Arrow Global / Wescot wanting over £1,000 so afraid

[Sammi]

Hi there,

My brother who suffer from mental health issues and IBD, recently received a letter from HSBC saying they've sold the account/debt to Arrow Global who have appointed Wescot to collect a debt of over £1,000 he is on benefits for long term illness (ESA, and just barely applied for Personal Independence Payment due to his IBD). Just a quick background on my brother, he was a successful businessman earning several thousand pounds a week, in 2013 in had a mental break down he essentially became a hypochondriac, and started suffering from anxiety and panic attacks, it turned out that he had kept his IBD secret from the family for about 7 years, and didn't get any treatment for it either, until is spiralled out of control and he was looking too much blood and was in extreme pain. So, that eventually led to the mental break down. In which he closed his business down, and stopped earning any money.

To cut the long story sort, he is mentally unstable, as certified by medical doctors and the DWP he is in the support group for ESA payments, and he can't recall if he ever owed this money, and/or if he had already cleared all his account before he closed his business down.

At the moment he has zero assets in his name, he has lost all his money, and doesn't even have enough to live on, I have to sometimes support him.

I am just so scared that these debt collectors my come to my house and take my house, as my brother lives with me. Or send someone round for a doorstep visit. I am having a tough time myself I don't think I can deal with them, even over the phone. My brother is panic and having anxiety over this now as well he is scared he will go to prison or something I told him that wasn't possible, but his scared and does not want to have any contact with them.

What are his options? He can't pay the debt not even in instalments, would it be best ignore them until we get a CCJ and then take my brother to court and show the state of him to the judge his not in a mental state to pay a debt he isn't even working. Or would the courts not have any sympathy for him?

Right now, I am just thinking about ignoring them, and if they send further mail addressed to him, just return it back to them and tell him he isn't here.

[nemesis45]

Re: Arrow Global / Wescot wanting over £1,000 so afraid

Hi Sammi,
Not a pleasant situation for your brother to be in and likely to damage his mental health even further.
From what you say he is clearly a vulnerable person. and AG/Wescott should take a step back.

I would suggest that you write to AG and a copy to Wescott ( with your brothers written authority) stating the facts of his health and financial means.
I'm just going to check on something and I'll be back.

nem

OK, A letter should go to Tom Dury CEO Arrow Global, (cuts out customer (dis) service and others with no authority to act)
Gather all the medical and financial information together in a clear and logical fashion first.
When you have this sorted come back to me if you need/would like help with a letter.


nem.

[Sammi]

Re: Arrow Global / Wescot wanting over £1,000 so afraid

OK thanks. Am just afraid to write to them in case it brings out more debt collectors from the woodwork, if they get a sniff as now he thinks that might not be the only unpaid overdraft he may or may not have had, which allegedly remains unpaid. Personally I think there is a good possibility their might be more debts he owes. So, I was looking to keep ignoring them, until they become statue barred or until when he can deal with them himself. Otherwise, if he gets a CCJ I think it might be prudent for me to lend him the fee to make himself go bankrupt, or better yet a debt collector make him go bankrupt.

The credit agreement with HSBC is from 2012.

edit*

What would be the likelihood of the court accepting his bankruptcy, taking into the fact that he may owe other debts, he has no assets which are worth selling, he doesn't have anything of financial value in his name, he lives with me rent-free, and owns a £300 mobile phone, and a couple of contracts with his mobile company which cost him around 85 quid a month, he also has an overdraft with another bank where his benefit money goes into, they charge him a interest fee, and he owes them an overdraft of £1,000 too. So, it might make sense just to let him go bankrupt so he doesn't have to pay any of this. I mean he has paid more in interest to the bank than the overdraft he has with them.

[Sammi]

Re: Arrow Global / Wescot wanting over £1,000 so afraid

Hi Sammi,
Not a pleasant situation for your brother to be in and likely to damage his mental health even further.
From what you say he is clearly a vulnerable person. and AG/Wescott should take a step back.

I would suggest that you write to AG and a copy to Wescott ( with your brothers written authority) stating the facts of his health and financial means.
I'm just going to check on something and I'll be back.

nem

OK, A letter should go to Tom Dury CEO Arrow Global, (cuts out customer (dis) service and others with no authority to act)
Gather all the medical and financial information together in a clear and logical fashion first.
When you have this sorted come back to me if you need/would like help with a letter.


nem.

OK, I should be able to gather this information, as I am also in the process of submitting his PIP but I have all information for his mental health, which is supported by the DWP and their medical assessors, as well as from his GP. He isn't up for a review for his condition for another year. His GP lately stated he maybe "signed off" for 5 years, as his condition is moderately severe, i.e. his bowel problems coupled with his mental health. So, there is a very good possibility that this alleged debt may not be paid for at least another 6 years.

[Sammi]

Re: Arrow Global / Wescot wanting over £1,000 so afraid

(this is what my brother is telling me) he says, business have insurances against debts, they get paid out so how have they sold something to someone else that the insurance company has already paid for. He is saying that is like insuring a mobile phone, losing it claiming insurance on, then finding the phone and selling it to a 3rd party. So essentially they've at min double the money they lent. It would be dubious (*he thinks*) to sell the credit agreement, since they would have had to provide the credit agreement to the insurance company, so how can they have two credit agreements? One which they've provided to the insurance company, and the other they've sold to AG? He says's it must be a copy they sold, which to quote him he says: "It legally carries diddle squat value, a pizza menu would have more value. Are they planning on presenting that in court, a copy of a credit agreement?"

[nemesis45]

Re: Arrow Global / Wescot wanting over £1,000 so afraid

The debt is already " out there" Sammi, it will be on his credit reference files for any DCA to see any anyway.
Deal with each debt as and when/if they surface it will be easier to manage especially once one creditor has acknowleged and accepted that there is no foreseeable chance of getting paid.
BR is the ultimate conclusion not cheap to do.
It would be worth getting together a comprehensive list of your brothers liabilities and income for a start.

[nemesis45]

Re: Arrow Global / Wescot wanting over £1,000 so afraid

Bad debt relief is a tax matter.
We have no way of knowing if any such insurance is in place or not nor do we know if any pay out was made.


This is a very complicated area of law, The Law of Property Act 1925 governs the sale and purchase of debts ( legal assignment).

There are tax implications too.

If there was any merit in your brothers take on this it would have been the subject of action before now.

Basically the " account/debt" is an asset.

[Sammi]

Re: Arrow Global / Wescot wanting over £1,000 so afraid

OK, I have gathered all the info, but my brother is having one of his "manic" moments, and is telling me not to reply back to them, and if they send further mail just tell them he has moved out, and that any further correspondence from them addressed to him to my address will be regarded as harassment and kept as evidence, and they will be reported to the regulator. I don't know if this has any value any anyone confirm does this make sense? and can this kind of macho attitude make them back off?