Thread: Unsecured Debts Under £5000, Creditors Are Been A Pain! Please Help!

I have debts with a couple of people. I am not to sure on the figure at the moment (I am at work) and they are making my life hell.

I am more than willing to pay what I owe them however everytime I have called regarding payments, I have to 'Pay in full, or not at all'.

I haven't got a CCJ yet, but my current plan was to wait for one and then get an administration order on all my debts, cleaning my credit rating, stopping the letters, and paying the amount I owe. I am only 20 so I can afford to not have credit for 6 years. Is this a good idea or not?

I have already tried talking to the companies I owe money to, one I currently have a payment set up with and they are happy about, I have paid off council tax I owe and I am currently setting up a monthly payment for overpaid housing benefit.

It's just the big wigs like O2, vodaphone, BT (EXPECIALLY ARGGHH!) and NPower that are having none of it.

Is there a way I should be approaching it? Or should I just wait to get a CCJ? How can I speed up the process of getting one? It has been longer than 6 months on all my debts, some are nearly 2 years old, others one.

I don't have a clue what to do. Help.

Hi

Here are a few tips to help you along.

First of all do your own Income and Expenditure statement showing how much money is coming in and what your bills are. You should prioritize your bills as follows:

1. Rent/mortgage
2. Council Tax
3. Food/Utilities/Clothing
4. Transport
5. a small reserve

What you have left is the total amount of money with which to pay creditors. This is the maximum they can have and it is up to you to determine what percentage each creditor gets.

Once you have done that you can write to them with your payment offers. Try and obtain bank details and set up standing orders (NOT DIRECT DEBITS).

Work out a date you can pay which is a few days after you yourself get paid. In your offer to your creditors tell them you are paying several days later still. This will then build in a time reserve that should see your creditors getting paid a day or two before it is due, thus preventing them from using late payment as an excuse to pressure you.

It does not matter if they don't like or do not accept your proposals, as this is the best you can do. Do not let them dictate to you what you will do as you simply cannot afford it. You know this because you have worked it out already.

They have two choices; accept the deal or take legal action. If they do the latter and win (and who says they will win as you can quite possibly challenge your debts in full or part) they will end up with the same amount you were going to pay them anyway because you can tell the court of your previous offers and the court will very likely uphold your offer.

Also, do not talk to any creditor on the telephone. Not ever. From now on all communications must be written only. This is because you then have an audit trail and proof of what was stated by them.

Send all communications by recorded delivery and keep the records.

dont sign any of your letters.

Keep all communications received including the envelopes. Staple the envelopes to the letters received in case at some point in the future you need to check on the date or the type of postage or origin of correspondence.

Hope that helps.

Why don't you list all your creditors here and approximate amounts. There may be opportunities to partially or fully challenge some of the bills you have.

Hi thank you for the reply's I will get reading those pages sometime today.

As for an income expenditure form, I am currently talking with housing benefit to repay what I owe and have to fill in one for them, so I will photocopy and send the letter to all my creditors? (Minus a few adjustments)

Then should I just go into my bank and set up a standing order?

The figures are something like;
vodaphone 1000+
O2 200+
Npower 400+
BT 200+

I actually can't remember fully sorry!

Is there anything else I should be aware of, or is all the information already given all I need?

Thanks
J

I would totally back PGH7447 and not send an I&E of any kind to anyone.

When writing to them simply state you have determined what your income and earnings are and as a result you are able to offer £X per month on X date until settled. That's all.

If you want to challenge any of the amounts use the templates on this site to do so.

If they do not respond within 12+2 days you can legally withold payment until they do.

If they respond within the 12+2 days you can then determine whether the debt is challenge-able in full or in part.

I cannot see it making your credit record worse.

You will still be hassled but if phone calls are a problem use the telephone harassment template. It frequently works. Letters will continue to arrive but after the initial alarm of them they can become quite amusing so dont let yourself get into a frame of mind that regards every letter as a hassle. (It has been said elsewhere on this forum that you are not a true CAGer until you look forward to the post and are disappointed when there is not a DCA letter!!).

You will not be obliged to pay it all straight away, even though they will want and expect it. You are uniquely and solely able to determine what you can pay because you did your I&E statement. At that point it is back to the repayment plan. In short, may I refer you to my post 3 above.

What should have happened is that when you defaulted on your debts they would record the default with the CRA's. Once recorded the clock starts and the default will be there for six years. If you pay the bill it will be marked as satisfied and there are things you can do to get a satisfied default removed from the CRA's.

Might be worth while checking the 3 CRA's to see what information they hold about you.

Don't talk to your creditors. Not ever. Written comms only.

I will have a dig around for the names of the companies chasing me for you, however it wont be till monday. Wescott is definately 1, they hold 2 of my debts vodaphone and npower i think. Buchannan is also one (dont know who for), but I dont know who for, oh and HG-Wells (dont know who for)? ring any bells?

Thanks for that last post it made me smile, I am now not going to open another letter without smiling anymore!

I will do a credit reference check now, I am guessing I will have defaulted? Is that what it means when the debt has been sold on?

Also can I just not hold out for so long? It's not like they going to come to my work are they? (That is my biggest concern as I work in investment banking, and I risk losing my career). I feel obliged to pay the money back, but if I can just get one of these 'loophole' solicitors will it not be all gravy? BTW I got all my contracts out in 2008 when I turned 18

I apologise for been so hard to deal with, I don't really have a clue about all this, but I am willing to learn and I want to get my life back on track.


EDIT: sorry i have alot to add, can I not just get a solicitor to deal with it all? and decent ones in west Yorkshire? because I have to work alot. If not then I can always do it myself but if a solicitor is advised/quicker/more sucsessful then I am willing to pay for the expertise.

I will do a credit reference check now, I am guessing I will have defaulted? Is that what it means when the debt has been sold on?

A default is basically what happens if you dont pay. In this situation a creditor can post a report with the CRA's saying what it is you have defaulted on. However, they may still own the debt.

Later on they may sell it or they may get a DCA to act on their behalf to collect the money.

If the original Creditor did not post a default with the CRA's it is possible the DCA will do so once they have bought your debt. The thing to watch out for is that the default can only be posted once per debt, not by every DCA that subsequently acquires the debt.

Also can I just not hold out for so long? It's not like they going to come to my work are they? (That is my biggest concern as I work in investment banking, and I risk losing my career).

I make no recommendations about "holding out". However, I have successfully ignored a number of DCA's for over 3 years now and they have done nothing. However, I am prepared for the poor credit history, indeed I have no choice given my personal circumstances.

They will almost certainly never turn up at your work because a. It is a big and dangerous thing for them to do from a legal standpoint, b. They do not necessarily know where you work (Have they got your work number, and c. personal visits of any kind are getting very rare as it is simply not sensible to tie up an individual for an uncertain number of hours and paying his expenses etc in the hope he might catch up with you, particularly when he has less rights than the postman to be on your property.

However, a possible risk is they will call you at work despite this being against the debt collection guide lines. I have had this happen but since it is my business I have been able to arrange things such as to get some entertainment out of it. however, it could be more serious for you. If you are worried send the telephone harassment template letter. A lot of the time that will keep them off.

can just get one of these 'loophole' solicitors will it not be all gravy?

Up to you but you will likely end up paying the solicitor more than the debts are worth. Better to deal with it yourself via the assistance of CAGers. You will learn some useful things and become more empowered and confident in your future contractual dealings. Make the time to deal with it and it will repay you in many ways.

Hi jayjaydee,

As cerberusalert has mentioned the Web Relations Team would certainly like to take a closer look at things for you to see what we could to help you here.

If you let us know when you've emailed us and what the reference number we'll get back to you as soon as we can.

Thanks,

Lee

Web Relations Team

vodafone UK