AA99 v MBNA (Account 1)

[AA99]

Hello everyone on here! What an absolute pleasure and relief to read through this thread! My poor husband has just spent an hour on the phone trying to speak to someone with a modicum of sense at MBNA. We thought it was just us!!! The poor man is very much on the verge of a breakdown. We have been continually harrassed by them regarding 3 accounts that are overdue, we are only over the credit limits for their charges and continuous interest rate increases. I can copy and paste my first letter to them dated 1st August 2008 to which we have still not had a reply, and in due course our 2nd letter dated 8th September 2008 attaching an Income & Expenditure Form. We have been harrassed continually by the RMA (call centres in Delhi?!), have received fraudulent phone calls asking us for dates of birth, postcodes, etc, postcards through the door advising someone was coming round tomorrow to see us, threatening letters, etc, etc, we are at our wit's end!!!!!!!!!! All other creditors have been extremely cooperative and readily offered freezing of interest, reduced min. payments, etc, etc. Today MBNA told my husband we should live on £300 (family of 4) a month!!!!!!!!!! He's gone ballistic.

Attached Files (27.5 KB, 8 views)

MBNA 04 Aug 08 for web.doc

Edited September 19, 2008 by AA99
edited attached letter

[banker_rhymes_with]

Hello AA99!

 

Firstly, it is essential that you keep everything in writing when dealing with any banker, but especially when dealing with MBNA bankers.

 

I think you probably already know this, from bitter experience of how they like to bully and make up little stories when on the Telephone.

 

Whatever happens, this will stabilise your affairs, as it will remove the idiot factor from the equation.

 

If you have not already done so, send them the Keep Things in Writing and No Callers Letters, or preferably a combined Letter that says both things. Here's something that should do the trick:

 

I am writing in relation to the quantity and frequency of telephone calls that I have very recently received from your company. Please take note that I deem your actions to be personally harassing. All inbound letters, calls and messages are logged and dated. It has been our private, family and business Policy for several Years now to avoid using the telephone when handling financial matters. In view of this, we will never answer Account Security Questions over the telephone rendering any inbound calls from your company totally pointless (Data Protection Act 1998 ).

 

I now require all further correspondence from your company to be made in writing only. This Notice applies to any and all of our dealings with your company.

 

Furthermore, after taking advice, I am of the opinion that your pursuit via telephone is in clear violation of the Administration of Justice Act 1970 Section 40 and also the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 Sections 1-3 as well as breaching a number of the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) Debt Collection Guidelines.

 

I reserve the right to report any further Harassment actions to various regulatory authorities, not limited to the Financial Ombudsman Service, Trading Standards and the Police. This Harassment Warning applies to any and all dealings I may have with your Company, irrespective of the alleged Account in question. I require that all Communication with me must only be made in Writing.

 

In the event that you intend to escalate the above Harassment to include Doorstep calls by your Employees or your Agents, please be advised that under OFT Rules, you can only visit me at my home if you make an appointment and I have absolutely no wish to make an appointment with you. There is no need, as Written Communication is quite acceptable in Law.

 

Please note, there is only an implied license under Common Law for people to be able to visit me on my property without express permission; the postman and people asking for directions (Armstrong v. Sheppard and Short Ltd [1959] 2 Q.B. per Lord Evershed M.R.). Therefore take note that I revoke license under Common Law for you, or your representatives to visit me at my property and if you do so, then you will be liable to damages for a tort of trespass and civil action will be taken.

 

I trust that I make myself perfectly clear.

 

That should help, but they will keep calling you. So start Logging the Calls, and plan on having a way to Record any Calls that you either take by accident, or that you deliberately take to see if you can get them to say something silly and record it.

 

If so, always get the name of the person Calling you. Get out of the habit of being polite on the Phone, it is your Phone, your Line, and when they Call to Harass you, don't play into their hands by answering Security Questions. By not saying who you are, you limit their scope to bully and threaten. If they then blurt out any details, you have them caught in your little net and have them Recorded breaching the Data Protection Act.

 

If they are rude, even better. But always get the name of the Caller above all else. Most Call Centre Drones smell a rat when you ask them for their Full Name at the start of the Call, and most will run away as they know something is up. They do not like giving their full names.

 

Right, that's enough to be going on with from me!

 

I hope this helps.

 

Cheers,

BRW

[AA99]

BRW, many thanks for that! We have already had 6 calls since Friday and I gave them your wording. One responded with "recording these calls does not give you any legal right and will not stand up in a court". The other one gave me the "telephone bank" story and I gave him the "letter man" story.

 

I have been reading this forum nearly all weekend and all morning so far. I am now ready to send off a combination letter of the Keep things in Writing and No Callers letter.

 

I am still a bit confused over the SAR and the CCA. Time-factor wise, our 3 cards with MBNA are:-

 

1) Virgin Money card taken out in March 2007 - now handed over to Aegis

2) AOL card taken out in August 2007 - MBNA interest rate of 34.9%

3) Bank of Scotland card taken out in May 2006 - 12.0% for life, MBNA

took over in May 2007 and charging 24.9%

 

One further point of clarification, what are the current fees I need to send with these request letters? Will only use a Postal Order and get a Certificate of Posting too.

 

In my next post I am uplifting my further letter dated 8th September which included our Income & Expenditure Form. This was replied to by them in a letter dated 12 September acknowledging receipt and asking us to phone them regarding it. My hubbie spent an hour (3 calls) to them on Friday but nobody had a record of our I & E form. Shall I also post my I&E form on here for forum's perusal?

 

Many thanks in advance for anybodys response

[citizenB]

You dont need to post up your I&E form. You could telephone the National Debtline for confirmation of your figures if you wanted to. They are more realistic in their costings and I believe they will allow you more than £300 per month for a family of 4. :)They will also help you prioritise your outgoings.

[lexis200]

Hi AA99

 

I've put a link to your thread on the MBNA bull**it etc thread which you had some answers on before, so hopefully you'll get some more people on to help soon.

 

I'd recommend getting the recorder I mentioned in the other thread (or a recorder at any rate), as it really will help if they start with any of their blatantly incorrect legal spoutings, or if they're rude etc. It's all showing that you're being reasonable and they're not. Above all, if you do have to answer a call to them, don't get cross/frustrated with them, no matter what the idiots come up with. It will only make you say something you don't mean to, and give them the opportunity to say you're behaving poorly towards them. Keep repeating the 'only in writing' 'I won't discuss this' etc until they get bored.

 

When they phone for hubbie, our conversations go something along the lines of

'hello, is mr lexis there'.

'who's calling?'

'Nasty bank'

'and your name please'

'it's x'

'and what's the name of the person who asked you to call?'

(this always goes into a why do you need to know that episode - I just state I'm not passing the phone over until I know')

'ok, it's mr boss x'

'thanks. mr lexis isn't here'

>

 

If you state he's not in before you get their names, most likely they won't stay on long enough to give them. Oh, this also works if your hubbie picks up, as he's still not there;)

 

You mentioned in my thread that you're about 6 months behind us - actually I only started doing things on OH's behalf at the end of June, so we're a bit more in tandem than that which might be helpful for you, as you'll probably have all the rubbish I've gone through quite soon.

 

We had exactly the same reaction to the lower offer. They started off asking for far more than we could afford (which they still want), but after 3 further letters did finally freeze interest and charges. If you want the letters I sent to them to help you along (for what it's worth- it's not like they're doing what I've asked for:rolleyes:), let me know and I'll email/pm them to you. I can also copy the letters they've sent me if you would like to give you an idea of what they might send.

 

With regards to the dates you took these cards, I think 1 and 3 fall under the CCA1974, but 2 happened after the amendments, so asking for the CCA doesn't really help as far as I know. I'm sure I'll be corrected if any of that is incorrect.

 

The CCA covers your original credit agreement - this is the one where you'll see people talking about prescribed terms and enforceability.

 

The S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) covers everything relating to your account, including all correspondence, statements, notes on your account, and if you ask for it, your CCA too. Now apparently they don't always send everything if you don't specifically ask for it, but Hopeful1 posted an extremely good all encompassing version on my thread a while ago which you can use and amend as you need to. Again, if you can't find it, I'll email/pm you with it.

 

The fee for the CCA is £1, and for the SAR is £10. I would always recommend sending by Recorded delivery rather than just getting a CofP, at least to begin with when you're sending I/E forms and requesting lower payments etc. It does cost an extra 72p on top of the postage, but it gives me peace of mind as I know they've definitely received them, so if I don't hear anything for a while I know it's not my problem as they have my letters with them, they're just being slow.

 

If you write explaining your circs again, I'd focus more on the 'lost my job and having to cope on incapacity benefit' than their hikes in interest. Also, do you have any income other than the incapacity? If you're living only on benefits, you therefore don't have any spare income, and you should actually be able to just give a token payment of £1 a month.

 

Do you have in writing about the 12.9% for life? I'm not sure if this is something that it's worth bringing up if you do - perhaps someone else can advise?

 

I see your hubbie phoned them back after their request to you. Get that 'in writing only' letter out to them, and the next time you have a letter asking you to phone DON'T PANIC, WRITE to them telling them no.

 

This is probably one of the most helpful things I have learnt on these forums - they send you letters out by 2nd class post, telling you to phone a week last Thursday or else they'll steal your trousers or some such nonsense. This is purely done to frighten you into calling them, when you will be on a back foot and easily pressured. You call them already in the mindset that they are 'cross' with you, and that you're in the wrong for having left it so late.

 

They will not do anything with immediate action on the back of one of those 'call us today' letters. You have the time to think and plan out a reasoned letter that allows you to be in control of the situation. This one little fact alone makes you feel so much better, I promise.

 

If they (supposedly) have no record of your I/E form, I'd get another out to them today, by Recorded delivery so they can't claim they've not had it.

 

Oh, and I'm sure you've already seen on here, but don't sign anything, use a digital signature - I'll hunt out the URL of a good site if you don't already have one.

 

Sorry for the massively long post, I hope some of it has been helpful. If it has I feel I have to point out it's all other peoples help and advice that I've picked up or been given on this superb site. That in itself is a tip - if you're feeling low, come on here and look around. It'll make you feel more confident and willing/able to deal with anything they chuck at you.

 

Lexis:)

[AA99]

Lexis, thanks for a great reply. Much appreciated. I am uploading herewith a copy of my letter to them of 8th September. They have written back, dated 12 September acknowledging receipt of it together with the I & E form. The letter asked us to phone them to discuss which is what hubby did on Friday but they said they couldn't find it. On the 3rd call, someone found it and said there was a discrepancy because we had put down our monthly food shop, all inclusive, family of 4, at £600 p.m. and that they wouldn't consider anything more than £300 p.m.

 

Incidentally, we sent the same letter out to 6 other creditors, offering them all £20 p.m. each, and have just received a reply today from NatWest saying they will accept £25.78 p.m. for at least 6 months.

Nationwide have agreed, Barclays have agreed, M & S Money have agreed. Other than MBNA, the only sticklers are GE Money, car loan, halfway through a 5-year unsecured loan who have now issued a Default Notice with a 7 days expirey clause. Our settlement figure is £6,000 and the car is worth £2,100! Don't know where to go with this one! :?

Edited September 19, 2008 by AA99
Attached letter

[lexis200]

Hi again

 

I think the average for a family of 4 for groceries etc is about £450, but that was back in January before everything skyrocketed. In any case, the average is higher than the £300 they're quoting! We're currently managing on about £350 for a family of 4, but I can honestly say we're not eating properly because of it, as it's fruit and veg and fresh produce that tends to bump the bills up. Where as before I'd stick at least 3 bits of fruit/veg into my boys lunches, now I only put one, and I feel awful about doing it, but we just can't afford the extra at the moment. I don't think they give two hoots though:) The other thing is we're lucky in that my mum occasionally buys a shop for us - acutely embarrassing having her do it, but my god it's a help.

 

I've noticed there's some well versed people viewing at the moment, so I'm sure they'll help with the Default as I have no idea - I thought they had to give 14 days though, not 7??

 

Lexis:)

[angel_1]

Hiya AA99

 

welcome the forum, i would have to say its a brill reply by lexis200 - i wished someone had given me all that info at the start of the year wheni found this forum and others.

 

All i can repeat to do is dont call them back, they are really a bunch of muppets, and repeat only in writing, and send off the letter to stop the calls then its logged and i always send my stuff off by royal mail recorded signed for for 1st class about 1.08.

 

i must get that recorder now, im totally intrigued lol

 

im in the process of dealing with mbna and now after todays post halifax, they have started interest now so off to cca them now

 

good luck, pls do not despair, the help is here and we can all help ourselves, im still learning stuff every day its helping me get through each day coming online so deep breaths and enjoy the weekend

 

ciao for now - laters maz

[Chalkitup]

Hello AA99,

 

You might wish to remove the name in the letter you have posted.

 

The banks etc do look at this site.

 

Also re Default Notices ... From CAG site a little while ago ..... as of 1st October 2006 the period of notice to remedy the breach was increased from 7 days to 14 days from the date of service of the default notice. The CCA quite clearly states that the creditor shall not take action such as mentioned in s87 (1) before the date so specified or before those 14 days has elapsed.

 

Onwards and Upwards

 

Chalkitup

Edited September 19, 2008 by Chalkitup

[AA99]

Hi Maz! Thank you for contribution.

Chalkitup, thank you for yours too;)

Re-attaching the letter now, I hope.......

Budget Form I&E letter 8 Sep for web.doc

[robcag]

Hi AA99

 

...... Other than MBNA, the only sticklers are GE Money, car loan, halfway through a 5-year unsecured loan who have now issued a Default Notice with a 7 days expirey clause. Our settlement figure is £6,000 and the car is worth £2,100! Don't know where to go with this one! :?

 

I see several others have commented on your DN only having 7 days to remedy (which should be at least 14).

 

I had a case with HFC in which they issued a DN with less than 14 days given to remedy which Paul (pt2537) noticed, and with the excellent defence he kindly drafted for me using that fact as one of the main points of my defence, HFC were forced to discontinue their claim (which basically means they lost).

 

Would it be possible for you to scan your DN and post it up here (using a photobucket.com account or similar), and obsuring your personal details? Could be interesting

 

Cheers

Rob

[Chalkitup]

I had a case with HFC in which they issued a DN with less than 14 days given to remedy which Paul (pt2537) noticed, and with the excellent defence he kindly drafted for me using that fact as one of the main points of my defence, HFC were forced to discontinue their claim (which basically means they lost).

 

Cheers

Rob

 

Hello robcag,

 

I have received a DN dated 09 of month and to remedy by 22 of month .... hence I make that 13 days ..... (I believe the date of DN is not counted as one of the 14 days) ...... am I correct and would that be in my favour?

 

Thanks

 

Onwards and Upwards

 

Chalkitup

[robcag]

Hello robcag,

 

I have received a DN dated 09 of month and to remedy by 22 of month .... hence I make that 13 days ..... (I believe the date of DN is not counted as one of the 14 days) ...... am I correct and would that be in my favour?

 

Thanks

 

Onwards and Upwards

 

Chalkitup

 

Hi C

 

I also make that 13 days (or less depending on what time is actually allowed for service/delivery - I never did quite fathom that bit out!).

 

Providing your DN was issued after the relevant date (late 2006 - can't remember exact date ATM) on which the required period to remedy was changed from 7 to 14 days, it would appear that your DN is invalid. If they terminated your account as a result of that DN, then IMHO they can't re-issue another DN.

 

Do you have a link to a thread where you have uploaded said DN?

 

Cheers

Rob

[Chalkitup]

Hi C

 

I also make that 13 days (or less depending on what time is actually allowed for service/delivery - I never did quite fathom that bit out!).

 

Providing your DN was issued after the relevant date (late 2006 - can't remember exact date ATM) on which the required period to remedy was changed from 7 to 14 days, it would appear that your DN is invalid. If they terminated your account as a result of that DN, then IMHO they can't re-issue another DN.

 

Do you have a link to a thread where you have uploaded said DN?

 

Cheers

Rob

 

 

Hello Rob,

 

Here it is....

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/debt-collection-industry/150014-chalkitup-citi-1st-credit-2.html#post1723200

 

Post 78 ..... I have had suspicions regarding the dates for some time now ...

 

Onwards and Upwards

 

Chalkitup

[lexis200]

Hi AA99

 

Just wondering if there's anything new happened?

 

Hoping you haven't had any more rubbish from them over the weekend!

 

Take care

 

Lexis:)

[AA99]

Hi Lexis

 

Have had half a dozen calls from them this weekend and just gave them the writing only story. Am about to send off the SAR and CCA to them this morning. Trust that is the right first move.

 

Have just spent all morning collating all my info regarding GE Money car loan as I just have to have my car and am about to post that all on another new thread solely to deal with that. Have been issued with Default Notices despite no response to my correspondence and I & E form!

 

Unfortunately my 19-year old son was the victim of a completely unprovoked vicious assault by a gang of yobs at 3am on Saturday morning so have been in an out of police stations all weekend on 2 hours sleep. Here comes a Victim Compensation claim to add to my worries!!!!!!!! Besides the trauma and shock we have all suffered!

 

Your contributions are all so much appreciated, I'm running out of strength!

[lexis200]

Bl**dy Hell!! That's horrendous - I hope he's on the mend. You must be hitting the top end of your stress levels.

 

You're right to be sending off the CCA and S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) - have you made sure to specifically ask for the CCA within the S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) too? As Hopeful1 pointed out to me, when she did both requests the agreement from her banks shown in the SAR differed to the one she had directly from the CCA request.

 

Also make sure you send another telephone harrassment letter, if you haven't already got one out. If you have already sent one, next time they phone tell them this, tell them they're being recorded and that every call is being logged for a harrassment complaint (after getting their names etc).

 

Are you already keeping a log of calls? If not, you need a pad by the phone, and mark all details from every call - even those you haven't answered need to be marked for date and time. The more you have, particularly after a harrassment or correspondence by letter only letter, the better.

 

As has been confirmed, they need to give you 14 days from the date on the default notice to remedy. If you've been given only 7, they've not issued it correctly and I don't think it can stand up. They certainly need to be told this, but I'm not sure of how, so perhaps a look at the letter template section may help?

 

I've attached the telephone harassment letter that worked for me (I can't remember who I got it from, but if you're reading this, thank you:)), just in case you want to chuck it at them. It would be worth emailing it too as you could really do without their rubbish at the moment.

 

Best wishes

 

Lexis

 

stopphoning.doc

[lexis200]

Might be worth posting about the default on this forum? http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/data-protection-default-issues/

 

L:)

[AA99]

Bl**dy Hell!! That's horrendous - I hope he's on the mend. You must be hitting the top end of your stress levels.

 

You're right to be sending off the CCA and S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) - have you made sure to specifically ask for the CCA within the S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) too? As Hopeful1 pointed out to me, when she did both requests the agreement from her banks shown in the S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) differed to the one she had directly from the CCA request.

 

Also make sure you send another telephone harrassment letter, if you haven't already got one out. If you have already sent one, next time they phone tell them this, tell them they're being recorded and that every call is being logged for a harrassment complaint (after getting their names etc).

 

Are you already keeping a log of calls? If not, you need a pad by the phone, and mark all details from every call - even those you haven't answered need to be marked for date and time. The more you have, particularly after a harrassment or correspondence by letter only letter, the better.

 

As has been confirmed, they need to give you 14 days from the date on the default notice to remedy. If you've been given only 7, they've not issued it correctly and I don't think it can stand up. They certainly need to be told this, but I'm not sure of how, so perhaps a look at the letter template section may help?

 

I've attached the telephone harassment letter that worked for me (I can't remember who I got it from, but if you're reading this, thank you:)), just in case you want to chuck it at them. It would be worth emailing it too as you could really do without their rubbish at the moment.

 

Best wishes

 

Lexis

 

[ATTACH]3884[/ATTACH]

 

Lexis, thank you for that. Am proceeding with the letters to MBNA. The DN's though are with GE Money for my car loan and I have just now posted a new Thread AA99 v GE Money Car Loan. Hope it is clear enough for all to understand. Am so worried someone is going to pitch any minute and take my car away. Am getting more and more fraught with anxiety

[lexis200]

No problem

 

I'm sorry I can't help with the default stuff at all - I have no real clue about it so wouldn't want to advise, but if you don't get a response there try posting a link to your thread on the default issues forum to try and get some views.

 

Also, regardless of who the Default is with, if it only gave you 7 days it's not been properly issued - this is what you need help with, as this is where they'll fall down. I think I'm right that if they haven't issued a DN (which if it's incorrect they technically haven't) they can't proceed with the other things they've mentioned like the CCJ. Again, don't take it as gospel, but I don't think you need to be in full panic mode just yet (easily said, I know).

 

Obviously you have more important things on your mind at the moment, but as the Default stuff could be pressing, I'd suggest focusing on that and hopefully being able to tell them where to stick their supposed DN's.

[AA99]

Further to the above with MBNA (3 accounts)

 

1) Account No. 3280 (ex Bank of Scotland card) After refusing to deal with Delhi call centre called RMA, letter received from MBNA dated 18 August advising informed CRA of arrears.

My I & E sent with covering letter dated 08 September

MBNA letter received dated 10 September entitled Potential Commencement of Legal Proceedings

MBNA letter received dated 12 September acknowledging receipt of I & E

MBNA letter received dated 18 September entitled Important Default Notification - It is not too late to prevent the termination of your agreement.

 

2) Account No. 8478 (ex Virgin Money card) After refusing to deal with Aegis collection agency, letter from MBNA dated 23 July reminder of arrears. We phoned on 29 July and advised they can freeze charges but not the interest, we could pay £20 p.m. for 3 months and then review.

MBNA letter received dated 21 August, arrears not paid, informed CRA. Default Notice will be issued.

We issued covering letter plus I & E Form on 8th September

Letter received from MBNA dated 10th September entitled Potential Commencement of Legal Proceedings.

Letter received from MBNA dated 12 September acknowledging receipt of I & E Form.

 

3) Account No.6959 (ex AOL card). After refusing to deal with RMA call centre, received response from MBNA dated 11 August acknowledging receipt of our original letter of 01 August. Promised to respond with 5 business days.

MBNA Letter dated 15 August received prepared to discuss Reduced Payment Programme and needed to telephone them.

We sent covering letter with I & E Form dated 8th September

Letter received from MBNA dated 8th September - Important Default Notification - It's not too late.......

Letter received from MBNA dated 10th September advising Potential Commencement of Legal Proceedings.........

Letter received from MBNA dated 12th Sep acknowledging receipt of I & E Form.

Letter received from MBNA dated 18 September advising unable to contact us and therefore considering CRA, Issue of Default notice.

 

We had written to MBNA regarding each of the above 3 cards originally on 1st August. Only positive response was to advise us that interest rates were going up to 34.9%

 

So, in fact from the above, we have not actually received an official Default Notice, only a threat of one, no? Today sending combo of SAR / CCA - is that enough ?

[lexis200]

From what you've detailed there, they haven't issued you with a Default and are just using it as a threat. It's all 'considering' and 'may' in order to frighten you into paying something you can't afford.

 

Really all you can do at the moment is send them letters regarding harassment, get the CCA's/S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) out, and keep on along those lines until they either help you or do something concrete.

 

They seem to like saying they can't contact you/you don't want to help yourself if you don't phone them. This is where we're at at the moment. I write and tell them our situation, they write and say we're not trying to sort anything out because we're not contacting them!?!

 

They seem to just be playing silly beggars and are unbelievably unwilling to accept a payment plan you can actually afford. I have taken the line of replying to each and every letter they send, even though they are all templates and not personal to me. I state my position in each one, clarify they have my financial status as shown on the I/E form, and ask them to consider my offer. I also state that in the meantime I will continue paying the amount offered as a pro-rata amount in an effort to reduce the outstanding balance.

 

If they do get round to taking OH to court, I can show we have been nothing but reasonable, and made every attempt to rectify things as best we can. That's really all you can do for the time being as it seems that they are very unlikely to actually help.

 

Just thinking about it, I got them to stop interest after sending this in a letter - Further to my letter dated xxxx 2008 (received by you on the xxxx 2008)8), I have still not received anything in writing regarding the reduced payment plan that I have been trying to set up. I have though received statements showing interest and charges being added, despite the fact I wrote to you regarding my current severe financial problems back in xxxx. I am not sure what is to be achieved by penalising me in this way, other than increasing the debt owed to your company. I am very sorry that I cannot continue with the standard payments, but I feel I have acted in the fairest way I can by making payments I can afford, rather than just ignoring the situation (as I’m sure many others would do).

 

 

At the end of the letter I bulleted everything I wanted them to answer - ie would they accept a payment plan, why were we still getting calls etc. This was treated as a complaint by them and OH received a reply from the VP (or possibly the computer programme that has that as it's signature:)). Still didn't accept my offer, but did stop calls and interest/charges. Might be worth amending to suit and adding any other bits you want them to address? I didn't do this last bit as I just wanted to get a reply out, but if you head it up as 'Formal Complaint', they have to respond to it.

[lexis200]

Not sure why I've got the shades smileys up?? I just wanted an 8 followed by a bracket:rolleyes:

[AA99]

LOL 8)

 

Thanks for your info! Will be actioning just now after the school run!

 

Is it advisable to start paying them £20p.m. each account as detailed in my I & E Form before getting a positive response from them.

 

Don't forget our only income is benefits! Maybe I should start sending them 1p for each account???

[lexis200]

Hello again:)

 

I would say you definitely want to be paying them something in order to show goodwill at this stage. The last thing you need if they do go down the legal route (and that's a big IF so don't panic!) is for them to be able to say you weren't reasonably trying to help the situation.

 

I went about it by sending the initial letter with the I/E form, as you have done, but when they said no I lowered the amount anyway (pay by SO so they have no control) and wrote to ask them again about a plan, explaining again there was no way I could pay the minimums, and telling them I HAD to reduce it with immediate effect (so they couldn't claim ignorance). I've repeated this in every letter since - as in 'I'm doing my best to pay what I can', 'can't put your company above the others that have accepted' etc. Again, it shows you're trying to help and they're just providing unreasonable obstacles.

 

I'm sure I was correct in what I said before - if you are living entirely on benefits it just stands to reason you do not have any spare income, and they can not ask for more than a token payment of £1. I'll try and find out more on this for you, but if no-one answers that question on here I'd be tempted to give National Debtline etc a ring and query it with them.

 

If you reckon you can stretch to the £20, and want to pay that, I'd use the fact you're living on benefits as a bit of a tool to get that agreed. For instance, they refuse your £20, so you turn round and tell them that due to your circs, as they well know (and they will) you should only need to offer them £1 a month, and if they take you to court this is what you'd be ordered to pay. Assuming they have a valid CCA that is of course.

 

Are you sending out the S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) for charges that you haven't claimed yet, and could that come to a reasonable amount? If so, it may be possible to tell them they can put it towards the debt if they write off the remaining balance. Again, if they say no to this, you bring up the point that a court won't make you pay more than you can afford, so they'll only be entitled to a few pounds a month rather than the amount they want.

 

I want to find out for definite about the benefits bit, so I'm going to do some hunting and try to find out.

 

I'll be back later...