Finance Debt sold to Marlin Financial Services

[CheesedOffCharlie]

Hi All,

I'm new to this group so hello to everyone!

I have been fighting Barclays Partner Finance for 2 and a half years now. My partner signed up for a scam home learning course and that was financed by Barclays Partner Finance. The original company we signed up with for the course with went into administration and we were passed onto a new set of cowboys by the finance company to complete the course. We eventually discovered the qualifications he was going to achieve wasn’t worth the paper they were written on and we'd be £7000 out of pocket with nothing to show for it. We had been taken in by the hard sales scam. Funnily enough the company we were passed to so that we could complete the course went into voluntary liquidation last year, not that anybody from the finance company had the decency to advise us about it.

Once we realised we’d be conned we stopped paying Barclays Partner Finance. We wrote to Barclays Partner Finance and the scam course company advising them why we weren’t happy and why we weren’t paying for it anymore. The training company responded saying “not our problem, its financed take it up with the finance company”. The finance companies response was not our problem, the company you signed up or the course with went into administration and we have found a new company so you can continue your course so you need to keep paying.

I told Barclays Partner Finance it was very much their problem as they were as liable as the supplier who mis-sold us the course under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

We reported them to the FOS who of course found in favour of Barclays Partner Finance, that investigation took about 2 years. There was also a group of 16 of us who found a solicitor who agreed to take the case on on a ”No Win No Fee” basis. That lasted about a year but unfortunately the case fell through about a year in as the solicitor was unable to secure “After the Event Insurance” that we needed in place so as not to go bankrupt in the process. In that time Barclays Partner Finance passed our details on to 4 different debt collection companies who all stopped chasing very fast as they could see there was a lot more involved in the case than just simply chasing somebody for non-payment.

It had all been quiet for about a year and until yesterday when we received a letter from Barclays Partner Finance with a letter attached to it from Marlin Financial Services.

Barclays Letter

This letter is formal notice of the assignment of the debt and the closure of your account with
Clydesdale Financial Services Ltd Trading as Barclays Partner Finance and means that the effective owners of the above account are now Marlin Europe I Limited.

Marlin Europe I Limited have appointed Marlin Financial Services as their servicing agent to manage your account on their behalf. All contact regarding this account should now be directed to Marlin Financial Services. The enclosed letter provides details of how to contact Marlin Financial Services.

Marlin Letter

This letter is notification that we, Marlin Europe I Limited have had assigned to us all right, title, interest and benefit in the debts due in relation to the above account, previously owed to Clydesdale Financial Services Ltd Trading as Barclays Partner Finance. This means that we are now entitled to all sums owed under the account and the benefit of any actions taken by or on behalf of Clydesdale Financial Services Ltd Trading as Barclays Partner Finance prior to the assignment.


I like to know who I’m dealing with so I done some investigation into this debt collectors and I see they were featured on channel 4’s Dispatches for their dodgy antics so I’m guessing they are going to be a real pain.

I am very much in dispute with Barclays Partner Finance so I don’t see how they can transfer this debt. The debt used to be under £5000 but with now with charges its £5,127

Any suggestions on dealing with this will be greatly appreciated.

[Celestine]

Re: Finance Debt sold to Marlin Financial Services

Hiya and welcome to Legal Beagles.

Given the extensive history of your case, it's interesting that Barclays have now sold the debt to Marlin and washed their hands of it effectively.

When did you last make any payment toward the debt?

Do you own a property? I'm just wondering why Barclays haven't pursued you more aggressively if they could have........

I'm not really able to comment on the scam training course side of things, but I can certainly support your reluctance to pay for something that has been so utterly useless.

[CheesedOffCharlie]

Re: Finance Debt sold to Marlin Financial Services

Hi Celstine,

Thanks for the welcome :-)

We last made a payment to Barclays Partner Finance in July 2010. Their idea of aggressively chasing it was to keep giving it to debt collectors who couldnt drop it fast enough. The first debt collection agency was Mercers Debt Collection and thats BPF's in-house debt collection company which they used to try and deny but the same person who was signing letter from BPF was signing them for Mercers!

We live in rented accommodation.

I'm wondering because of the nature of the dispute, maybe they couldnt be 100% sure if it went to court they could win the case. We had a lot of help from Trading Standards when we first started fighting them and were told not to worry about the charges we incurred against the account because we could dispute them all.

The paperwork our solicitor drew up for our original court action group against the finance companies involved was going after them under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. The solicitor wasnt prepared to go after the training company because they have a habbit of closing companies, opening up under a different name and transferring the students which would have left us with nothing to recover.

[Celestine]

Re: Finance Debt sold to Marlin Financial Services

Yes, a s.75 claim under the CCA makes perfect sense. Shame you couldn't get ATE insurance.

I'm assuming they've defaulted you for this 'debt'? Check your credit report if you haven't already done so.

basically, as you don't own property, there's little thats of concern that they can do. The debt will fall off your credit file in 2016 so long as you do not make any payments or acknowledge the debt in that time.

Have you considered a County Court claim yourself under s.75? If you kept the claim to just under 5k you'd (probably) be allocated to the small claims track and be at little risk of costs. However, just a note of caution, if the case is deemed complex, the court is well within its rights to move the claim to fast track where you could be vulnerable.

[CheesedOffCharlie]

Re: Finance Debt sold to Marlin Financial Services

The last time I had checked, the debt hadnt even been registered.. It didnt show up on my BF's credit rating at all like it didnt exist. I have a feeling Marlin will definitely register the debt though.

About the debt falling off my partners credit file in 2016, would it will work that way as now the debt has been 'sold'? Would the 6 year period start all over again from the time i reply to the Marlin letter. The letter gave us 5 days for us to contact them and I'm not 100% how to approach it. Should I just say I am in dispute with Barclays Partner Finance and I dont have a contract with them and that we dont acknowledge the debt, be lucky and have a nice life lol. Or maybe will that start the 6 year SB period again. I need to respond to their letter either way.

[CheesedOffCharlie]

Re: Finance Debt sold to Marlin Financial Services

I am also a bit reluctant to take them to court because if we lost, we'd have to pay them. I dont mind losing the £2000 we paid to date, I'd rather the situation just went away.

Isnt it more risky for them to try and take us to court with the debt being over £5,000 unless they are pretty sure they can win? Also how could that work, our dispute is with BPF and if Marlin take us to court we are going to go to court over the dispute with Barclays, how could they defend that?

[Celestine]

Re: Finance Debt sold to Marlin Financial Services

Do check your credit file, the debt can only be defaulted once. It would be VERY interesting if Barclays HAVEN'T defaulted you.

[gravytrain]

Re: Finance Debt sold to Marlin Financial Services

Did the solicitor comment on the section 75 issue ?

A problem may be that the credit arrangements were made with Barclays rather than the supplier, section 75 only applies if the type of credit falls under section 12b of the act.

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Finance Debt sold to Marlin Financial Services

The last time I had checked, the debt hadnt even been registered.. It didnt show up on my BF's credit rating at all like it didnt exist. I have a feeling Marlin will definitely register the debt though.

About the debt falling off my partners credit file in 2016, would it will work that way as now the debt has been 'sold'? Would the 6 year period start all over again from the time i reply to the Marlin letter. The letter gave us 5 days for us to contact them and I'm not 100% how to approach it. Should I just say I am in dispute with Barclays Partner Finance and I dont have a contract with them and that we dont acknowledge the debt, be lucky and have a nice life lol.

There should only be ONE default per debt, regardless of whether it's been sold or not, and it should drop off your file 6 years after it was originally recorded. Defaults drop off after 6 years regardless of any payments or acknowledgments made, not to be confused with the Statute Barred clock, which would be reset in those cases.

Or maybe will that start the 6 year SB period again. I need to respond to their letter either way.

A letter disputing the ALLEGED DEBT shouldn't reset the SB clock, so long as you refer to it as such.

[CheesedOffCharlie]

Re: Finance Debt sold to Marlin Financial Services

Thanks all.. I will defo get a up to date credit check done on my partner this weekend to see what's happening with it.

Here are some of the comments on the Case Summary letter that was being sumitted to the insurers for the ATE insurance regading the section 75.

* These are misrepresentation and breach of contract claims under s. 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

*As they thought they were getting nationally recognised qualifications and the guarantee of a job at the end of the course (along with the other things represented to them), our clients signed up for these courses, and the training provider arranged finance agreements for them to pay for the courses.
As a matter of law, these agreements were debtor-creditor-supplier agreements under section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. This means that the debtor (in this case the Proposer) is able to sue the finance company for their loss as a result of the creditor misrepresentations or breaches of contract, despite the fact that the finance company did not itself make the misrepresentations or breaches of contract.

* For this reason, our clients are bringing their claims against the finance companies which funded these agreements under section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974.
We consider that our clients’ claims are sufficiently similar for them to be brought as part of the same proceedings, pursuant to CPR 7.3 and CPR 3.1 (2) (g), as the court could, and in our view should, “conveniently dispose of them in the same proceedings”. Of course, this is also beneficial to our clients’ prospects of recovering a greater proportion of their costs, as the matter could be dealt with in the multi-track.

Thats just some of the legal stuff in the "Case Summary"

I havent posted it all because I know the training company is constantly scanning the internet for their names. The problem with the hard sell scam is because its verbal, its very hard to prove the lies you were told, that's why were were trying to sue the finance companies as a group to strengthen our case.

[CheesedOffCharlie]

Re: Finance Debt sold to Marlin Financial Services

Hi Celestine,

I got my boyfriends credit report off of Experian today. It is as it was when i last checked a year and a half a go, the debt doesnt show up anywhere. It shows he has no debts at all and no missed payments on anything.

It does show Lowell were having a nose around his credit report in October 2012, Application Type: Unrecorded Enquiry.

Before you said it would be VERY intersting if that was the case so what do you think?

[10pack]

Re: Finance Debt sold to Marlin Financial Services

Hi Celestine,

I got my boyfriends credit report off of Experian today. It is as it was when i last checked a year and a half a go, the debt doesnt show up anywhere. It shows he has no debts at all and no missed payments on anything.

It does show Lowell were having a nose around his credit report in October 2012, Application Type: Unrecorded Enquiry.

Before you said it would be VERY intersting if that was the case so what do you think?

Hello CheesedoffCharlie
I also have a similar problem as you, mine is between the companies Barclays partner finance and the training company Advent computer training.. and now Marlin.
That company you mentioned having a nose around checking your credit file.. would it be Lowell Portfolio I Ltd by any chance? I also noted this on my credit history in October last year.

I received no training.. no goods, no services or money from this situation, the finance was arranged between Advent and Barclays ,I tried to claim for mis-selling of the course under S75 ,Barclays do not want to know about it.

I am out of pocket by just over £850 which is what I originally tried to get back from Barclays they just laughed when I asked them to close my account.

Marlin was merged a while back with a company called Blacktip capital whose previous operating name was
BLACK TIP CAPITAL PORTFOLIO (UK) LIMITED .

check out the links below to see how these companies are linked together.

one of their new directors used to work for Barclays partner finance..
http://www.blacktipcapital.com/4_january_2010.html

Also I do not know if this is part of the same company but I found this link, to me it shows a company called Marlin have been borrowing money from Barclays..
http://www.companiesintheuk.co.uk/ltd/marlin-services.

Below is a summery of my past dealings with the situation and shows you are not alone in your problems, sorry its a bit long ( I actually edited it down a bit :-D )


==================
I had been made redundant in June 2009 and was on job seekers allowance, I had made many applications for jobs with no success my problem was lack of qualifications, I had the practical experience in programming so I decided to look around to see what I could do about it.

An email arrived from the monster job site informing me about how wonderful Advent Computer Training was so I phoned this company.
I told them I was out of work and I wanted qualifications so I could get a better chance at a job, they said no problem since you are out of work you will be able to finish your first module that much quicker and in 3 months we will have you working because we have our own in house job center that only places our students, many IT companies come to us direct because we do not charge a finders fee unlike job agencies, no other training provider has this.

When he mentioned the amount of money to pay for this course £5,995 and that places were very limited since they had a lot of interest and that I should sign up quickly.
I told him I cant afford the amount you are asking since I am not working, he said not to worry we will sort it out we can get you an interest free loan over 3 years and when you start working in 3 months time you can start paying it back.

I signed up 5th December 2009 and the finance was supposedly arranged, I was going abroad for the Christmas and new year so I told Advent not to start until after I got back on 18th January 2010.
When I got back there was nothing in the post and I noted that Barclays had taken a first payment out of my bank account on the 15th of January.
I waited for a few days before I rang the number for Advent and it just rang with no answer I tried this for a few days with no success.
It was about that time on the news showed that Advent had gone bankrupt and closed.

Not knowing what else to do I phoned the number on the credit agreement form for Barclays partner finance, the chap there was very helpful he said at the moment nothing had been decided but not to worry I was covered by the consumer credit act and Barclays had to find me a suitable alternative that was as good as or better than Advent otherwise I could take Barclays to court he said with a laugh, he also mentioned that Barclays had over 6,000 students in similar position as myself.

Over the following weeks I phoned Barclays and was told the same thing nothing had been decided, I said I am not happy with the way things are going and that my second payment had now been taken from my account and I still had not had anything to date and that I wished to stop paying until this was resolved the rep said ok you are allowed to do this.
on the next payment due date Barclays again took a payment from my account that made 3 in all that puts us into March.
I phoned again and asked what news and still they could tell me nothing, I mentioned that a payment had been taken despite my wish they stopped, she said I will send you a cheque in the post which did arrive.
I also again asked that they close my account and refund my payments she said I cant do that.

later in the march a letter from Barclays (my first) informing me they had found Computeach International..

I groaned because many years previous I had been a student of theirs and they are a total waste of time and money, I phoned Barclays and told them I will not accept Computeach due to what I know about them, the rep said sorry you have no alternatives from us either you train with Computeach or not.. makes no difference you must still keep paying.
That was when I told the rep there is no way I would accept their offer and I refuse to pay for something I know not to be of any use to me, I cancelled my direct debit.

From that time on I have been in dispute with Barclays partner finance, I made a written complaint stating my reasons and detailing the circumstances and asked that they close my account any money I had paid be returned, which they acknowledged and said they would investigate.

Meanwhile in same post was a letter from Mercers (found out they are Barclays in house DCA) threatening me with action if I did not pay within 7 days.
Barclays after weeks wrote back and said they had done a full investigation and refused to accept I had any grounds to claim and again stated I must make payments on my loan.

I had no response to the last letter I sent to them end of 2011 again asking them to close my account etc, last year was quiet I heard nothing from them.
I had been chatting with another student in similar situation who had phoned Barclays and had been told they had written off the loans, I thought at last its off my back.


Now the Marlin letter, Over the past years I had fought off 4 debt collectors that Barclays had set on me, when challenged they could not supply the deed of assignment document showing they owned the loan.

Marlin is the first to state they have brought the loan, interestingly letters from both companies arrived in the same envelope.
If Marlin have really brought the loan I will have to ask for a copy of the deed of assignment see if its true.

[gravytrain]

Re: Finance Debt sold to Marlin Financial Services

Came across this

http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/investigat...-collapse.html

[10pack]

Re: Finance Debt sold to Marlin Financial Services

I phoned Marlin this morning and asked if they could send me a copy of the deed of assignment, she asked why did I need that, I replied if you are asking me for money I need proof you have brought this loan from Barclays, she replied the letters you received from Barclays and Marlin should be proof enough.. how I asked when neither letter had a name and only one has an unreadable scribble for signature.

I then asked can you send me a copy of my credit agreement with Barclays? she supposedly searched on her computer and said sorry we do not have it yet.

I pointed out how can your company be asking me for money when they can not supply either document when I know that both are needed to be supplied to me as proof they have brought the loan from Barclays, I told her I do not recognize owing Marlin any monies and I would be taking this up with trading standards.

[CheesedOffCharlie]

Re: Finance Debt sold to Marlin Financial Services

Wow that's very interesting 10pack, you are in exactly the same situation as us. Yes it was Lowell Portfolio I Ltd who was snooping around my boyfriends credit report. Did Marlin buy your debt at the same time I wonder? I know somebody else who has been fighting them with us got his letter on exactly the same day I did and he was also with Barclays Partner Finance and of course not paying them! Our Barcalys and Marlin letter also arrived in the same envelope too. Thats very interesting the directors link between BPF and Marlin.

You are fighting the same against the same course provider as us but ours was for a plumbing course.. (same umbrella of companies and my god do they have a lot of them) Very very dodgy and BPF did like to finance their scam courses. You know for sure there was some fat lunches going on there. Barclays Partner Finance are no longer financing any of it as far as I know but that doesnt help our situation at all.

We received our letters last Wednesday and are yet to get any phone calls from Marlin although i'm sure we will hear from the buggers this week. I will link you the directors reports and you'll see just how many companies they have, its crazy.