Restons Solicitors letter - Please help...

[brianmosar]

Hi,

I hope you can help me with this question. My Mrs had an Orange mobile plan @£40 per month back in 2009. After paying for 3 months the service dropped and she refused to pay the monthly balance based on the fact that she wasn’t getting the service she was paying for.

Orange did not get back in contact and its now been over 4 years. Orange does not charge interest or fees on missed payments as part of their terms.

On in June 2013 my Mrs received a letter from Restons solicitors, in the letter it states that there is a personal matter that they need to discuss with her. It also asked for the receiver of the letter to help them locate my Mrs if it wasn’t her. Nothing else was stated or given in the letter

I’ve looked into this and from what I've found Restons work closely with Arrow Global and we believe from what we've seen Arrow Global is a debt collector on behalf of Orange.
We’re quite sure that this is about the Orange phone bill that is still outstanding, but she has no other debt and has never had a loan. She only has a credit card which she pays off in full each month with no problem.

My understanding is that £40 per month for 24 months – 3 months of paid bills = £840

My questions are these...

1 - We haven’t had a CCJ or anything imposed. Do we get told if there are any CCJ/Cort Order/Cort Proceedings etc?
2 - Can Restons charge interest on this sum even if the original debt to Orange does not have any charges or fees, and if so how much?
3 - We do not own any properties, just vehicles. What can they do? We’re willing to pay it off in full if the amount is £840. Will they accept this?

It seems like such a small amount for a solicitors to get involved with...

Any help would be great.

Thanks

[charitynjw]

Re: Restons Solicitors letter - Please help...

Hi,

I hope you can help me with this question. My Mrs had an Orange mobile plan @£40 per month back in 2009. After paying for 3 months the service dropped and she refused to pay the monthly balance based on the fact that she wasn’t getting the service she was paying for.

Orange did not get back in contact and its now been over 4 years. Orange does not charge interest or fees on missed payments as part of their terms.

On in June 2013 my Mrs received a letter from Restons solicitors, in the letter it states that there is a personal matter that they need to discuss with her. It also asked for the receiver of the letter to help them locate my Mrs if it wasn’t her. Nothing else was stated or given in the letter :fish2:

I’ve looked into this and from what I've found Restons work closely with Arrow Global and we believe from what we've seen Arrow Global is a debt collector on behalf of Orange. :fish2:
We’re quite sure that this is about the Orange phone bill that is still outstanding, but she has no other debt and has never had a loan. She only has a credit card which she pays off in full each month with no problem.

My understanding is that £40 per month for 24 months – 3 months of paid bills = £840

My questions are these...

1 - We haven’t had a CCJ or anything imposed. Do we get told if there are any CCJ/Cort Order/Cort Proceedings etc? Yes
2 - Can Restons charge interest on this sum even if the original debt to Orange does not have any charges or fees, and if so how much?
3 - We do not own any properties, just vehicles. What can they do? We’re willing to pay it off in full if the amount is £840. Will they accept this? *See below

It seems like such a small amount for a solicitors to get involved with...



Any help would be great.

Thanks

Hi brianmosar, & welcome to Legal Beagles.

* This depends - are Restons/Global acting as an agent for a creditor, or have they purchased the debt?

If the former, they have about as much 'clout' as my pet chicken!

If the latter (which is more likely - they may have bought a portfolio of 'problem' debts for pence in the pound), they are trying to get acknowledgement of the debt.
Do not, at this stage, give them any indication!

If it were me, I would just file it, await their next move, & come back to us - they are just phishing.

[brianmosar]

Re: Restons Solicitors letter - Please help...

Hi brianmosar, & welcome to Legal Beagles.

* This depends - are Restons/Global acting as an agent for a creditor, or have they purchased the debt?

If the former, they have about as much 'clout' as my pet chicken!

If the latter (which is more likely - they may have bought a portfolio of 'problem' debts for pence in the pound), they are trying to get acknowledgement of the debt.
Do not, at this stage, give them any indication!

If it were me, I would just file it, await their next move, & come back to us - they are just phishing.

Hi thanks for the reply. We were going to call on Monday. Thing is she doesn't have any other debts. Is it worth her moving her savings into an account in my name just in case they try to freeze any of them? We though the same about just buying data of people with debts from all over the place, but I dont think this is going to go away...

Thanks

[charitynjw]

Re: Restons Solicitors letter - Please help...

I really wouldn't worry at this stage - they cannot access your/your OH's bank accounts, and any possible legal action is waaaay down the line, if at all!

Putting things in perspective for you, a highly-qualified solicitor is resorting to 'ambulance-chasing' - & resorting to sneaky tactics! :tsk: uke:

Sleep easy - & pop back here if there is any escalation.

& remember, they are not bailiffs, not court appointed, & are only legends in their own (tiny) minds!

[brianmosar]

Re: Restons Solicitors letter - Please help...

Thank you, i'll be back top let you know more!

[Nibbler]

Re: Restons Solicitors letter - Please help...

As Restons appear to be trying to "trace" your other half, can I ask whether you have moved in that 4 years period since you left things with Orange? I ask, because if you have there is an outside chance that they might obtained a CCJ using the previous address. Saying that, Restons etc do send tracing letters for non CCJ debt, so don't be unduly alarmed.

For most Orange debts that I can recall going to Arrow, they have bought the debt from Orange.

[brianmosar]

Re: Restons Solicitors letter - Please help...

As Restons appear to be trying to "trace" your other half, can I ask whether you have moved in that 4 years period since you left things with Orange? I ask, because if you have there is an outside chance that they might obtained a CCJ using the previous address. Saying that, Restons etc do send tracing letters for non CCJ debt, so don't be unduly alarmed.

For most Orange debts that I can recall going to Arrow, they have bought the debt from Orange.

We've just checked on Noddle and there is a default with arrow global for £191. I also did a CCJ check on all of our addresses from http://www.trustonline.org.uk/ and there is nothing registered.

Any ideas on what the final payment could be including charges etc if there are any?

Thanks

[Jennimos]

Re: Restons Solicitors letter - Please help...

Please forgive me if this is not the right place to post this
------------------------------------------------

Please I really need advice or should i say help about what Restons Solicitors put me through over the years.

I shall try to cut the long story short as possible! I took out a loan from HFC in 2005 and I lost my job along the line in 2006. HFC then took the case to Restons Solicitors who then wrote me the first and only correspondence that I should pay my debt or they will put a charge order on my property.

Anyway when I lost my job, I tried to re-mortgage my flat in order to pay my debts and to also have some extra money. The re-mortgage was successful and I paid all the outstanding debts including the court fee in total £5,500.

Then, this year, I decided to sell my property and to my utter dismay the conveyancy solicitor dealing with the sale of the property told me that the process could proceed as a Charge Order was placed on my property in 2006 by Restons Solicitors. As you can imagine, I was so furious!!! I contacted Restons and was told that the case might have been archived because it was an old case and they had changed systems (whatever that meant).

Few days after I called Restons, a lady called me back from Reston to explain to me what happened. She sent me a statement showing that I had paid in full in 2006 and said the person that dealt with my case in 2006 after I made the full payment forgot to remove the Charge order from my property. They have now removed it.

Let me stop the story here. So do you think I have a good case of getting any compensation from them (Restons Solicitors) knowing fully well that the Charging Order placed on my property by them affected my credit rating for so many years and having been refused credit whenever I applied………………………………..

[charitynjw]

Re: Restons Solicitors letter - Please help...

Hi Jennimos

In monetary terms, can you prove a quantifiable loss?

[Jennimos]

Re: Restons Solicitors letter - Please help...

Hmmmm, it's really hard to prove but since I have a letter from them saying that full payment was made long time ago and admitting the fault of not doing the right thing since 2006, I was hoping I could be compensated in the right wording letter sent to them

[charitynjw]

Re: Restons Solicitors letter - Please help...

You appear to be considering the 'loss of chance' doctrine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loss_of...in_English_law

If so, this download may clarify matters for you -

[CleverClogs]

Re: Restons Solicitors letter - Please help...

Then, this year, I decided to sell my property and to my utter dismay the conveyancy solicitor dealing with the sale of the property told me that the process could proceed as a Charge Order was placed on my property in 2006 by Restons Solicitors. As you can imagine, I was so furious!!! I contacted Restons and was told that the case might have been archived because it was an old case and they had changed systems (whatever that meant).

Few days after I called Restons, a lady called me back from Reston to explain to me what happened. She sent me a statement showing that I had paid in full in 2006 and said the person that dealt with my case in 2006 after I made the full payment forgot to remove the Charge order from my property. They have now removed it.

Is the sale of your flat now proceeding, or has the buyer withdrawn their offer?

[Jennimos]

Re: Restons Solicitors letter - Please help...

Thanks for coming back to me. I got a letter from the conveyancy solicitor that the Charging Order was successfully removed and the sale proceeded.