Need help with MacKenzie Hall and Cabot

[InaTizz]

I honestly do not know where to begin with this, apart from the fact that I desperately need help

I had a letter from MacKenzie Hall dated 7th June this year (2012). It said that they were attempting to contact the above named person (myself) regarding a personal matter, and that my address had been provided as being possible residential details for the named subject. The letter went on to say that if I was the named person, then to contact their office on a 0844 number quoting a reference code, whereupon further detailed information could be provided.


I googled MacKenzie Hall and saw that they seemed a disreptable company. So I ignored their letter. (I haven't recieved any phone calls, purely in part from the fact that I have unplugged my phone, as was getting bombarded every single minute of the day with scam calls, and mis-sold ppi nonsence).

But now I have recieved today a second letter, from MacKenzie Hall, which to be honest has upset me greatly.

They have said that despite previous correspondences (I only have had the one letter) that I have failed to respond, and that they have now obtained this alternative address (??) as a financial link, linking this residence to the previous abode, and that they have been instructed by their client to recover an overdue account on their behalf. (I have lived at this address now for about 7 months, so have no idea how they could have gotten hold of me here).


The Pursuers are Cabot Financial (Europe) Limited, and the original creditor is Shop Direct group. The amount they are after is £300 odd


Letter also states that their clients have informed them (MacKenzie Hall) that they are unaware of any legitimate reason for non-payment of their account and although they would prefer an amicable settlement, they will not hesitate to take further action as maybe appropriate.

I have typed that as it appears on the letter, the parts worded in bold. I have until Noon 28th June 2012 to pay, and this printed in red pretty much frightened me (


What gets me is that right after that (and a printed signature from a Claire Thomson~MacKenzie Hall Ltd) is (again written in bold), and I will quote this:

Important: If you are not the named person above please contact us quoting Address ID: CMxxxxxxxx8 to stop any further communication.


Now the only debt that I know of would be from Kays catalogue a few years back. I did get into arrears, but thought that it had been paid off on 4th Feb 2008. I have no paperwork pertaining to this sadly, I have moved house twice since this and any paperwork I did have was lost in the moves. I did manage to find an old email that my husband had written to Kays, saying that he had sent payment of £235.32, and it had been sent recorded delivery. To my absolute best knowledge that was the amount we owed, not this £300 odd. I have no idea where that figure has come from.

I have not slept much at all since I had the first letter, and this is stressing me badly. We are in a very poor financial situation right now, struggling to keep our heads above water...and we have now gotten behind with utility bills/council tax. In fact I'm pretty scared about right now.


Thank you, any help would be greatly appreciated. I can't cope much more with any of this...and it has taken some courage to actually post this here (

[miliitant]

Re: Need help with MacKenzie Hall and Cabot

easy way to end this is to send them a prove it letter

put at the top you do not acknowledge this debt to you or any other company

they cant send you an agreement letters etc until you say this is your account
(data protection act)

that is why they want you to contact them and acknowledge the debt

stick to your guns, do not acknowledge , they then can do sfa


council tax and rent/mortage is a priority debt

[miliitant]

Re: Need help with MacKenzie Hall and Cabot

Name/Address:

Date:

Dear Sir/Madam

You have contacted me/us regarding the account with the above reference number, which you claim is owed by myself/ourselves.

I/we would point out that I/we have no knowledge of any such debt being owed to (insert company name).

I am/we are familiar with the CPUTR 2008 and the Office of Fair Trading's Guidance on debt collection, which states that it unfair to send demands for payment to an individual when it is uncertain that they are the debtor in question.

I/we would also point out that the OFT say under the Guidance that it is unfair to pursue third parties for payment when they are not liable. AND in not ceasing collection activity whilst investigating a reasonably queried or disputed debt you are using deceptive/and or unfair methods.

Furthermore ignoring and/or disregarding claims that debts have been settled or are disputed and continuing to make unjustified demands for payment amounts to physical/psychological harassment.

I/we would ask that no further contact be made concerning the above account unless you can provide evidence as to my/our liability for the debt in question.

I/we await your written confirmation that this matter is now closed. Otherwise I will have no option but to make a complaint to Trading Standards and also inform the Office Of Fair Trading of your actions.

I/we look forward to your reply.

Yours faithfully

SEND RECORDED DELIVERY TO THE DEBT COLECTION AGENCY

[MIKE770]

Re: Need help with MacKenzie Hall and Cabot

This is a phishing letter sent out to all that happen to have same names/initals as yourself, these are template threatograms, trying to find the person their are after, read contents of the letters carefully. Look at Curley Bens thread on debt collection letters. You could PM Curly and ask him to look at your thread. he is the man for this.

[MIKE770]

Re: Need help with MacKenzie Hall and Cabot

Curly you around????

[WhiteKSE]

Re: Need help with MacKenzie Hall and Cabot

Sorry if coming late to the party here, just quickly need a bit of advice if anyone is around.

I borrowed something like £400 from Wonga back last year, around June, so over a year in arrears now.

I have lived in 2 houses since this (student Accom) and have changed mobile number, I have never had the money to repay the loan and every few months I'd log in and check what it was up too, last time I saw it (say April/May) it was £720.

I then logged on today and it told me that my account has been passed onto these Mackenzie Hall people, this was done 5 or so weeks ago.

So now I just wonder, these people have no way of contacting me, don't know where I live or have any telephone numbers for me...do I need to do anything?

I emailed them asking for a breakdown of my debt, not admitting responsibility whatsoever, just asking for a breakdown and confirming that the email address on my wonga account is the same as the one I emailed them off, so all they have is my email and they can email that all day long as far as I am concerned.

Do I need to worry? Or do I just forget about it because there is nothing they can do?

Any reply would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[Bill-K]

Re: Need help with MacKenzie Hall and Cabot

Hi WhiteKSE. As a poor student, then I appreciate that you are currently unable to repay the debt - as opposed to unwilling - and I am sure you have every intention of settling it at some point in the future. But for now, it seems very unlikely that they can do much, except keep piling on the interest and charges.

The way that Wonga operates, as far as I understand, is to lend modest sums of money with very little security, but charge a very high rate of interest to offset the effects of the high risk they are taking when lending the money. The knew the risk when lending you the money, and they took that risk - you win some, you lose some. So be it - they lost this one, I guess.

It would be wrong for me to suggest that you ignore this debt, as that is not something which Legal Beagles condones. Eventually, it will be passed to DCA's, who employ various techniques to trace you, and it could come back to haunt you in years to come. Remember that the size of the debt is constantly increasing at a very high interest rate, so the longer it remains unpaid, the more it will be worth pursuing. Having said that, if you fail to make any payments or to acknowledge the debt, then it becomes unenforceable after 6 years (or 5 in Scotland).

[WhiteKSE]

Re: Need help with MacKenzie Hall and Cabot

Thanks for reply. Is it worth coming to an arrangement now and paying off now or holding tight for a while? The jist I have got from looking on here is to simply not give these people the time of day and just wait for them to give up. So in your personal opinion, what would you suggest my next step is? I could afford to pay back a decent amount every month as I am now working after finishing Uni this year, so is that the best solution? Or just ignore it till they find me? If they find me that is.

[Guest]

Re: Need help with MacKenzie Hall and Cabot

Hi
Well, purely in my opinion.
They loaned money to a student at a rate if interest that would not be entertained by anyone who could get credit from anywhere else.

Guess what the account is defaulted, so they write it off, Mucky hall buy the debt for pennies in the vain hope that they can cash in on someone else s misery.

I wouldn't give it a second thought.

D

[WhiteKSE]

Re: Need help with MacKenzie Hall and Cabot

Ok thanks. I will leave it for now and see if anything develops. I have checked my credit file on experian and they haven't done anything.

If anything does develop I will come back and ask advice again.

Thanks for taking the time to respond, both of you, much appreciated.

[bluebottle]

Re: Need help with MacKenzie Hall and Cabot

This is a phishing letter sent out to all that happen to have same names/initals as yourself, these are template threatograms, trying to find the person their are after, read contents of the letters carefully. Look at Curley Bens thread on debt collection letters. You could PM Curly and ask him to look at your thread. he is the man for this.

What you are referring to, Mike, is scatter-gunning and the OFT take a very serious view of that.

[bluebottle]

Re: Need help with MacKenzie Hall and Cabot

Hi WhiteKSE. As a poor student, then I appreciate that you are currently unable to repay the debt - as opposed to unwilling - and I am sure you have every intention of settling it at some point in the future. But for now, it seems very unlikely that they can do much, except keep piling on the interest and charges.

The way that Wonga operates, as far as I understand, is to lend modest sums of money with very little security, but charge a very high rate of interest to offset the effects of the high risk they are taking when lending the money. The knew the risk when lending you the money, and they took that risk - you win some, you lose some. So be it - they lost this one, I guess.

It would be wrong for me to suggest that you ignore this debt, as that is not something which Legal Beagles condones. Eventually, it will be passed to DCA's, who employ various techniques to trace you, and it could come back to haunt you in years to come. Remember that the size of the debt is constantly increasing at a very high interest rate, so the longer it remains unpaid, the more it will be worth pursuing. Having said that, if you fail to make any payments or to acknowledge the debt, then it becomes unenforceable after 6 years (or 5 in Scotland).

One bit of news where Wonga is concerned, Bill, is that they have appeals waiting to be heard by the First-Tier Tribunal in respect of Adverse Determinations of Minded to Impose Conduct Requirements on them. If the appeals are rejected and the Conduct Requirements are imposed, the OFT has the power to fine Wonga up to £50,000 per instance of failure to comply.

[Bill-K]

Re: Need help with MacKenzie Hall and Cabot

....

[Bill-K]

Re: Need help with MacKenzie Hall and Cabot

From the moral side of things, I'm with DavyB on this. They took their chances with you - and they knew their chances. Wonga are NOT one of our favourite lenders !!! But they can still put a dent in your credit record - and those dents can be difficult to bash out.

If you want your credit record to remain unsullied, then you may need to weigh things up, now. If you are finally reaping the benefit of those austere student years spent propping up the SU bar and sharing accommodation with all & sundry - then perhaps the demands of Wonga are fulfillable. "Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's." If what Wonga want is now a fraction of your hard-earned salary (and I mean that. You have earned it) - then pay the barstewards and have done with them.

Maybe you might then consider helping us guys here. Quid Pro Quo, as they say. Brain cells are hard currency - you know this.

Best wishes to you, WhiteKSE !!!

[Guest]

Re: Need help with MacKenzie Hall and Cabot

Just by the by, I hear Wonga are sponsoring Ant and Deks new show.

They will be advertising on consumer group websites next, oh hang on.(not this one)
D