help please 1st credit and citi financial

[bp]

Hi, i'm having calls everyday from both citi and first credit. I've written to both of them offering £50 each per month. 1st credit have refused this offer (i owe just over 10k) I want to pay it and before the debt was passed to them by Abbey i struggled but managed to pay £247 per month however, that became impossible once abbey started clearing out my acc every month it got to the point where i was living on £28 child benefit every week and that's only because it was paid into a different acc.

I've finally had to be hones about my finances and i've realised that i can't even afford the £50 i've offered My expenditure is greater then my income If i was to pay all my bills on time, i'd be £200 over my income and that's without including buying clothes for the kids all i've managed to include is rent, childcare, gas, electric, food car insurance, water and Internet.

I'm waiting to hear from citi but 1st credit have refused my offer. Their solicitors LCS have written to me demanding full payment within 14 days or legal proceedings will be begin with a CCJ to be registered. I just don't have any money to give them let alone 10k.


I don't know where to go next.

Any advice will be appreciated.

[lookinforinfo]

Hi BP, many of us on this section have been in similar circumstances so we
know what you are going through.

The first thing is to stop 1st Credit in their tracks by sending them a CCA
request along with £1 postal order. Until they send you a copy of the
executed agreement, they cannot pursue for the debt-so the phone calls
must stop and they cannot instigate legal proceedings either.


You will find a template CCA letter in the General Debts "sticky" section. It's
the last one and posted by Barracad-letter N is the one you want. Make it
completely clear that the £1 is not to be used to reduce the debt.
If they do send a copy of the paperwork, post it on here to ensure they have sent the right one. They have twelve working days plus two more days in
which to comply, otherwise they are in default. They may write to you and say that they require thirty days to produce-just accept it, but be aware
that they will be in default if they take that long. Don't tell them-and they may take even longer and the longer the better. For while they are in default
they cannot charge interest on the amount nor pursue you. So keep a record
of any phone calls they make asking for money or threatening legal action
as these are breaches of the Act.

Quite a few on the forum recommend that it can be helpful to contact
THe National Debt Line as they are able to help resolve debt problems.
Either by getting the monthly payments reduced and/or cancelling the interest.

[rory32]

Just to add to lookinforinfo's post - once they are in default you can withhold payment until they produce a copy of the agreement.

As previously said if they do send something which they state is a copy of the agreement post it on here. For one reason or another they usually don't comply with The Consumer Credit Act 1974 - so are unenforceable.

[rory32]

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...templates.html template N

[bp]

hi and thanks for getting back to me. I went down the cca route with Lowell and it worked thanks to this site i worked out that the debt was statue barred. Lowell confirm that they would no longer pursue me for it however, the debt with 1st credit is a recent one so i'm not sure if going down the cca route will help as i have a copy of the loan agreement with abbey ( got the loan last year Jan) its not that don't want to pay its just that when they started taking all my wages it meant i couldn't pay for the gas & electric and all the other essentials i'm just catching up now so any money i pay them will have to be taken out of something more important like childcare which i just can't do.

I will be writing to both citi and 1st credit asking them to stop calling. i'm getting about 10 calls a day sometime around 8:30pm (didn't think they worked that late!)

[rory32]

Please be aware that no matter how much pressure these people put on you - you can not pay what you don't have. The law allows you a certain amount for clothes, food, fuel, water, telephone bills, emergencies, birthdays, etc. I would offer them no more than £1 per month. They may threaten to take you to court but due to your circumstances this is an idle threat. A judge may actually tell them you can't afford to pay them anything.

Have you sent them the harrassment by telephone letter? If not you should Harassment by telephone - response letter

[lookinforinfo]

BP, the first thing about sending the CCA request is that it will stop the phone calls. It can take up to a month to obtain these documents which sounds like money well spent. It is unnerving to be constantly harrassed on the phone. And with luck, you won't have to shell out £100 this coming month. And your copy is irrelevant-you want a copy from 1st Credit to confirm they have the right to ask you for the money. Have you had a default
notice from Abbey and do you know if !st Credit now own the debt?You might get !st Credit to hand the debt back to Abbey if they don't own the debt.

And Citi should also stop phoning you..

[bp]

Thanks I'll get all the letters ready. As to the default that's another battle I'm waiting for my credit file at the mo but i am sure abbey have entered a default or against me.

[tomterm8]

I am no longer welcome on CAG

[bp]

thanks. i'm already claiming these lba runs out end of this week then its off to court for round two. I'll cca 1st credit but will have to amend the letter a bit since in some ways i've already acknowledge the debt by making them an offer.

[rory32]

It doesn't matter if you previously acknowledged the debt - you now don't!!

[babybear39]

Hi bp

I'm dealing with this lot too and in the same position.

CCA'd on 17th May and had inadequate reply from them. Then had a call AGAIN on Saturday 26th May!!!

Sending harassement letter today recorded.

Good luck and best wishes,

BB

[tooth_fairy]

Hi BP

First off, I have to agree with the other posters above:

Subject Access Request the companies
Start reclaiming the charges
Send anti-harrassment letters by recorded delivery

and most importantly:

Open a new bank account as mentioned by tomterm8, depending on your credit rating, you may only be eligible for a basic current account, NatWest do one and you don't get a cheque book but you do get a Solo card and the Co-Op offer you no cheque book again but an Electron card. Many of the banks offer basic accounts but it just depends on what you want from the account as some only offer a cash point card.

Anyway, back to the point, are you struggling financially now, do you have many debts?

I have been where you are and I found that it was very hard until I opted to take control and I congratulate you on taking that first step, it is the biggest and hardest to overcome.

You may want to get some free advice from debt managment charities like PayPlan or CCCS (Consumer Credit Counselling Service) and once you have all of your CCA's back (if they do have them) and once you have reclaimed all of your charges from all the relevant accounts.

1st credit are awful, in fact, the worst I have dealt with, luckily it wasn't a large amount and I managed to pay it off within 3 months but they were horrendous. If they call, take the call and calmly say
'All correspondance must now be made in writing, this is a formal request. Please remove this number from your database immediately, failure to do so will result in a complaint being made to the authorities' and hang up, it worked for me but it did take 4 or 5 calls for them to get the picture but do not enter into any conversation with them and if they get nasty, which they have done with me, simply hang up. Remember YOU are in control.

Good luck and remember we are all here to support you.

[tomterm8]

I am no longer welcome on CAG
.

[bp]

thanks, i can record calls on my mobile so as soon as they call I'll warn them. harassment letter went today, cca is going tomorrow.

Much appreciated