Hi Pam, Yes it is. it is an old student account my husband had with hsbc. he remembers making a final payment on the account in 1999 and they did not make contact with him about a remaining debt. i have spoken with them and they have no record of his account now (over 6 years old) so cannot help us establish what the debt is. problems started when we received a 'telogram' letter in july 2005 which we rang up about (out of curiosity) and then the capquest pounced on him. he originally paid them because they were so threatening (£700 in total - they claim he owes a last £50). when i found this site (and i have legal background) i became determined to assert his legal rights because i believe this company to be corrupt bullies and they should not be allowed to get away with it!! and of course, he does not remember owing any more money and doesn't keep records (well, he does now he's found me!!!) sorry - got a bee in my bonnet and always ramble about them!! thanks pam!

I posted a while back about capquest (one of many complaints about this awful company!). I sent them a subject access request and 'proof of debt' letter in November 2006. they replied stating they would write off the remaining £50 they allege we owe them, would then close the account and returned our £10 for the subject access. I replied stating that under no circumstances were we agreeing to them closing their file without providing us with the information they are legally obliged to provide. in the intermin i also made complaints to trading standards (who are looking into it) and the OFT. In january we receievd a letter stating that because we had refused to accept their offer they were reopening the file and would not put it on hold. they also asked for the £10 back - so i had to pay recorded delivery again to send it back! the obligatory letter from H L legal then followed threatening baliffs etc (i had to laugh - it stated we hadn't contacted them since july 2005 - and i have a really thick file of correspondence between then and now so that is blatantly a lie). it is now end of Jan and they have not responded with any proof, records from the personal file or anything else i asked them to provide. they have long exceeded the statutory time limit to provide this. what should i do now? write a letter before action then head straight for the court? trading standards have not been great so far - they said they would investigate but i haven't heard from him for 3 weeks (he has copies of the while file and i have him up to date with the latest letters!). i should add that i am now gunning for a full refund of the contributinos we have paid as it is blindingly obvious they will never be able to prove their entitlement to collect the debt. i also believe that any court would criticise them for their tactis and bullying that have been put into action over the past 18 months. They were also only 2 weeks shy of the 6 year limitation period to begin with. moral of the story - never respond to a letter from "telogram" - its bad news!! any advice appreciated!! thanks emma

Hi all, Would be really grateful for some advice on a Capquest problem… Background facts:- Debt said to be owed - c£750 to HSBC from 1999 (an old student overdraft) My husband confirmed verbally with HSBC that this debt was sold. He was not aware there was still debt on the account as he had made a large payment which he had thought was the total owed. As a result forgot about it and moved house over the years. No contact then until july 05 when a letter from “telogram” informed him that they had a letter for him. The letter was from Capquest seeking payment of the debt. Over the course of a month, various calls were made to and from capquest. Very stressful and they were very threatening on the phone. They also alleged that Dave had made statements that he would pay in full. He was adamant that he had not and I then spoke with them and requested they forward a transcript of the call. They refused to do so although after a day they called back to say they had listened to it and Dave had been right. They then agreed to accept settlement at £50 per month (total to be collected £650). In sept we then received further threatening letters claiming that Dave had breached the agreement by cancelling the DD and then requesting payment in full immediately or face court action. This was not the case and we managed to get Halifax involved to prove that a DD had never in fact been set up and that Capquest had lied by saying that Dave had cancelled it. Eventually they accepted this and a new DD began in oct 05. Payments continued on time until Feb 06 when we received notification that due to an internal error Capquest had not taken the DD and Dave would have to pay by card. He did so but in any event Capquest took £100 from his account in march as well. All quiet until june when they tried to increase the payment to £60. this was rejected by us as we could not afford it so it went back to £50. In late june further threatening letters were received and Capquest claimed again that the account was in arrears because DD had not been paid. I called and told them that this was again untrue and we had proof that no payments had been missed. The rude man told me that that the letter should not have been sent but refused to send me confirmation of this error. We cancelled the DD at the bank in oct after realising that the full amount had been taken. Then, you guessed it, threatening letter arrives this week stating that £50 is outstanding. Call to Capquest today confirms that this is not true and balance is showing as 0. further enquiries with Halifax show that Dave has actually paid more than was owing (by £50). Phoned Capquest back to dispute this and they claim that that is not correct and they requested proof by him sending all his bank statements for one year. Queries… CCA letters were never sent to Capquest as Dave did not want the stress of disputing this with them (and we have to be careful his record stays as clean as poss, because he does have a ccj and a default already registered due to a thieving ex). Is it possible to send one now, even after the debt has been repaid in full, and in excess? What is the best way of recovering the excess paid? If Capquest cannot prove they were entitled to collect any of the money are they obliged to return it to him? Can we insist on requesting statements of account etc to prove that he has overpaid? Should we send them copies of the bank statements? Thanks for reading and for taking the time to think about it. It’s a great forum – its good to know that we are not alone. Trading standards really do need to get this company – they are atrocious. Thanks, emi