Cabbot financial help

Desperatedebtor · 8 November 2018 at 10:14PM

Help .. my debt management plan have left me in the lurch was supposed to be debt free after 5 years, NINE YEARS AGO !.. now they’re not trading and the largest of all my debts is the last remaining and still stands at 17.6k &#55357;&#56873;

The debt was originally a loan and an overdraft which I believe were merged at some point and Havel since been managed by Capquest, Apex and now Cabbot .. I just can’t face this .. just as my life was starting to fall back into place I feel like I’m going into free fall again.

Is there any point asking for a copy of the consumer credit agreement .. if so why ? What do I do with it , i gather it’s good if they don’t have it .. but how ? Who do I ask for it ? And what do I do next if they don’t have it ?

In the meantime I’ve set up a standing order for £30 per month .. DMP had only been paying Apex £5 ! Is £30 enough to hold the interest and charges off and stop them chasing me aggressively? Do I have to complete their online budget planner and if I do do I just give my information of household info ? will I be expected to send supporting evidence to back up the figures I give them ?

In the meantime I have a complaint in with the ombudsman about the fee free DMP that was totally miss old to me when I was at my most vulnerable.. and was not fee free at all !1 &#55357;&#56865; any help or advice much appreciated x

fatbelly · 9 November 2018 at 9:55AM

The only fee-free dmp providers were stepchange (then cccs) and payplan - and they're still going. So whoever this was, they were always going to charge.

The £30 per month plan is not going to get you debt free unless you plan to live another 49 years.

As a starting point definitely do a s77-79 CCA request. There are details here

https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/factsheets/Pages/getting-information/credit-agreement-advice.aspx

The other thing that crosses my mind is, if this is your only debt and you only have £30 per month spare, do you qualify for a DRO?

Basic Criteria for a debt relief order :

•Must not be a homeowner,

• Debts less than £20,000,

• Can have a car worth up to £1000,

• No other assets of more than £1000,

• Must have £50 or less left at month end, after all essential payments have been made (not inc debt repayments),

• Cannot have had a DRO in last 6 years.

Edit for now, don't give them any info about your circumstances

Desperatedebtor · 9 November 2018 at 10:41PM

I won’t qualify for a debt relief order as (stupidly) when all my defaults dropped off from my old debts I started living my life as normal again , I took out a loan to repay one of my husbands loans and consolidate some high interest credit cards and do some work on the house , so my debt is more than 20k in total .. all my new debt is sensible , low interest/interest free , manageable, paid up to date and was taken out to improve our situation.. this is what worries me about doing a income and expenditure for cabbott , they’re understandably not going to be happy with receiving less than other creditors but at the moment the other creditors are the ones that are active on my credit report (NatWest loan defaulted in 2009 & dropped of a few years ago) also had been ticking along nicely under the debt management plan it was just not at the forefront of my mind , it was taking care of itself. I had been paying the debt management plan £200 per month unbeknown to me they were swallowing 20% of every debt that they settled and only paying minimal payments to NatWest (or whoever had the debt at any given time).. I found out stepchange offered fee free when I did a stint in a financial difficulties team at work and tried to leave my Debt Management Plan but they made it near enough impossible for me. They told me I still owed some fees for debts already settled , and if I left the plan at that point they would use any money in my client account to settle as many debts as possible and I would still be responsible for the fees on this settlements so id be leaving the plan with them as a creditor also.. I was just too depressed to do anything about it, hence my ombudsman complaint about them , they literally told me over and over and over on the phone they don’t charge any fees for their debt management plans unlike other providers then sent me a letter after the first few accounts were settled saying “in line with our terms and conditions we do not charge a fee for our service as we operate on a no win no fee basis” ! Anyway that’s probably for a different thread .. it’s probably a blessing they’ve stopped working in the debt management industry but it has left me floundering a bit.
I can afford to pay more than £30 per month but I’d like to be able to build something up to make a full and final offer I’m worried if I offer £200 per month I’ll still be paying it for over 7 years and I’ll never be in a position to make an offer to settle.. It’s like a game of chess I just don’t know what to do for the best

sourcrates · 9 November 2018 at 11:48PM

These debt management companies take full advantage of the bad situation desperate people with debt find themselves in.

They get you signed up and trapped into an arrangement that’s far from suitable for you, personally I would want to see such companies banned from financial services and lose there consumer credit licence.

The arrangement you seem to of had has been posted about on this forum before, I forget the company name, but one large DMC went bust a while back, taking all of their clients money, saved in a similar fund, with them, average loss was in excess of £8000 per person.

People in serious debt for the first time don’t always realise free help is available, and tend to use the first DMC that they find, normally you would Google everything, but where debt is concerned, we seem to lose all common sense, and we fail to get enough information.

I would seriously consider a written complaint against this company, they are supposed to tell you free help is available as an alternative to the service they offer, and what they did to you could be construed as a form of blackmail.

Oh, and don’t worry about Cabot, you can make your budget conform to whatever offer you wish to make to them, you don’t have to provide proof of your income, your in charge not them.

Desperatedebtor · 11 November 2018 at 3:29PM

Thank you. The company I was with was for the DMP was immediate financial. Apparently Debt Management companies are under much more scrutiny now and they have all been asked to re-apply for their FSA authorisation (hence why immediate are no longer trading in that arena , they couldn’t conform to current requirements). I have complained to them in the past but they didn’t log it as a formal complaint. I wrote a written complaint on the 8th Aug And also requested a full subject Access request, they acknowledged the complaint and said they would respond in 48hours and I heard nothing , chased them mid October still nothing.. luckily because of the date I started the DMP it does fall into the category that would have been regulated by FSA so I have escalated my complaint to the financial ombudsman.. might also fire a letter off to the Information Commissioner too since they still haven’t sent the SAR information and they’re supposed to do so within 30 days 🙄

I’ll do the budget planner online for Cabbot , it’s so difficult to do because my Hubby isn’t responsible for the debt and we don’t have joint finances as such (joint accounts or loans) but we do juggle the bills between us (the current loan that cabbot bought is so old that my ex boyfriend from when I was a teenager actually should probably be paying half ! )

In terms of cabbot, are they allowed to do a credit search on me ? I have a loan of 240 per month but hubby pays the DD for it .. if I didn’t include it in the budget planner would they still be able to see it on my credit report and think I’m just pulling a fast one ?

Sorry about all the questions. I want to give them an accurate picture of where I’m at but I don’t want to shoot myself in the foot either

sourcrates · 11 November 2018 at 4:25PM

Desperatedebtor wrote: »

In terms of Cabot, are they allowed to do a credit search on me ? I have a loan of 240 per month but hubby pays the DD for it .. if I didn’t include it in the budget planner would they still be able to see it on my credit report and think I’m just pulling a fast one ?

Sorry about all the questions. I want to give them an accurate picture of where I’m at but I don’t want to shoot myself in the foot either

Yes they can do a credit search, but that won`t tell them your income.

Cabot are just a debt purchasing company, just because they deal in bad debt does not give them any special rights or status, far from it, you do not have to comply with what they ask, you can say no, you have a fundamental right to say no to anything you choose.

Simply say No, i am not comfortable providing you with that information, this is my offer, this is my budget, take it or leave it.

Desperatedebtor · 12 November 2018 at 8:13PM

Thanks , I just worry they’ll start chasing aggressively if they think they’re getting a raw deal .. someone else is getting 200 and I’m only offering them 30 😬😔 I’m worrying myself sick .. I’ll just have to do the budget planner and hope they don’t come down too heavily on me .. no point putting it off any longer .. wish me luck

fatbelly · 12 November 2018 at 9:23PM

Desperatedebtor wrote: »

Thanks , I just worry they’ll start chasing aggressively if they think they’re getting a raw deal .. someone else is getting 200 and I’m only offering them 30 😬😔 I’m worrying myself sick .. I’ll just have to do the budget planner and hope they don’t come down too heavily on me .. no point putting it off any longer .. wish me luck

You don't have to follow their format - any income/expenditure statement will do.

Start with the £30 surplus and work backward if that's what you want to give them

Just_Di · 13 November 2018 at 12:01AM

Desperatedebtor wrote: »

and now Cabbot ..

Is there any point asking for a copy of the consumer credit agreement .. if so why ? What do I do with it , i gather it’s good if they don’t have it .. but how ? Who do I ask for it ? And what do I do next if they don’t have it ?

There is every point in sending a formal s 77-79 CCA Request to Cabot. If they can't/don't comply within the statutory time frame then the debt becomes unenforceable in court until or unless they do comply.

That's all I would do right now.

See what comes back (if anything) and then consider your options.

Who was the original creditor?

Cabot may struggle to collect this debt if it was an amalgamation of a loan and credit card or overdraft etc.

Di

Desperatedebtor · 20 November 2018 at 7:32PM

The original creditor was NatWest. It then moved to Capquest, followed by Apex and now Cabbot. I don’t think it’s been with anyone else ...

fatbelly · 20 November 2018 at 8:14PM

Desperatedebtor wrote: »

The original creditor was NatWest. It then moved to Capquest, followed by Apex and now Cabbot. I don’t think it’s been with anyone else ...

Then definitely do a CCA request.

If Cabot ask Nat west for it there's a good chance Nat west will just bin the request.

Nothing's guaranteed but that is definitely worth doing.

Cabbot financial help

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