Cabot Financial headache!! GGRRRR!!

[surferforever]

Hello all,

 

I've just joined this site in the hope to find some help from people in the know.

 

I was contacted by Cabot Financial back in October and they are stating they have bought an old debt of mine from CITI and that I owe them £127.54. I recall have an account with CITI that did go into arrears back in 2002 but I did pay back £600 to them in December 2004 and from I can remember that was the end of the matter.

 

Anyway, I asked Cabot to send proof of this alleged debt and I would take it from there. Surprise, surprise no proof has turned up either by post ot by email which I kindly invited to send it via. Since then I've been receiving letters from Cabot in a form of a statement saying 'this is a statement of your agreement with us' (What agreement!) and that I have 'failed to make a minimum payment' which has seen the final balance rise to £130.00.

 

They contacted me again this morning and where quite fiesty saying I really should pay up now or my account will go into arrears and I'll have problems getting credit in the future. They went to to say that if I pay up now they will update my credit file. However, I swiftly pointed out that there was no record of the debt on my credit file as I check it via Experian a few weeks back. I re-iterated my point that you have to send proof of the debt and I am right they have to send the copy of the orginial credit agreement? This i asked for on the phone and they said they will send via email, which going by their previous form probably is not going to happen.

 

So where do I actually stand in all this and what do I need to do further to address the matter? What are Cabot legally allowed to do and of course are not. It seem cabot are just a bunch of low-life bullies.

 

Thanks

[DonkeyB]

You need a subject access request to the original lender and a CCA request to Crap-bot.

 

They are clearly panicking because it is nearly SB. Do not acknowledge any debt to them, and make sure this is on all correspondence to Crap-bot.

 

Contact number from the Citi website: 0800 015 3588

CitiFinancial Europe plc

PO BOX 49944

London SE5 7YG

 

They don’t do this kind of lending any more AFAIK, but they should retain details of the account. The SAR should reveal the status of the account when closed, and any charges or balance and how it accrued.

 

Get all your ducks in a row and then you can shoot ’em down.

[surferforever]

Thanks for the swift reply!

 

Crap-bot i like it!! If I get the SAR from citi and it says £600 was the final payment in Dec 2004 then I have nothing to worry and Cabot can jog on. If it is the case that I did still owe money despite paying £600 in December 2004, can I just hold out until after December when I assume I am no longer viable to pay the debt as its past the 6 year mark? If CITI get back to me and say they no longer have details of the debt then i assume cabot cannot as well and therefore cannot enforce it?

[DonkeyB]

The danger is they will issue a claim form before the account becomes SB. Given the small amount, this would be foolish, and would almost certainly be an abuse of process, as they had no proof there was a debt due when they issued the claim – such actions would be looked on rather poorly by the courts, because issuing a claim form in such a way is not ultimately a bar to SB.

 

I would re-send the prove it letter by recorded delivery, demanding a response within seven days.

[surferforever]

I shall do that. It seems they don't have the proof as this is the third time of asking and they seem increasingly desperate to get the money by the tactics they use via letters and on the phone. Like you say its a small amount of money owed and I would be surprised if they were to chase it up through the courts but you never know. If in the worse senario they prove the debt on time then I'll just offer £50 for the whole and see what they say. Hopefully it won't come to that.

 

By the way, are they allowed to charge interest at the stage even though I've not acknowledge the debt and they have not proved its mine?

[DonkeyB]

Only if the original agreement allows for it.