Cabot settlement

[mrsgil]

Hi can anyone advise on my situation please?
Had DMP for £34000 of debts for a few years now, got it down to £20000 then found myself in the position of being able to offer 48% of balances to the 6 creditors in full and final settlement.
All but Cabot accepted ...they wanted £3000 above what i offered which i don't have.
Have asked them twice to reconsider ...no deal.
The DMP company have said i will have to pay what i was offering Cabot into my DMP and Cabot will then get it as a lump sum OFF of what i owe them!!!
S*d that!
I have cancelled my DMP and have offered Cabot a monthly sum paid directly to them in the hope that i can get the original balance reduced further so they will accept the offer for settlement in eg 18 months time.

Have i messed up here or done the right thing?

[maruvian]

Re: Cabot settlement

Have you sent a CCA request to Cabot, to check that they have an enforceable agreement? Also was the debt properly assigned to Cabot? as they don't tend to be, ie did you receive a compliant Notice of Assignment from the original creditor?

[mrsgil]

Re: Cabot settlement

Hi and thank you for replying.
I did receive a letter from Cabot saying they have taken over the debt from the original lender, but heard nothing from the original lender.
As payments were being made through my Debt Management Plan i just had to inform them of the change and i assume they contacted Cabot with the monthly repayment figure.
Not sure if that helps,
Haven't CCA'd them as didn't want to cause problems with them!
Unfortunately they were the creditor i owed the most money too so was rather hoping that they would settle.

[maruvian]

Re: Cabot settlement

If Cabot sent you a letter saying they brought the debt then there is a good chance that it has not been properly assisgned. Any Notice of Assignment must come from the OC, a DCA cannot assign it to themselves.

I would send a CCA to Cabot and a SAR to the OC and see what comes back. Also sending the SAR you will find out if there are any charges on the account. Is this a loan or credit card?

[mrsgil]

Re: Cabot settlement

Its a loan.
Could you explain SAR please?

[maruvian]

Re: Cabot settlement

The SAR is a request made under the Data Protection Act and is a request for all information connected to the account it costs £10.00 and they 40 calendar days in which to fulfil the request.

[Kafka]

Re: Cabot settlement

SAR details here
Legal Beagles

[charitynjw]

Re: Cabot settlement

Some companies return the request/£10 fee, claiming that they need proof of identity (even though they have been sending you details of your financial affairs to your address !!)

Some have even taken the payment and claimed it as a payment on the amount owed.

Always send a SAR 'proof of postage'.

[mrsgil]

Re: Cabot settlement

Thank you,
Can you further explain what a SAR actually achieves in relation to my debt?
Sorry to be naive but this is all way over my head.

[Kafka]

Re: Cabot settlement

The SAR is a right under the Data Protection Act that requires any firm to supply all personal data that they hold on you. In the case of a bank or DCA this should be the agreement, default information, assignment details and so on, as well as correspondence and details of all charges applied.

It is a legal requirement for a creditor to hold a valid copy of a credit agreement to enforce a debt and there are other legal requirements regarding the default and assignment processes. Unless the person pursuing you can produce the correct documentation then you can often challenge the amount owed, the right to collect or the right to have defaulted you. This can help you remove charges from the balance, stop them taking legal action and sometimes allows you to negotiate a reduced settlement figure if their paperwork is flawed.

SAR is usually a tenner well spent!

[mrsgil]

Re: Cabot settlement

Thank you all very much.
I have worked out from what they wanted as settlement that they will settle for 70% whereas I can only pay them 50% tops, so it looks like i am still in it for the long haul ...frustrating when everyone else accepted the offer.
I will definately send SAR request.
Thanks again.

[Tools]

Re: Cabot settlement

Hi mrsgil,

I think (correct me if I am wrong) the previous posts advising you to ask for the data held are firstly to see if the debt is legitimately collectable. i.e were the correct procedures followed, valid agreement, default notice, notice of assignment etc etc

If these procedures were not followed correctly, making the collection of the outstanding debt tenuous, then you can use this as a bargaining tool to try and force them to accept a much greater reduced settlement, your original 48% offer for example.

Who was the original lender?

[mrsgil]

Re: Cabot settlement

The original lender was Egg.