My debt has been sold to my creditor’s solicitors.

[queen24053]

Can someone help me understand this transaction please? I have a debt with a commercial bank which I have been paying for many years through the bank’s solicitors because I defaulted when I had financial difficulties.
In June 2024, I received a letter from a company called MDP Limited (Not a real name) saying that they bought the debt from the bank and that I should direct future payments to them. I wrote back to MDP Limited saying that I would ignore their instructions since the bank did not inform me about the sale of my debt. I thought it was wrong for me to act on third-party instructions who were themselves a beneficiary of the transaction.
MDP Limited did not respond to my letter but instead, a couple of months later, I received a letter from the bank’s solicitors saying they (the solicitor) no longer represented the bank and that they were now representing MDP Limited. The solicitors went on to say that I should continue servicing the loan through them (the solicitors) as before, but for the account of MDP Limited. I thought this was rather strange.
On reflection, I am now very confused about all this;

1. Is it not a requirement for a bank to inform their customer when a debt has been sold to someone else?
2. Further, was the bank not obliged to tell me about the change in solicitor when this happened?
3. The situation is further complicated by the fact that the shareholders and directors of MDP Limited (about 6 in total) are the same ones in the solicitor’s firm. I checked this out with the Registrar of Companies. Is this normal? Are there no ethical rules for solicitors regarding conflict of interest?

I don’t know what to do. Where can I get help on a matter like this?

[atticus]

1. No. It is for the assignee to give notice of assignment.
2. No.
3. What conflict of interests do you think there might be?

[queen24053]

1. No. It is for the assignee to give notice of assignment.
2. No.
3. What conflict of interests do you think there might be?

I am elated that I have some answers to 1 and 2. Thank you.
With regard to 3, I just don’t see it right that a law firm which is pursuing a debt on behalf of a bank, should form a company, which then buys the debt at a discount to make a profit. Then the same law firm starts to pursue that debt with all the legal tools at its disposal. It just does not look right because the law firm is in a privileged position. Are there no legal rules prohibiting this kind of thing?

[atticus]

I repeat my earlier question.

Does it not "look right" to you because you are being chased for a debt?

[queen24053]

I repeat my earlier question.

Does it not "look right" to you because you are being chased for a debt?

In short yes, it does not "look right" to me because I am being chased for a debt. But this is a debt I thought I had fully repaid in May 2023. It’s a long story, but I will summarize the events here as follows:
In 2005 I accumulated debts totalling some £80,000 spread over 8 lenders following a series of family tragedies. £25000 of this is the subject of this query. The £25K was owed to TSB (Later HSBC). Unable to service my debts, but with help from Citizens Advice, I negotiated reduced payments. Interest charges were also stopped. The legal team at TSB referred my debt to their company solicitors, RS Solicitors (not real name). Initially I was servicing all my debts directly myself, but later in 2010, I registered with Stepchange Charity who distributed my payments to the 8 creditors. Stepchange apportioned my payments in such a way that all my debts would be fully repaid almost at the same time, in March 2023.
Fast forward to 2023 all debts were almost zero. During this period 2010-2023, RS Solicitors never contacted me at any time. However, annually each July, TSB (HSBC) sent me details of my loan balance as required by financial regulations as did all the other lenders. I have most of the statements from HSBC. The solicitors never communicated with me during this period, never.
In July 2023 I received my final loan statement from HSBC, fully paid. However, when I contacted RS Solicitors that my loan was fully paid, they produced their own statement of my debt showing a huge discrepancy of £5,962.92 which they said I still owed in interest and other charges. In the letter they mentioned that the balance would have been over £10,000 but they decided to write off approximately £5,000 of collection charges because I was making regular payments.
RS Solicitors said that they obtained a CCJ in 2007 although they never enforced it, or put it on my credit record. When I asked for a copy, they said they did not have one as everything was done electronically. I do not remember a CCJ registered against me but I vaguely recall completing some court forms although I cannot remember what the forms were about. I was so stressed at the time, to point of breaking down. I was prepared to do anything to stop those chasing letters coming through my front door.
I made inquiries with the HM Courts & Tribunal Services requesting for a copy of the CCJ. There was none at HM Court Records. I have also checked my credit file. There is no record of any CCJ being recorded on my credit file either.
I asked RS Solicitors why I should continue servicing the loan which was fully repaid. Their response was that they were just following bank instructions. When I called the HSBC bank, they referred me back to RS Solicitors.
Stepchange advised that I should challenge RS Solicitors and that in the meantime they would freeze payments to RS Solicitors while I pursued the matter. I was initially reluctant to do this on my own without legal advice.
While I was worrying about what to do, MDP wrote to me that they bought the debt. I challenged this and curiously checked on the register of companies to find out who MDP were only to find that it is a company formed in 2022 by one of the directors of RS Solicitors.

Right now, Stepchange have put a pause on payments. I am retired and feel very vulnerable, harassed and taken advantage of.

As you can see from this summary this is very confusing for me as I am not a legal person. But I feel quite positive now that I am able to communicate with someone. I did not know this site existed until recently.