DAS might not be a bad idea. More info here www.moneyscotland.gov.uk - DAS Homepage

 

Although you need more than one debt to be eligable each years council tax debt is counted seperately so two years of council tax arrears would be counted as two debts.

AIC work on behalf of RBS so it's not uncommon to hear from both of them. The time barring of a debt runs from the last acknowledgement of the debt by you. Acknowledgement can be in the form of a written acknowledgement that the monies are owed or by way of a payment towards the debt.

Your Particulars of Claim must contain the following statement if you are using a defendant's address outside England/Wales:

 

You'll also need to file a form N510 Service out of the Jurisdiction and tick the appropriate box.

What are the debts in relation too e.g. a loan, overdraft?

 

Are there a lot of charges on the account?

 

Has he sat down and created a statement of affairs showing his income and outgoings and his disposable income (if there is any)?

 

In terms of how much to offer it will really depend on whether he has disposable income and how much this is. Generally, personally, I would start at about 10% (don't expect them to accept this though - or any initial offer for that matter as they will want to maximise their income) and put a timescale for them to respond by. Also emphasise the fact that he has looked at bankruptcy but would feel that this would benefit both parties more.

 

The reason I say start at about 10% is that this leaves a lot of room for negotiating. You can always negotiate up but you have absolutely no chance of negotiating down the way.

Here's a quick guide to bankruptcy which may be of some help http://www.insolvency.gov.uk/pdfs/guidanceleafletspdf/guidetobankruptcy.pdf

 

Really you should speak to a qualified insolvency practioner regarding bankruptcy. You can find one here Insolvency Practitioners Association or alternatively give National Debtline a call....and yes you can keep have a basic bank account during bankruptcy. National Debtline have quitet a good factsheet on bankruptcy here National Debtline England & Wales | Debt Advice | Factsheet 01 Bankruptcy

Just make sure you send it recorded delivery as apparently DCA's have dreadful problems with mail and usually only 'receive' letters if you send them recorded delivery - or if you stick money in them of course

These AIC guys have me so worried im missing work through it now

I forgot to say, first of all you should stop worrying as realistically there is very little they can do to you and you may wish to do some readying around the forum to confirm this for yourself.

 

Secondly, I would say that if you continue to not address this by acting you will just continue to worry about it which obviously isn't healthy. In my opinion only by acting do you remove the stress and worry caused by these situations and get on with having a happy normal life.

The debt was a bank loan of 5000 pounds form the royal bank of scotland.

Are there any charges on the account do you know e.g. no payment fees, collection fees, etc?

 

They are making threats of taking me to court,arresting my wages and most worringly a bailiff could come to my parents home if i dont pay the full 4.868.53 immediately

While they can take you to court the letter that you have received is a standard one designed to frighten you into calling them. If they were to take you to court you would be informed of this by the court and have 3 options.

 

The first would be to admit the debt and apply for a time to pay order based on your disposable income. The court would decide the amount you had to pay each week/month and not the DCA/creditor. You on no accounts should be pressurised into paying this debt in full even if you do agree that the sum quoted as outstanding is correct. A court would deem this as unreasonable and it is also against debt collection guideance from the OFT.

 

The second option would be to dispute the amount owed (you would still have the opportunity to apply for a time order to pay back the monies in installments).

 

The third option would be to fully defend the claim.

 

Only if after decree was granted against you would they be able to apply for an arrestment of wages and only if you had then still refused to pay. Of course they would need to have your bank/employers details to do this.

 

As far as bailiffs coming goes we don't have bailiffs in Scotland. We have sheriff officers. Unless they are acting on behalf of the court, they have no more powers than you or me.

 

Finding out when the last payment was made and how much will take a Subject access request letter

An alternative is to ask for a statement of account as part of the CCA request if you just want to know when the last payment was made and then add 5 years to get the date when it would become time barred.

I wouldn't worry until a letter from their solicitor arrives, as well as checking to make sure their solicitor is actually eligible to practice law in Scotland.

 

AIC are a Scottish DCA so they would use a Scottish solicitor.

 

 

Ultimately it is up to you whether or not you want to try and wait it out until the debt becomes statute barred. If you are registered in any way at your parents address then it is highly likely that the DCA will know that you are already there through credit agency searches, etc. I would however point out that asking for a copy of the credit agreement and details of any charges on the account in no way acknowledges the debt and in no way resets the limitation clock.

You may also find the following of interest Debt Factsheets - Harassment of people in debt by creditors

 

The OFT can sometimes be a bit slow but it's still worth compaining to them. If you complain to Trading Standards they may actually give ARC a call which sometimes puts a halt to the phone calls.

 

You also may wish to make a complaint to the police on the grounds of this being harassment and endangering your employment. The police may, if you're lucky, have a wee chat with ARC which usually realigns the DCA twits thought process.

They only have a few standard threatomatic letters and this is a fairly over used one. Does the letter say will take legal action or may take legal action? Normally you would receive another threatomatic from Fred's in-house solicitor first anyway - who being an English solicitor isn't allowed to practice as one in Scotland but nevermind.

 

Recorded delivery can take quite a while I'm afraid these days (up to a week is not uncommon) so don't rush to send off another letter.

 

Anyway if you need it Fred's address is:

Fredrickson International Ltd,

Persimmon House,

De Havilland Drive,

Brooklands BusinessPark,

Weybridge,

Surrey.

KT13 0NT

More info here banking: firms' right of 'set off'

But can they still do this if they haven't provided me with a copy agreement?

Yes but the sheriff wouldn't be awfully impressed that they have ignored a dispute. Court action should always be a last resort and of course they would have to prove that the monies claimed are indeed owed by you.

 

You should also e-mail them informing them that all further communication must be in writing only and that any further telephone calls from them will be view as harassment and reported to the relevant authorities.

 

DCA call centre staff will tell you any old rubbish over the phone to try and intimidate you into making a payment as telephone conversations can later be denied. If they do phone again and you feel the need to talk to them inform them that the call is being recorded (whether it is or not), they normally soon hang up. Keep a log of any calls though. Harassment is a criminal offence whereby both the individual and the company can be prosecuted Protection from Harassment Act 1997 (c. 40)

I did contact GCC 2 years ago and sent them proof that at that time we were on benefit.

Did you claim council tax benefit at the time though? You have to claim this seperately from other benefits and should have received a form from the council for this. Even if you did receive this benefit there would have still been a small amount to pay as you still have to pay for water charges.

They can do this but it's not simply a case of popping down to their local sheriff court and asking for one. Before they could get an earnings arrestment they would have to take you to court (obviously you would be notified of this and can choose to defend, partly dispute the claim, or apply for a time to pay order, etc.) and obtain a decree against you.

 

Assuming they obtained the decree against you you would then be sent a charge for payment warning that unless you pay what you owe within 14 days they are going to take action to get the money that you owe them. Only after the 14 days are up can then use an earnings arrestment to enforce the decree. Obviously how much they would be allowed to take each month would depend on how much you earn as prescribed in the Diligence in Earnings (Variation) (Scotland) Regulations 2006.

olrac123 have a read here Scottish Executive: Web site currently unavailable.

 

If you are considering self sequestration you do need to seek independent qualified advice. Money Advice Scotland and Citizens Advice Scotland both offer free impartial advice Scottish Executive: Web site currently unavailable.

 

I've also given you a link to the debtor application packs to have a look at Scottish Executive: Web site currently unavailable.

I was wondering if anyone knows if this law applies in Scotland

It doesn't actually apply to England in this way never mind Scotland. The charter itself has in reality been implicitly mainly repealed by later statute and common law. Not suprisingly, as the law tends to reflect modern circumstances rather than those of the 13th century. For example the English church ceased to be free of the crown in the 16th century, with Forest Law disappearing sometime before that and feudal incidents (with which the charter is most concerned) were abolished by the statute of Charles II in 1660.

 

That aside, chapter 61 is about the rights of barons. There is nothing in the charter corresponding to the rights of an individual vis-a-vis the crown.

 

As far as refusing to pay any tax, etc. is concerned you will go directly to jail, you will not pass GO and you will not collect your £200.

She did report identity theft to O2 who fail to respond to any letters sent.

 

In that case I would simply get your local Trading Standards involved. You may also wish to contact the OFT and FOS as well to make complaints to them.

 

And she paid to join the credit ref agency and kept a check on her records and advised them this ha happened and to make a correction on her file that this debt was not hers and that she had reported fraud to O2.

 

If the CRA have not made a correction and removed the default I would send them a Letter Before Action advising them that should they not remove it you will be taking them to court along with O2 and seeking damages accordingly.

 

As far as Lowells et all are concerned I would simply send them a letter stating that the account is in dispute and that they should pass the account back to O2.

The dept is for £600,however over £200 are the £12 late payment fee and overlimit fee. can these be claimed or do i have to except the £12 charge.

 

You can and should reclaim these charges along with any interest applied to the charges.

I had a loan with Alliance and Leicester taken out in 2005 and have had financial difficulties for the past few years and problems in paying back what i borrowed.

In which case even if the agreement is enforceable there will be charges on the account which you can claim back to reduce the amount outstanding.

 

If you can't scan the agreement could you possibly post the contents of the agreement. Obviously leave out any personal information.

The discharged date is obviously wrong so if you wish you can contact the credit reference agency and put a notice of correction on your file.

 

Regarding the debt from 2003, if this has not been acknowledged since 2003 then the debt would be time barred and it's really up to you whether you pay it or not. If you were to pay it then it may reappear on your file but then again it may not. I'm afraid you would just have to check and see.

are you saying Its possible I could go to jail?

As previously stated this is a civil matter not a criminal one. Put the idea of jail out of your head. It's of no relevance to this matter.

 

at the moment I dont have enough money to pay of the debt.

 

Don't worry about that. At the moment you want to ensure that this account is enforceable - so send the CCA request via recorded delivery. Also are there any charges on the account that you could potentially claim back e.g. late payment fees, overlimit fees, collection fees?

 

If they did take you to court all that would happen (assuming that the debt is legally enforceable) is that you would apply for a time order based on your ability to pay. This would be agreed with the judge and only the court would have the power to vary the amount that you pay each week/month. Providing you kept to the agreement no further action would be taken.

 

I phoned them up and said I could only pay £10 a month.One of there letters said I could go to court and possible prison.

 

This is why you should keep everything in writing and not speak to them over the phone. They will tell you any old nonsense to try and scare you (they wouldn't dare put such unsubstantiated threats in writing). Also by keeping everything in writing you have a record of what you have done. For example if you offered £10 a month in writing and this is all you can afford a judge would generally take a very dim view of the DCA taking you to court as court should only be used as a last resort in these matters and the judge may feel that the DCA is rather wasting the courts time.

I've yet to see a english DCA attempt anything in Scotland.

 

Capquest (who are based in England) regularly take people to court in Scotland via their Scottish solicitors Yuill and Kyle.

 

Howard Cohen would not be able to act as solicitors in Scotland as they are not qualified to do so.

Just some more info about enforcing liability orders in Scotland:

 

LIABILITY ORDERS: ENFORCEMENT THROUGHOUT UNITED KINGDOM

 

 

HC Deb 18 July 1991 vol 195 cc526-7

 

—(1) The Secretary of State may by regulations provide for—

1. (a) any liability order made by a court in England and Wales; or
   
2. (b) any corresponding order made by a court in Northern Ireland,
   

to be enforced in Scotland as if it had been made by the sheriff.

 

 

 

What probably will happen is that you will either receive a letter or visit from the sheriff officers. You shouldn't be intimidated by them and they can only come in if you invite them in - so don't. In fact don't even speak to them if you don't feel like it.

 

They would only be able to force entry after a special attachment order had been granted by the sheriff, which they won't have obtained. There would need to be a court hearing to obtain this of which you would be notified as you have the right to contest the application.

 

You say you work part time so I assume your income is fairly low. The following link is a table of the amounts that could be legally be arrested from your earnings in Scotland and it's useful to be aware of these amounts when requesting time to pay or simply coming to an out of court agreement with the sheriff officers Earnings Arrestment Tables

 

Just remember that if you are going to make an offer of payment to put it in writing and keep a copy

As Ida states a DAS will effect your ability to get a mortgage for 6 years after you finish it - sorry, but that's the simple truth. On the plus side you can increase your credit rating when you have finished the DAS by paying bills by DD on time and by getting a credit card that you pay off in full every month (don't use it as credit - just pay it off). All of that will increase your credit rating so you may very well be able to avoid the sub prime mortgage market in far less than the 6 years.

Something you may wish to look into is alternatives to your current DMP. There are a number of other alternatives which do not require you to go bankrupt. These include such alternatives as a Protected Trust Deed or a Debt Arrangement Scheme both of which would prevent any creditor threatening you with court action in the future.

 

Further information on these options can be found at the accountant in bankruptcy website:

 

Scottish Executive: Web site currently unavailable.

 

Scottish Executive: Web site currently unavailable.

 

When considering such options you must speak to a qualified approved money advisor. A local one can be found through the moneyadvicescotland website.