Cabot & Cap1 Debt all charges!

[Notty]

Hi Everyone

 

Just wondered if anyone could help me with my query.

 

I had a card with Capital One. It was only for £200.

Unfortunately fell behind with the payments but tried to keep up as and when. I am self employed and last year was bad. The charges kept piling on and I could not keep up with it. I asked them to stop the charges and offered them £20 per month but by then the balance was £900. £700 in charges.

They have sent it to a debt collector and I have offered them £50 a month which they refused at first but have now accepted.

 

Could I get the charges knocked off the balance? Or is it too late?

 

I think they would probably take it to court if I try and get the charges removed.

 

I dont really want a county court judgement against me as I need to get a mortgage later in the year. Hope someone can help.

[gothicf0rm]

ok, youll come out of this ahead.

if theyve charged you 700 quid and its a credit card then theyve also charged you a hefty interest rate on that, when you include the 8% interest on top you could wipe your debt out. you need to work out exactly how much it is including the interest on their charges and then dispute the debt.

there's no way they could get a ccj, not least because it has to be heard in court and it would be thrown out. you simply need to dispute the debt and demand that they amend the amount owed to reflect it. tell them to sue you for it if they wont. tell them that your impecunosity was caused by their unlawful actions and you have never defaulted on the card because of this. if they mark in your credit record you tell them youll sue them for defamation.

[Notty]

I LOVE YOU

[BankFodder]

I would urge more caution but more guile. You can recalim your charges at any time as liong as they are not 6 years old.

Ae you sure that you haven't been defaulted? If your account has been handed to a debt collector then it is difficult to imagine that you haven't been defaulted - in which case your chances of gettig a mortgage have already been damaged and you may as well go ahead and claim.

 

However, check the CRA. If you haven't been deafulted then I would suggest that you wait. Keep on paying. Get your mortgage sorted out. The when you have it, begin your calim. At that point they will have lost that element of power over you. You can be more bullish as to how you then handle it.

[Notty]

I have been defualited on the credit card so I am going to try and get the £700 in charges removed or at least some of it. Also they have started harrasing me big time last week as I havent paid their £50 for this month. Should I keep on paying the agreed monthly amount whilst I am disputing the charges? Also I have all of my past statements so do I need to send the DPA letter? Should I just a letter disputing the amount owed and wait the 14 days. Is there a set routine of letters like the bank letter charges or is it differnet for credit cards?

[BankFodder]

If the money yuo are paying is really to repy unlawful charges AND if you are sure that there is nothing more to lose then you might consider stopping the payments.

 

If the default was made substantially because of a debt comprised of unalwful charges then I woud include the default in your calim and in your court claim if it gets to that.

 

Try and make a reassessment in value of the dmage which has been caused to you by the wrongful default. This does not mean simply throwing out a figure which you would like to get. You have to list out all of the ways in which you have been affected by the deaful and against each one put in a figure for reasoable compenation.

Let us know when you have done it and what you have come up with.

 

You can make a serious bid to have the deafult removed. No one has tried it yet but there are good arguments for trying.

[Notty]

Hi

 

Thanks for your reply. I am not too worried about the default. I am more concerned about the balance on the card of £912 for a card that initially only had £200 on it. They have passed the debt onto Cabot and they now own it. I would like to know if I should send them a letter asking them to reduce the balance as was suggested in an earlier email. I am a bit confused about which letter I should send. Also I have kept all of my old statements. So should I just send a letter asking them to reduce the balance? Sorry to be dim.

[BankFodder]

The easiest thing would be to pay the £200 at whatever you agreed per month and the moment that youconside rthat the balance was all charges, you go in and claim including interest. You will have a bit of cash out of it and the end of the day.

[Notty]

As I have had the card for a couple of years I think I have already paid them the £200 back. The £700 is not all charges. It is probably made up of late payment fee and interest. I would really like to know what letter I should send them. Would it be the standard letter in the library. Also if they reply to me that they will take me to court for the balance, what would I do next?

 

Thanks for your help.

[Notty]

Would anyone please help me with my last email. I am desperate to know if I should send an ordinary letter to the debt collector or one from the library saying I am not prepared to pay the charges. Also should I say I am prepared to fight it in the small claims court? Do you think they are likely to either send in baliffs or issue a county court? I would be really grateful if someone could answer my query. Thanks for your help.

[Notty]

Hello any one out there? Have I done something amiss with no one replying to my last two emails. I would really appreciate a reply as I am desperate to sort this problem out.

[BankFodder]

Sorry, we are very busy working on the forum change.

 

I am still confused as to ho you are going to claim against.

 

However, who ever you target - best to be the orginal company, I owuld simply start this as a normal claim. Send the prelim letter, then the LBA and take it as it comes. ket us know what the responses are but by and large the claim doesn't seem to me to be anything out of the ordinary.

 

Whether or ot you keep on paying monthly is up to you but I owujld make sure that they now undersatnd that any payments you do make are under protest, simply to keep the peace, are not an admission of liability and that you will be reclaiming everything back.

[Notty]

Thank you. I will let you know how I get on.

[sportbeth]

You can do what I did.

 

In the OFT Guidelines it is quoted in point 2.6 H that it is unfair practice to "ignoring and/or disregarding claims that debts have been settled or are disputed and continuing to make unjustified demands for payment"

 

This debt is in dispute between you and the original provider. Write to the debt collector stating that it is your belief that the debt is carrying a disproportionate level of illegal penalty charges and that you are disputing these charges with the provider. Quote them the OFT reg above and state that any further attempts at contact on their behalf will be considered harassment and will be reported to the OFT.

 

Then start your battle with Capital One

[sportbeth]

Sorry, forgot. Send it recorded delivery as Cabot are famed for ignoring any legal requests or anything that expects them to play by the rules so you need to cover your backside with them.

 

Whilst the debt is in dispute they cannot take you to court until Capital one have resolved it

[disneyman]

Hi Notty,

 

Sorry I missed this thread when it started (I was a little busy with my own case).

 

I've just read your thread, you need to claim against the original creditor (capital one I beleive) as it was they who charged you the funds for there administrative costs. I would however still maintain payments with the debt collection agency as this is now a separate issue and stopping payments to them WILL PROBABLY result in a CCJ coming your way. Caboot have purchased your debt from Capital One for probably around £200-£300 and they will make there money by claiming from you the full amount outstanding i.e. £900. You can of course still advise them of the proceedings you intend to pursue against Capital One, but I feel this will have little impact with them.

 

You need to begin proceedings against Capital One (i.e. letters first), they will probably state that the debt is no longer there's and they have washed there hands of you, but I doubt that this will hold much water in court and I dare say that once court proceedings begin they will have a different attitude.

 

Disneyman

[Notty]

Thank you for your replies. Did you get your charges removed Sportsbeth? Would be interested to know.

 

I have put together the following letter and wonder if it is okay? I will send it to Capital One and do another letter to the debt collector quoting the OFT guidelines.

 

Capital One Bank

PO Box 5282

Nottingham

NG2 3FB

 

25 March 2006

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

Dispute of charges on ACCOUNT NUMBER

 

 

My request

I am writing to ask you to remove the charges which you have levied on my account.

I now understand that the regime of fees which you have been applying to my account in relation to late payments and are unlawful at Common Law, Statute and recent Consumer regulations.

 

Your responsibilities

I would draw your attention to the terms of the contract which you agreed to at the time that I opened my account. It is an implied term of that contract that you would conduct yourselves lawfully and in a manner which complies with UK law.

 

I am frankly shocked that you have operated my account in this way as I had always reposed confidence in your integrity and expertise as my fiduciary.

 

What I require

I dispute the amount of £525.78 charges which you have applied to my account. I have paid back the original amount of £200 which was the limit on the card.

 

My targets to resolve this matter

I hope that you will enter into a sincere dialogue with me about this matter and I am writing this letter to you on the assumption that you will prefer to do this than merely respond with standard letters and leaflets.

 

I will give you 14 days to reply to me accepting unconditionally my request in principle.

 

If you do not respond or you do not respond positively within this time period, I shall send you a letter before action giving you a further 14 days in which to reflect. I believe that these targets are more than sufficient for a large company such as yours with dedicated staff and departments.

 

After that will be no further communication from me and I shall issue a claim at the expiry of the second deadline.

 

Yours faithfully,

[Notty]

Hi Disneyman

 

Thanks for the reply. I am a bit confused now. On the other email it did say that whilst the debt was in dispute they (debt collector) couldnt take me to court until Capital One have resolved it?

[disneyman]

If the Debt collector isn't receiving a return on there "investment" they will stop at nothing to obtain a return, this includes legal action. If you have it in writing from the debt collector that they will not take legal action against you until after the dispute then fine,otherwise Im afraid that should you fail to maintain payments to them they will more than likely begin legal proceedings against you.

 

You would be best speaking to the debt collector either via phone or letter and obtain there position over the issue. I find it hard to beleive that the debt collector purchased this debt with the knowledge of potential legal proceedings over the debt and agreeing not to carry out legal proceedings against you should you not maintain payments until after the dispute has been resolved.

 

If they do decide to take legal proceedings against you then things will become very confusing legally, as you will potentially have begun legal proceedings against Capital One and the Debt Collector will have begun against you.

 

It would be best to keep the collector happy and maintain payments to them and claim them back from Capital One during your case. I would imagine that you should be able to do this through the court system as Capital One have placed you in this position.

[Notty]

Hi

 

I have written to the debt collector and sent a cheque for this months' payment. I have also told them I do not accept any liability and that I will be claiming the charges I am paying them back from Capital One. I am just about to send the first letter to Capital One. I have altered it slightly at the top could you let me know if you think it sounds okay? Not sure if I need to put anything else.

 

Sorry forget the letter.

 

I realise you have passed the above account on to a debt collector and I have contacted them to appraise them of the situation and inform them that by paying them I do not accept any liability for the charges on my account and whatever I have to pay them I will be claiming back from Capital One.

[Janet-M]

Did you say in your letter to debt recovery agent that you was paying under protest and that it is not an admission of liability as Bankfodder advised you ?

Also inform them the debt is indispute if they threaten you any further come back and tell us .

[Notty]

Hi

 

I added the bit on the last email to the debt collector. Is that okay?

[Janet-M]

Yes as long as you have informed them and obviously keep all corrospondence .Good Luck and let us know how your getting on with it .

[andrew1]

Notty, Keep an eye on the threads re Cabot. There are a number of claims going to them and you should search the site for debt collection agencies. You seem to be getting in a pickle and theres plenty of other experiences posted that would have helped you on this from the beginning. Good luck

[Notty]

As I have been concentrating on my Halifax account, claim settled in full! I have now decided to have a go with my two credit cards. Both originally for £200 each and both now standing at £900 because of charges added. I have just been reading about DCA and Cabot seem to be mentioned a lot. One of my cards is with them. I know from my previous messages I was advised to carry on paying the debt collectors (Cabot) and go for the card issuer (Capital One) I have just read that some that some are asking Capital One for Cabot for the money back? Also asking them to prove that the agreement stands? Am I getting in a pickle again? Should I just pay Cabot and then try and get it back from Capital One?

 

Also I have just checked my credit file online and a couple of my cards from 1999 were settled in 2000, is it too late to go for them? One of them was settled in August 2000 and the other July 31st 2000? (Tesco and Barclaycard)