Bank sold Debt without my Knowledge

[J and C]

Good Afternoon

Checking my credit report I noticed an entry from Cabot which is defaulted.

This is for my credit card debt that I have with HSBC.

Around 18 months ago we had a few money problems so i agreed with my bank to pay £20 per month.

I have been paying this and it has come out of my bank each and every month.

You can imagine my surprise to find they have sold it to Cabot.

Also HSBC have issued a CCJ for this which I had no idea about. We had to move house. ( Bank was informed of this move but we did not receive an court notice)

It now seems Cabot have been getting the £20 from HSBC.

Because they wanted more apparently they can default my account?

I have been in touch with my bank and they think there has indeed been a mistake and they should not of sold the debt.

They have said also that they should not of been passing this on to Cabot. ( No letter done on the phone )

Cabot have stated they need a Income and expenditure form filling in or they will take it to court. Again on the phone ( Letter came from Mortimer Clarke Solicitors this morning)

Question is what should i do now as I am lost with all this and have no idea how to proceed.

Regards

[Amethyst]

Hmmm it all sounds a bit confused first you need to find out exactly what the situation is. Mainly, is there a CCJ in place?

So, you had an HSBC credit card and arranged with HSBC directly to pay £20 a month to them while you got things sorted - as this was 18 months ago it may be that they have sold the debt on if there hasn't been any review of the situation, most of these arrangements are only informal and temporary and they are able to sell it on, however HSBC and Cabot should have sent you a notice of assignment.

More concerning is your mention of HSBC issuing a CCJ, and then Cabot threatening to take it to court ? Are Cabot threatening to go to court for enforcement of the CCJ ? Have you had anything at all from the court ?

Does a CCJ show on your credit file ( it may not if you have been paying this £20 a month ) ? Did Mortimer Clarke give you a claim number? ( if so you should ring the court ( Northampton County Court Business Centre most likely) and ask them for a copy of the claim - then you could look at setting it aside on the basis that it went to an old address despite the bank having your new address before the claim was issued )

I have been in touch with my bank and they think there has indeed been a mistake and they should not of sold the debt.

They have said also that they should not of been passing this on to Cabot. ( No letter done on the phone )

Are they doing anything about it ?

[J and C]

Hi Amethyst

"Mainly, is there a CCJ in place?" Yes by HSBC

"Cabot threatening to take it to court ?" Yes no letter yet just on the phone. They stated on the phone they will hold the procedure for 10 days and if I send the Income and expenditure form back completed they will look at it and review.

"HSBC and Cabot should have sent you a notice of assignment." I never received anything

"Does a CCJ show on your credit file" Yes

Did Mortimer Clarke give you a claim number? No I don't think they know there is already a CCJ on that account. I think there is a claim number on my credit file so can look there.

"Are they doing anything about it ?" Not that we know of, I will phone the bank latter today and ask the question.

[J and C]

Hi

Just as an add on

There is a CCJ on my credit file for this, then after this there is also a default every month put on by Cabot

[Amethyst]

Okay - if the debt has been sold on after HSBC got the CCJ they should tell the court to change the judgment holder. If you take a month off the judgment date - is that after you'd informed HSBC of your new address ?

Also, how much approx is it for?

[J and C]

Good Evening

Got the length of time wrong when I said 18 months, we have been paying £20 since 2014.

Case heard December 2014 - CCJ ordered as not disputed ( We never knew)

CCJ due to be removed 2020 december

Debt sold to Cabot July 2017. Bank gave Cabot the wrong address as we had moved, we told the bank in March 2017 of our new address but they gave Cabot our old address therefor all correspondence went to that address.

The bank also sent the notice of assignment to the old address. ( Looks like the bank changed our current account but nothing relating.)

Late this afternoon we received a letter from Mortimer Clark solicitors confirming that the assignment notice dated August 2017 and a letter from Cabot saying our account had a new home and they have passed it straight to their solicitors Mortimer Clark also dated August 2017 with both addressed to our old house. Both copies were attached to the letter. They are asking for a Income and expenditure form to be filled in.

Total debt is £2700

[Amethyst]

Hmmm, okay sorry just trying to work out what your exact situation is .... so the CCJ was awarded in 2014 and you started making £20 payments ? Did you start making those payments because of the CCJ ( an installment order from the court?) Was the case actually heard and an order made at hearing that you didn't attend or was it a default judgment that you had not received any court papers ? ( also you hadn't moved BEFORE the CCJ was issued )

So really there isn't an issue with the CCJ (it will come off your credit file in under 2 years) The issue is that HSBC are the judgment holder and have sold the judgment on to Cabot ? is that right ?

Does your current situation financially mean you would need to increase the monthly payments? They may be looking to apply to court to vary the installment order if there was one originally, or just have a bit of a renegotiate without going back to the court.

I think I would ring the court and ask them if they have received any notice of the change of ownership. It might also help if you can do a picture of these letters from Cabot and Mortimer clarke ( try cover / edit off personal details ).

The credit file markers you are getting from Cabot - the account was defaulted before the court claim in 2014 and if you can see the default date it should be the original default date of the debt, not a newer date from Cabot taking over the debt, although they will only have started reporting it since taking it over and it should still fall off the file 6 years from the default - so likely 2019/20 if you defaulted 2013/2014. If you're on Noddle it should show the start date... hang on I'll look at mine.

[Amethyst]

I have pretty much perfect example ( lol, such joy ! ) - so this account was opened in Jun 2014, Defaulted in Jan 2016 It was Sold on to a Debt Purchaser ( Hoist ) in Sept 2017 so they started reporting it from that point, HOWEVER it will still fall off the file in 2022 ( 6 years from Jan 2016 ) NOT Sept 2023 ( 6 years from when they started reporting ) - does that help at all ?

[coj432]

Hi Amethyst

Sent a letter asking for all the normal agreements, I have had 2 letters back stating "Further to our previous correspondence our client is compiling a response." How long do they have to respond? What do we do next?

Thank you for you continual support

[Amethyst]

Did you inform Cabot that there was already a Judgment in place that was being paid under an instalment order ?

[coj432]

Hi

sorry wrong post