Vanquis & Merlin

[Mrbenny]

Hi All

this is my first post so please go easy on me

Around 2008 I had a Vanquis credit card with a limit of around £300. This was never increased and due to some financial issues, and naivety on my part, when I got into difficulties I stopped paying Vanquis. My account was at approx £350.

This is then got sold onto Cabot, however this was being chased at a previous address which I no longer receive any mail from.

I I have now received a letter from Cabot to my new address saying it has been sold to 'Merlin' and also a letter from Merlin saying that they now have the debt. I also recieved the below on the same date.

Current Creditor - Cabot Financial UK ltd.
Outstanding Balance - £1490.33

The above creditor has confirmed that there is no reasonable payment plan in place and the above debt remains outstanding. We are now in the process of advising our client to take litigation action against you to recover this outstanding debt.

Currently our intention is to instruct a solicitor to issue court proceedings against you to seek a CCJ.

Etc etc.


I only recieved this letter on 3rd May and it is dated 29th April requesting a response within 7 days.

Dont know now what to do

[Amethyst]

Re: Vanquis & Merlin

Blimey that's shot up if you stopped paying at £350. Do you recall receiving a default notice on the account?

I'd get a CCA request sent off to Cabot. http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...y-of-Agreement

Would you be in a position to negotiate payments with Cabot ? of a full and Final settlement of around the amount you defaulted at?

Was it simply a change in circumstances that you stopped making the payments or was there any dispute on the debt ?

Did you have PPI on the card at all ?

I wouldn't say that was a letter before action, but I'd expect you to receive a formal one in the next few weeks - they haven't instructed solicitors yet so you have a bit of time to try sort things before they try taking the claim to court.

[Mrbenny]

Re: Vanquis & Merlin

I know that's my concern that these are all fees. I wouldn't be in a position to pay all of it off but could do over a period of say 3 months.

However now now it is well over £1000 I'm not in any sort of position to clear this. I don't recall receiving a default notice however this doesn't mean I didn't receive one.

I bad isn't have a dispute I just couldn't afford to pay and at the time decided to stop, which I know was the worst thing to do.

I have challanged PPI on this card however was told that Vanquis don't offer PPI on their cards!

So you think the CCA route would be best?

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Vanquis & Merlin

Hi All

this is my first post so please go easy on me

We always go easy, we bark loudly but don't bite! :beagle::doggieyes:

Around 2008 I had a Vanquis credit card with a limit of around £300. This was never increased and due to some financial issues, and naivety on my part, when I got into difficulties I stopped paying Vanquis. My account was at approx £350.

This is then got sold onto Cabot, however this was being chased at a previous address which I no longer receive any mail from.

I I have now received a letter from Cabot to my new address saying it has been sold to 'Merlin' and also a letter from Merlin saying that they now have the debt. I also recieved the below on the same date.

Current Creditor - Cabot Financial UK ltd.
Outstanding Balance - £1490.33

If the card was taken out in 2008, the CCA request won't make as much difference as if it was a pre-April 2007 one.

Did you default on it in 2008 and never made any payments after that? If so, it could be nearly statute barred, so you wouldn't want to reset the clock with an offer of repayment. :clock:

Any idea how long ago it was sold to Cabot? The reason I'm asking is because a SAR would provide you with statements showing how the balance has grown by over £1,100, effectively quadrupled!!! :scared: :scared: :scared:

Normally SARs would be sent to the original lender (i.e. Vanquis), however, if Cabot have had it for several years, it may have been them rather than Vanquis who have been applying interest and charges all along. You could, of course, send a SAR to both, bearing in mind it will cost you £10 EACH + postage.

The above creditor has confirmed that there is no reasonable payment plan in place and the above debt remains outstanding. We are now in the process of advising our client to take litigation action against you to recover this outstanding debt.

Currently our intention is to instruct a solicitor to issue court proceedings against you to seek a CCJ.

Etc etc.

I only recieved this letter on 3rd May and it is dated 29th April requesting a response within 7 days.

Dont know now what to do

Those are template letters meant to scare people into making immediate contact. As Ame says above, this isn't an official letter before action since it's not issued by a firm of solicitors. Marlin often use their own in-house outfit Mortimer Clarke. If they were to send a letter before action, you'd need to be prepared to respond appropriately. Going by the above, your main dispute would be over the balance rather than the enforceability of the agreement since it's from 2008.

They have 14 days to respond to the CCA request but are not likely to do so within the timeframe since Marlin would have to go back to Vanquis to get the agreement. A SAR would provide you with statements to enable you to dispute the balance. Have you got any paperwork yourself showing your credit limit of £300 or the £350 balance?

[Mrbenny]

Re: Vanquis & Merlin

I don't have anything I'm afraid which the balance etc on. Moved house several times and lost paperwork in the moves!

Im in happy to pay the amount I defaulted on however I'm not sure how I can prove this. So if I send a SAR to Cabot and see what they come back with this should give me an insight into where the charges have come from.

If it was sold to cabot at this value, would I have any comeback to vanquis in relation to the charges?

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Vanquis & Merlin

If you haven't got paperwork, my suggestion would be to send a SAR so you are armed with the facts and figures. It takes 40 days to respond to a SAR, and you should send it by recorded delivery. Once you've sent both the SAR and CCA requests, you'd have valid arguments to respond to a letter before action or any further correspondence from them. :thumb:

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Vanquis & Merlin

SAR letter below: :typing:

Dear Sirs

Ref: xxxxxxxx

Subject Access Request - S.7 Data Protection Act 1998

Under the Data Protection Act 1984 and 1998, and including the right of subject access under these acts, I hereby request that you supply me with any and all historical data in your possession which, in any way appertains to me, including (but not exhaustively) a copy of the original signed executed agreement; statements of account; duplicate statements and/or printouts of all account transactions; all internal and external correspondence sent or received by you including memos, logs, notes, screen prints and transcripts; notes of manual interventions such as telephone attendants' notes, copies of stored telephone conversations, internal and external emails; any other information held on all types of media in any relevant filing system. If you have disclosed any information to a third party (with or without my express permission), will you please include details of this in your reply, along with notes of any legal action passed or pending (to include a true copy of default notices, court orders and the like).

If you store any of the older records on microfiche, please be aware that the Information Commissioner deems this to be a relevant filing system under the Act. As such, any microfiche data must be sent to me in fully legible and comprehensible form.

Where any information that you provide includes any charges, for example returned payments, late payment fees, and so forth, would you please advise your breakdown of actual costs (liquidated damages) incurred for each charge, and the Term or Condition on which you rely upon to claim such a charge. I also require that you forward, within the above mentioned time scale, a true copy of the Terms and Conditions that were in force at the time my account was opened, and any subsequent amendments to those Terms and Conditions.

Additionally, where there has been any event in my account history over this period which has required manual intervention by any member of your staff, or any other person, I require disclosure of any indication or notes which have either caused or resulted in that manual intervention, or other evidence of that manual intervention in relation to my business with you. If you are unable to supply this data because there has been no such manual intervention, then please be so kind as to confirm this in your response.

I enclose the statutory maximum fee of £10.00 to access ALL data held by you about myself. You have 40 days in which to comply with this request.

Yours faithfully,

[Mrbenny]

Re: Vanquis & Merlin

Thanks for the above. Great help! Just to be clear do in send this to Cabot or Marlin?

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Vanquis & Merlin

Thanks for the above. Great help! Just to be clear do in send this to Cabot or Marlin?

Debt purchasers would only have data from the time the account was assigned to them. As this is a recent assignment to Marlin, CABOT would have been the one who applied the interest and charges, so it should go to them. :thumb: