Mackenzie Hall - help needed completing inc/exp please

[Blaze36]

I contacted Mackenzie Hall by phone regarding a student overdraft debt I defaulted on in 2006. I made a goodwill payment of £5 during the phone call and also successfully challenged them on the amount of the debt. They were chasing me for £1,756 when the amount I defaulted on was £1,490.

 

The person I spoke to said the previous DCA had incorrectly added interest and that he would reduce the debt to £1200 and send me an income/expenditure form. He asked what amount I would be looking to repay and I told him £15 per month, the same as I am giving my other creditors. I also told him I'm on maternity leave and he promised to leave a note stating this.

 

I've received the inc/exp form today (no written confirmation of what was discussed in the phone call anywhere, they've sent a standard form) and to be honest, I'm not sure how to complete it. I haven't had the baby yet so I'm not receiving any tax credits or child benefit and I have 3 weeks left of receiving 90% of my full pay, then I go onto SMP of £123.06 a week. We'll be living off my partner's income which isn't great and we may have to move in with family for a while.

 

I don't want to have to provide details of my partner's income and he agrees - it's my debt, I should pay for it. We're not linked financially, we have no mortgage or shared debts.

 

How should I complete the form? Am I better off putting it in writing and explaining my partner is paying most of the household bills?

 

Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

[Hardupnotfedup]

Do not ever ever speak to this **** on the phone, and you are under no obligation to let them have your I&E, THEY HAVE NO LEGAL POWERS.

Are they entitled to collect the alleged debt, if they are then you pay what you can afford NOT WHAT THEY SAY Do not tell them about your partner. Offer them £5 a month and if they do not loke it they can F.OFF

[Revenant]

A DCA has no right to your I & E's so let them go whistle

Remember . . it's up to you what you can aford to pay NOT the DCA, so you do the calculations and then tell them what you will pay

R

[mazbck]

Dont talk to them on the phone, make sure everything is in writing. DCA's are notorious for goinng back on their word.

 

I wouldnt even send them back the I & E, just put in writing what you can really afford and leave it at that. Dont mention your partner's income at all.

 

It might also be worth doing a SAR and see exactly what the extra's are for.

[Hardupnotfedup]

Don't think they are beilg nice to you because they reduced the debt without argument they paid around £200 for it so that ios £1000 easy money.

Don't be fooled they will give you nothing. Remember £5 a month.

[Blaze36]

Ok, great. The only reason I rang them is because they had my old address (my parents) and were threatening a doorstep visit. My parents were anxious about it, so I had to ring. I won't be dealing with them on the phone anymore and if they persist in ringing, I'll send them the harassment letter. I don't really want to offer £5 per month, I'm happy with £15 and I'd rather get this paid off sooner.

 

Right, how does this sound then? I think I'll try this first before going down the SAR route.

 

"As per my phone call to you on the x of x, regarding the outstanding amount of £1,756, your representative confirmed that the previous owner of the debt (Aktiv Kapital) had incorrectly added interest to the default amount of £1,490. Your representative agreed to reduce the amount owed to £1200. Can you please confirm in writing that this has been done.

 

We discussed my financial circumstances and I informed your representative that I am currently on maternity leave. Due to my reduced income, I offered you a monthly payment of £15. This amount is what I am currently paying my other creditors and I can afford no more than this at present. I do not anticipate returning to work for another year, but should my circumstances change I will write to you again. I also made a payment of £5 during the phone call to show my willingness to co-operate and pay off this debt.

 

Your income and expenditure form does not fit my circumstances. If I were to complete the form, you would see that I actually cannot afford to repay you more than a token £1 per month as I am receiving statutory maternity pay of £123.06 per week which does not even begin to cover my basic bills. As I have previously mentioned in this letter, £15 per month is the maximum payment I am able to offer you at present. I will make this payment to you by the 5th of every month. I have your bank account details and the appropriate reference numbers.

 

Can you please confirm in writing that a) You have reduced the debt to £1200 and b) that the payment arrangement I have offered is satisfactory.

 

I am also requesting that you remove my telephone number from your records and communicate with me in writing from now."

[Bazooka Boo]

Muck Halls threat of a doorstep collector, is just that! An empty threat, so don't be worried by this.

 

As for the I&E, they have no legal right to your private personal information so as previously said above, they are having delusions of grandeur, only a Judge who has legal training will be allowed to view such information.

 

Any correspondence you send to this shower needs to be sent recorded delivery so you have evidence of them receiving it, or they will merely say they have not.

Also it is advisable to always print your name on the bottom and not to sign your letters.

 

Who was the OD with? Are there any bank charges added to that amount which you can claim back?

 

I would edit this to suit reference the phone call situation, just tell them that you will only communicate via letter, and not over the phone.

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/resources/templates-library/52-harassment/135--harassment-by-telephone-response-letter-

 

Any payments to them should be done via standing order, and NOT a direct debit, this only gives them permission to take what ever money you have in your account without your knowledge!

 

Boo;)

[Blaze36]

No, there's no bank charges on the original default amount as it was an interest-free student overdraft. It was with HSBC. If they don't agree in writing to reduce the debt, I will be making a subject access request to see what has been added on and I'll take it from there.

 

I'll see how they take that letter (recorded delivery of course!) and if they request my inc/exp I'll send another to 'remind' them they don't have the legal right to ask for it.

[harrassed senior]

I would not let them know the amount of your income/benefits or whatever, they will think you can pay them much more than you are offering. Take that out of your letter.

[Hardupnotfedup]

If you are adamant that you want to pay it and not challenge why not offer a full and final offer of £250 tell them that a relative will lend you the money, if they accept get a 3rd party to pay it by cheque AFTER you have it in writing that they wont pass it on to another DCA and that your credit file will show (if it is on there) satisfied.

[Blaze36]

Ok, I'll remove any reference to my income out of the letter. I'm not in a position to offer a full and final settlement at the moment - if we end up moving in with family, it's something I'd be able to do then.

[F_DCAs]

I wouldn't pay them anything, just because it's MacKenzie Hall. Pay to the original creditor if you're going to pay anyone. Ignore MH and anything they demand - they're in no position to demand anything.

 

If MH have the account, I'd be willing to bet that even the original creditor doesn't know about that.

[WBB]

Have a payday loan debt which has moved to them, and have written offering a small monthly amount which is all I can afford.

 

I have received the copy of loan agreement and email copy of debt assignment from the payday loan company.

 

Few questions: Why not sign the letter? Their latest letter says full payment or court for CCJ. Does anyone have experience if they can / do get a CCJ?

 

I acknowledge I owe the money and want to pay it, but just can't at the moment.

 

Thanks for any help.

[F_DCAs]

Payday loans aren't really my area of expertise, but there are regulars on this site that wlll be able to give you the relevant advice.

 

Who supplied you with the loan agreement copy? Couldn't have been MacKenzie Hall.

 

Also, which year was the loan taken out originally? Do you still have the envelope that this documentation came in?

 

For the record, the only time MacKenzie Hall will see the inside of a courtroom will be as the defendants.

[gearjamma]

If you completed the form ,and it was plain that you could only comfortably afford £1 then £1 is all you should have offered,NEVER promise to pay more than you can easily afford,bearing in mind you are not including your partners money.It very rare they refuse to accept the offer,if it will result in hardship for you..

[Blaze36]

I've sent the letter today via recorded delivery. I removed all references to my income and told them I would not be completing their inc/exp form. Also told them that I want them to remove my phone number from their records and I incorporated a lot of the 'do not ring me' template letter in there as well. I've said I'm paying £15 per month (I CAN afford that) and I'll be paying it by the 5th of every month.

 

I was a bit cheeky and ended it with 'Looking forward to your response' - I am!

 

Thanks to everyone who responded to the thread.

[Bazooka Boo]

Good, thats fine, stick to what YOU can comfortably afford to pay, if one month your a bit short then change the standing order and pay them less, what ever you do don't set up a DD with these fools.

 

I always end with 'I look forward to your prompt reply'

Makes me feel better, and I always address it Dear Sir/Madam, because it bloody annoys me when I receive letters like that but they use my name on the envelope!!!

[Blaze36]

Update: I received my first phone call today from someone called Craig, at 09:20am. I told him I was not willing to talk over the phone, had written in and was awaiting a response to my letter which I sent recorded delivery. He denied receiving it (I have proof it was received on 29/03/10) so I told him again I would not speak over the phone and I considered him calling me to be harassment. He said it wasn't harassment, at which point I hung up. Got another call immediately which I hung up on and he's left a message asking me to ring.

 

I made the payment I promised to make in my letter, so now I'm going to send another letter asking for a reply to my first and the telephone harassment letter.

[Hardupnotfedup]

Ignore till you hear something by letter,you have done your bit and you have proof that they received it

[sam614]

and ask for a copy of their complaints procedure:D

[gearjamma]

Also if they ring again tell them to hang on a moment,then go and make a cup of tea,watch tele,go shopping,its their money they are wasting.

[Bazooka Boo]

And there is the classic breach of the criminal offence of Harassment.

 

Lodge a formal complaint with them and as already said, tell them you want a copy of their complaints procedure, as you are making a formal complaint about one of their employees, namely 'Craig'!

 

Who is obviously hard of hearing and unable to read.

 

Also lodge a formal complaint to Ofcom, for them breaching the Telecomms act, 'Telecommunications Act 1984 (c. 12) - Statute Law Database'

 

And inform your telephone provider (BT?) that you have been receivng malicious calls from this number, and request them to put a block on, or intercept all calls from this number.

 

And if they still persist in flouting the law, then go into your Local Police station and report them for the criminal offence of harassment, if they try to fob you off with 'it's a civil matter' ask to speak to a senior officer or the duty inspector, harassment IS NOT a civil matter.

[Blaze36]

Another call received at 16:05pm, we didn't answer and they left another message. I added a 'last caller bar' service to our phone (we're with Sky) at the start of the month and blocked withheld callers as I was anticipating getting calls from them, but unfortunately my caller barring service hasn't been activated yet at the exchange so it'll be another 48 hours before I can bar their numbers.

 

I didn't know that harassment would be a criminal matter, that's useful to know, so thanks. They're genuinely not bothering me too much at the moment and I know I can block them from getting through in a few days. If they try again from a different number, I'll just block that one too! It's annoying me more that they've not responded to my letter when I KNOW they've received it. How can you force them to respond in writing?

[NailPost]

Bothering you doesn't mean anything - If calls you don't want and have taken steps to stop continue then that is harrassment and the appropriate complaint made to the authorities.

[Pinky69]

Send them some sugar. Someone in their Office had a doughnut, sugar dropped on the desk, they thought it was a noxious substance and cleared the building!! That is what you are dealing with - eejits! FSpencer you are looking for insight into how DCAs work - there is a good example for you!