It's been a while since I've posted on here, mainly because my debt situation is now under control.

Back in March I decided enough was enough and I was fed up trying with the constant communication I was having with creditors in order to manage my debts and repay them. So the good news is I bit the bullet, contacted CCCS and got myself on a DMP.

The bad news...Safeloans are not accepting the offer of repayment and instead have sent both myself and the CCCS two repayment proposals and their intention to follow this up with court action to 'protect their interest in this debt'. One proposal for repayments has reduced the amount I owe from around £350 to circa £240.

Prior to this I have had emails from Safeloans suggesting that they would refuse to deal with my 'fee charging Debt Management company' and that these often incorrectly inform their clients that payments cannot be made outside of a DMP which is not true etc.

As the CCCS have sent them my I&E and list of creditors it is clear that none are getting preferential treatment over the other and that the surplus is going to the CCCS i.e. I don't have any additional money to pay to anyone.

My questions:

Clearly Safeloans are trying to use this tactic to get me to pay more than I can afford. It is also clear they are using the threat of a CCJ to gain preferential treatment over other creditors. Should I report this to the OFT?

Should this go to Court would the judge take a dim view of the above tactics and will it cause them more bother? I have a sneaky suspicion that Safeloans won't be able to provide me with an itemised breakdown of my account and therefore I will defend a claim (if it happens) just to be a pain in the bum. But can I factor the scare tactics into a defence too?

Essentially I just want to be the pain in their backside rather than the other way round from now on.

Also, out of interest, is there any other 'benefit' for SL to take up this course of action, other than to bully someone into paying more than they can afford?

An update:

I have made it clear that I cannot afford to pay them anything on a monthly basis in addition to what I'm paying through the DMP. I made them an offer in full and final settlement which I've clearly stated is due to a relative gifting me the money for this sole purpose. I've since had numerous emails which state they are going to make a claim and listing the costs of which I will suffer if the claim is successful. A lot of scaremongering about attachment of earnings etc. as well.

I noted their letter earlier this month stated they would cancel all default charges and interest if I paid them over 3 months i.e. I pay the principal borrowed + £45 admin fee. I have since recalculated this as the figure seemed to high, indeed I worked it out to be a lot less (less than the amount I offered as a lump sum in full & final settlement) so I queried this. Turns out the wording on their offer was wrong and they meant unpaid interest and charges. I worked their offer would only save me £24 compared to the original loan contract (if I hadn't had defaulted and no additional charges were applied).

I've obviously requested a full itemised breakdown of account/statement and I'm still waiting on this. I've also questioned why they need to take me to court when a) I am willing to pay the debt, albeit at a reduced rate through the DMP b) I have stuck to the DMP thus far and not missed a payment.

I've kept everything in writing so I have solid evidence, can hopefully give you all a log of this and the actual correspondence over the weekend.

To me, it is clear Safeloans are using or threatening to use the court process to gain preferential treatment over other creditors. Does this fall foul of OFT guidelines? Also, should I be so lucky to receive claim forms I will be defending in some shape or form so I may call on some help in the near future (it would be very appreciated).

SHould ask them a simple question.

Such as, " Safeloans, do you realise that if you try and persue it through the courts, and i bring in solid proof that i have repeatedly tried to arrange a repayment plan due to my financial circumstances, and you have blatantly ignored it, plus you are trying to prioritise yourself over other, much higher priority creditors, that a court would side with me and you would most likely end up with £1 a month, probably a lot less, until my high priority creditors are paid off."

Here's an extract from one of my emails, I will post the whole chain of events here when I am not at work:

Given my financial situation my offer was therefore over and above reasonable and would have avoided any action through the claim court. I still can't quite understand the rationale for involving the court based on:

1. The fact I have entered into a Debt Management Plan which is a clear indication of my willingness to repay any debts I owe to other parties.
   
2. It is quite clear in the documentation provided to you as part of the Debt Management Plan that I am in financial hardship. It is also clear that my creditors are receiving the whole amount of surplus after living expenses (distributed on a fair and pro-rated basis as calculated by the Consumer Credit Counselling Service who administer the Debt Management Plan). I simply don't have any further surplus per month to pay you at an accelerated rate compared to my other creditors.
   
3. The claim process is only going to add to my burden of debt should your claim be successful, due to court fees and further costs which will pass to me in the event a County Court Judgement is lodged.
   
4. Should your claim be successful I will only be able to afford the same monthly repayment as that in the Debt Management Plan, else I would jeopardise the Debt Management Plan altogether.
   
5. Indeed, I would look to incorporate the CCJ (if your claim is successful) into the Debt Management Plan so that an attachment of earnings order would not be necessary.
   
6. Given the fact that I have proactively contacted you on numerous occasions and made you aware of my situation it is regretful that whilst I am willing to and am paying you what I can afford, you still believe that going the route of the claims court is the best course of action.
   

There was plenty more in this email. I have basically written the chain of transactions on my account (that I'm aware of) and have itemised this in a logical order. I have produced a apreadsheet shedule to make it very clear.

My thinking was should it go to Court this will make things very clear for the judge. I'm only just getting started because I can't quantify exactly what charges have been added to my account until I get a breakdown. I've reiterated in my last 3 emails that I need this breakdown and I haven't had it yet.

I dont think Safeloans have realised that they have disregarded OFT guidance regulations, and think they are right in what they are doing. I dont think the courts would look down on them well either, when they see that the PDL is trying to use the courts as a first means of debt collection, especially when you have shown that you cannot meet their repayments and have provided proof to that effect.

IF (big IF) it ever went to court - the judge would think you have shown responsibility for your situation by entering into a DMP with a recognised debt advisory service and Safeloan's refusal to accept the payment proposal would not go down well.

Well my emails have had more than the desired effect. They will settle all accounts for circa £70. I offered them £180 on Wednesday!

Once my payment has cleared and they have confirmed receipt I shall put all the evidence on here, so to assist others in a similar situation with this company.

Make sure you get, in writing, that the debt is fulfilled, and that it will not get passed to any dca.

Yep, I've made sure I have it in writing, I have an excellent trail up until now as I've only liaised by email. Which is one of the reasons they've slipped up so much in my opinion.

.

Get a 3rd party to make the payment!

There will be no comeback this way!

What do you mean by a comeback?

Lots of companies accept a full and final agreement and will only partially settle the account.

They will NOT update your Credit Reference and will sell the remaining balance to another debt collector.

You really have to be sure to get everything correct when paying off these leeches!

Jogs

I had very carefully worded my correspondence, my reckoning being that if they agreed to my terms they would have no comeback i.e. I explicitly stated that it would be in full and final settlement of the accounts, that I would be released from all liability and that SL or a third party would not be able to enforce or pursue the debts thereafter.

I have also asked that my file with the credit reference agencies is updated to show ‘settled in full’. Although I have been guaranteed this will happen I have my doubts, but my credit rating is completely destroyed right now and it’s going to take 6+ years to wait for the adverse things to drop off anyway.

I paid the agreed amount today and I’ve just had the email to confirm the accounts are settled full and final. Logged into their online area and both accounts show as ‘No current loan’ and ‘today’s settlement amount £0.00’.

Clearly I’ve managed to articulate my queries and responses to their correspondence well enough to cause a stir. Quite honestly I tried to work with them far too much but I was going on the basis that should it ever reach court I was the one willing to come to a resolution and they were simply saying ‘pay us this on these terms or we’ll take you to court.’ I was never trying to get out of paying them, they forced me into this fiasco.

I’ll gather up all the stuff in chronological order when I can and put it in a new thread.