Written by John Kruse, one of the leading experts on Bailiff Law, this consumer friendly guide is essential reading for anyone who comes into contact with a bailiff.
The book is easy to understand and clearly explains the rights
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I have debts with RBS, MBNA, Egg, Barclaycard and HFC. In total I am paying back £188 a month but having just done a budget planner I have realised I can only afford to pay back £87 a month and that will only be until January when my maternity pay stops, after that I would probably have to reduce them even more.
I don't know if I should write to them and ask them to accept reduced payments. I have sent cca requests to all of them. HFC and Barclaycard are in dispute, Capquest have passed my Egg account back to Egg so I guess that's in dispute too and MBNA and RBS have not replied yet although I only sent the requests to them on Friday.
So should I wait until the cca issues are resolved before I write to reduce my payments or should I do it now? I am not paying Barclaycard, HFC or Egg just now but I am still paying the other two. If I ask them to reduce payments will they take this as acknowledgement of the debt?
I was also thinking about passing my debts over to cccs or the like. Should I wait until the issues are resolved?
Although you are currently disputing your debts, I don't think it would make any difference to write and ask if they would accept a reduced amount. You would already be paying anyway, so that could be constued as an acknowledgement.
I would write something along these lines...
Whilst it is not my intention to acknowledge that a debt exists in any way, as a fair and reasonable person I feel that I should continue with payments until such time as my dispute with you is resolved.
However, I have made a careful calculation of what I can realistically afford to pay at present, and would ask that you be likewise reasonable and accept a reduced monthly payment of £XX.
I must emphasise once again that this should NOT be construed as an acknowledgement of any debt.
I look forward to your early reply, but in the absence of a response within 7 days, I shall conclude that you are happy with this new arrangement.
Blah, blah, blah.
Make sure you send it recorded, so you can track the date of receipt. Just in case they ignore you, and complain when your payments reduce.
Having said that, if they default within 12 working days of receipt of your CCA requests, you are perfectly entitled to write and tell them that, as they are in default, you are suspending payments until they satisfactorily resolve your complaint.