red - tmobile

[sorrylittlelot]

Hello there the angel from my nightmare,

 

I received a letter from RED today acting on behalf of LOWELL PORTFOLIO 1 - same company!

 

anyway it is a debt from a few years ago - 3-5 to my knowledge, now i may have paid a few payments via payplan in 2008 (awaiting confirmation) its for just over 350.

 

what can i do about this as i do not have the money to pay it and i know i cannot cca a phone company, perhaps reduced settlement?

 

any ideas good folk?

[sorrylittlelot]

bump

[buzby]

If you acknowledge the debt, then all you can do is offer to pay what you can. They can either accept or reject this, but the bottom line is they cannot mess with your credit file (and make it worse) and neither can they take you to court easily to make you stump up the balance any quicker (because the paper trail would collapse if you asked them to prove in court the debt existed).

[sorrylittlelot]

thanks for the help, what would you recomend i offer?

[buzby]

Only you can judge this on the basis of the ongonig correspondence. However, useful pointers include; work out if they are collecting the debt for the principle, OR whether they have 'bought' the debt and are just in it for the money, they can get out of you.

 

If the latter, here's my rule of thumb; Work out the amount of debt at the time they became involved BEFORE the charges were levied. Take off what you have paid subsequently. Take 60% from this amount, and use this as your starting point. Be prepared to be negotiated down to 40%, but if they don't agree to this - I'd stick your heels in and say you'll just have to be taken to court as you cannot find that money.

 

(The background to this is, if they bought the debt, they probably paid 20p/£ (20%) and a mark up of 20-25% for a guaranteed payment is still a result for them).

[sorrylittlelot]

well i am unemployed so i will offer 100 quid lol

 

i just wanna get stuff sorted and build my credit file up

[buzby]

Play the game. Offer them £101.50. Odd amounts make them think twice - (that they're taking your last pennies). If you say £100, they try to hold out for £200!

[sorrylittlelot]

lol will do , thanks, then hopefully it can come off my record