MindBuzzing v Cabot

[MINDbuzzing]

Hi LBs,
i’m new here & i suffer from fairly bad anxiety attacks, which may see me go offline for days/weeks, whilst getting my head straight. Please forgive me if i drop off, as i peomise i’ll be back to resume asap.

Right now, the head is good & i’m looking for a bit of advice with Cabot.

I have an old debt from around 2006 with Lloyds TSB, stemming from a £7k personal loan, taken out when i left the army. I paid for a few years, but stopped during a breakdown, whilst handling my divorce. It’s now worth £18k and i don’t earn enough to pay it, which scares me to death.

I heard nothing until 2010, when the debt had sold to a collections company (Marlin). I had a very traumatic (for me) call with Markin abd re-started payments, but was not working full time & the payment plan eventually fell apart again.

I was later contacted by Cabot, who had bought my debt from Marlin.

I’ve done pretty getting back into low key full time work & in full control of my other finances, with no other debt, but my memory of what payments to Marlin went on what dates, is shot to bits & i foolishly kept no record, mainly due to binning paperwork during several house moves.

I wasn’t certain whether my debt was Statute Barred, but was fairly sure i hadn’t paid anything in 6yrs & i’d not replied via email/post to Cabot. Ithought perhaps that they were just trying to get money, despite debt being SB.

Then, in November 2017, i received a solicitors letter, warning me that i had around 7 days to contact them, before they took court action, on behalf of Cabot. To my horror, they stated that my last payment date had been January 2012.

I called them and i was in such a state, that nothing really got sorted. I was given a number to call for support, but having worked on my mental health with MIND, H4H & others, i know how hard i find it to talk about my issues with new people & the thought of doing so with a debt collector just filled me with dread.

i later received a letter telling me that the claim was now in the hands of a “special care” type of department at Cabot. My head was in a mess through Jan/Feb this year & as usual, i buried my head deep in the sand, without replying to their calls for me to complete I&E forms. They also suggested my account was temporarily put on hold in Jan-Mar due to my health.

This week, i received another letter from Cabot. It is their “OUR SUMMER OFFER” letter. They have offered me the chance to clear my debt, by paying just 10% of the total. So, £1600 instead of £16k. I’m guessing that for them to offer such a crazy low settlement, that the debt is actually Statute Barred now?

I know the 6yrs was up in January & I have never received a CCJ. By their own admission, the last payment date was Jan 2012.

Does anybody have any thoughts?

My anxiety issues are old. They are from things i did & saw during my time in the army, not anything recent/current, but the debt worry doesn’t help. I have no intention of paying, as the way the debt was built up was, imho, unfair. Also, it would take me 50yrs & i’m 49 already.

Do you guys think my debt is now SB? Or is there a chance that i may still receive a CCJ? My worry, is that the clock was reset when Cabot bought my debt.


Thanks in advance.

[Amethyst]

Hi there, Apologies that your post was missed, I've moved it from the bottom of an old thread to a thread of your own so it doesn't get overlooked

Sharon
xx

[Amethyst]

It is likely this is statute barred, it will depend on the conversations you had with them back in November - whether you acknowledged that the debt was yours and valid or were simply asking for more information. They are pretty good with vulnerable people, I'd expect that £1600 offer is a bit of a last ditch attempt for them to recoup what they paid for the debt originally ( possibly around 10% of the value of the debt at the time it was assigned to them ).

You can't receive a CCJ without them having to file a claim in court ( which you would then be able to defend ) - they already have your current address details so it shouldn't be issued to any old address, and it is very likely to be statute barred, plus they would have to produce all the documents to back up and evidence their claim including the original loan documentation. Also IF the original loan was £7k and it somehow built up to £18k they'd have to evidence that. They would also have to evidence the last payment was Jan 2012 to Marlin - if you did make that payment then. Otherwise if it had become statute barred before you spoke with them in November ( so last payment before Nov 2011 ) they'd have no hope.

IF they did somehow get a CCJ ( maybe by issuing a claim when you're not feeling so good so you ignore it ) then you could ask the court to order affordable monthly payments on it.

Do you own your own house? or rent ?

Saying that a £1600 offer is decent if you think the debt is up at £18k and you might be able to do that via installments.

There is no right answer, it's whatever you feel is best - you don't want a CCJ if your credit file is back clear after many years I'd assume, and £1600 is a good discount, so it depends if you feel more strongly that you don't want to pay the debt at all or are going to be stressing about the debt going to court for the full amount at some point in the future. I have no idea if you happen to have £1600 in the bank to get this settled off and out of your hair for good - might be an idea, if you are considering it, to post a copy of that letter up to ensure you haven't got the wrong end of the stick ( sometimes they word things weirdly and mean a 10% discount - although seems unlikely at this late stage )

You could send them a request for information now - a CCA request for the orginal agreement, and possibly a Subject Access Request, maybe one to Marlin too so you can find out exactly when the last payment was.

Letter examples

CCA Request

Subject Access Request Letter

[MINDbuzzing]

Thank you Amethyst. I'm just very confused right now. I'm sure that the date they claim that the last payment was made was Jan 2012. When i spoke to their solicitor on the phone, i don't really know what i'd have said, as i was having such a bad time with it all.

I have no savings.

So, there's still a chance that they could get a ccj for the full amount, without any written acknowledgement from me?

Thanks for your help.