Experto credite and PRA Group

[Jimmy M]

Hi, I am new to the forum, I have recently received a letter from pra group saying I owed them over £11,000 and if I didn't settle or contact them they would send bailiffs in the next seven days, I contacted them told them I didn't know about the ref number they had sent,( I do have a standing order set up for my wife which I have paid for years) . they put the new account on hold for a week so I could try and sort out what this was about,in the meantime I paid 2 separate £10 s to try and withhold any further action.I then put in the reference number to the site and it came up with a payment plan for £10. Per month until 2105 , but I sent them a email for any information about who the original debt was for, they responded and quoted Varde Experto, I then emailed and asked if they had any relation with Experto credite, I then googled and they are the same company but no longer exists, PRA responded today giving me agreement date august 2006, default date October 2009 and date of last payment February 2012 , can someone please tell me if they have any authority to do this, I also fear because of the threat of bailiffs being sent to my house I shouldn't have paid the two £10 ,if anyone can help it would save a great amount of worry I am 72 and have bad health issues to contend with without this , I have just realised I have been paying by standing order to experto credite £10. Per month for years and it's returned to my account every time, I haven't had any contact details for them to find out what was happening. Thanks in advance for any response.jimmy m

[PallasAthena]

PRA Group are a debt-buyer and debt collector and so were Experte Credito Ltd so whoever the original debtor was your debt could have passed through several hands before PRA bought it, probably for a few pence in the £. So PRA are hoping to screw some money out of you but from what they have said in answer to your questions I suspect they know next to nothing about the original debt.

Experto Credite Ltd are listed at Companies House as a debt collector and debt purchaser - EXPERTO CREDITE LIMITED insolvency - Find and update company information - GOV.UK - who went into Creditors Voluntary Liquidation in 2016 and have now been Dissolved. That will be why your payments have been returned to you.

I cannot find any reference to a company called Varde Experto. No such company listed at Companies House nor anything to suggest there was any connection with Experto Credite Ltd. Where did you google something that said they were the same company?

We could spend a lot of time asking you about the original debt but I don't think we need to. From the dates you give it's almost certainly statute barred (if no County Court Judgement [CCJ]) was ever issued against you, or if a CCJ was issued it's now well beyond the time limit for enforcement unless PRA went back to the orginal court and asked permission to enforce.

PRA Group are just trying to frighten you with talk of bailiffs. They are well aware that bailiffs can only be involved if a CCJ has been issued aginst you and with the permission of the court after all this time.

Don't pay them another penny. Send them our Statute Barred letter Statute Barred Debt Letter - LegalBeagles Forum Just say that you note last payment was made in 2012 and so the statute barred period has now long passed. Confirm your current address, tell them you will only deal with them in writing by post, and they must not visit your property. Then see what they do.

It would have been better if you hadn't paid the two recent £10s but I don't think that is fatal to you telling them it is statute barred. I'm tagging atticus as I believe he has previously commented that if a debt is already statute barred then making a later payment does not un-bar it, but I'd just like to check I understood him correctly.

[echat11]

If they state two payments were made, they were made because PRA intimidated you into making payments stating 'pay or else we will send bailiffs around', which is something they couldn't do at this point.

Add to that your age, you are classed as a 'vulnerable' person. FCA Handbook CONC 7.2.2A.

There will be other Rules, i.e.dealing with customers fairly, not misleading them, etc.

https://handbook.fca.org.uk/handbook...?timeline=true

[Jimmy M]

PRA Group are a debt-buyer and debt collector and so were Experte Credito Ltd so whoever the original debtor was your debt could have passed through several hands before PRA bought it, probably for a few pence in the £. So PRA are hoping to screw some money out of you but from what they have said in answer to your questions I suspect they know next to nothing about the original debt.

Experto Credite Ltd are listed at Companies House as a debt collector and debt purchaser - EXPERTO CREDITE LIMITED insolvency - Find and update company information - GOV.UK - who went into Creditors Voluntary Liquidation in 2016 and have now been Dissolved. That will be why your payments have been returned to you.

I cannot find any reference to a company called Varde Experto. No such company listed at Companies House nor anything to suggest there was any connection with Experto Credite Ltd. Where did you google something that said they were the same company?

We could spend a lot of time asking you about the original debt but I don't think we need to. From the dates you give it's almost certainly statute barred (if no County Court Judgement [CCJ]) was ever issued against you, or if a CCJ was issued it's now well beyond the time limit for enforcement unless PRA went back to the orginal court and asked permission to enforce.

PRA Group are just trying to frighten you with talk of bailiffs. They are well aware that bailiffs can only be involved if a CCJ has been issued aginst you and with the permission of the court after all this time.

Don't pay them another penny. Send them our Statute Barred letter Statute Barred Debt Letter - LegalBeagles Forum Just say that you note last payment was made in 2012 and so the statute barred period has now long passed. Confirm your current address, tell them you will only deal with them in writing by post, and they must not visit your property. Then see what they do.

It would have been better if you hadn't paid the two recent £10s but I don't think that is fatal to you telling them it is statute barred. I'm tagging atticus as I believe he has previously commented that if a debt is already statute barred then making a later payment does not un-bar it, but I'd just like to check I understood him correctly.

Thank you for your welcome reply, I believe the original debt was for MBNA / UNICEF

[atticus]

Responding to the last paragraph of post #2, once a claim in respect of a particular cause of action becomes time-barred, then the time bar cannot be reversed.

[Jimmy M]

Responding to the last paragraph of post #2, once a claim in respect of a particular cause of action becomes time-barred, then the time bar cannot be reversed.

Thank you for your response, it is very confusing.

[Jimmy M]

Hi all just wanted to say thank you for your help, I sent a statutory barred debt letter and I received an email from PRA Group saying that I wouldn't hear anything more about the debt and agreeing it was statutory barred, so a great big thank you, Jimmy M.

[PallasAthena]

Good news. It confirms what we often see on here. PRA, and other debt buyers, know full well that many of the old debts they buy up are statute barred.

But because they are under no obligation to tell the debtor about that they issue threatening letters anyway in the hope some people will be frightened into paying it even though that is arguably against FCA rules.

[echat11]

It's 100% against the FCA Rules, the Handbook says so, speak to the FCA they will tell you that is the case.
The OP should be compensated.

[PallasAthena]

I suspect the response of debt buyers to an FCA complaint would be that when they buy debt portfolios, especially from companies that have gone into liquidation, and where the debt has been sold on several times already, they do not receive sufficient information to know if individual debts are SB but they withdraw as soon as the debtor brings it to their attention.

Whether that washes with the FCA I've no idea..

[echat11]

The OP would complain to PRA, follow their complaints procedure, citing the FCA handbook.
Buyers of debt shouldn't act like 'gangsters', that's easy to understand. The OP should
be compensated.