Great and well done.

Hi All My brother recently received a letter from Birmingham Midshires saying "As regular payments have been made your arrears have been consolidated" Previously they have asked if they could do this and he said no as his arrears was not that great and he would have repaid it within a short time. Has this unilateral action dis-advantaged him in any way? Would be grateful for any opinions or experiences of other CAGers.

it's ok for them to bombard me so therefore it's ok for me to do the same back right? ..right!

I would respectfully disagree with rebel on the subject of same or separate envelopes. If it was me I would send each communication in a separate envelope with separate recorded delivery (making sure I knew which topic was covered by which recorded delivery slip). My reasons are as follows: 1. It may be that they comply with certain requests and not others. From a management point of view it is better that you can handle each part of your correspondence separately. If you subsequently have to complain about a non-response or they deny receiving something if you use a separate recorded delivery they cannot come back with shenanigans such as we received a. not b. 2. It can work to your advantage to send separate letters as sometimes these go to separate people resulting in different/conflicting information being turning up/returned to you. This is great because you can point out their contradictions and put them on the back foot or save potentially damaging items for a rainy day.

Neeta it just occurred to me that you mention they put some Charging order documents in the post. Would you please remove any personal details and post them up here. The reason I am asking is that if they are using official court documents in circumstances where they know full well they cannot get a charging order that may well be against official debt collection guidance. You could start a complaint, but we need to see the docs first. I would not mind betting these so called docs are just so much cobblers.

it's about control and empowerment. Spot on rebel

Just found this thread and followed it all the way through. Well done. Would like my name added to any group action against Capstone. Hope you continue this thread with your fees and expenses claims against them.

If it was me and I had decided to challenge the amounts I would start with the CCA request. After the mandatory time for reply had expired (which I believe is 12+2 days but hopefully another CAGer will confirm) most of them would not have replied and you could legally withhold payments anyway until they did. So your first action should logically be to get the CCA requests off. Send postal orders for £1 to each creditor and DO NOT SIGN the request, and send each by recorded delivery. Between now and the next 12+2 days you are theoretically obliged to continue to pay them. Therefore your pay plan comes into action and if any payments are due before the 12+2 days expires then write them a simple letter saying you can only afford £X and pay that amount. (By the way cancel any direct debits. Pay either by standing order, card over the phone or cheque/po in the post. A DD allows them to help themselves to any amount they like and they will try and take what they want, not what you offer). A word about the debt collection practices. a. Use the phone harassment template letters on here and send one to each creditor. Some of them will take notice and stop calling you. b. The credit control letters you get are largely harmless but can be worrying if you dont know your rights, the law and the practicalities of collection. For example before they can get a charging order on your property they must first get a County Court Judgement, which they may find hard to do without the proper paperwork etc, as you will discover as we move on. If they get a CCJ you will then owe them the money but you can get the court to set a monthly repayment figure. Only if you then fail to stick to that repayment figure will they then be able to apply for a charging order. The fact they put the documents in the envelope is just a psychological ploy. If it was me and they have included a self addressed envelope find something to send back to them (Couple of pages of a magazine or something) and post that off. It is a small thing but they will have to pay the postage and take the time to open the letter on arrival so you will have the satisfaction of wasting some of their time and money! It feels good to fight back!

Hi They do show up on the door but it is very very rare. Consider this; You may not be there so they will have to hang around or come back later, they have to travel quite a long way to find you and they can simply be told to go away and not come back. They would have to think this approach will yield some significant results before they tried it. What you will find is that they threaten a lot but once you see through their spurious authority they need not be taken so seriously.

Thank you for that Brigadier.

It is statute barred. They have no legal means of enforcing payment so whilst you still owe it they cannot take any legal action to collect it. they may be breaking debt collection guidelines by asking for SB debts but others will no doubt clarify that. Move on and forget about these muppets.

Fully back Harrasesed post 4. and he is spot on post 3.

When was the loan taken out, how much was it for?, when was the last payment made? Did Lewis buy the debt or are they simply trying to collect on behalf of Welcome. The standard debt collection practice is to send you multiple letters, some threatening, some offering settlements etc in the hope of getting a response. If you did not immediately respond this cycle will continue with the same or other DCA's subsequently put on the case. So not withstanding what they say, this offer will be on the table in the future. If it is not but you subsequently make an offer they will rub their hands and take it. Talk of personal circumstances is largely cobblers. Now to some basic rules: 1. Never call them. never speak to them. Never accept phone calls from them. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO CALL THEM BACK LATER TODAY AND YOU SHOULD NOT DO SO TODAY OR EVER AGAIN. 2. Written comms only. The reason for 1. and 2. is that you have no proof of what was said but you do have proof of what was written. Also, you can consider your responses at leisure and not be tricked into anything. 3. DO NOT, WHATEVER YOU DO, DISCUSS INCOMING AND OUTGOINGS WITH THEM. This is a dreadful mistake. They will discover a lot about your personal circumstances that they will use against you. Also, they will try and insist on their debt getting priority in your budget at the expense of everybody else you have to pay. If you do plan to pay them then work out your own personal circumstances away from the phone and sort out your own priorities. Determine what you can afford to pay them and that is what you offer them. NOTHING ELSE and they have no right to insist on anything other than what you can afford. they also have no right to be privy to your personal circumstances. Only a judge can require that information and you are miles away from that. You may be able to challenge the debt. Does it have mis-sold PPI. Was it taken out before 2007 and thus possibly unenforceable? Do they have the necessary paperwork to pursue the debt?

Hi and welcome to our little club of hundreds of thousands of members! There are better people than me on here who will give you good advice about specific things but I will propose a strategy for you to consider which is as follows: 1. Do a personal income and expenditure statement. On the outgoing side the following are in order of priority: a. Mortgage/rent b. Council Tax c. Utilities d. Food and clothing e. transport f. Everything else What is left is the total amount you have available on a monthly basis to repay your creditors. 2. Make a complete list of all your creditors and the amounts they are owed/monthly repayments required. It is unlikley the amount you have to pay them is sufficient to pay them so divide up what you have fairly between each creditor. This is the maximum amount you can pay each creditor. 3. If you want to challenge the enforceability of individual debts it is probably best to start a new thread for each creditor. Name each Neeta v Natwest, Neeta v Capital One or whatever so that we can follow individual cases and know it is you. The rule should be one creditor per thread. 4. Hopefully each thread will be picked up by one or more CAGers who will advise you what to do to challenge, reduce or otherwise manage the debt. To make life easier post the following information: Name of institution, type of agreement, amount, frequency of payments PPI included, Date started, date of last payment, any legal situations, any DCA's involved etc. If it was me I would challenge each debt and refuse to pay anything unless they could provide written proof of their right to collect it. If they can I would then make them the offer of payment as previously calculated. Obviously challenge anything with PPI on it. Also, at no time should you accept or make phone calls. Written comms only. Don't engage in useless letter writing for its own sake. Keep all correspondence received AND THE ENVELOPES and file everything. Never sign anything. Get ready for war. Organise all your correspondence in files by individual creditor in chronological order. Depending on the creditor and other factors you may sometimes experience some unpleasant situations. This potentially includes multiple DCA's, harassing behavior and other things designed to scare you/intimidate you. Don't be scared. If anything arrives/happens that concerns you post it up on the thread and people will advise you. Good Luck

Hi Are you being charged interest by them? If not may i suggest you keep to your regular payments. Better you have your money than they do. Also, you are uniquely able to determine the rate of repayment. They can ask for you to increase the amounts but if you cant afford it then you cant. Simples! They have no right to demand it, only to ask, and you can refuse. This appears to be yet another example of a creditor bullying people who are making genuine efforts. They deserve nothing but contempt. Have you done the usual stuff of asking them for proof you owe the debt etc? If not, now is a good time. If you subsequently find you are legally entitled not to pay it would serve them right!

If it was me I would attend to be on the safe side. We are dealing with a dodgy bunch here. Also, ask for costs and more costs, though it might be better to do this at leisure as CAGers will be able to help you put together your costs claim.

I beleive I am right in stating that an account can have only one default, not multiple defaults. Perhaps someone else can confirm that. If so that should be pointed out to the Credit rating agencies. You should also write (recorded delivery no signatures etc.) to all the firms defaulting you pointing that fact out and giving them say 7 days to remove the default. If they dont, then start having a go at them.

100% agree with Crapstone. Written comms every time.

A good thing about this experience is that it has raised your capabilities. You now know that you can face these situations, you have more confidence, and less fear. This is one of the most valuable things this site does for people.

You don't have to do a DD. Do a standing order so you can vary it yourself in line with what you planned in post 54. I am quite prepared to believe they made up an offer if you cant remember it. Why would you make an offer if you could not afford it? They like to win.

Great. I have been following the thread and wondering about what has been going on all day. Couldn't be more pleased.

Hi Send them copies of their debt collection letters to prove to them that they know your address. Also send a complaint to the Data commissioner with the same copies and a copy of their letter. They are screwing around. How can they say they don't have your details on record when they are sending you debt control letters. Don't send them any of the things they are asking for as they can lift your signature. Send everything recorded delivery.

Hi 1. Don't Panic. 2. Wait a short while for others to come on here and provide some good advice. 3. Keep a diary of your telephone calls, dates, times, what was said. 4. Don't be pressured by them. Particularly don't be pressured on the phone. Especially don't be pressured into agreeing what you cannot afford. 5. Consider if it is wise to be dealing with them on the phone. Email, fax and letter (recorded) are better forms of comms because a. you take the time to consider what you want to say b. they cant create such a time pressure on you and c. a record is kept of time/date and what was said by both parties. It seems to me that they can pull the case any time they like up to the date and time of the appointment so do not let them create an urgency to act. Take the time.

learn to live without credit and they can shove their credit ratings right up their jacksy......... ...........this should be a T-shirt lickthewall:D

Hi cerberusalert You are right they cannot issue a CCJ summons outside the UK (and you are right to clarify my post:)) any more than they can issue bankruptcy proceedings, for the same reason, IE the OP is outside the UK. The point of my post was to try and re-assure banannawoman that the SD threat should not be taken too seriously. I hope bannanawoman understands my point of view which is (including your clarification): 1. They are almost certainly unable to take any practical action as BW lives outside the UK. 2. even if she was in the UK the most practical action is not bankruptcy, though they may issue an SD to scare her, but CCJ proceedings, and only if they think they have a good case.