Further to my previous questions and comments, I am now in possession of the correspondence which the solicitors say mean that ‘Contact’ with me had been made. All the letters were sent to an address at which I was not resident. Following is a brief summary:

5/8/1998 – Initial contact letter from Experto Credite explaining debt 18/8/1998 – Letter from Experto Credite saying that Representative will call in the next dew days 1/9/1998 – Letter from Experto Credite saying that representative, giving name this time, will call next week. 16/9/1998 – Letter from Solicitors threatening court action within 7 days. 25/11/1998 – Letter from solicitors saying that county court proceedings will happen in 72 hours. 25/5/1999 – Letter from Experto Credite saying that they have ‘Today’ instructed solicitors to commence proceedings in the High Court.

Then nothing until 13th October 2000 at my current address a letter being the same as the initial one above sent on 5/8/1998.

I have asked them if any proceedings took place and why there was a six month gap between the letters saying court action was starting. I have also asked for copies of ALL other correspondence after 25th May 1999 as there seemingly must have been some if, as they say, they were in contact with me.

My impression is that the letter sent on 13th October 2000 proves that no contact had been made at the previous address otherwise why were they sending the initial letter again. Also, I have found out through a family member that they had written in March this year to an address elsewhere at which I have never lived and despite several replies, telephone calls and a visit, did no believe the occupiers. It seems odd that when I asked for ALL correspondence first time that none of these occurrences were sent. Again, in my mind, proof that NO CONTACT had been made prior to 11th February 2000 and therefore the 6 year rule comes into play.

What do you think?

-- Matt (mattyc@ntlworld.com), November 20, 2000

Answers

Hello Matty

The list of letters you give is interesting especially the letter dated 1/9/98 from Experto Credite saying that their rep would be calling the following week.

If their rep did call, they would have seen that you did not live at the address they had on file. In which case, your next question is, if the rep really did call, why did he not report back that you no longer lived at the address? You might want to question them on this point.

The letters that you were supposed to have received are similar to the ones I’ve had when the bank were chasing me for an unpaid loan. It was reply in 10 days, reply in 3 days (despite the letter being dated a week earlier and sent 2nd class!!!), then someone was going to call at my home (and never did); we’re going to issue proceedings etc. Then as soon as they say they’re issuing proceedings it goes quiet.

You could play the innocent and say that you’d like a copy of the High Court papers please. I’d take a bet that proceedings were never issued. But after all, Experto Credit say they’ve instructed their solicitors to do so, so surely there ought to be!! …and demand that they’re sent. They’ll have to admit then that they didn’t.

I’m inclined to side with you that the 6 year rule applies. I fail to understand how they can say that contact has been made if they sent letters to an address you didn’t live at. If “contact” is the act of sending a letter, then God help us all, they’ll be sending letters to John O’Groats and claiming contact!!

I can’t really offer you any more thoughts. I would suspect that now is the time to find yourself a good solicitor.

Best wishes

-- pendle (pendle@amun-ra.demon.co.uk), November 20, 2000.

I cannot seem to find any company listed at Companies House as "Experto Credite" neither do they seem to be a member of the Credit Services Association. Actually the literal translations of Experto Credite are "Trust One Who Has Gone Through it" or "Trust the Experts". It would help if you could detail their address as stated on their letters to you so that further investigations can be carried out.

-- Tony Hayter (Tony@Hayter.com), November 20, 2000.

I found Experto Credite in the Data Protection Register. Also known as PAUL W THOMPSON, EVRETH J THOMPSON and their address is ALEXANDRIA HOUSE, 3 - 5 CASTLE STREET, READING BERKS RG1 7SB.

-- pendle (pendle@amun-ra.demon.co.uk), November 20, 2000.

Experto Credite are commonly used by Royal and Sun Alliance! They also threatened friends of mine with visits from representatives, they never turned up!

-- jacky jones (jones5@btinternet.com), November 21, 2000.

With reference to the last entry, how did things end up or are communications continuing. Did your friends clear the debt or have it written off? Any pointers as to what I can try would be good.

-- Matt (mattyc@ntlworld.com), November 21, 2000.