Dealing with debt is always stressful, but many people find that the process is all the more difficult if a debt collection company is involved. One of the most prevalent firms of debt collectors in the UK is Cabot Financial, who are known to contact debtors via post, telephone and even by knocking on doors.
If you’re looking for information about Cabot Financial, or are being pursued by their staff for payment of a debt, the information below could help you to understand what’s happening and their collection processes.
Who are Cabot Financial?
Formed in 1998, Cabot Financial is one of the UK’s most active debt collection companies. Often purchasing outstanding debts from other companies, Cabot Financial then go about collecting money from a variety of debtors across the country.
Cabot Financial (who also operate under the names Cabot Credit Management Group and Cabot Credit Management) claim to take a more flexible approach to debt collection than other debt purchase companies – and might be more inclined to help individual debtors to understand the process and maybe even enter into a repayment plan.
What do Cabot Financial Debt Collectors do?
Cabot Financial is a debt purchasing company – which means that they buy up the outstanding balances of personal loans, credit cards and other forms of debt from other lenders. Once they own a debt, they then begin chasing upon payment for the outstanding balance via email, letter, telephone or even in-person visits to a debtor’s home address.
In the first instance, Cabot Financial are likely to contact you in writing, by phone, or both. They will generally request repayment of the debt and might suggest payment either by a lump sum or by agreeing to a payment plan. If you ignore Cabot Financial, they may escalate your debt, send a debt collector to your home address, or even take you to court in order to seek a County Court Judgment (CCJ) against you.
Are Cabot Financial legitimate?
With offices situated around the UK, Cabot Financial is a subsidiary of the Cabot Credit Management Group – a company authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). An active member of the Credit Services Association, Cabot Financial are a legitimate company – which means that they are obliged to follow certain rules and regulations such as giving debtors time to consider any letters or other communications they send rather than demanding payment immediately.
Are Cabot Financial regulated by the FCA?
Yes – Cabot Credit Management Group Limited (CCM Group) operates as a company registered in England and Wales with Company Number: 4934534. Cabot Financial is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) under reference number: 677910.
Who do Cabot Financial collect for?
Cabot Financial collects outstanding debts for a number of companies, ranging from utility providers to public bodies. These include:
- The DVLA
- Scottish Power
- First Utility
- Npower
How to contact Cabot Financial?
It always helps to have all the necessary details available when dealing with debt. Cabot Financial can be contacted mainly via phone or email, with their contact centre open from 8 am – 8 pm Monday to Friday and 8 am – 2 pm on Saturdays.
Full Company Name: Cabot Financial (Europe) Limited
Also operating as: Cabot Credit Management Group, Cabot Credit Management (CCM)
Cabot Financial phone number: 0344 556 0263
Cabot Financial email address: [email protected]
Cabot Financial website: www.cabotfinancial.co.uk
Cabot Financial postal address:
PO Box 241
West Malling
Kent ME19 4NA
What does Cabot Financial’s debt collection process look like?
As mentioned before, the Cabot Financial debt collection process is likely to begin with either a phone call, formal letter, or both. Their initial contact will typically involve sending you a Notice of Assignment (NOA) informing you that they now own your debt. They will prompt you to make a payment either via a lump sum or an ongoing payment plan, and may direct you towards their online payment portal where the transaction can be completed.
If you do not respond to their contact attempts, or simply refuse to pay, Cabot Financial may escalate your debt and send debt collectors to your address whilst continuing to chase you for the amount owed. Cabot Financial claims to take a more flexible approach to debt collection, and suggest that they are willing to help explain the process to debtors and in some cases allow them to pay what they owe over an extended period of time.
Can Cabot Financial take you to court?
As with any outstanding debt, failure to pay runs the risk of court action in the form of a County Court Judgement (CCJ) – but that doesn’t necessarily mean that Cabot Financial will go down this route.
In theory, it is possible for Cabot Financial to take any debtor that either refuses or is unable to pay to court, provided that they follow the right process for doing so. In practice, certain small debts may not be worth the time and effort that comes with chasing after debtors – but you cannot take this for granted and it is generally a good practice to engage constructively with anyone to whom you owe money.
In some cases, particularly involving of large debts, Cabot Financial may go further to ensure that they are paid what is owed. This might involve taking the debtor to court in the hope of obtaining a County Court Judgment (CCJ) against them.
Will I get an Attachment of Earnings Order?
An Attachment of Earnings Order could be made if you miss the required repayments on a CCJ made against you following legal action by Cabot Financial. This is a court order that will require your employer to deduct regular debt repayments directly from your wages meaning that the debt is paid over time in the same way that you might see national insurance or income tax payments deducted from your pay.
Will Cabot Financial send bailiffs?
If you fail to respond to initial attempts Cabot Financial make to contact you, they may send a debt collector to your home but will not send court bailiffs. Debt collectors are not bailiffs and their powers are extremely limited in comparison.
Bailiffs will only usually be sent to your home to enforce a County Court Judgment (CCJ) where either you have not paid what you owe or kept up with monthly instalments agreed by the court.
Can Cabot Financial come into my house?
Cabot Financial are debt collectors and not bailiffs, meaning that they do not have the right to force themselves into your home. Cabot Financial debt collectors may enter your home if you invite them in, however you are not obliged to do so.
Do you have to let debt collectors from Cabot Financial in?
You are not obliged to let debt collectors from Cabot Financial into your property, however you may do so at your own discretion. If you refuse to grant them entry to the property, they cannot force their way in.
How to deal with Cabot Financial?
The best course of action for dealing with Cabot Financial will depend on your own unique set of circumstances – such as whether you can afford to pay what you owe, or if you dispute the fact that you owe the debt at all.
Generally speaking, there are several courses of action that you could take. These include: paying Cabot Financial in full, making a part payment to Cabot Financial, agreeing to a payment plan with Cabot Financial, seeking to write off your debt by using an insolvency solution.
How to check if you owe Cabot Financial?
First things first, whether you dispute a debt or not you may wish to establish that you actually owe money to Cabot Financial. When asked, they should be able to provide debtors with confirmation of their total debt figure, that they have purchased your debt, and who from. They should even be able to provide you with a copy of your original credit agreement to establish that the debt is legitimate.
Any information provided by Cabot Financial can then be double-checked against your own personal records to make certain that all information is correct and that you owe the amount they are chasing.
How to pay Cabot Financial?
Cabot Financial operates its own online payment portal, which you can access via the following link: www.cabotfinancial.co.uk/payment/your-account.
If you do not wish to make payment online, you can do so over the phone – where a representative of the company should guide you as to your options.
Do Cabot Financial accept credit cards?
In most cases, it should be possible to pay Cabot Financial with a credit card either online or via telephone. Caution should be exercised when making debt payments with a credit card, however, as the total figure owed will simply be shifted to the credit card provider and will remain payable.
Do Cabot Financial accept part payments?
Cabot Financial accept payment accept partial payments over the phone via debit card, via a payment slip, via cheque or by bank transfer. The Cabot Financial online payment portal is also equipped to accept part payments.
The way a part payment is applied will depend on the status of your account. If you are in arrears then a part payment will generally be used to pay off those arrears, whilst if your account is up to date then a part payment will be used to reduce the total outstanding debt balance.
How can I set up a payment plan with Cabot Financial?
If you cannot repay your debt in full, but can commit to regular monthly repayments, Cabot Financial may agree to a payment plan. Using the online budget calculator on the Cabot Financial website, debtors can work out how much money they can reasonably afford to contribute towards their debts on a regular basis.
When making budgeting calculations, it’s important to be as realistic as possible and include all of your expenditure rather than simply the monthly utility bills. Failing to be accurate when making a budget could lead to your payment plan failing on account of you not being able to afford ongoing payments.
Cabot Financial accept registrations for payment plans via their online portal, but it is possible to discuss such agreements with a representative over the phone.
How to write off my Cabot Financial debt?
Cabot Financial are unlikely to simply write off a debt, however they may consider any full and final settlement figures that are put to them even if they are less than the total figure owed. In cases where a full and final settlement figure is accepted, debtors may wish to request written confirmation that no further action will be taken against them prior to making a payment.
Generally, it is only possible to write off debt via a formal insolvency solution.
Can you ignore Cabot Financial?
Theoretically, you could ignore Cabot Financial, but this may not be the best course of action to take as they might choose to escalate your debt and either send a debt collector to your home, or even take you to court.
If you accept that you owe money to Cabot Financial, dealing with the problem head-on could result in a better outcome. Debt collection companies generally prefer to deal with debtors who are willing to work with them constructively, and you may be able to agree to an ongoing repayment plan without the need for Cabot Financial to take further action against you.
Can I prevent Cabot Financial from contacting me?
It may be possible to prevent Cabot Financial from contacting you, but this will usually require you to consider a formal debt solution to prevent them and other included creditors from communicating with you directly. . On request, Cabot Financial may also agree to temporarily cease contact with you – but this will not mean that your debt is written off and they could still escalate the matter to court where a CCJ could be granted against you.
As mentioned, certain debt solutions such as a Debt Relief Order (DRO) or an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) will prohibit your creditors from contacting you to chase for repayment of outstanding debts. These are serious solutions for serious problems, but if you really can’t pay Cabot Financial then they may provide a lifeline.
How to stop debt letters from Cabot Financial?
Without the support of a formal debt solution, you cannot stop a debt collection agency from sending you letters provided that they have a legitimate reason to do so. In some cases, Cabot Financial may even have a legal obligation to provide you with certain information and so letters can be necessary no matter how stressful it can be to receive them.
How long is it legal for Cabot Financial to chase a debt?
Under the Limitation Act 1980, creditors have six years to chase the majority of unsecured debts – with the period starting from the date of your last payment of acknowledgement of the debt. Once this period has elapsed, Cabot Financial will not be able to take legal action against you to enforce the debt.
That’s not to say that you can simply wait for this time to elapse, however, as Cabot Financial may continue to chase you for the outstanding figure and perhaps even seek a County Court Judgment (CCJ) against you.
How to complain about Cabot Financial?
There are multiple ways to go about making a complaint about Cabot Financial, and which of these you choose will depend on the severity of the issue at hand.
To complain directly to Cabot Financial, you can contact their Customer Complaint Handlers via 0345 849 8891 between 8 am – 5 pm Monday to Friday. It is also possible to reach their complaints team by emailing: [email protected].
As a member of the Credit Services Association (CSA), Cabot Financial also encourage complaining customers to request that the CSA act as a mediator for their complaint. They can be contacted via telephone (0191 21 7 0775) and more information is available on this course of action at csa-uk.com
Finally, if you feel that your complaint has not been deal with in a satisfactory or fair way, you may wish to refer the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Not all complaints fall within the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction, but those that do must be brought to their attention within six months of Cabot Financial issuing their own response. The Financial Ombudsman Service can be contacted via telephone (0300 1239 123) or email ([email protected]), and more information is available on their website at: www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk.
Cabot Financial reviews
There are many sites hosting reviews of Cabot Financial, but one of the most established is Trustpilot. Here they have a 4.3-star rating (at the time of writing this was generated from 493 reviews). This is a reasonably high rating for a debt collection company, and Cabot Financial receive praise from reviewers for their “polite and friendly” manner along with “helpful and understanding” staff.
The bottom line on Cabot Financial
Cabot Financial is one of the UK’s most active debt collection agencies. Purchasing outstanding debts from a number of other sources, they go on to chase the repayment of debts that were originally taken out with another lender. Compared to some other debt collection companies, Cabot Financial have relatively positive reviews and claim to be committed to working with debtors in a constructive way – whether through structured repayment plans or other means.
If you have been contacted by Cabot Financial, there’s no need to panic and the information outlined in this guide could help you to gain a better understanding of your position.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who owns Cabot Financial?
The USA’s largest debt purchasing company, Encore Capital, owns Cabot Financial.
Does HMRC use Cabot Financial?
No, Cabot Financial is not a collection agency that acts on behalf of the HMRC
Does Cabot Financial buy debts from other companies?
Cabot Financial’s business model involves purchasing outstanding debts from other companies at a reduced rate, before seeking repayment for the debts in full.
What is a CCJ?
A County Court Judgment (CCJ) is a type of court order in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. If a CCJ is made against you, it means that the court has formally decided that you owe money to another person or company.
You will receive all of the information relating to a CJJ via a letter confirming the judgment along with how much you owe and the deadline for doing making payment. A record of a CCJ will remain on your credit file for a period of six years unless the full amount is paid within a month of the order being made. This can have a negative impact on your credit score and can make it difficult to access credit in future.
Can Cabot Financial issue a warrant?
Cabot Financial cannot issue a warrant, however a court may do so if a CCJ has been granted against you.
Can Cabot Financial sell my home?
Cabot Financial cannot sell your home, and debt purchasing companies do not generally become involved with debts that are secured over properties.
That being said, if you are taken to court and a CJJ is made against you, the court may make a charging order – meaning that if you fail to settle the CCJ or keep up with agreed monthly repayments, you could be forced to sell your home to repay the outstanding balance.
Can you ignore a CCJ letter from Cabot Financial?
If Cabot Financial plan to seek a CCJ against you, they will first issue a ‘letter of claim’ which will set out the details of what you owe and inform you of their intention to begin legal proceedings. Debtors will usually have 30 days to respond to a letter of claim on a reply form that typically accompanies the letter.
Once court action has begun, debtors can expect to receive documentation directly from the Court. If you fail to act on official CCJ documentation received from the County Court, bailiffs may be instructed to visit your home.