Mackenzie Hall :(

[red.1]

ok in 2002 i ran a debt up of £1200 on a loyyds credit card which i never payed stupidly,then last month i recived a little red card from Mackenzie Hall about this debt i then telephoned them and admited to the debt on the phone they wanted me to pay the debt in 7 days as i am unmpolyed there is know way i can pay it what do i do now can they take me to court ??

[sequenci]

you could send a financial statement with a realistic offer to them, if you are unemployed this would more than likely be a small token amount. if it DID go as far as court then the likelyhood would be that the agreed payment of the ccj would be a small amount anyway (determined by your means). i can appreciate that collection agencies do not play ball alot of the time. are they still adding interest etc?

[The Iron Lady]

ok in 2002 i ran a debt up of £1200 on a loyyds credit card which i never payed stupidly,then last month i recived a little red card from Mackenzie Hall about this debt i then telephoned them and admited to the debt on the phone they wanted me to pay the debt in 7 days as i am unmpolyed there is know way i can pay it what do i do now can they take me to court ??

 

Be very wary of Mackenzie Hall. This is not a nice company. If Lloyds haven't chased you for payment then 10 2 1 this debt has been 'bought' by MackHall and they will use all the bully boy tricks in the book in order to get you to pay. We've been pursued by MackHall for an old United Dominions Trust debt (part of Lloyds) and after verbal abuse and threats as to what would happen to us if we didn't pay up, made cash payments into their bank account which we couldn't afford and which meant other bills went unpaid. MackHall are still pursuing us for the original amount and have refused to acknowledge payments or to allocate them to the account. We've now written back quoting various acts/guides and will write to Trading Standards in Kilmarnock. Don't give in. Don't phone them. As to court action, they can try to take action under any judgement if a judgement order was made or to enforce an order. Most likely they will send letters which look like court letters warning of bankruptcy, attachment of earnings, etc. If you were going to be taken to court Lloyds would have done it in 2002.

[NailPost]

I would reiterate what has been said of Mackenzie Hall - they are a company with very dubious practices and have sparked numerous threads in forums such as this and others.

 

I am aware that Trading Standards are looking into a number of complaints made about this company.

 

While you may admit to owe this debt to Lloyds I would make Mackenzie Hall work veryhard to collect your money. You have spoken to them on the phone. Don't do that again. Write to them and tell them youn will only deal with them in writing from now on. Tell them to remove your telephone number from their database. Under data protection regulations they are obliged to do so. If they continue to call you report them to Oftel (for misusing a telephone system) and the Information Commissioner for misusing data.

 

Write a separate letter (but you can put it in the same envelope) requesting details of this debt. This is the CCA S77/78 letter - there is a copy of it in other threads - and requires Mackenzie Hall to provide you with a copy of deed of assignment (their right to collect); a signed copy of the credit agreement and a statement of account. Its unusual for Mackenzie Hall to be able to provide these details so once they default you will report them to the OFT and Trading Standards. That's some way off still and we'll help when that happens.

 

In the meantime you don't pay them anything!

[Seminole]

Acknowledgement of the debt needs to be in writing for it to restart the Limitation Act clock.

[Tiriam]

Hello, just been sent the MacKenzie Hall "We are attempting to contact the above named person regarding a personal matter" letter.

 

Probably like a lot of people was tempted to call in to have a go and give them the whole 6 years thing (the only debt it could be is circa 1996). But thanks to this site had second thoughts a put the letter in it's correct place, the bin.

 

Anyway just wondering if anyone knows how MH generate these letters and where they source there info from?

 

Reason I ask if that I normally reside overseas and in the last 8 years have only returned to the UK for more than a visit (ie for 6months plus) on 2 occassions and it just seems that each time I do return I get the same letter. Possible a coincidence, or maybe something more sinister?

 

(Posted in other MH threads)

[Nick1319]

Hi, I have recently had dealings with macenzie hall, it started about six months ago when i was contacted by another company telling me someone was trying to contact me i asked to be put through to the company which turned out to be mackenzie hall.

They told me they were trying to collect a debt of £600 which they aquired from barclays bank i was a bit shell shocked as i never had an account with barclays for about ten years i was then told that the full payment needs to be made to stop further proceedings. Not having any knowledge of this debt but not thinking straight i thought it could be a possibility so i made an arrangement to pay this debt IF they could provide the proof that i owed it.

After recieving no paperwork from them and speaking to a solicitor i was told by him that they would most likely not follow it up. However 1 week later i recieved a phone call saying i was in breech of my payments and they wanted it in full before close of play. I then told them that i was only intending to make a payment if they provided evidence of the debt.

Then 5-6 months later i get another letter telling me i have broken my arangement and to give them a call within 72 hours or the payment plan will be null and void which is what they told me about 6 months ago anyway (can't make up their minds) So i gave them a call and was told on the phone my arrangement had been broken and i needed to take action on my account. I told him that i would take no action until they did by sending me the info on the so called debt. After i said this the phone was quiet for about 2 mins before he told me that if i did not take action they would hand it to there solicitors. So i suspect they have no information just a name and a so called debt attatched to it. I am reading a lot of problems on here with the same company and a lot of debts seem to be assosiated with barclays bank does anyone else think barclays would be interested on how this company does buisness with their bullying tactics and cowboy outfit? Anyway i am no expert but my best advice is DO NOT give in to their bullying and do not admit the debt with no evidence i would also like to thank everyone who has posted on this website i found your comments very calming in a potentially scary situation and also extremely helpfull in dealing with mackenzie hall

[The Iron Lady]

Hi Nick, don't phone Mackenzie Hall. Deal only with them in writing. Don't admit to anything. Don't offer anything. Ask for statements and proof of debt. And no Barclays won't give a toss what actions Mackenzie Hall takes - I wrote to Lloyds and a firm of solicitors acting for Lloyds, Sechiairi Clark & Mitchell as Mack Hall were acting on their behalf and had no response. Once the debt is sold on the assignee (?) couldn't care less if concrete shoes and kneecaps were involved.

[Pierre339]

This thread/site is interesting. I just googled "Mackenzie Hall" to get their address - in a less than good mood - and came across all these links to consumer sites complaining about them. This one in particular has how many threads relating to them?

 

Just to add my tuppence worth, I got one of their letters out of the blue, duly phoned them and basically got some we ned trying to give me a hard time with threats and the likes. The bottom line is, they've screwed it right up in my case - I owe them nothing, but their intimidating, aggresive attitude annoyed me.

 

Consequently, if anyone considers taking any kind of action against them, please count on me for any support I could give.

 

Well done to all the contributors providing help here, and to the site as a whole. Keep up the good work!

[dumplingheid]

hi guys,,like most of you came on here checking them up and found this site..this was after i did the dreaded thing "phoning them this morning"..Anyway i was wondering if anyone could tell me more about this 6 year thing..the situation i am in is this..

In 2000 i lost my job and circumstances changed..I visited the money advice unit/trading standards,river street ayr..they contacted all companies explaining situation,,they all replied accepting lower payments, £1 a month etc, except barclaycard..they suspended account for six months and in their reply said "that i had to contact them after the six months suspension period has ended or a default notice would be served"..Now i dont have any default notice and cant remember whether i contacted them after 6 months or not (this all being 6 years ago )..I do know that barclaycard hasnt been sending me reminders of payment etc,etc and the last contact i can remember from them is going back to 2000 whether it was a default notice or not,since then absolutely zilch..

In june 2005 i got a letter from Cabot saying i owed them £1600 odd. After phoning and explaining i hadnt a clue who they were and just didnt accept, that i owed anybody money who just sends me letters they explained it was from barclaycard who passed the debt onto them..I rubber eared them after that and sent mail back to the PO address on back of letters with my name and address having two lines put through it and saying "not at this address"..They continued to phone though and my parents would tell them we had a row/i left/they dont know where etc..This was a hassle to them but in the end it all stopped..

Untill this week when i got the MH letter who have been instructed by cabot to pursue me for payment in full and other usual jargon "The agreement,dated and regulated under the terms of The Consumer Credit Act 1974, went into default and subsequently charged off by the original lender",,"charged off" said to me "forgot all about,sold to someone else and good luck to them if they got it"..

So rather than ignore and have the hassle of my parents answering phone calls etc again, I decided to take them on (phoned this morning spoke to a mr kirk,he was ok) with this view= hadnt heard anything since 2000 about it,,explain current situation "signed off on incapacity benefit with debt related illness/still making token payments to those who replied in 2000 accepting lower payments/these are being paid by a family friend who i will square up with after debts paid/I have no money after rent food clothing etc/told him about contacting trading standards and initial contact letter from barclaycard"..That was basically the call as after i told him all that he asked for me to send him copies of the letters and we will go from there..

Will send him copies and wait to see what he says,but my next move is this= No matter what he says i will be saying "As far as im concerned they missed the boat by not following me up in 2000. I have no money to pay even a token payment and will not ask my friend to pay any more for me. I will also gladly go to court and show any judge i have tried to tackle my debt since 2000 even though it has been token payments. I will show the judge incomings and outgoings which show i have nothing more to give..

I will tell them the best thing to do is actually take me to court and bankrupt me..I will tell them i know it is only a matter of time before im bankrupt anyway and if they pay to go to court and get me bankrupted, then that will save me the £97 or whatever it is of doing it myself..they will also be doing me a favour as this would eradicate all my other debts £15,000 odd..

If i can get rid of them i will gladly pay off the others and avoid bankruptcy,if not what happens happens and if its bankruptcy then so be it..So i was wondering if anyone could explain the 6 year thing a little further.

 

P.S Im sorry if this was a little long,but when i saw the site and saw i was not alone it actually made me feel a lot better...And if they start any of the threatening stuff,I will gladly invite them to mossblown to meet me where they will get a big warm welcome 8-)..coffee and biscuits will be optional....Good Luck Everyone

[dobbers]

Hello, just been sent the MacKenzie Hall "We are attempting to contact the above named person regarding a personal matter" letter.

 

Probably like a lot of people was tempted to call in to have a go and give them the whole 6 years thing (the only debt it could be is circa 1996). But thanks to this site had second thoughts a put the letter in it's correct place, the bin.

 

Anyway just wondering if anyone knows how MH generate these letters and where they source there info from?

 

Reason I ask if that I normally reside overseas and in the last 8 years have only returned to the UK for more than a visit (ie for 6months plus) on 2 occassions and it just seems that each time I do return I get the same letter. Possible a coincidence, or maybe something more sinister?

 

(Posted in other MH threads)

 

 

I read somewhere that a debt is only statute barred if the person informs the company of their change of address, if you do not inform the company of the change of address then the debt is no longer statute barred and can be pursued but no legal action is able to be taken on it.

 

Hope this is of use.

[mac hall]

YUP ... Dobbers certainly is an agent for Mackenzie Hall

[mcuth]

I read somewhere that a debt is only statute barred if the person informs the company of their change of address, if you do not inform the company of the change of address then the debt is no longer statute barred and can be pursued but no legal action is able to be taken on it.

 

That's not true. I realise I might be asking for trouble, but this needs correcting for anyone that may happen to see it and take it as valid.

 

There is no provision in s5 of the SoLA that a change of address must be advised (it has been known for the Royal Mail to lose letters as well):

 

"5. Time limit for actions founded on simple contract

An action founded on simple contract shall not be brought after the expiration of six years from the date on which the cause of action accrued"

 

If a debtor hasn't informed a creditor of a change of address, then 6 years is plenty of time for the creditor/DCA to trace them given all the "sophisticated methods" they supposedly use

 

For reference, consult this factsheet from National Debtline. This page from PayPlan actually mentions failure to advise of change of address, but sets it out really well.

 

Cheers

 

Michael

[crossi007]

I would like some advice on dealing with Mackenzie Hall.

 

October 2008 I received a letter from Mackenzie Hall, correct name and address of my parents where I used to live (note I have been living abroad for 7yrs) You have been written to on numerous occasions however the debt remains outstanding.

 

Therefore, as a gesture of goodwill, our client will accept the amount paid monthly.

 

Tessera Portflio Mgt Ltd vs Myself

Original Creditor:HBOS

Ref

Sum

 

I have had an account with Halifax, now HBOS for 15yrs but have no debt owed to them, last yr when I was back in the UK I closed an old account advised by the branch as it was not giving enough interest, they opened a basic chequing account no problems.

 

In November 2008 I wrote to Mackenzie Hall the letter below:

 

I have recently received a failure notice letter from your company.

 

No debt is acknowledged to you. You have contacted me regarding the account reference ********* number, which you claim is owed by myself.

 

I would point out that under the Limitation Act 1980 Section 5 “an action founded on simple contract shall not be brought after the expiration of six years from the date on which the cause of action accrued.”

 

The last correspondence/payment/acknowledgement of this debt at this address was made over 9 years ago and no further acknowledgement or payment has been made since that time. Unless you can provide evidence of payment or written contact from me within 21 days under Section 5 of the Limitation Act, I suggest that you are no longer able to take any court action against me to recover the alleged amount claimed.

 

I await your written confirmation that no further contact will be made concerning the above account and confirmation that this matter is now closed.

 

I look forward to your reply.

 

Yours faithfully

 

Me

 

Since then nothing until 5th January 2009.

How can I stop this c/o from harassing me as no debt is owed by me.

 

thanks

Edited January 26, 2009 by Mr lex
Ref. No. removed for safety

[Mr lex]

Hi Crossi007,

 

Welcome to the Consumer Action Group.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general-debt-issues/20758-creditors-dcas-letter-templates.html

 

You can send letter 'M' off this page. It's a similar letter to the one you have sent, but includes the relevant OFT regs.

 

Lex

[ODC]

These muppets go round in circles. If you sent the previous Stat Barred letter by recorded delivery and have proof the received it then I personally would recomend you just ignore them. You have made your position clear.

[crossi007]

Hi Crossi007,

 

Welcome to the Consumer Action Group.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general-debt-issues/20758-creditors-dcas-letter-templates.html

 

You can send letter 'M' off this page. It's a similar letter to the one you have sent, but includes the relevant OFT regs.

 

Lex

Hi Lex,

 

Thanks for taking the time to read my post and get back to me so quickly, appreciate it.

 

Crossi007

[NailPost]

If you have proof you sent them the statute barred letter and they write to you again reply by asking for their complaints procedure. They have got one and they have to send it to you. Make a complaint and allow them the required eight weeks to practice their joined up writing to resolve the complaint. If they don't complain to their regulators.

 

Also check your credit file. If these twits have put anything on there they should be made to remove it. If they refuse consider filing a claim against them for defamation. You should certainly complain to the credit agencies and the Information Commissioner. The more complaints against this company, indeed the whole industry, the better.

[crossi007]

Thanks for your post

 

Crossi007