Asset Collections & Investigations Moneyclaim

[Danpassan]

Hi all,

I wondered if you could advise me on a small claims proceeding that's been issued against me by the above debt firm (ACI). They purchased this debt from Avant Credit UK, LLC. I was originally contacted by ACI in January informing me that I owe them over £3k having purchased the debt from Avant. I was in contact with them and provided information around the original debt and why the amount was incorrect - I received no communication back from ACI until the court papers landed..

I have submitted a defence online which I understand may not have been the best thing to do at this stage reading other stories. It's probably easier if I copy the defence made to this thread as it provides the detail around why I think ACI have not taken reasonable steps to resolve this with me in addition to the query around the original debt amount as I've now received a Directors Questionnaire:

" I agreed an amount of £564.32 as full and final settlement of the
loan with the original creditor on 31/08/2016. I then received an
email receipt from the original creditor on 01/09/2016 confirming
that the loan had been repaid and was now closed; email extract:
01 September 2016
Customer ID #: xxx
Loan ID #: xxx
Dear xxx,
Loan #xxx
Congratulations! AvantCredit received your payment of £564.32 on
31 August 2016, and your loan is now paid in full.
We hope you had a great experience with AvantCredit, and invite
you back for your future borrowing needs.
Kind regards,
AvantCredit Support

I was then contacted multiple times by the original creditor
stating that the loan payment was overdue despite receiving the
above confirmation of settlement. Following a complaint that I
raised with the creditor, it transpired that even though we agreed
a full and final settlement of £564.32, they 'assumed' this would
be in addition to the regular monthly payment due on 31/08/2016.
This was not mentioned anywhere in the full and final settlement
that was agreed. In addition, I was told that despite the original
creditor confirming my loan was settled and closed, they had in
fact not taken the agreed settlement figure of £564.32 from my
account. Instead there was £112.07 taken from my account, which
they claim was half of the regular monthly payment (which was not
agreed as part of the settlement). I was then offered a further
settlement figure of £676.39 which comprised the settlement of
£564.32 and the remaining half of the regular monthly payment
amount of £112.07. By this point I was extremely confused to say
the least and just wanted the situation resolved, so I agreed to
the complaint response offer of £676.39 as full and final
settlement, yet again. I requested confirmation that my credit
report was not marked as 'defaulted' - something that was agreed
within the original settlement of £564.32, this was agreed by them
so I spoke with their US based customer support team to setup the
payment from my card. I was then told that they had no record of
the revised offer (or previous settlement) and they need me to pay
a completely (and much higher) amount in overdue payments. I then
responded via email to the person dealing with the complaint
stating that there is no record of the revised offer of £676.39
according to their colleagues (customer support) and they wouldn't
agree to setup the payment because of this. Within the same email
I asked for the complaint handler to setup the payment from the
card details they already had to which I did not receive a
response despite chasing. Multiple calls to their customer support
team resulted in the same response - denying that any settlement
was agreed.

I received no further contact from the complaint handler at Avant
Credit UK LLC until 2018 when I started to receive calls at my
workplace and letters to my home address from Asset Collections &
Investigations Limited (Claimant) demanding over £3,000.00. I
responded to the Claimant explaining the situation above who asked
me to provide the email receipt (extract above), which I promptly
did on 13/03/2018. I was then asked by the Claimant to send
the receipt to another email address, this time
to 'xxx@assetcollections.co.uk' which I did on 09/05/2018. I then
contacted the Claimant through the original method
of communication (xxx@assetcollections.co.uk) stating that I
had sent the receipt once again to the email address provided as
requested. I waited for their feedback, which never came - I then
heard nothing back from the Claimant until the court claim arrived
at my home on 13/06/2018."

Would you mind letting me know what your thoughts on the situation are and any advice would be greatly appreciated? Help!

Best wishes,

[Amethyst]

Okay. Your primary defence is that you reached a settlement agreement with the original creditor and received confirmation of this.

01 September 2016
Customer ID #: xxx
Loan ID #: xxx
Dear xxx,
Loan #xxx
Congratulations! AvantCredit received your payment of £564.32 on
31 August 2016, and your loan is now paid in full.
We hope you had a great experience with AvantCredit, and invite
you back for your future borrowing needs.
Kind regards,
AvantCredit Support

That should be all you require. Presumably you have the original email still. Print it out in full.

Also what shows on your credit file regards this debt ?

Was there only one loan with Avant ? ( there weren't any roll overs / additional loans needing dealing with ?)

As you have entered your defence already I would now gather information in readiness for if the claimant proceeds and enters a reply to your defence or allows the case to proceed to directions.

Send a SAR to Avant
Send a CCA request to the Claimant
Send a CPR 31.14 request to the Claimant's Solicitors

Can you type out the Particulars of Claim please.

Have you had any letters from TM Legal ?

[Danpassan]

Okay. Your primary defence is that you reached a settlement agreement with the original creditor and received confirmation of this.



That should be all you require. Presumably you have the original email still. Print it out in full.

Also what shows on your credit file regards this debt ?

Was there only one loan with Avant ? ( there weren't any roll overs / additional loans needing dealing with ?)

As you have entered your defence already I would now gather information in readiness for if the claimant proceeds and enters a reply to your defence or allows the case to proceed to directions.

Send a SAR to Avant
Send a CCA request to the Claimant
Send a CPR 31.14 request to the Claimant's Solicitors

Can you type out the Particulars of Claim please.

Have you had any letters from TM Legal ?

Thanks for your response Amethyst. I'll answer your questions below:

1. I have all of the original emails from Avant confirming settlement agreement, successful payment (which was later retracted) and also copies sent to ACI.
2. My credit file shows 2 records from Avant - the first is a successfully cleared loan (correct, not related to this claim) and the second relates to this claim, which states that I missed payments from May 2016 to May 2017, with the final mark of 'Payment' on June 2017 and the account is listed as 'Settled'?
3. I will SAR, CCA and CPR as per your instruction above - what happens if I do not get this information back in time for any court hearing?
4. I've not had any contact from TM Legal.

Thanks,
Dan

[Danpassan]

Apologies - the Particulars of Claim is at home so I'll type that out when I'm back later this evening. It's very brief and looks generic i.e. the defendant owes £3.4k as per credit agreement and has not paid etc.

[Amethyst]

Same old same old then. That's okay.

2. My credit file shows 2 records from Avant - the first is a successfully cleared loan (correct, not related to this claim) and the second relates to this claim, which states that I missed payments from May 2016 to May 2017, with the final mark of 'Payment' on June 2017 and the account is listed as 'Settled'?

So you overall had two loans from Avant, and both were paid off in full & final - presumably that email confirmation does state the correct reference for the debt being claimed now ?

Are you on Noddle credit file wise ( I just posted a copy of one of my full and finals on another thread so I'll pop it here too for ref ) that's standard what it looks like when f&f settlements been made and reported correctly to CRA's ( appears under Closed accounts )

[Danpassan]

Same old same old then. That's okay.



So you overall had two loans from Avant, and both were paid off in full & final - presumably that email confirmation does state the correct reference for the debt being claimed now ?

Are you on Noddle credit file wise ( I just posted a copy of one of my full and finals on another thread so I'll pop it here too for ref ) that's standard what it looks like when f&f settlements been made and reported correctly to CRA's ( appears under Closed accounts )

Thanks. Yes - x2 loans in total from Avant. The first was closed successfully and the second loan (the one in question) is listed as settled - see attached image from Noddle. But as you can see from my defence notes they didn't take the payment from my card for full and final settlement even though I was issued with a receipt (extract in my defence above), and then settlement number 2 was offered to me which again I couldn't get them to take the money from my card. Then ACI arrived and court papers soon after.

[Amethyst]

Ahhhh, it's not entirely clear but yes now you have said that I can see what you mean in the defence, I got a little lost before where you mention it being confusing lol.

I would likely have stuck with the agreed settlement, receipt provided defence and let them evidence any alternative.

Do you have the agreement to accept that f&f offer at all in writing / email etc or just the 'loan is paid' part ?

Do you have the card statements from then too ? and what was the issue with them taking it from your card ?

[Danpassan]

Ahhhh, it's not entirely clear but yes now you have said that I can see what you mean in the defence, I got a little lost before where you mention it being confusing lol.

I would likely have stuck with the agreed settlement, receipt provided defence and let them evidence any alternative.

Do you have the agreement to accept that f&f offer at all in writing / email etc or just the 'loan is paid' part ?

Do you have the card statements from then too ? and what was the issue with them taking it from your card ?

Yes it is quite confusing to say the least!

I have the email from Avant confirming the F&F settlement offer as follows

"Pursuant our discussion on 2016-08-31, AvantCredit has agreed to the following settlement of your loan:

• Customer ID: xxx
• Outstanding Balance Due: £xxx
• Outstanding Principal Amount Due: £564.32
• Settlement Amount: £564.32
• Payment Method: Card Payment
• Settlement Plan Type: Lump Sum Settlement
• Final Payment Due By: 2016-09-10

2016-08-31	£564.32

You are authorizing AvantCredit as the servicer for your account to initiate a one-time Charge or Debit to the Credit Card or Debit Card you provided for £564.32 on 2016-08-31.

You have agreed to pay 564.32 to settle your loan. AvantCredit agrees to settle your loan in full with the condition that AvantCredit will receive your settlement payment by 2016-09-10.

If you fail to make payment of the entire settlement amount by this date, this settlement agreement is void, the monthly installment payment amount and payment schedule under your original underlying loan agreement will be reinstated, and AvantCredit may immediately demand payment of the outstanding balance due on your loan. "


I then received the email confirmation stating they had taken the payment and the account was closed. Days later I start receiving emails from their collections dept. stating my account is in arrears! From there I make a complaint and was told that they had 'ringfenced' the funds on my card but didn't actually take the payment. I confirm this with my bank and they did not take the payment (I think they ringfenced it then released it back to my card?).

This is when I am offered settlement number two and they don't take the payment, even when I call them so they can take the money from my card. This is because the people on the phone say there is no settlement offer on the account... So I chase the complaint handler I was dealing with via email and they never came back to me.

I accept that I owe money, that is not in doubt but I have tried unsuccessfully for them to take the settlement amount from my card. I don't see why I should now have to go to court and receive a judgement for the original £3k-ish amount; I should be offered to pay the settlement figure, again!

Does that make sense?