Old bank account + credit card debt may be resurfaced after years

[Infinity]

Hi All, hoping someone might give me some advice on the following please.

Between 1990s and 2008 I had a bank account and a credit card with the same bank. I left employment in 2006 suffered a mental breakdown ran up a debt on the overdraft and card and was unable to make payments. In 2008 the bank closed the account and card the total debt was around £15k but I am uncertain. There was a CCJ which I did not defend I was not able to cope with anything at the time I was struggling with poor mental health and I still am.

Enter a debt collection agency. Agreed a token £1 payment, set up a standing order.

I have been paying that since 2008.

Over the years, I seem to recall the DCA writing to ask if my circumstances had changed at some point the letters stopped. A few years ago, I sold the home I was living in and bought a new home and setup a mail forward with Royal Mail for one year. In my new home and for a few years before moving home, I do not recall receiving any letters from the DCA. I made no effort to contact the DCA to ask about the debt.

I also had two credit cards with other companies that were closed the same year as the bank account. I believe they were also CCJ'd I recall writing in 2014 using the CCA and they became statute barred

I received a letter from the bank's litigation team asking me to contact them on a telephone number. They mention they have just been made aware of my address. They did not provide any reason.

I feel I probably need to speak to them, if I do it needs to be within the next few days before their deadline.

What would you do in my position, for example would you call them, or not, if you do what facts would you try to determine? I am really worried about this and fear it could lead to being made bankrupt, losing my home.

If you have questions to ask me, please feel free.

[The Tech Clerk]

Hello! welcome, if you would spend some time filling out a diary in the aforesaid layout for each debt it would be useful to get an idea of the up to date situation and people can then get the picture of the actual situation and advise or comment for each one. Do not ring them unless advised on here!.

Type of account –
Date commenced -
Approx balance - £
Date last paid –
Are you on arrangement or not paying:-
Status -
Account owner -
Default notice:-

Colin G Quinn = may be able to give advice here also.

[The Tech Clerk]

Quote:- I feel I probably need to speak to them, if I do it needs to be within the next few days before their deadline.???

Just a template letter in the hope you make contact, used by all DCAs . so await for now never talk on phone all in writing save as to benefit of doubt any conversation, remember these phone jockeys are like xxxxxxx trained to pressure monies out of people on commissions on days collection.

Quote:- I also had two credit cards with other companies that were closed the same year as the bank account. I believe they were also CCJ'd I recall writing in 2014 using the CCA and they became statute barred.

If they obtained a CCJ never statute barred BUT if no action after a great length of time then they must give good reason to get courts to enforce? one thing they are trying to say is they have just located you via new address! well maybe so but CRAs would have your new address on credit reports so they could well fall on that one.

[Infinity]

I will try my best to fill out a diary, however due to how long ago it was it is guesswork unfortunately.

First Direct

• Type of Account - Bank account and credit card with the same bank
• Date Commenced - 1994
• Approx Balance - Minus £15,000 in total between overdraft and credit card
• Date last paid - March 2022, same £1 token payment by standing order made since 2008
• Are you on arrangement or not paying - No arrangement except token payment
• Status - Defaulted in 2008, CCJ 2008
• Account owner - HSBC

If the letter is actually legitimate then in due course I will be able to correct the diary as and when I discover the details.

The credit cards I will not diary as I believe they are dealt with now. I may be confused about their CCJ status, there may never have been CCJs. I know I chose not to make payment or acknowledge letters and wrote CCA letters on the 6th anniversary in 2014. I believe both are statute barred and unenforceable. The letter is not related to either of these debts.

Yes, I know how much pressure they use on the phone. Between 2006-2008 I was getting so many calls I pulled the phone out of the wall. I have no landline now, even to this day I cannot tolerate the sound of a phone ringing.

I will follow the advice so far and not call the number.

A search seems to indicate the number may be a scam and it does not match with any phone numbers on the HSBC web site. Neither do the opening times match given with the number on the letter. The envelope appeared to be Royal Mail bulk post. I suppose one way to attempt to validate the letter is to call the non-customer number at HSBC and ask some questions. Another option is showing the letter to someone at a local branch, might only be possible via an appointment I have a feeling the local branch is "digital" and has no actual people inside unless for an appointment.

Other information:

• this is in England
• I am over 55 (55 earlier this year)
• I am unemployed and currently expenditure > income
• I have been on benefits since 2008 (IB, ESA, PIP, Universal Credit)
• Income is just Universal Credit now but trying to get PIP reinstated and UC upgraded to LCWRA
• I am disabled, severe mental impairment that makes interaction with other people difficult
• The same impairment makes it difficult for me to make decisions to do with money, make budgets etc
• Between 2008 and today I worked only once for two years - there is a private pension

If the letter is legitimate then an option could be to drawdown the full amount of the above pension and offer it as full and final payment. Obviously, I do not want to engage with scammers and give away the money but at the same time if it is real then I have to consider all the options. Deprivation of capital rules.

[The Tech Clerk]

I will try my best to fill out a diary, however due to how long ago it was it is guesswork unfortunately.

First Direct

• Type of Account - Bank account and credit card with the same bank
• Date Commenced - 1994
• Approx Balance - Minus £15,000 in total between overdraft and credit card
• Date last paid - March 2022, same £1 token payment by standing order made since 2008
• Are you on arrangement or not paying - No arrangement except token payment
• Status - Defaulted in 2008, CCJ 2008
• Account owner - HSBC

If the letter is actually legitimate then in due course I will be able to correct the diary as and when I discover the details.

The credit cards I will not diary as I believe they are dealt with now. I may be confused about their CCJ status, there may never have been CCJs. I know I chose not to make payment or acknowledge letters and wrote CCA letters on the 6th anniversary in 2014. I believe both are statute barred and unenforceable. The letter is not related to either of these debts.

Yes, I know how much pressure they use on the phone. Between 2006-2008 I was getting so many calls I pulled the phone out of the wall. I have no landline now, even to this day I cannot tolerate the sound of a phone ringing.

I will follow the advice so far and not call the number.

A search seems to indicate the number may be a scam and it does not match with any phone numbers on the HSBC web site. Neither do the opening times match given with the number on the letter. The envelope appeared to be Royal Mail bulk post. I suppose one way to attempt to validate the letter is to call the non-customer number at HSBC and ask some questions. Another option is showing the letter to someone at a local branch, might only be possible via an appointment I have a feeling the local branch is "digital" and has no actual people inside unless for an appointment.

Other information:

• this is in England
• I am over 55 (55 earlier this year)
• I am unemployed and currently expenditure > income
• I have been on benefits since 2008 (IB, ESA, PIP, Universal Credit)
• Income is just Universal Credit now but trying to get PIP reinstated and UC upgraded to LCWRA
• I am disabled, severe mental impairment that makes interaction with other people difficult
• The same impairment makes it difficult for me to make decisions to do with money, make budgets etc
• Between 2008 and today I worked only once for two years - there is a private pension

If the letter is legitimate then an option could be to drawdown the full amount of the above pension and offer it as full and final payment. Obviously, I do not want to engage with scammers and give away the money but at the same time if it is real then I have to consider all the options. Deprivation of capital rules.

no way touch pension biggest mistake people make,

[Infinity]

no way touch pension biggest mistake people make,

Ok. But if it is a choice between eliminating the debt or the debt becoming legal action leading up to bankruptcy and being forced to sell my home - well, I think I would certainly choose the side of attempting to avoid bankruptcy and saving my home.

As stated the pension accrued only over two years so the total drawdown available is not a lot but enough of a lump sum that it might be taken as full and final payment for the debt detailed. If I kept the pension then at retirement it might be worth £10/month.

Anyway, still a lot of unknowns and I am grateful for all and any advice.

[The Tech Clerk]

Ok. But if it is a choice between eliminating the debt or the debt becoming legal action leading up to bankruptcy and being forced to sell my home - well, I think I would certainly choose the side of attempting to avoid bankruptcy and saving my home.

As stated the pension accrued only over two years so the total drawdown available is not a lot but enough of a lump sum that it might be taken as full and final payment for the debt detailed. If I kept the pension then at retirement it might be worth £10/month.

Anyway, still a lot of unknowns and I am grateful for all and any advice.

well if ever that is a way down the road.maybe. meantime await Colin and have a free chat to him;

the diaries eliminate many a comment if we know the facts, so remember to update on any more letters etc okay! we are here to help we do not criticise, people in the end do what they feel comfortable with , meantime look around the site and get an idea how things tend to work.

[Infinity]

I called the UK HSBC non-customer telephone number (not the number in the letter) to ask if they knew the number on the letter. They said on the first look they could not identify the number and a second deeper look would take more time. Giving them the name of the team and the name of the department that the letter stated it was from, they still could not find a match. One approach which they offered and I refused, was to take my post code and see if a letter had been written to my address.

All of this took ten minutes and ended with their advice "do not call that number".

[Roger]

I called the UK HSBC non-customer telephone number (not the number in the letter) to ask if they knew the number on the letter. They said on the first look they could not identify the number and a second deeper look would take more time. Giving them the name of the team and the name of the department that the letter stated it was from, they still could not find a match. One approach which they offered and I refused, was to take my post code and see if a letter had been written to my address.

All of this took ten minutes and ended with their advice "do not call that number".

Doesn't it strike you as strange that they haven't sold the Debt?
If you have been paying £1 since 2008 and their is a CCJ this is 14 years @ £12 per year (£168 in 14 years) and its seems HSBC has accepted this?
HSBC MAY WELL have issues here!
Don't attempt to contact them without first talking to Colin G Quinn

[Infinity]

Well, HSBC have had the CCJ since 2008 and could have taken further legal action anytime in the past 14 years yet have not I can agree that is strange. As I said, the letters stopped coming a few years before I moved home. If they sold the debt would other DCAs have been after me? Or when the letters stopped did they give up on the debt and written it off and could they have done that without telling me? That I can also agree is all strange too and I have no answers.

I was fearful to cancel the £1 token payment standing order in case it triggered a response.

For all I know, that payment may have been disappearing in to the void.

[Roger]

Well, HSBC have had the CCJ since 2008 and could have taken further legal action anytime in the past 14 years yet have not I can agree that is strange. As I said, the letters stopped coming a few years before I moved home. If they sold the debt would other DCAs have been after me? Or when the letters stopped did they give up on the debt and written it off and could they have done that without telling me? That I can also agree is all strange too and I have no answers.

I was fearful to cancel the £1 token payment standing order in case it triggered a response.

For all I know, that payment may have been disappearing in to the void.

You mention a starting year 1994 (the Consumer Credit Account has changed and been amended over the years)
Also HSBC had problems with what was known as IRON MOUNTAIN
This is why you should talk to Colin G Quinn Initial interview is free.
Remove the speculation from your mind. Talk to a Solicitor!

[The Tech Clerk]

1994 not HSBC = Midland bank? no agreement to sign just a white headed paper name address apply credit card? type document? if Midland do not mention to HSBC for now as they can be caught out later if they try to say HSBC originator

Iron Mountain fore destroyed many so called CCAas and substitutes?

[Colin G Quinn]

Hi,

Who is the letter allegedly sent by?

I think you are confusing a CCJ and a claim form. If a claim is issued in respect of a debt which is not statute barred, but then placed on hold to deal with a CCA request, no amount of a delay would make the debt statute barred.

It has been known for some claimants to have issued legal proceedings just to prevent a debt becoming statute barred. That is an abuse.

THat is me going off topic.

If you have spoken to the bank and been told not to call the number did the advisor not say they would be referring the matter to their fraud team?

[Infinity]

Yes, now you mention it in 1994 I remember First Direct being associated with the brand Midland Bank. Checking wikipedia Midland Bank were owned by HSBC from 1991 and eventually in 1999 Midland Bank was re-branded to HSBC.

I looked up who Iron Mountain are - enterprise information management services including information destruction. I expect that includes shredding paper work, if UK companies were shredding CCAs that seems silly to me.

The letter is allegedly sent by HSBC Bank from an address beginning "Litigation Department, HSBC Repayment Services" the rest is HSBC's legitimate 120 Edmund Street address in Birmingham right down to the post code B3 2QZ.

Under the signature squiggle no individual's name or title just "Litigation Team, HSBC Repayment Services".

The adviser sounded like someone in an off-shore call centre. No they made no reference to the fraud team, not that they said so to me. For the moment I don't know how to advance this detail further. I know it's often the case you call the same number, get a different adviser and get a different response.

(The off-topic part: that is worrying but I have not heard anything from either of those credit cards since 2014. But if they had written to me after 2017 at my old address I would not have received those letters. Would it take them more than 5 years for them to figure out a new address, if they wanted to reach me?).

[The Tech Clerk]

credit card headed midland bank up until 1998/9 still have copies old account