Hello, I've posted before but really need your advice again...PLEASE HELP

[strong123]

Good morning all,

So after speaking with the very helpful Amethyst, she advice that I post a new thread out lining details to gage your response.....here goes!

Between 1998/99/2000 Not sure exact date I got a personal loan for £10k. Shortly after, I'd say within a year I fell behind on payments I was heavily in debt, behind on everything but was also falling behind on mortgage etc. got a couple of repo orders and finally decided that my priority was my house so completely stopped the £10K.

Within months I was contacted by DCA and despite the demands and bombardments of thretograms I buried my head in the sand in the hope all would go away and for a while it did, then they would start again and then stop and so on....

Well this went on for sometime and eventually I think in maybe 2001 or 2003 (i'm really not sure...I've tried to work it out....) I decided to sell the house as no matter what I done I was struggling....now I did receive a ccj for the 10K and was paying £50 but then stopped i'm unsure if it was issued at that house or new property.

Within months of living in the new property I began to get letters....threatograms and again I ignored (I really didn't realise the implications of a ccj) they would stop and then start again and then stop again etc. Eventually I sold the property in 2010, I made no profit I just broke even.

So bringing me to today.....I have received a letter 3 weeks ago from BC....asking me to confirm residence but did not mention debt etc. I firmly believe it is this one...some of you have kindly advised me to ignore as it is not up to me to inform them of my whereabouts...

However I don't think this is an option for me to have hanging over my head.

I'm in the process of having my dads deeds signed over to me in order to loan money against it for a mortgage....I cannot afford for this to crop up.

What I do know is that my credit report is clean, no defaults or ccj's. I believe this debt has been sold at least 3 times....in 2007 it was ECI that had it. I only know this because i found a letter on my laptop to them regarding it.

Lowell have it now I believe.

The last person I spoke to about it I mentioned SD (not knowing that ccjs are not SD but the calls and letters stopped for a while and so I thought it was over with.

I would really like some advice on how to handle this once and for all.

If I have to pay them I can in instalments but I don't want my credit file affected as myself and my partner are in the process of our mortgage going through.

Please, please advice,....letters I could send, etc.

Thank you all so very much.

[strong123]

Re: Hello, I've posted before but really need your advice again...PLEASE HELP

Sorry "SD" Meant sb...

[labman]

Re: Hello, I've posted before but really need your advice again...PLEASE HELP

Hi Strong123,

I am writing this on the understanding there is no Charging Order against your property regarding this debt.

Firstly let me pick up on one particular sentence:

I'm in the process of having my dads deeds signed over to me in order to loan money against it for a mortgage....I cannot afford for this to crop up.

I would strongly recommend you stop this process immediately until you have resolved the issue. Why? Well, if you become the owner of your father's house, and things go wrong, you could end up forcing him to lose his house as well.

If you are that desperate to get a mortgage before you get this sorted out, by far the best thing would be to get your father to loan the money for you, and for you to repay him. Obviously this should only be done if you are absolutely 100% certain you are, and will continue to be in a position to make and sustain the loan repayments.

To my mind, the most sensible thing to do here would be to rent for a short period while you resolve this issue, and then look at your situation.

You state:

Well this went on for sometime and eventually I think in maybe 2001 or 2003 (i'm really not sure...I've tried to work it out....) I decided to sell the house as no matter what I done I was struggling....now I did receive a ccj for the 10K and was paying £50 but then stopped i'm unsure if it was issued at that house or new property.

It would be very useful to know the dates on this more clearly. Do you not have any old paperwork with anything at all to do with this on it?

For a small fee you can check the situation regarding the CCJ here (I think it is £4.00):

http://www.trustonline.org.uk/search-yourself

Normally, if the judgment has not been collected for a period of 6 years, they would have to go back to the court with a good reason for wanting to enforce after so long. However, as you had a payment arrangement in place on which you defaulted, I am unsure how this would affect that.

My best guess would be as long as you have not made any payment or written acknowledgement of the debt for a minimum clear period of 6 years, you would probably be OK. If the judgment does not show in the search above, you know you are OK.

The other place they will go is to one or more of the credit reference agencies to get your credit file. You can get these yourself by simply sending £2.00 to the relevant agency. I've put the addresses below for you:

Equifax Ltd
Credit File Advice Centre
PO Box 1140
Bradford
BD1 5US
0844 335 0550
www.equifax.co.uk




Callcredit Plc
Consumer Services Team
PO Box 491
Leeds
LS3 1WZ
0870 060 1414
www.callcredit.co.uk




Experian Ltd
Customer Support Centre
PO Box 8000
Nottingham
NG80 7WF
0844 481 8000
www.experian.co.uk



If all of these are showing clear, you have done all you can to check your situation as it is now.

This leaves the issue of Bryan Carter. I guess all you can do there is either ignore, which would be normal advice for the moment, but you say is not possible. This leaves you with contacting him in the most cautious way and stating you have no idea why he has contacted you. If you are absolutely sure it is for this debt, then send a Prove It letter:



[Address]

[Date]



Dear Sir,

Your Ref: abcd1234

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

I would point out that I have no knowledge of any such debt being owed to [Insert company name].

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

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

I await your written confirmation that this matter is now closed, or 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 look forward to your reply.

Yours faithfully,

[IMG]file:///C:\Users\Home\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\c lip_image001.jpg[/IMG]


Print Name



In the bit above 'Print Name' I usually put the attached to stop my signature being lifted.



In order to enforce the CCJ now, they would have to go back to the court, as mentioned above. Also if they are not the original claimant, they must apply to the courts to have themselves substituted as the new claimant and provide proof of ownership. They MUST have in their possession a copy of the CCJ. The courts will have no record of this on their system, so for them to reinstate it they will need the claim number & proof of a CCJ. As you can see, it is not straightforward for them, so you don't want to make things easy. The Prove It letter is the most cautious given the circumstances, then see what comes back.

The one thing I would stress very strongly though, is please think of your father. If you have those deeds transferred just so you can get a mortgage NOW as opposed to waiting a few months, then find things go wrong, it would leave you all in a terrible situation.

I understand your mortgage may be going through. It may well be that this is Statute Barred, and the fact you were making payments has no bearing on anything now, unless they can say they have not been able to find you. Equally you may end up with a CO on your new property, or against your father's property. Is it worth pushing for the sake of a few months finding out?

At the end of the day, only you can decide that, but I do think you ought to be up front with your father and explain the situation to him. At least then, he has the option of continuing knowing what the situation is, or deciding to back out as the risk is too great.

Find out where you stand, then move from there would be my recommendation.

I hope this has helped.

[bizzybob]

Re: Hello, I've posted before but really need your advice again...PLEASE HELP

I would follow Labman's advice here, as the last thing you want is your Fathers property being grabbed for this debt, which is a distinct possibility if this goes pear shaped.

[strong123]

Re: Hello, I've posted before but really need your advice again...PLEASE HELP

Hi Strong123,

I am writing this on the understanding there is no Charging Order against your property regarding this debt.

Firstly let me pick up on one particular sentence:





I would strongly recommend you stop this process immediately until you have resolved the issue. Why? Well, if you become the owner of your father's house, and things go wrong, you could end up forcing him to lose his house as well.

If you are that desperate to get a mortgage before you get this sorted out, by far the best thing would be to get your father to loan the money for you, and for you to repay him. Obviously this should only be done if you are absolutely 100% certain you are, and will continue to be in a position to make and sustain the loan repayments.

To my mind, the most sensible thing to do here would be to rent for a short period while you resolve this issue, and then look at your situation.

You state:





It would be very useful to know the dates on this more clearly. Do you not have any old paperwork with anything at all to do with this on it?

For a small fee you can check the situation regarding the CCJ here (I think it is £4.00):

http://www.trustonline.org.uk/search-yourself

Normally, if the judgment has not been collected for a period of 6 years, they would have to go back to the court with a good reason for wanting to enforce after so long. However, as you had a payment arrangement in place on which you defaulted, I am unsure how this would affect that.

My best guess would be as long as you have not made any payment or written acknowledgement of the debt for a minimum clear period of 6 years, you would probably be OK. If the judgment does not show in the search above, you know you are OK.

The other place they will go is to one or more of the credit reference agencies to get your credit file. You can get these yourself by simply sending £2.00 to the relevant agency. I've put the addresses below for you:

Equifax Ltd
Credit File Advice Centre
PO Box 1140
Bradford
BD1 5US
0844 335 0550
www.equifax.co.uk




Callcredit Plc
Consumer Services Team
PO Box 491
Leeds
LS3 1WZ
0870 060 1414
www.callcredit.co.uk




Experian Ltd
Customer Support Centre
PO Box 8000
Nottingham
NG80 7WF
0844 481 8000
www.experian.co.uk



If all of these are showing clear, you have done all you can to check your situation as it is now.

This leaves the issue of Bryan Carter. I guess all you can do there is either ignore, which would be normal advice for the moment, but you say is not possible. This leaves you with contacting him in the most cautious way and stating you have no idea why he has contacted you. If you are absolutely sure it is for this debt, then send a Prove It letter:



[Address]

[Date]



Dear Sir,

Your Ref: abcd1234

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

I would point out that I have no knowledge of any such debt being owed to [Insert company name].

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

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

I await your written confirmation that this matter is now closed, or 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 look forward to your reply.

Yours faithfully,

[IMG]file:///C:\Users\Home\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\c lip_image001.jpg[/IMG]


Print Name



In the bit above 'Print Name' I usually put the attached to stop my signature being lifted.



In order to enforce the CCJ now, they would have to go back to the court, as mentioned above. Also if they are not the original claimant, they must apply to the courts to have themselves substituted as the new claimant and provide proof of ownership. They MUST have in their possession a copy of the CCJ. The courts will have no record of this on there system, so for them to reinstate it they will need the claim number & proof of a CCJ. As you can see, it is not straightforward for them, so you don't want to make things easy. The Prove It letter is the most cautious given the circumstances, then see what comes back.

The one thing I would stress very strongly though, is please think of your father. If you have those deeds transferred just so you can get a mortgage NOW as opposed to waiting a few months, then find things go wrong, it would leave you all in a terrible situation.

I understand your mortgage may be going through. It may well be that this is Statute Barred, and the fact you were making payments has no bearing on anything now, unless they can say they have not been able to find you. Equally you may end up with a CO on your new property, or against your father's property. Is it worth pushing for the sake of a few months finding out?

At the end of the day, only you can decide that, but I do think you ought to be up front with your father and explain the situation to him. At least then, he has the option of continuing knowing what the situation is, or deciding to back out as the risk is too great.

Find out where you stand, then move from there would be my recommendation.

I hope this has helped.

Good morning Labman, and thank you soo much for getting back to me.

Just with regard to my dads house situation, I have had this stopped as of yesterday - I was sick with worry and on Amethists advice I put a stop to it. So feel a little easier with regard to that and had my first full nights sleep last night!

With regard to the property I was intending to put the deposit down on - it is a council right to by which is in my partners name, the intention to loan off my dads was because my OH didn't quite make enough to raise the mortgage even with the full discount and due to the council property being in his name only, only he could purchase it and obtain the full discount. The plan was that he would then add my name to the mortgage after. We have also decided that I will not be added to the mortgage either due to this situation.

My dad is looking to perhaps loan us the money - it is a minimal amount and my OH will be paying it.

So now I have that sorted I want to sort this so it never comes and bites me in the a*se again.

I have checked all past address' with trustonline, they have no ccj record against me. I have a clean credit report as well. Unfortunately I have absolutely no letters - I was terrible with paperwork, and to be honest I think I just thought if I throw it away, it doesn't exist. I don't even have the letter from BC any more. I ignored it because I believed that they would write again outlining what it is they have contacted me about.

I don't feel proud of what I have done, I feel utterly ashamed that I got myself in this situation, and worse still that my family may now suffer because of something I did in my early 20's.

Because Bryan carter hasn't stipulated anything in the letter other that for me to contact them, can I still send the prove it letter like you have suggested but altered slightly? Also does this put the account in dispute?

Labman you are an absolute star and I can't thank you enough for advising me on this situation that I have PUT myself in.

[labman]

Re: Hello, I've posted before but really need your advice again...PLEASE HELP

No problem, that's what the site is here for, and TBH Amethyst had already covered the main bit as it turns out, and you'd done most of the rest of what I said.

Have you checked ALL the CRA's? If not, I would - it's £6 well spent to check all of them. As for our dear friend Bryan, if things are sorted as far as the mortgage goes, is there any rush? Can't you follow what the normal advice would be and just ignore and see if he comes back with anything else? You want to avoid, if you can, acknowledging there may be anything to do with you on his desk. Obviously sending prove it letters or whatever else we could concoct (there are other options, I chose what was, IMO, the best one) shows there is a possibility it could relate to you. Thus if you can now, I'd ignore it.

As for feeling ashamed - don't! If it's any consolation I lost everything to debt, even my house. I had bailiffs at the door, debt collectors galore. I buried my head, took my head out, buried it again and so on. Many of us on here have been where you are, or worse, so please don't kick yourself, it really serves no useful purpose, and just stops you moving on and putting it in the past which is actually where it is.

I admire your wish to sort it out. We can if you want to, but it may well be best, knowing the circumstances, to ignore it and just see what happens. We'll still be here if it returns, so don't worry. Move on and enjoy life. We'll deal with anything else if it ever happens.

Take care! :beagle:

[strong123]

Re: Hello, I've posted before but really need your advice again...PLEASE HELP

No problem, that's what the site is here for, and TBH Amethyst had already covered the main bit as it turns out, and you'd done most of the rest of what I said.

Have you checked ALL the CRA's? If not, I would - it's £6 well spent to check all of them. As for our dear friend Bryan, if things are sorted as far as the mortgage goes, is there any rush? Can't you follow what the normal advice would be and just ignore and see if he comes back with anything else? You want to avoid, if you can, acknowledging there may be anything to do with you on his desk. Obviously sending prove it letters or whatever else we could concoct (there are other options, I chose what was, IMO, the best one) shows there is a possibility it could relate to you. Thus if you can now, I'd ignore it.

As for feeling ashamed - don't! If it's any consolation I lost everything to debt, even my house. I had bailiffs at the door, debt collectors galore. I buried my head, took my head out, buried it again and so on. Many of us on here have been where you are, or worse, so please don't kick yourself, it really serves no useful purpose, and just stops you moving on and putting it in the past which is actually where it is.

I admire your wish to sort it out. We can if you want to, but it may well be best, knowing the circumstances, to ignore it and just see what happens. We'll still be here if it returns, so don't worry. Move on and enjoy life. We'll deal with anything else if it ever happens.

Take care! :beagle:

Labman, thank you again....your right, now I have sorted out the worst case scenario I think I will wait for the follow up letter (as I'm sure there will be) and then I will follow you advice with the letter. I'm so sorry for what you went through but I hope things are looking brighter for you now. Thank you so much, your advice and kind words have meant so much to me.
X

[labman]

Re: Hello, I've posted before but really need your advice again...PLEASE HELP

I'm glad I went through it, believe it or not. If I hadn't, I would probably never have developed an interest in consumer rights which I love. I'm also living proof that people do come out the other side.

[strong123]

Re: Hello, I've posted before but really need your advice again...PLEASE HELP

Hi all, I'm back again needing some more advice.
So to recap, some time ago I received a letter from bc solicitors advising that following checks they made they believed I was at said address and to call them to confirm. Following the advice of you wonderful people I ignored awaiting a further letter from them.

I believe it is for a 10k debt lowell had been chasing me for. To date I have still not heard back from them....yet! However today, I have received a letter (actually this was sent to my aunts address, I no longer live there but obviously she lets me know when I get letters and passes them to me at weekends) this letter is for a cap1 account and they are saying I owe £500, odd. Now I know this account is sb as I have never acknowledged or paid anything to debt since 2005/6.
My issue is that I know lowell also have the 10k debt and I'm wondering what's the best way to handle this....once I write to them they are going to start chasing me for the 10k....which I'm sure they will at some point anyway.
Please could you give me a little advice.
Many thanks