Trust Deed from 2008 and there would be no way I would be sending money in for a defaulted account before or after the trust deed as I had no requirement to do so and I was well aware of it.

    After being put on hold for quite some time she said they were refunding it anyway, so I asked for cheque as opposed to a bacs transfer and I was told it would be quicker and easier for a bacs transfer as I would get the money in time for Christmas and it's what most people do. I told her to stick with the cheque and she gave me another couple of routines as to why bacs was better.

    She eventually agreed to send out the cheque to the wrong house in the street she sent the letter to in the first place, and told me to call back if there was any problems. I told her as a police officer, she would be the first to know (which I'm not) and she couldn't get off the call quick enough.

    Could very well have been a nervous trainee call handler but quite a few things just don't add up. I would be very wary of this.

    J
  • fatbelly
    fatbelly Posts: 20,380
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    I guess if they send a cheque (did they say how much it was for?) then you will be able to pick it up and bank it.

    Can you let us know if it comes?

    If not then I think you (and julieannebartello ) should report this to the FCA.

    Cabot could be facing a big fine if this is a scam.
  • JoJoHernandez
    JoJoHernandez Posts: 1
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    edited 6 January 2018 at 9:24PM
    I'd be interested to know your outcomes.. being in a similar situation :)
  • I have recently received a letter from Cabot, stating that I am due a refund for overpayment of a debt collection. Charge. The options to claim the money were a text to a mobile number that linked to a website and a slip to send back. I did the text one and received the payment in 6 days.
  • So, did the refund cheque arrive?
  • I received a letter from Cabot Financial on 31 January 2019 stating that I was owed a refund from HFC Bank PLC. This was due to overpayment of debt collection charges in 2007. All the details about my accounts were correct. There was an option to text bank details for a refund or post back a slip for a cheque. Being cautious and a little suspicious I opted for a cheque. Posted the slip back on 9th February in pre paid envelope.

    Delighted to say the cheque arrived today (less than 2 weeks later) for a 4 figure sum which also included 8% simple interest.
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