Lloyds/Cabot/Westcot/Orbit

[Mav777]

Hi all,

Basically around 2008/09 I built up quite a bit of debt due to an ongoing insurance dispute at my property.

At the time I was suffering badly with depression and anxiety and was out of work with also other ongoing family issues.

I had a credit card debt, a loan and a overdraft debt. All amounted to approx £10,000 with Lloyds.

After defaulting on the debt and a large back and forth, asking Lloyds for SAR's etc Lloyds sold the debt on to I believe Westcot or a similar company BLS or something like that. After going back and forth with them I sent a without prejudice letter stating that this was making me ill and that my sister was dealing with this situation and even though I do not acknowledge the debts she will pay £1 per month on each debt. After again a back and forth and I remember at the time they were not happy, I asked for signed proof of the debts etc and they couldn't provide this, they wrote two of the debts off, this was approx 2016/2017 ish. Next thing I move address and I start getting letters from Cabot. They basically state that the debts have been sold on and that the payments being made to BLS and Westcot are not valid as they no longer own the debt. They harass me a lot with calls and non stop letters. I simply ignore the letters and one time I spoke to them briefly by phone when they caught me off guard, I basically said I don't own any debts and when the lady said you do your paying for them, I said that's not me that's me sister, to which she got really mad and said that's fraud.

Anyway this has been going on for years, Cabot continuously sending letters and calls. Then around 5 or 6 months back I have a letter stating that Orbit have been instructed to make a home visit. Today Orbit visit whilst I'm not at home, the guy stands on the top step of my property and is quite intimidating with my wife and leaves a calling card for me to phone.

Now I have a few questions:

1. I have never had a CCJ on my credit file, with my mortgage about to be renewed can they cause issues with this?

2. No money has been paid to Cabot ever can they still enforce this debt?

3. We are currently carers and look after vulnerable children and have our own children, we feel for their welfare as this can be frightening should I send a letter regarding this?

4. At present I am not in full-time work either but we do have a mortgage on a nice home, from the outside looking in the debt collector most probably is rubbing his hands, where does this leave me, will they try to go after our property?

Thank you for all your help, ps should I get my sister to stop paying or will this inflamed the situation?

[Mav777]

Oh yes I forgot to say Orbit didn't contact to make an appointment either like they said on the letter.

[echat11]

1. I have never had a CCJ on my credit file, with my mortgage about to be renewed can they cause issues with this?

If you don't have any CCJ's then there shouldn't be any problems. The best place to check for CCJ's is https://www.trustonline.org.uk/ Even if Cabot issued proceedings, it would take them some time to get a CCJ.

2. No money has been paid to Cabot ever can they still enforce this debt?

If they've bought the debt, which seems to be the case, yes. That again depends on whether you have a Defence.

3. We are currently carers and look after vulnerable children and have our own children, we feel for their welfare as this can be frightening should I send a letter regarding this?

What you could do, is ask Cabot to 'write off' the debt, explain your personal circumstances, i.e. vulnerable children and have our own children etc. Cost of living crisis etc. Remove the first line, as it's not correct. You can amend the following letter, make sure you get Proof of Postage.

https://nationaldebtline.org/get-inf...rite-off-debt/

4. At present I am not in full-time work either but we do have a mortgage on a nice home, from the outside looking in the debt collector most probably is rubbing his hands, where does this leave me, will they try to go after our property?

I doubt it, a Court will only ask you to pay what you can afford each month, so if that's £1 a month, so be it.
You can fill in an I & E form, take into account the 'cost of living' crisis i.e. energy, food etc. Give yourself a 'buffer', just in case things get bad. This is a non - priority debt.

https://nedcab.cabmoney.org.uk/

Thank you for all your help, ps should I get my sister to stop paying or will this inflamed the situation?

If your not paying Cabot, then I would. You could get the money back from whoever was being paid.

[echat11]

Oh yes I forgot to say Orbit didn't contact to make an appointment either like they said on the letter.

Make a formal complaint against Orbit, follow the complaints procedure on their website.

[Mav777]

Hi Echat,

Thank you so much for the quick reply and for answering all my questions , hopefully you can help further.

In regards to the defence would I be able to say statute barred? As the debt is so old and surely if they had a good case they would have already applied for a CCJ?

I did do a SAR a while back maybe 6 or 7 years ago via email and they wrote back stating they needed to verify me and asked for a host of things which I'm not comfortable giving, including my signature which they could easily forge on an old contract to make it valid. I don't trust any of these DCA as far as I can throw them.

I feel like it's a bit like pass the buck with this debt and it's getting older and older the DCA's are selling and then the new owners are using shock out of the blue tactics to intimate me into a new contract which more than likely even if I wanted to pay I would end up not affording.

At some point surely they've got to give up or take action?

I will put a formal complaint in to Orbit and then I will contact Cabot and ask for them to write off the debt due to my circumstances.

I am a little apprehensive to contact them which may open up a can of worms but I will definitely take your advise Echat as you have more experience.

Many thanks again

[echat11]

In regards to the defence would I be able to say statute barred? As the debt is so old and surely if they had a good case they would have already applied for a CCJ?

When was the last payment made towards the 2 debts? Has the debt been acknowledged in writing in the last 6 years?

You could send them a statute barred letter, see how they respond and you will know what their position is on the debt. It 'muddled' because payments has been made towards the debt by your sister.

https://legalbeagles.info/forums/for...ed-debt-letter

I did do a SAR a while back maybe 6 or 7 years ago via email and they wrote back stating they needed to verify me and asked for a host of things which I'm not comfortable giving, including my signature which they could easily forge on an old contract to make it valid. I don't trust any of these DCA as far as I can throw them.

O.K. the flip side is, that information is king, always a 'nugget or two' in there.

I feel like it's a bit like pass the buck with this debt and it's getting older and older the DCA's are selling and then the new owners are using shock out of the blue tactics to intimate me into a new contract which more than likely even if I wanted to pay I would end up not affording.

At some point surely they've got to give up or take action?

Well, if they haven't acted it's because they don't have all the documents they need to make a case to start proceedings.

I will put a formal complaint in to Orbit and then I will contact Cabot and ask for them to write off the debt due to my circumstances.

That sounds like a good idea.