Hi I have no experience of Cahoot as such but the following is a typical debt collection cycle: 1. The internal staff call and write to try and restore the account. 2. Internal staff pretending to be debt collectors take over. 3. A solicitor's letter may be sent. 4. If no joy at this point they may send a default notice. 5. They may involve external debt collectors. 6. You get a termination letter. 7. They sell the debt to a DCA. 8. You get a notice of assignment from them (telling you who they have sold it to). 9. You are called and written to by the DCA. 10. At some point if they know you have a house (or maybe even if you don't have assets) they may issue County Court proceedings. They prefer not to do this as it is hard work and they don't always win, particularly if you are following advice on this site. 11. If they get the CCJ you will be required to pay. However, you can ask the court for time to pay and the court will set a repayment level. 12. If you don't maintain the repayment schedule the DCA may apply for an Interim charging order. This may happen without you being aware. 13. Another court hearing is then organized which you can attend where the order is made final. 14. If you fail to maintain payments after this point they may apply for your house to be sold. This is a difficult thing to achieve but not impossible. The order of some of the items can be changed and some items are repeated many times by different parties. It is also possible they would try backruptcy proceedings. I would say the process above is typically not less than 3 months and could take years or may never fully play out. Please wait for some other CAGers to come on here and comment on my post in case I have some things wrong and I invite other CAGers to correct me.

Hi again Maggie Moo This link may be useful: Phone harrassment - TheSite.org Might be worth a look in your local supermarkets, Argos, DIY stores etc to see if there is a cheapo CLI phone on sale (CLI = calling line identity) Might be worth calling your telephone provider to see what they can do as given your circumstances these people are more than a nuisance, they are creating real problems in your household.

Hi Marke32 I would like to start by backing themagician. Never talk to them. The phone is where they are at their best. The written word is where you are strongest as; 1. It provides a permanent record, 2. you can take time to consider your response, 3. They don't like it because they cannot deny things they have asserted in writing, 4. They have trouble writing! If you accidentally pick up a call, once you realize who it is simply put the phone down. This does run contrary to the normal rules of politeness but they will run rampage with those same rules if you continue the conversation. As I understand it, you have made a CCA request which they failed to respond to, and you have sent them the follow up. If that is the case then again as I understand it, the ball is in their court and you are required to do nothing else until they properly respond. I hope other CAGers will confirm this point or quickly correct me if I am wrong. Anything they say on the phone regarding interest and so on you can safely ignore for the time being, especially as you wont be talking to them again! Also, may I suggest you don't throw anything away you recewive in the post but keep it an file it. You never know when it may come in useful for something!! Best of luck.

Hi Maggie moo I back the above posts. Also, never ever talk to Debt Collectors. If you recognize the number ignore it. If you accidentally pick up the phone to them, put it down again. If they call back leave it off-hook for a while. The harassment letter referred to above will hopefully do the trick but send it recorded delivery to prove it was sent and use the GPO track and trace to satisfy yourself it was received (and the date they got it), and also print off the GPO track and traceso you have evidence of the delivery.Log all incoming calls with date/time, calling number, or withheld. This may come in useful if you decide to make a complaint later on, particularly a complaint to the police where you can report harassment but would need some evidence of some sort. (sadly they are not very enthusiastic about this sort of complaint but you can insist they accept the complaint and investigate as harassment is a crime). I am not suggesting you involve the police but it remains an option and should be considered if the letter does not stop them. by proving you sent the letter, and by logging the calls you have something to take to the police should it prove necessary. These **** have no right to contact you regarding someone else's debt and you should be indignant and angry with them, not subdued and intimidated. Best of luck.

subbing

Good luck and here is hoping for the best. Please post back any outcome.

If the intention is to have some fun with them send just one of the letters, say the bemused first and see what they say. You could probably have quite a lot of correspondence with them before running out of steam. Then send the prove it and do the same again. Finally the statute barred one. This has the best chance of wasting their time.

subbing

Just a thought but give trading standards a call and they will tell you where you stand. Presuming they say you are within your rights to a refund or exchange then either contact Waterstones and tell them what TS said, or ask TS to give them a call. My view is IF the machine is faulty you have a right to a replacement possibly a refund. If it is not faulty I am not sure where you stand but I would think a big firm like Waterstone would not want the bad rep of sending you away disappointed. My little retail business always refunds or exchanges without a quibble because we value the customers and need them to come back again.

Hi I would think it is a good idea to send the court copies of this nonsense correspondence. Also don't talk to them on the phone any more.

Do you have any proof you sent the original request to Wescot such as a recorded delivery slip? If so it has a code on it and you can use the GPO track and trace to see it was delivered which of course you already know. However if you print off the page that is your documentary evidence that you sent them something. That combined with their reply would, I would have thought be sufficient for you to prove you sent a CCA request. In this case you need to send the fail letter as they have failed to respond in line with the CCA request. If not you could consider returning your original letter and payment together with another letter reaffirming the date of your original request. You could also reference their reply to you drawing attention to the 'Our Ref' bit. Use recorded delivery. As your position is that you have made a proper request it could also be accompanied by the fail letter. I would think this would properly assert your request. Wait for some other CAGers to respond as they might have better/different suggestions.

hi Uptotheneck Forgive me for asking but I was just curious how you came to the figure of £3.25 if you are on benefits. Is that something in law or is it a procedure of the benefits dept. or something else? I am not challenging what you say in any way but interested. This forum is a learning experience as much as anything else.

Hi Tonixx From what you say it is now the case with all three accounts that you have sent them the CCA request and in all cases they have not responded within the time limits. Using the link in BazookaBoo's post you can now send the failed letter to all three accounts and wait to see what happens next. Whilst there is no change in this situation you are under no legal obligation to pay them anything. Please post back here if anything else happens.

Hi toto Do you have any of the paperwork from the Canadian debt? I am not 100% certain but I would be very surprised indeed if it was possible to chase you for a foreign debt in the UK. I twould certainly be difficult.

Great and good luck.

subbing

Hi tonixx I presume you are saying you sent a CCA request to Wescot following a debt collection attempt they made. As I understand it as it is Wescot trying to collect it is they who must provide the documents that justify their collection attempts. They should have the number and sort code and if they haven't then what is it exactly they are trying to collect? However, could you clarify that the Wescot/Natwest debt is a bank/overdraft contract as it seems to be as it has a sort code? If not, what kind of agreement is it? The answer to this has a bearing on what the DCA must provide you before they can ask for payment. Also please clarify what the first letters were you sent? This is just to clarify what it is you have asked for. Subject to answering the above two, I think you can now safely ignore them until such time as they provide appropriate documentation in support of their payment demand. Also, please wait for some other CAGers to come on and give their opinions.

Hi Couple of thoughts. Are they writing to you by name or still writing "dear occupier" If the latter they are breaking collection guidelines. Could report them. You could just ignore it and collect the letters. In the unlikely event they do something serious such as commence CCJ or bankruptcy proceedings only then need you address it and statute barred is a good defence. You might then get something from them in expenses. Or ask them to prove it. You can let them jump the hoops in the sure knowledge that whatever they come up with you are statute Barred. Have you been defaulted by them and put on one or more CRA lists? Wait for some more suggestions from CAGers. Many of them will be better than mine.

subbing

Hi Did you get a system or customer care log? By this I mean a print out of events on your account. This would (or should) show such things as date of opening, date of any key letters sent such as default notice, late payment chasers etc, possibly notes entered from call centre logs etc. If not they have possibly not fully complied with the Subject Access Request. Also, if you have sent payment twice have they cashed your cheque twice? Write and ask them for £10 back. They may try and apply one or both payments to your account. This would reset the clock on any statute of limitations. Did you stop paying on this account or has it become a bad debt? If so they should have sent you a default notice and ultimately a termination notice. Either or both of these, if sent, might not be compliant with the law. If your account is showing as 0 this may be because they have sold the debt on to a DCA. Did you get a letter advising you of this? Did you get a letter from the new creditor introducing themselves as the new owner?

Hi Marty I agree with Hardupnotfedup. You are uniquely able to determine what your budget is and what your repayments should be. Your priority debts are: a. Rent or Mortgage b. Council Tax c. Utilities/Food/Clothing/transport etc. d. A small reserve e. Anything Else Once you have determined e. divide it up amongst creditors and that is what you are able to pay. You Tell them what you will pay, not the other way around. Be firm and assert your rights. If they are stupid enough to take it further they could conceivably go to court and perhaps get a CCJ against you. At that time the court may require you to provide an income/expenditure and it is ONLY the court that can require this and it is the court that will set your repayment amount. DCA's dont like this as courts do not make you pay more than you can afford and they will end up with the same as or possibly less than you offered in the first place. Also don't talk to them on the phone. Not ever. You are under no legal obligation to talk to them but if you do you are dealing with them on their terms and they are very good at bullying and intimidation. Also you have no time to think and respond the way you want to. All communications to be in writing. The written word is your arena and they wont like writing because it provides a paper trail of what they said, they cannot retract what they say, it takes time, and you can take your time and get your response right. Also in the future if they come back and try to get more out of you than you can afford don't be intimidated by them. If they do anything such as asking you to take out credit or re-mortgage to pay the debt this is against collection guidelines and you should report them. Good luck and I hope your situation improves soon.

Hi Ate If this debt is yours and you have not made a payment, or payment attempt for more than six years in England or five years in Scotland the debt becomes Statute Barred.

subbing

subbing

There was at least one other thread on here concerning some case law. From memory John Marstons were told by a judge the law did not allow them to charge a van fee unless goods were removed, even if the van was there. (They were also told they could not make charges for credit card transactions).