So I sent off my SAR and they actually got back to me pretty sharpish with loads of info. After trawling through it all I think it looks like: 1-Disbursements were legal fees/debt counsellors etc 2-There were 55 (!) months worth of 'Admin Charges' at £30 a pop. Some months nothing but an automated statment being sent out is shown as work done or maybe a phone call or 2. 3-And then there is the additional interest added on because of arrears. I know that this is legit though. 4-A couple of returned DD charges. It made for some very depressing reading - no wonder she was so stressed she had a stroke.

Thanks Mr, it's nice to talk to somebody - can't in the 'real world'!

Thanks Mr Ton, I will pinch your letter if thats ok, will offer them more than £1 but might rethink the exact amount. Will bear in mind what you have said about them contacting me- although to be fair up until now it has been ok anyway. Just to check, do you agree that I should be doing all this in writing as opposed to phone calls?

At £1 a month that means it will take me 14,000 months to pay off - I assume they don't just give up. that would be nice though! I do want to pay back what I owe, it's my fault for getting in this mess. I would think that Sainsburys will have all the paperwork they need because I only rearranged the loan in April. If I do contact them with an offer, if that's £1 or £175, will that hold them off phone calls and visit wise?

Yikes that's harsh! Much smarter than my effort though. The problem I have with £1 a month is that I will never pay it back - I can manage £175 a month. But then if I say I can manage that much they might think I've got lots to spare. Hmm.

Anybody out there got any thoughts? I was hoping to send this tomorrow.

I've only just posted my first today too but I'm pretty sure the smart folk on here will want more info from you. Who is the debt to? How much? How old?

Urgh, just read that back - doesn't sound very smart at all! Letter writing - not my forte.

Have sat down and had a real think about what I can offer and I now think £175 is my limit - I'd even be able to buy food after paying them! Can somebody look at this letter that I was thinking of sending them - it's short and sweet so if anyone can add anything to fill it out a bit and make me sound like I know anything I would be grateful. Dear Sir/Madam With regard to your letter to me dated 24th September 2009. You have informed me that you have been instructed to collect a debt owed by me to Sainsburys Bank. I’m in no position to pay the amount in full but would like to offer you a proposed repayment plan. I suggest £175 per month. Please write back to me if you agree to this so that I can arrange the sending of the funds. Regards,

Is it generous? I did think of offering less but I dont want it to take me forever to pay off.

So do we think that if I contacted them and offered to pay £200 per month they would be happy with that - they can't possibly expect me to stump up 14k in one go surely.

So is Sainsburys financial part of HBOS then?! If it isn't an outside agency does that mean they will be any easier to deal with? (Sorry if I sound like I don't know anything - it's probably because I don't!)

Sorry to be dense but what is CCA?

Sainsburys did write to me to say they were passing the debt on - is that what you mean by 'notice of assignment'?

Thanks for the quick reply. The loan is only a few years old and I last made a payment in June. I've been burying my head in the sand for a fair few months now. I'm not trying to wriggle out of paying it back - I did spend it in the first place but the letter they sent me both put my back up/frightened me I don't know if I should write to them with a proposed repayment plan and if I do how much I should offer them.

Hi, I had an unsecured personal loan with Sainsburys of £10,000:eek: and have run into some difficulties lately. I have just worked out a way of sorting my mess out - overtime at work, new bank account etc but it's too late and I have just recieved a letter from Albion Collections Ltd saying I need to pay them £14,962. Obviously I don't have this kind of money so what do I do? Will they be open to negotiation and can I avoid doing this over the phone and deal with them in writing only? I'm so mad with myself for not keeping in touch with Sainsburys because as of next month I would have been able to pay them their £216 each month. I'm really scared that they are going to turn up at my front door now.

My late Mum got a lot of arrears charges with this lot - which I ended up paying when I bought the mortgage out. Not to mention the huge Disbursement (?!) charges. How likely are they to co-operate with me if I pursue this - it wasn't my account after all and they may say they can't tell me anything. Has anyone found them to be easy to deal with - or should i not bother?!

Does anyone know if there are any template letters anywhere in regards to dealing with this? And also, are they likely to give me any details considering it wasn't my account (even though I ended up paying all of the charges!).

Thank you for the quick reply. I can see from her monthly statements that there was a £30 Admin fee for being in arrears and £200 odd in additional interest each month. I will definitely see if they can give me a breakdown of what these charges were for - I don't even know what 'disembursements' means! Was thinking though, they might not want to tell me anything as it wasn't even my account.

Hi, Hope I'm in the right place. My Mum died suddenly a few years back and was in arrears with her mortgage. She had no kind of life assurance so I had to get a mortgage myslef to buy hers out so that me and my brother and sister didnt lose the house. At the time, being only young, I didn't question how a mortgage that she had held for 5 years and paid over 11k on had gone up from £23,650 to £28,900. But looking at the redemption letter I recieved there are a few charges I'm not sure about. They may be perfectly normal but I thought I would check it out. These are: Disembursements - £2,100.34 Additional Interest/Int.Adjs - £2,354.14 Discharge Costs - £117.50 Administration Charges - £1,568.75 Does anybidy know if these charges can be justified?