Thames Credit Ltd

[petan]

My Husband recieved a letter on the 24th January 2008 from Thames Credit ltd claiming he owed them £325.83. It asked to agree a payment plan. He was a bit shocked by this as he has never had a loan,overdraft or credit of any sort. We did a google search and found this forum. We made a copy of a letter template we found here asking for a copy of the original alleged agreement along with a £1 postal order.

We recieved another letter dated 5/2/08 which reads as follows

 

we are not the original creditor. we did not provide you with the original credit facility. We purchased your outstanding debt balance and right to collect that balance, together with th right to apply interest in accordance with your original credit aggreement, consequently we have no obligation to provide you with a copy of that agreement.

However as a matter of good practice we will seek to obtain a copy of the original agreement from the original credit grantor and if it is available we will forward a copy to you.

In the meantime howeve, unless you are specifically denying that you have knowledge of this debt, or you are specifically denying you are liable for this debt, there is no reason why our debt collection activities against you should be suspended.

We are now the legal owners of your account and your liability is now to us in respect of repaying the outstanding debt balance that was purchased.

Unless we hear from you by telephone or in writing within seven working days from the date of this letter, setting out reasons for disputing the debt or reasons of nonpayment, the matter will be passed back to our collections division for action.

If we recieve a copy of the original application we will forward the same to you. If the bank is unable to provide a copy that does not mean we have no right to continue to request payment of the outstanding balance.

It is therefore in your best interst to agree an installment arrangement with us, or discuss terms for settlement (we may give you a discount on the original balance for early payment) as soon as possible

 

We then recieved this on the 8/02/08

 

Your account was legally assigned to this group of companies some time ago and since the date of assignment, we have been endeavoring to contact you.

By processing your account through public databases it has confirmed that mr xxxxxxxxxxis living at the address shown on this letter.

It is therefore imperitive that you contact us immediately to discuss your account. Outr telephone number is clearly shown at the top of this letter, as are our working hours. Please ask to speak to one of our negotiators, quoting your reference number.

If you believe that you are not our customer, and have no connection with the above referenced account please contact us as soon as possible on............ so that we can ammend our records

 

We knew from reading several forum posts not to contact them by telephone so we waited to see if the original agreement appeared before the alloted time frame.

Today (12/2/08) we recieved

 

You requested that we provide you with a copy of the original agreement and copy statemnts. We can confirm that this request is still being processes and ask you to be patient whilst this information is collated.

Attached to it was a formal notice of assignment from Aktiv Kapital uk ltd (arent they the same company???) dated the 5/02/08. It has an address my husband lived at until 1998.

It says...

 

We hereby give you notice that CL Finance have assigned your outstanding debt balance to GE Capital bank ltd.

GE Capital Bank Ltd immediately assigned the same outstanding debt balance (due and owing by you) should be paid to the benefit of Aktiv Kapital Asset Investment ltd. We here at Aktiv Kapital (UK) Limited in Chester are handling it on their behalf.

Immediate payments is now required on the full amount of £325.83.

 

We havent a clue what the debt is, we havent recieved proof that the debt even exists or to who and why. Could some kind person in the know, point us in the direction of what to do next, please. We've never had any debt or credit/finance so all this is new and very confusing

[mr.ton]

Demanding that they cease ALL contact with you would be a good start & if they dont, a complaint to the relevant authorities will be made.

Typical DCA nonsense really...their bark is bigger than their bite

[confused78]

Right there are several points to make about your problem

1) The address was valid pre 1998 which mean that the alleged debt is at least 10 years old and is therefore statute barred so long as no payments have been made and you haven't acknowledged the debt. Which you calim you haven't

2) Until they provide the CCA they can't chase you for payments so what you do next is nothing. Unless they chase you for payment in which case you send a letter to the OFT saying they're asking for money when the debt is officially in dispute, otherwise just wait until they send the alleged CCA. Then check the date on it, assuming it's more than 6 years old send a letter saying it's statute barred under the 6 year rule. If it's less than 6 years old then......

3)The address is 10 years old - query that. The date on the letter of assignment is AFTER their initial letter to you and they claim they've been trying to track you down for a long time - so clearly you've been sent a "made up" letter of assignment.

 

Obviously you'll also be able to query the loan too - looking online cl finance are related to yes loans and if you've never had a loan the signature on the CCA won't be your husbands. That's if they send one at all.

[petan]

Thanks for your prompt replies, I'll pass the info onto my husband. He definately left that address in May 1998.We also thought it strange that the notice of assignment was dated 5/2/08 yet the first correspondance was 24/01/08.

[confused78]

well the easiest defence will be the 6 year rule - Just make sure that all correspondence that you send to them has "I DO NOT ACKNOWLDEGE THIS DEBT" in big letters across it and don't speak to them on the phone. If you say anything that suggests you believe the debt is yours the 6 years starts again. Some companies will (apparently) try to get you talking on the phone to get you to say something. Obviously if you're genuine that you know nothing about this debt that shouldn't be a problem - but (ahem) for some people on this forum that's a potential tripping point.

[Filthy Monkey]

It's best to avoid talking to them on the phone at all, keep everything in writing. However, it is worth noting that when the debt is statute-barred, making a payment towards it or admitting liability will not reset the clock. Once it is statute-barred, it is statute-barred and that cannot be reversed. The clock will only be reset if the debt is akcnowledged in writing or a payment is made prior to the debt becoming statute-barred. There is nothing to stop the DCA asking for the money after the limitation period expires, they simply have no legal way of enforcing it, so you have no legal obligation to pay.