Mckenzie

[honey08]

Hi does anybody have any dealings with mckenzie. They have my account in behalf of Quickquid. They won't accept any amicable repayment or settlement as they said I already asked for CCA. I only asked for it for writing, i am not disputing the debt. They will pursue legal action if i won't pay in 7 days.will they pursue on this if i won't make full payment?

[hungrybear]

you mean mckenzie Hall i assume? Yes seen off their little tantrums once or twice.

 

Some quick questions:

rough amount of debt (not exact)?

how long ago did you take out the debt?

how much was the original amount

what was their response to your cca?

do they owe the debt or are they collecting for a client (whos the client?)?

Edited November 11, 2009 by hungrybear
thick bear

[honey08]

hi hungry.the debt is £600 includes the interest.took it way back january but only paying the interest monthly to extend it.original amount is about £375.they emailed the CCA from quickquid which i elctronically signed.They sent me a final noticed letter to pay the full amount and i phoned them because of this paragraph in the letter.

 

*Our clients have informed us that they are unaware of any legitimate reason for non payment of their account and although they would prefer an amicable settlement, they will not hesitate to commence formal proceedings if required.*

 

I am not happy of non payment stated in the letter., i am making a payment offer which i can afford so i am still making a payment.

I asked them for amicable settlement or any payment arrangement.they won't accept as they insist I have asked for CCA.I don't know if i done it wrong for asking for one.I only asked for my copy of CCA but i'm not disputing the debt.Will they really proceed to legal actions?

[hungrybear]

The cca thing is an attempt to confuse you and put pressure on you in my opinion. write to them, tell them this is how much I can afford and am willing to pay. kindly provide me with a means of payment. Make it clear that is all you can afford and that if they want to go to court then that is up to them but you believe it very unlikely a judge would stipulate a higher payment.

 

ie tell them this is what you're getting if you dont like it take me to court. Most DCA's are more scared of the inside of a court then you would think. And if they did take you to court - tell the judge this is what I can afford, this is what I offrede to pay. I judge would only enforce payment at a level you can afford.

 

IMHO - they usually bluff

[honey08]

sorry the original debt was £500.each month i extend it they will issue a new agreement.so the debt showed it was taken february.

[honey08]

thanks hungry i will write to them.hope they will accept it.they were really nasty on the phone that's why i am worried about the legal actions.

[ChrisD36]

Hiya hungry

 

So, if someone made a pretty good offer to pay off a debt with monthly repayments with a DCA and they point blankly refused to accept it stating it wasnt enough - and you then go to court, would this look badly on the DCA and in which case you would still end up paying what you initially offered to pay or in some cases even less?

 

Im only asking because yes, as you know, I do have some outstanding debts which I do want to clear, and Im thinking of writing to just a couple of DCAs with what I think are decent proposals. One of them is Mackenzie Hall.

 

Others such as Credit Resource (which I think you may have advised me on already) can go and swing for their money.. lol

[ChrisD36]

Just another question, but I read somewhere on here that DCAs are not supposed to accept payment by use of credit/debit cards as this may mean you get further into debt? I cant remember how it was worded now.

 

Anyway, Ive just been looking at a letter from MH and on the back it shows several payment options which include Visa, Mastercard, Delta, American Express, Switch, Visa/Electron or Solo....

 

Are those allowed to be advertised in their letters?

[mr.ton]

Stop speaking to them on the phone & refuse to answer security questions if they ring you.

They have no legal power to money off you - only a court does.

Muck Hall dont do legal action anyway, they just rely on threats.

They are well known on this forum.

[hungrybear]

its against oft guidelines to suggest to a debtor that they should/could get into further debt (credit card) in order to pay you.

 

They are all allowed on the letter for debit cards. what I dont know is if any debt/prepay cards are mastercard (think I've seen prepay cards that are). A debit card does not create debt, it draws down on current funds.

 

Right I cannot get tooo specific about individual DCA's else I'll get edited and told off. It is standard practice in some of the deep recesses of the dca toilet bowl to pressurize and coerce to get maximum monthly repayments and there knuckle dragging telesales agents are commission incentivized to get the most money per month they can on a tiered commision structure. This is where the nasty threats can come and the threat of court action together with agression and lots of preaction letters - they want to force you to ring and arm wrestle with a trained chimp on the phone, who are incidently very well trained in the phsycological pressure on vunerable and desperate people.

 

If you write they hate it because they know that they cannot manipulate a letter and you have evidence and an audit trail.

 

Write and make either a sensible monthly offer to pay the balance off in what you believe is a timely manner given the level of the debt or make a token offer as an holding position until your financial circumstances improve at which point you will increase as much as possible.

 

If you do that and have to go to court as a LIP I believe that the DJ (who is a real person from the real world) will look favourably on you because you have acknowledged liability and taken positive steps to engage the creditor and/or the creditors agent and remedy the situation in as timely a manner as possible.

 

At worst you will get an payment order you can afford which if you stick to will not result in a ccj AND you can defend any claim of costs on the grounds that there was no need to go to court as you were negotiating and making a sensible offer prior to issuance of their POC. Plus once a payment order is in place there is not a damn thing the dca can do!

 

HOWEVER, I have not personally tested this in court but it is something I would happily use myself IF any of the poor little downtrodden DCA's ever manage to cobble together an enforceable debt!

 

At the end of the day if you are offering to pay and showing willing then court is the end of the road for them not you

 

Thoughts / comments/ counter arguments from more expereineced caggers welcomed and encouraged.

[honey08]

thanks ton and hungry.i am quite relieved now after reading all your comments. i will continue paying to them as what i can afford.i will keep you all updated.wish me luck:)