can i stop interest charges on a debt

[dynamite40]

hi all my wife got into finance difficulties with littlewoods lx

we pay £30 a month which was agreed with them but it was passed onto nationwide debt recovery

she has been paying ndr now for over 2 years the debt is getting bigger and bigger because of the interest thats charged

she now owes £3312

she pays £30 a month

ndr charges £12 service charge and £93.59 interest charges

is there anyway to get the interest charges stopped

please help

thanks

[mr.ton]

I know one way.... simple but very effective - stop all payments immediately, tell them to go shove their charges were the sun dont shine & demand that they take you to a county court.

They wont like it, but tough.

That way the power is totally taken out of their hands & then lies with you and the county court should they ever go there, which i doubt

[PGH7447]

have you ever asked they people for the credit agreement?

 

I would also add up all the £30 a month and see what this relates to in respect of the original debt amount

[mr.ton]

Some people dont agree with the principle of stopping payments with immediate effect, but i encourage it on the simple basis that you are under no legal obligation to pay a DCA a penny ever without the say so of a county court.

Thats not about debt avoidance as some think it maybe..its about realizing were the authority/power lies and none of it is with a DCA.

Their threats are not worth the paper they are printed on as everyone knows on here.

The OP is caught in a vicious cycle here of just getting more & more charges added on - so something like this calls for such drastic action.

It will cost them money to take you a CC, all your essential outgoings have to be taken into account & if need be the court will order you repay £1 per month which is the minimum legal.

So you will have turned the tables on them, all the charges will be halted & you'll be left laughing for years to come to the tune of £1 per month....or even a suspended judgement if nothing is left over afterwards, then the DCA gets sweet FA - legally

[dynamite40]

hi guys thanks for your answers as for stoping payments we thought about this but are frightend about ballifs

and as for asking about a cca what is it what will it cost and how do i ask for it

sorry to sound abit thick but i dont know how this cca works or what it will achieve

thanks

[westendwendy]

the letter you need to send is letter 'n' in this list:

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general-debt-issues/20758-creditors-dcas-letter-templates.html

 

You will need to send a postal order for £1.00,send the letter recorded delivery and do not sign it.

 

Without a correct copy of the CCA they cannot enforce the debt and if you read through the threads on here you will see just how useless they are in providing one.

 

It does sound scary but I've done it and it does put them on the back foot.

 

When and if you get a reply,post it up on here and one of the very experienced members will take a look and give you whatever advice you need.

[creditcardmug]

Hi and welcome, take westendwendys advice above, if no reply after 14 days stop paying, if you get a reply post it up here for further advice.

Send the CCA by recorded at least.

Dont worry about bailiffs or anything else they may threaten, they would have to get a ccj, you miss a payment on it, they apply for another order etc

None of it can happen unless they have a valid agreement (unlikely)

[lookinforinfo]

Dynamite, are you saying that you are paying £93.59 and £12 service charge every month?

If that is the case, then send them a CCA request along with a £1 postal order

straight away. Do not sign the letter and send it by recorded delivery.

Normally I would advise you to keep paying until the company exceeds the time constraints, but in this instance I would say to stop paying now . Even if you live to be 200, you will never be able to repay the debt at £30 per month and I doubt that the original contract with Littlewoods would allow for such a high rate of interest to be charged or have included a £12 service charge.

 

I would guess that the debt that NDR took over from LW would have been around £800 and if so, I cannot see NDR trying to enforce the debt through the Court when they are charging such a high rate of interest.

 

By now you will have paid something like £800 over the two years so NDR are well in front of what they paid for the debt.

 

You will find the CCA letter on this thread-

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general-debt-issues/20758-creditors-dcas-letter-templates.html

the one you want is letter N. Write in large bold letters at the top of the letter "I do not acknowledge any debt to your company".

In order to comply with your demand, they must send you a copy of the original document your other half signed with Littlewoods at the start of the relationship. NDR have two days to allow for the delivery of your letter and then 12 working days [ie do not include weekends on bank holidys] in which to send you the original agreement copy. If they fail to do so, they cannot charge you interest or service charge on the debt until they provide you with the document.

In addition they have to send you a copy of the original Terms and Conditions that applied. In there, it will say how much interest they can charge when the borrower cannot keep up with the agreed monthly payments. And if there is no mention of an additional service charge, then NDR cannot charge you it either.

You should also receive a financial statement of what the original loan amount was; how much you have paid; and how much is outstanding.

If there are any other documents [such as Default notices] mentioned in the T&Cs, then copies of them should also be included.

 

So get that letter off to them asap. And let us know what they send you so that we can help further.

Edited October 25, 2008 by lookinforinfo

[dynamite40]

many many thanks to all

i will send the letter 1st thing monday and will keep you updated

once again thanks

[vmaxer]

thanks thanks thanks been going through the same thing ,but with reading the threads i think i,ve sorted it [maybe ill sleep tonite]