George vs. MBNA/Abbey

[hobbes67]

Hi folks. I had this posted in another section and they suggested I post it here for your sage advice.

 

First of all, I'm new to all this, so please forgive me if my questions are naive.

 

In sum, I'm having financial difficulties and have been unable to meet the required payments for my MBNA and Abbey CCs.

 

I CCA'ed them both after getting adivce from this site, using the recommended template, etc. It's now been 21 days since they received my requests and they have not sent any documentation.

 

However, after also sending them an offer of a reduced monthly payment of £10 each (the most I can afford at the present), MBNA has written back to me stating:

 

1) They appreciate my situation and are willing to discuss a level of repayment that would be acceptable to them -- and that their reduced payment programme would be recorded on my credit file for the life of the account and 6 years afterwards.

 

2) I should phone their debt management team with details of income, expenditures and the names of all my other creditors including balances owed to them.

 

3) They also offer to discuss a reduced settlement to the account, and say they may be able to write off a significant portion of my balance.

 

Abbey has not written back to me regarding my token offer. I am currently only in arrears with MBNA and Abbey.

 

I know I shouldn't call MBNA, but should I send them my budget spreadsheet? I don't think I should include the names and balances of my other creditors -- that seems like too much info. I also have the feeling that they will not want to accept my £10 reduced-payment offer. I wish I could negotiate to pay off the balance if they will reduce it substantially, but I just don't have any money to do this right now!

 

Since neither company has responded to my CCA request, should I send them the template letter that states they are in default? Or, should I issue them with the default letter AND keep paying them the £10 token payments? I don't want to rock the boat and don't want a ccj, and do not want to go to court.

 

Any advice would be great.

 

George

[hobbes67]

Any advice on how best to proceed? By the way, Abbey has also come through with a request for my budget spreadsheet, as did MBNA.

[cds]

I don't want to rock the boat and don't want a ccj, and do not want to go to court.

 

Any advice would be great.

 

George

 

With your last sentence I think you're on the wrong forum, if you don't want to rock the boat keep on paying your creditors. People on this forum are usually far beyond worrying about credit files for the immediate future.

 

Putting an account in dispute will immediately get their back up.

 

 

cds

[hobbes67]

After further consideration, I may just rock the boat.

 

I still haven't had any response from my CCA requests, but did just receive an interesting letter which I'm not sure how to interpret.

 

It states:

 

"Unless you call to make payment arrangements, your MBNA accounts (MBNA and Abbey) will be written-off as bad debt. This will not release you from your obligation to repay your total debt of £££.

 

"In addition to a Default being registered on your credit file, you should consider the consequences if we seek a CCJ, which may include a charging order or an attachment of earnings.

 

"Your failure to make timely payment arrangements forces us to consider all of our options. We are prepared to work with you, but you must call us, etc."

Here's where I'm confused: In the first paragraph, they say the accounts will be written off but that I will still be responsible to pay them off. How would I be liable to pay them for the debt if it is written off? Doesn't writing off debt cancel it out?

[hobbes67]

Anyone have any idea on what MBNA means when they say they may write off my accounts as bad debt?

[SB100]

They default and terminate the account, claim tax relief on the money they couldn't recover from you, and sell it on to a debt collection agency for a fraction of the value- then they'll try to collect it

[hobbes67]

Thanks for that clarification, SB100. I've CCA'd them long ago and still no response. In terms of the CCA, what would happen if MBNA sold the debt on to a collector? Would the unanswered CCA have any impact on the collector?

[hobbes67]

At this point, I have CCA'd MBNA and have received no reply (it's been over a month). If they sell the debt to a DCA, what happens then? Would I need to CCA the DCA, and would they then shift it back to MBNA? Or would MBNA no longer be responsible for the CCA, full stop? Does having your debt sold to a DCA destory your CCA trump card?