Loan sold on to Apex

[Madsy]

Good afternoon all!

 

Quick question for you. I'm a bit of a newbie to all of this so please forgive me if the answer is elsewhere. There's so much information in these forums!!

 

I took out a loan way back in 2002 (I think) with Egg. This went on for a few years and I ended up borrowing about 13.5k. In 2007 I was in a particularly sticky domestic situation and was advised to default on my loan for one month by a debt 'management' company, who I got to manage my debt as I couldn't face reality. Didn't think anything of it, kept paying them, had no correspondence from Egg. Unfortunately in 2007 through circumstances I lost a lot of paperwork I had in the house and I do not have any of the official credit agreement information from Egg. Fast forward to 2009, and I was in a much more secure life/financial position so I started managing my own debts again. I contacted Egg to let them know this and set up a direct standing order, as previously payments had been made via the debt management company.

 

No contact from Egg except annual statements, continued paying at the £130 monthly payment agreed by the debt management company, they stopped any interest on the account. Cool beans. In November last year I moved house and forgot to update Egg, I had so little contact with them it wasn't top of my list, I wasn't worried as long as they were getting paid. As luck would have it, 9 days after my moving house they sold my loan on to Apex. I didn't find out until February when one of the tenants in the new house forwarded me a letter. Apex had apparently sent 7 letters previously - I'm not convinced, but that's not the point. The letter said they had verified my old address as my current address and that if I didn't sort out my "arrears" then they would send a field agent round.

 

Apex inform me they now own my debt and that I should pay them, fine. Started doing that, no problem, seemed ok when I spoke to them in a panic when I got the first letter! However, last week they have started calling me. Not excessively, but leaving me messages saying 'you need to call us today' which got me worried. Turns out they're just trying to get more money out of me. The person I spoke to asked if I could release equity on my house (I rent!) or if I could borrow money from elsewhere or somehow get some extra cash to "improve" my credit rating. Robbing Peter to Pay Paul does not strike me as a good idea. He also said that I have to submit a financial statement so that they can judge whether I can pay more or not.

 

What they haven't done is informed me of the process of what happens when they "judge" me to see if I can pay more every month and what happens if we disagree on this matter. They haven't informed me how they will use this information and there is no detail on their website.

 

Whilst I am not skint, I have a comfy lifestyle but I live within my means. I do have a stash of savings put to one side, but this is for the new car I am obliged to buy for work use as they pay me a monthly 'car allowance' etc. I can't not buy the car else I'll lose the allowance, which I currently use to live on. I don't want to declare this to the company as I have no doubt they will attempt to take it all from me and then I would be £400 a month worse off as I would lose the car allowance as I wouldn't be able to afford to buy another car within the specification.

 

Anyway, I have been reading some threads on here and I can see that the debt might not be enforceable if they can't produce a credit agreement and wonder if I might be able to use that in my situation? Their most recent letter said my original agreement date was 01/01/2006 so I can't help feeling they might not have the paperwork... Pretty sure I did it all online.

 

Morally I'm not sure if I agree with trying to get a debt written off, after all I took the money and I spent it, but equally I was earning £13.5k a year and they lent me £13.5k, probably not the best decision on their part.

 

I have always always paid the loan except for the one month when I was advised not to by the debt management people. This default is showing on my credit rating and hasn't been updated since 2007, there is no reflection of the payments I have made since on there and I'm not sure if this is because I've paid, but not the amount they want.

 

Anyway, wondering if there's a way out of this, I owe them just under £6k so I'm getting there. Also wondering if they can demand a financial statement (I guess so?) and what they can do with it if they think I've got more money to give them?! Apex's attitude on the phone is less than helpful, every person I have spoken to so far has treated me like I've just run over their cat, so I don't hold much hope for friendly negotiations.

 

All help will be greatly appreciated, sorry to waffle on, and thank you!

[silverfox1961]

Hi,

Firstly, stay off the phone! DCAs use the phone as their tool of choice to 'encourage' you to pay more and more at the expense of other debts.

 

You could CCA them. If they cannot supply, you may withhold payment until they do supply but this doesn't mean it is unenforceable. what it does do is to put you in a strong position to offer a Full and Final settlement at a greatly reduced amount.

 

What you could also do is fill out a financial statement for yourself and then tell them (in writing) that you have worked out that XX is what you have decided you can pay. they have no absolute right to demand an income and expenditure form from you but they can also become stuffy if you don't.

 

Do you know if you had any late payment charges or PPI on this account? If so, you could try a reclaim, reducing the debt even more.

 

You know what annoys me. You are paying them £130 per month yet still they want more. that's just greedy.

 

I would send the original creditor a SAR (in library-top left) to see what they have added

[ims21]

And of course, an absolute NO NO is for them to be suggesting that you release equity in your home (I know you rent) or borrow the money from friends or family to pay the dca.

 

They cannot demand a financial statement. Income and Expenditure etc....only a Judge can request that.

 

The main thing here is to remember that you are in control of your finances....not them. You tell them what they are going to get, not the other way round.

 

Chances are that Apex bought this debt from Egg for a snip and are now tryng it on. I would guess that the debt may be made up of a lot of charges and/or ppi which you can claim back.

 

Start investigating this area.

 

And remember...only pay them what you can realistically afford...but get a sar off (unless you have all the statements) and cca Apex.

 

ims