Hi all, Having read a previous thread on this type of situation, I am hoping to get confirmation that I am taking the right course of action. Earlier this year I forgot to pay charges to RMG totalling £195.13, they then instructed Property Debt Collection to act on their behalf in collecting the money adding a further £240 to the bill for their service charge. Having seen what occurred in a previous thread I was able to pay the £195.13 directly to RMG without going through PDC. I sent the following email to PDC: I have received the following: Thank you for your email We can confirm that RMG are in receipt of your payment of £195.33. With regards to the additional costs, by virtue of the ownership of the property and under the terms and conditions of the transfer, you are liable for payment of your service charge. It is your responsibility to ensure this is paid on time and you have now incurred additional costs due to your non-payment. These will remain outstanding on your account until paid. Kind regards In one of the previous letters from RMG it stated the following: Should your account still be overdue after 7 days from this letter and we have not heard from you to agree a payment arrangement, we will reluctantly refer your account to a debt collection representative to protect the interests of the development. You will then become responsible for additional charged which may be in excess of £240. This covers land registry searches, admin charges and the fees of the debt collection representative who may pursue arrears via your mortgage lender where appropriate. Costs will continue to escalate should legal proceedings commence. So firstly are PDC allowed to contact my mortgage lender? "who may pursue arrears via your mortgage lender where appropriate" Secondly I've seen previously that they are not entitled to charge whatever amount to excessive penalties. Three letters and an email for £240 seems a bit excessive to me!?! There was already a late charge in that £195.33 of around £30 which I think is already generous. Thirdly as there was no need to instruct a debt collector as we had paid our previous one last year no issue. What power if any does PDC have? What course of action would I be looking to make next? Thanks in advance. Callum

Just a quick update, not had anything from them since. Stay strong, don’t respond to them it passes, they can’t affect any of your credit scores etc. Glad I didn’t cave in and pay them off!

They already had my number from my gym membership

Small update, just had a text from zinc, saying they have a letter for me and a link. Not going to open it, won’t be responding but I guess they’re trying to save money on sending me a physical letter?!?

Morning all, another update. Had a letter come through the door today. Since the threat of legal action didn’t work. If I don’t reply in 10 days they’re going to pass me onto zinc. I’ll continue to ignore. thanks. callum

Good morning all, just had another letter from crs threatening 1) legal action. 2) outsource to external agents. Funny how the legal action is half is half a page of text and outsource is a one liner. Intimidation tactics at its finest. I take it they'll take the external agents course of action? Ill continue to ignore them. thanks. callum

Noted, thanks! Does anyone have a rough timeline that these guys use like when they pass it onto Zinc, when do they finally stop sending letters etc? Thanks in advance. Callum

Hi all, Just had a return letter from them: Further to your recent correspondence, we wish to advise that cancelling your direct debit was not adequate notice of your intention to cancel. The terms of your agreement specifically statethat you must give notice in via the club’s website and complete minimum number of direct debit payments you committed to. We are unable to accept your offer of £19 as sufficient to settle this debt because more than one month has passed without payment and without completing the correct cancellation procedure. As you did not complete correct cancellation procedure, the club were bound by the contract to hold your membership open for you. A service has been provided during this time, at the cost to the club, whether you attended or not. As your payments were not honoured and you failed to rectify your breach of agreement charges were applied to your account and your file referred to ourselves for collection at which point you became responsible for our collection fees. To be clear, the addition of charges in such circumstances is stipulated in the terms of your agreement. It is our position that our charges are lawful and in line with all relevant guidance and thus are not unlawful. These charges have been added to cover actual and necessary costs incurred because of your breach of contract and thus are not penalties. We may be able to negotiate a reduction on these charges, but will not accept any offer of payment that gives no consideration to the costs these charges cover. For the above reasons it must remain our position that the balance of x is correct and due. What should I do now?

That’s good to know they tried ringing me this morning but I’ve ignored. I’m guessing my letter has arrived.

Thanks slick I’ve done exactly that, sent the letter on my lunch. I will ignore any further communications from all parties, unless they take up my offer. cheer Callum

Hi all, so similar position to what everyone else is in, I’ve been with e4l for a few years and probably not used it in 2. When browsing my direct debits I realised I was still paying for this so just cancelled the dd on the spot. within a few weeks I got an email from them saying you owe x. I replied saying by cancelling the dd I terminate my contract. Leave it again for a few more weeks and now I have crs contacting me. They’re trying to get close to £200 out of me. I've emailed crs saying I’ve cancelled my membership but they’ve not replied. They’ve now sent a text asking me to call them. Ive seen the recommendation to send a letter which I will do today but is there anything I should worry about in my case and should I ring crs? Any advice will be greatly appreciated. i intend to buy a house this year so really do not want my credit rating being affected. thanks in advance! Callum