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Hello all. I have been reading this forum for a while with great interest and gleaned some extremely useful information. I currently have a problem and I would be grateful for some advice.
During 2002 bought £950 worth of items from a store on 1 years interest free credit. I didn't pay the balance within a year so it became a storecard with Clydesdale Financial Services (CFS). I kept the account in good order for a while but got into financial difficulty. CFS responded by placing charges on the account of between £20-£35 a time for sending out late payment letters (sometimes three times within the space of a month. Once twice within a week). At one point the balance of the account was down to around £450 but these charges crippled me and the balance skyrocketed. I'm pretty sure this card also came with mis-sold PPI.
To cut a long story short I ignored the debt (wrong I know- I was young). By the time unfair bank charges became a topic of conversation this debt had disappeared from my credit report and the calls and letters had stopped. I adopted an attitude of 'quid pro quo'- the balance of the card was entirely made up of charges and I assumed (rightly or wrongly) that the company knew this and were no longer pursuing me for the balance. This assumption was strenghened by the fact that CFS seemed to disappear (I later learnt that they were taken over by Barclays Capital Finance. I decided to let it lie and not rock the boat (especially because to do so could risk resetting the 6 year Statute of Limitations clock).
In January this year (2012) I got a letter from Capquest stating that they owned this debt and that the balance was £1085. I have never received a notice of assignment. I've read extensively about this company since and decided to ignore them. The last payment was made around May 2007 so it has about a year to go before it becomes statute barred. They sent a number of misleading and threatening letters which I continued to ignore. A few days ago I received a Statutory Demand via first class post (dated May 2nd 2012 but not arriving until May 15th).
I'm unsure what course of action to take next. I'm happy to pay my debts but given the history of this account I have no intention of paying Capquest a penny on principle. I am a recent graduate and unemployed with no assets or savings. If Capquest have indeed done their research on me as they claim to have then they will know this. As a result I am almost certain that this is a bluff. However, I'm also an aspiring lawyer so I need to be very careful with my next steps as if I am bankrupted I will not be able to practice.
If I were to ignore the statutory demand would I get notification if bankruptcy proceedings were brought against me? Would I have an opportunity to pay the balance before any hearing?
If I apply to have the statutory demand set aside is there any potential that this could be seen as an acknowledgment of the debt? If I apply to have the statutory demand set aside, am I right in assuming that my strongest grounds are that:
(a) it has been improperly served (i.e. by post, not in person- I live above a shop and the general public have access to my letterbox so I don't have any post sent to my place of residence);
(b) Capquest have not demonstrated that they own the alleged debt;
(c) I contest the validity and size of the alleged debt;
(d) That the balance of the account is made up of unenforcable penalty charges and PPI charges.
I appreciate that point (d) might be difficult as most of the charges were added to the account over 6 years ago. However, as they make up the bulk of the balance, could I argue that they should be used to offset the balance as they are the source of the debt? Furthermore, this debt disappeared from my credit report for years and CFS disappeared. Could I rely on s.32 of the Limitation Act 1980 to argue that six year statutory time frame for challenging some of the later penalty charges should only begin in January this year as this is the earliest that I could have reasonably been expected to have discovered them? What is my position with regards to PPI? The account is over six years old but interest and payments towards PPI will have been made much more recently.
Any advice anyone can give me will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance
During 2002 bought £950 worth of items from a store on 1 years interest free credit. I didn't pay the balance within a year so it became a storecard with Clydesdale Financial Services (CFS). I kept the account in good order for a while but got into financial difficulty. CFS responded by placing charges on the account of between £20-£35 a time for sending out late payment letters (sometimes three times within the space of a month. Once twice within a week). At one point the balance of the account was down to around £450 but these charges crippled me and the balance skyrocketed. I'm pretty sure this card also came with mis-sold PPI.
To cut a long story short I ignored the debt (wrong I know- I was young). By the time unfair bank charges became a topic of conversation this debt had disappeared from my credit report and the calls and letters had stopped. I adopted an attitude of 'quid pro quo'- the balance of the card was entirely made up of charges and I assumed (rightly or wrongly) that the company knew this and were no longer pursuing me for the balance. This assumption was strenghened by the fact that CFS seemed to disappear (I later learnt that they were taken over by Barclays Capital Finance. I decided to let it lie and not rock the boat (especially because to do so could risk resetting the 6 year Statute of Limitations clock).
In January this year (2012) I got a letter from Capquest stating that they owned this debt and that the balance was £1085. I have never received a notice of assignment. I've read extensively about this company since and decided to ignore them. The last payment was made around May 2007 so it has about a year to go before it becomes statute barred. They sent a number of misleading and threatening letters which I continued to ignore. A few days ago I received a Statutory Demand via first class post (dated May 2nd 2012 but not arriving until May 15th).
I'm unsure what course of action to take next. I'm happy to pay my debts but given the history of this account I have no intention of paying Capquest a penny on principle. I am a recent graduate and unemployed with no assets or savings. If Capquest have indeed done their research on me as they claim to have then they will know this. As a result I am almost certain that this is a bluff. However, I'm also an aspiring lawyer so I need to be very careful with my next steps as if I am bankrupted I will not be able to practice.
If I were to ignore the statutory demand would I get notification if bankruptcy proceedings were brought against me? Would I have an opportunity to pay the balance before any hearing?
If I apply to have the statutory demand set aside is there any potential that this could be seen as an acknowledgment of the debt? If I apply to have the statutory demand set aside, am I right in assuming that my strongest grounds are that:
(a) it has been improperly served (i.e. by post, not in person- I live above a shop and the general public have access to my letterbox so I don't have any post sent to my place of residence);
(b) Capquest have not demonstrated that they own the alleged debt;
(c) I contest the validity and size of the alleged debt;
(d) That the balance of the account is made up of unenforcable penalty charges and PPI charges.
I appreciate that point (d) might be difficult as most of the charges were added to the account over 6 years ago. However, as they make up the bulk of the balance, could I argue that they should be used to offset the balance as they are the source of the debt? Furthermore, this debt disappeared from my credit report for years and CFS disappeared. Could I rely on s.32 of the Limitation Act 1980 to argue that six year statutory time frame for challenging some of the later penalty charges should only begin in January this year as this is the earliest that I could have reasonably been expected to have discovered them? What is my position with regards to PPI? The account is over six years old but interest and payments towards PPI will have been made much more recently.
Any advice anyone can give me will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance
