Howard Cohen Letter of Claim

[Debtpickle]

I’m worried as I’ve received a letter from Howard & Cohen, on behalf of HOIST Portfolio which is a Letter of Claim. It relates to an overdraft from Lloyd’s (£2,000) and it says in the letter they have a written agreement from 2001. They state that the debt was then purchased and ‘legally assigned’ in 2015. Not sure what that means! I was hoping it was statute barred as I got into difficulties and got a default around 2010. However, I went into a debt management plan for a while so I need to check when I last paid anything but I believe this would have been around 2011 at the latest. Hoist recorded a late default years later!

They have sent a form with different options a) I agree I owe the debt, b) I owe some of the debt but not all, c) I don’t know whether I owe the debt, d) I dispute the debt, e) I will pay what I owe now, f) I will pay but I need time.

Please could someone help advise how I should proceed? They want a signature on the form but I really don’t trust them not to lift it and put it on a ‘copy’ of a credit agreement!

Please help!

[Amethyst]

Hi there,

Yes check with your DMP when your last payment with as if it was 2011 that it ended you may well be statute barred, particularly if your Lloyds account did default in 2010. If it did default then Hoist shouldn't be reporting it now. Are you using Noddle? if so they should show the date of default above the red and green dots bit.

You have 30 days to respond to that letter of claim so keep it safe and do some digging.

Maybe you could call Lloyds and see if they can tell you when your account was closed firstly, or check your records/bank statements etc, or even see when you opened a new account as when you stopped using Lloyds.

Sometimes our memory pays tricks on us and things are a lot more recent than we think. If it is statute barred then that should be an absolute defence.

Don't worry about the signature btw, that's a bit of a paranoid myth

Sharon
xxx

[Debtpickle]

Thank you for your reply! Yes, I need to do some digging. The debt has completely fallen off on Noddle but I checked on Clearscore and it’s listed as a closed account last updated in 2014, it doesn’t show any default but just the £2000 balance.

ill go through all old accounts to make 100% sure but I’m quite confident all payments stopped around 2010. If that was the case what would move should I make? Should I ignore their form and send them my own letter stating it’s statute barred?

Thanks so much for your help!

[Amethyst]

I'd still use the form, you can say it's disputed because it is statute barred, and then also ask for more information, so a copy of the written agreement they mention, default notice, notice of assignment and a breakdown of the amount claimed. But I'd not rush into returning it and try check out what you can first so you have an idea whether it will be stat barred or not.

Seems Lloyds last updated credit file just before selling it on to Hoist. I'll have a look on my clearscore account see what info they have to look at on historical stuff.

[Amethyst]

Ahh no, they don't seem to give you the default date, just opening date and 'last reported'. Shame.

[Debtpickle]

Ok, I’ve looked through all my old bank statements and paperwork. The last payment made on the DMP was on in June 2011. I cannot seem to find the exact date that the overdraft account defaulted with Lloyd’s but it was passed to Hoist and they have default date as Oct 2012, which seems very late! This date of course would mean that it won’t be statute barred until October this year. However, I think the Lloyd’s default date should be much earlier. A Lloyd’s loan account linked to this current account defaulted in March 2011. However unfortunately I paid £1 token payment on the loan account until August 2015. Could this linked account that I continued to pay the token £1 to mean that the other one wouldn’t be statute barred?

I’m not sure how to go about finding out the actual default date without admitting to the debt. Unless I reply as you suggest above by ticking that I dispute the debt but asking for more information like CCA, original default etc first without mentioning the statute barred but until I have that information?