The thing I'm really struggling with here and I really appreciate your patience on this is because I have admitted the debt to the previous debt collection agency. Surely that constitutes me needing to continue paying now that it's been transferred to a new DCA? I guess I just don't understand - all I do understand is it's making me feel sick, seems like i'm going to be on the hook for this £29k for years of my life. Sad too tat my ex who was 50% on the mortgage seems to not have to worry about any of this and has obviously not paid anything over the years or the balance would be further down. How come its all on me? Surely I am entitled a life?

Moorcroft made contact again today with a letter telling me that they're pleased to announce that they're taking over the account, and I now owe £29,xxx on the account - would I like to pay by Direct Debit, Standing Order, or Online. In the letter it did reference some letters they claim they've sent over the last couple of weeks regarding the account (I did not receive these) - the only letter I got was from them trying to locate me. I take it this is just a ploy to get me to admit to the debt by responding? It says: ----------- RE: Halifax, Balance £29017.48 We refer to the letter sent to you recently, relating to future payments of the above account. I am please to advise that with effect of the date of this letter, the administration of your account will be managed by Moorcroft Debt Recovery Ltd. it is important that we confirm a number of details on your account to ensure that any existing arrangement you had previously agreed is maintained. Your current payment method will determine the action you need to take: Direct Debit - your previous plan has been cancelled, please contact us to set up a new regular payment etc... Please call us on 0161 47529998 in the next 7 days so that we can discuss your repayment proposal and provide you with your preferred repayment method. Alternatively visit our website at www.mdrl.co.uk We look forward to hearing from you soon, Yours sincerely, A.J. Martin Debt Recovery Manager. -----------

I'd been paying £40/month since 2009 to Drydens to cover a ~32k shortfall on my reposession I had with an ex partner only for Drydens to refund one of my payments and told me there had been a "commercial decision" and they no longer managed the account, and that it had been handed across to Moorcroft. Today I received a letter from Moorcroft asking if I was indeed the person they were looking for and that they needed me to get in touch to discuss " a personal matter" - I have no other debts apart from a small amount on a credit card which is all up to date, so it has to be the shortfall. What shall I do - ignore the letter? What if someone turns up at my door from Moorcroft? Because I made the mistake of paying Drydens on the debt until 2018, does that now mean I can be chased for 12 years (i.e. 2030) before I finally get my life back? I'm suffering from anxiety and panic attacks because of the stress over the last 10 years and I'm not sure I'll make it to be honest, pathetic as it sounds. Dreading the door knocking is a terrible feeling, and it makes me feel like I can't go out in case one of my kids answers when I'm not there. Horrible. Life has changed and I own a home again now with my new wife + kids, I'm crapping myself in case I get made bankrupt or something and I lose my home. Grateful for all help received, thank you.

Thank you - will just have to try and put it to the back of my mind

Thanks man, I just feel like my life is on hiatus at the minute and I'm about to be hit with a big bill just before Christmas. I've had anxiety over this for years and it's affected my health badly I really wish it would disappear and leave me to live my life. Sounds pathetic I know.

Hi folks, me again I just had a moment thinking about this and wondered... if I'm to ignore Moorcroft, how will I pay off the debt to Halifax? I acknowledge the debt (through gritted teeth because it's their fault for selling the house short - it was worth nearly double what it went for... I mean, if I sold my car for half its asking price, I'm an idiot.) but...surely someone wants to be paid back? How do I deal with this in "real life"? I don't want to screw up if a) someone comes to the door b) someone contacts me c) anything else...

ok got you. How do I handle the inevitable contact from Moorcroft - I imagine they will contact by letter which I can simply ignore, but what if they turn up at the door? What if I'm not in and one of the kids answers?

Ok - thanks for your help I'll await the next step - probably right before Christmas with my luck, lol

So essentially you're saying make no further payments, wait for contact from the creditor themselves (and ignore any DCAs in the meantime), and then ask the creditor for details about the debt before considering any payment / payment plan of action?

Ok - I have not gotten the paperwork out yet but I did ring Drydens this morning to ask what was going on with the account and why my payment was rejected. Apparently she said that the account had been handed back on the 3rd October after a "commercial decision". She said it had been handed back to "Lloyds" - when I queried this and said the original creditor was Halifax, she said that "they were all part of the same conglomerate" ... She also said that they'd received notification from "Lloyds" that the debt had been passed across to Moorcroft for recovery and gave me the reference number. She was unable to confirm the balance still due, but did confirm that all of my payments had been made to the creditor for all the months/years I've been paying. So - my question is what do I do now regarding Moorcroft. Wait for them to find me and ask for 27 grand? The address they will have is incorrect but presumably they'll spend time looking and then someone will rock up at the door. Ok I have dug the paperwork out. The client referenced at the top was "Bank of Scotland, plc" although my mortgage company was Halifax. It says: Date: 01 October 2009 Our client: Bank Of Scotland, plc Sum outstanding: £32,xxx.xx Mortgaged property: ** address ** You have failed to respond to our previous correspondence. In an effort to avoid court action, we enclose an income and expenditure quesitonairre for your immediate completion and return together with copy documentation to substantiate all items listed. if you fail to comply with the above, our client may apply for leave to enforce the Money Judgement (if applicable) obtained against you at the same time as the Possession Order and once leave has been obtained our client may consider either of the following enforcement options: * Information Order - this means you will be ordered to attend Court on a given date and supply full details of your income and expenditure; all the information given will be under oath. Failure to attend the hearing may result in a Committal Warrant being issued for your arrest. * Attachment of Earnings Order - this means that initially you will be given the opportunity by the Court to make voluntary payments however, should default occur, the Court has the power to order your employer to deduct monies from your salary. Please be assured our client has no wish to take the above action and we trust that the completed questionnaire and copy documentation will now be forthcoming. Yours Faithfully. Mrs H Goldthorpe Drydens Ltd When I received that letter back in 2009, I got in touch with a solicitor who acted on my behalf and arranged for me to pay the £40/month which I have done until this month when it got refunded. 9 years later. And that is where I am at.

Thanks for your help on this so far - I'll grab some sleep and dig out the paperwork in the morning.

This is peeing me off a bit to be honest - am I right in thinking that I may not have been paying off the mortgage debt, and simply funding Drydens for 9 years? Where does that leave me? I will dig the old letters out and see the exact wording.

A few years ago when I pulled up my credit file, the debt was marked as "Settled" with the Creditor as Halifax, so I was under the impression that it had been sold on to Drydens. Although the house was sold at a loss, I never got a bad mark on my credit file for the reposession. The "Settled" account for the mortgage no longer shows up anywhere on my credit file. Nor does any account with Drydens. I'm very confused - and worried at the same time. I want to sort this out and know who I am dealing with, but scared of opening up a can of worms and ending up with bailiffs at the door or worse. I assumed that Drydens had purchased the debt for pennies on the pound, and that I simply now owed them the cash - which is what I've been paying for 9 years.

Yes, their client (and the original creditor) was Halifax which is who I/we had the mortgage with.

Ok... so what happens now??

Hi all, I had a 50%/50% mortgage with an ex partner in 2004 - 2006 when we broke up. The property was repossessed in 2007 (I moved out) and was sold at a loss. In 2009 I received a letter from Drydens Fairfax stating that I/WE owed £32,xxx by way of shortfall. I contacted a solicitor and ended up due to circumstances paying £40/month which I have paid religiously for the last 9 years. BY my reckoning I have paid approx £4,500 to them. A low amount for sure, but I have young dependants and being self-employed my finances aren't what you'd call brilliant or consistent. In 2012 I rang Drydens asking if my account was up to date and they said yes, there was no problem, so I continued paying. Up until today - I have received a refund in my bank from them, with the reference of "Archived Ca Account" of the £40 I have just paid. The problem is, I have moved home and never updated my details with Drydens . . actually I moved in 2010.. so I do not know the "status" or anything of the account. My reference number has never worked on their online portal for checking the status of the account, but I figured since I never missed a payment and that I had rang up asking if everything was okay with the account,that it didn't matter much and I've just been getting on with life. My question is - why would they suddenly reject the payment? And what do I do for the best here. I have no contact with my ex, so no idea if she has paid anything toward the debt (highly doubtful!!!) but equally I have no idea if the debt has been transferred elsewhere, or simply written off. I have a hard time believing that they'd write off the remaining £27,xxx but I'm not sure what to do for the best here. I'm now married and have a mortgage with my wife who is worried we'll lose our home because of this - all I want is a peaceful life and have been paying regularly what I agreed to pay. I plan to ring Drydens in the morning but I'm scared it will open up a can of worms. There's nothing showing on my credit file - no searches, no CCJs or anything like that. Any help would be most appreciated. In summary: 2004 - Mortgage starts 2006 - breakup, both moved out. 2007 - repossession due to neither of us paying the mortgage 2009 - Shortfall letter, solicitor contact, £40/m payments start 2012 - Rang up and made sure account was okay - was advised it was fine. 2018 - £40 payment gets rejected and refunded. Thank you.

Hi they came through the normal post with a bunch of other letters.

Levy on what though, because I can prove the debt is paid in full. They can't levy for their own fees can they? (And what fees??)

Thanks, The amounts I paid (from the letters) matched what I knew I owed and was unable to pay at the time ... to be fair to Equita, I've not been charged for anything that I didn't already owe. My question is: now that the debt is paid off, can the bailiff (who has been assigned to the case) charge me for anything even though he's not sent me any letters, or made any visits (first contact was today, and I made the phonecall while trying to pay the debt off )? It appears to me that he hasn';t actually DONE any work - he wanted me to ring up on Monday so that he could take my card details and process my payment, but that would be him doing some work on the account and thus enabling him to charge me for his time. By me paying online directly, he no longer needs to actually do any work.... quite a nice [problem] he has going, if that's what it is. (I'm a bit of a pessimist ) Interested in your thoughts?

Hi - the debt has been cleared in FULL today, I have had NO visits or letters from the actual bailiff, only 3 letters back in september 1 of which was cleared immedaitely, the other two I have cleared today, 9 days later than planned. What i want to know is, can the bailiff demand fees for anything? - The debt was passed to them by Equita, but as far as I know they've not done anything yet (like i say it's only been 9 days). They've certainly not yet visited my property, or even sent me a letter. I paid my debt off in full to Equita using their online system and the reference numbers on the letters. It appears I should have paid the council themselves directly?? Oops.

Hi guys, Fantastic forum. Just looking for a little bit of advice really. In september I received 3 separate letters from Equita, who were after an unpaid council tax from about 5 years ago - fair enough. Letter 1) 477.94 Letter 2) 308.97 Letter 3) 270.66 Upon receiving those letters, I paid off letter 1 in full, and instructed Equita that I would pay £250/month to clear the balance, the payment starting on 1st November which would give me time to sort some money out. They were fine with this. Unfortunately a client was late in paying, so I have gone to make payment today 9 days late. I rang Equita up and they said it had gone to their bailiff, Mark Hobson, who was managing the account. They told me I couldn't make payment over the phone because it was in his hands now and they couldn't give me the 'final balance'. I rang Mark on his mobile(!) and he said he could take my card details over the phone and "call the office to process the payment", although he didn't know the full amount as he was "in court" and that I'd need to ring back on Monday morning so he had the files in front of him. I asked Equita for his office and they said they were the office, but Mark would need to deal with the account... I have had NO letters or communication from the bailiff up until today, and I rang him, not the other way around. In fact I only found out the account was with a bailiff when I rang up (late) to pay off the debt. I wasn't comfortable giving him my card details and security code over the phone so I told him I'd ring him on Monday (which I still plan to do). What I decided to do though was pay my debt off. I paid Letter 2 and 3 off (308.97 and 270.66 respectively), and printed out the receipts etc etc as I figured that my bank statement would have evidence of payment using the Equita Ltd entry on the log. I also sent a SMS message to Mark saying "Mark, I have cleared my debt balance IN FULL by paying online, REF XXXXXX 308.97, and REF XXXXXX 270.66) I will call your office on Monday to confirm my account is closed". He replied "ok". Now, my question is - where do I stand now? Can I expect to still have a bailiff at my door trying to nail me with any charges they decide I still owe? I have had nothing up to now, no levy has been put on any vehicles or whatever - the only correspondence has been the three letters I received in September, all of which are now paid off in full. My wife is still worried that the bailiff could turn up and demand our car. I have printed out the payment receipts and stapled them to the original debt letters so that I can prove that I have paid the debt off, but I'm worried if there will still be charges and whether I've peed the bailiff off by paying off my debt and denying them any charges. Worried a bit! Thanks.