Mr.ton we're perfectly aware of it however, the main premise is that it's the pure and simple idea that someone is coming to see you in person to collect the money from you. We would never say to someone a doorstep collector would come to take property as even suggesting the idea would get us frogmarched from the office. We know there is no legal power behind a doorstep collector and if you told them to go away they would, but it's better to talk about it and come to an arrangement before it got that far. And yes, it does cost a dca to take someone to court but a lot of the costs are recovered from the other side so it would just depend on the amount in question. Martin, those who are in breech of the CSA are undoubtedly investigated but not all dca's ignore the guidelines. And I am unsure as to what else my intentions other than to provide advise may be. As I have addressed, my job is to give advice to the debtors along with collecting the balance so surely if I was to do anything different here I would be contradicting myself?

Sofi, does the letter you have mention legal proceedings? Have you called them up and spoke to them about it? Normally the letters that get sent out are generic and part of a system so if no response is made from the first one then after a certain amount of time the next one is recognised by the system and automically sent, does that make sense? Just because the letter may mention seven days it does not in any way imply that you MUST pay within seven days. The collection company will not have any legal power to MAKE you pay within an allocated time. Just give them a call and explain your circumstances. If possible, ask for settlements. When it comes to letters, they're simply designed to make you call in. Hi Lilly, it depends on the debt. If it is still with your creditor that should be fine over 5 years but if it has been passed on then you need to check with the companies policies on repayment time periods. And they cannot tell you to pay a certain amount in a payment plan if you can justify why you cannot make the repayments. Call in with your income and expenditure. Wood73, that is down to the agent dealing with the account. In my personal opinion, someone who 'wont pay' won't take my calls or respond to letters. If someone genuinelly cant pay then I will listen to their reasons and go through their income and expenditure and set them up on a payment scheme which THEY are comfortable with. No one wants to make anyone not be able to feed or clothe themselves. If you fall into can't pay then DON'T just hang up whenever someone tries to call or put the letters in the bin as this automatically makes the collector think you won't pay and further action may be taken.

Hi Monty2007. Yes, everyday. However, it's a very simple response that we have to give back. If (and I hate this term) a debtor questions a copy of the agreement being produced we cannot provide it as you are already expected to have acknowledged all that information prior to it being with ourselves. Having said that, we are pre court, so different companies will have different ways of dealing with it. In regards to enforceability I'd say speak to your creditor, if a company is passed the debt on then it's up to us when and how we chose to take steps against you. E.g. straight to legal teams or doorstep collection after letters and phonecalls. If you are worried about why it is your bank may have passed the debt on then you need to look at how quickly you're paying it or if you've made a repayment late. In many cases, one default is enough to send it on. Hope I've helped with the question, I realise now they are a little vague. And Mr.Ton, there's nothing worse than a debtor trying to wind you up on the phone! Stress balls at the ready.

Mr.ton I do feel like everyone is waiting to pounce at certain comments (!) but my intentions are simply what I originally stated. And no, I did not choose this career I simply fell into it whilst studying for my PhD so I am completely unbiased! Lilly White, basically I am employed by a private debt collection company and then allocated accounts from many different banks. We're instructed to collect the full amount from the account holders however we are also permitted to offer settlements within certain boundaries and circumstances. All of our accounts are pre court and have been passed in many cases to other collection companies prior to ourselves. The reason debts are often passed from one company to another is simply because the creditor is not satisfied with the progress being made (or not!) by the company working on behalf of them! Naughty debt collectors! The main questions I was hoping to answer were ones involving why you may have been sent that particular letter or why am I having the same phone conversation every few days, why is no one listening to me etc? My personal opinion on people who have debt is simply that you may have had certain circumstances which haven't enabled you to clear your balances for whatever reason and my job is to listen to those and work out how we can get this repayed. So no, there are no intentions to belittle/abuse people in debt!

So, I'm aware that many of you see me as a bit of an 'enemy' but after stumbling across this site it made me think. I understand that trying to pay back debts is stressful and can be quite scary at times so I was hoping to offer a bit of insider advice to anyone who might be struggling to find satisfying answers to questions. Specifically, in relation to charges and systems of letters etc. I'm hoping that no one is going to start hurling abuse at me (ironic I know!) and I genuinelly hope to perhaps put a few people at ease!