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    • Just to clear it up, sorry I don't make sense sometimes. I have paid £4000 £1200 of that was suppose to clear the £1200 debt.   Meaning I have sent a extra £2800 on top of my normal mainternance money.   Thank you
    • Try CPR 31.15 Possibly but a party is not compelled to disclose any documents pre allocation
    • Hi, I shown my key worker a letter that was sent to me saying that I owe £1200, she setup a standing order around 2021, this was to pay back money I owed, with my mental health status I have had complex issues to deal with and I just simply forgot about this standing order so it has been running for about 3.5 years acording to my key worker, anyway I'm not worried about the money that was sent that I call a overpayment, it went towards supporting my child's household so I am just happy with that, I am a little sad that I am being told I still owe this £1200, I have sent bank statements over 3 years worth but they have not taken away this £1200 bill and still say I owe it   Thank you
    • She did try contacting EON in the early days of the debt but they refused to speak to her because she could not pass the security checks. She didn't know the answers on an account she hadn't opened?   I also saw this article recently which could be what has happended here: Debt collection agencies in the UK are using fair means or foul to link people to an address where an unpaid debt has been run up, sometimes years after they have moved out The Guardian Anna Tims Mon 22 Apr 2024 The letter from the debt collection agency arrived out of the blue, and it was intimidating. It informed Joshua Simpson* that he owed £2,212 to Octopus Energy, and accused him of ignoring previous requests to settle the bill. If he did not stump up within 14 days, he was told, further action would be taken to recover the money. Simpson checked his Octopus account – it was in credit. Then he noticed the address where the debt had been accrued between 2022 and 2023. It was his childhood home – which his family had sold 18 years previously. "Since I was only 16 when we left the property, I was astonished that they'd linked my name [to it]," he says. "The debt collection agency insisted I provide a tenancy agreement to prove how long I've lived at my current address. I couldn't, since we bought our home. "They are now actively pursuing me for this debt, causing me a huge amount of stress. We are about to remortgage, and if this debt prevents us switching to a better deal, we will face real financial hardship." Simpson had been sucked into the shadowy world of "identity tracing", whereby investigators recruited by creditors seek to locate individuals who have moved home without paying their bills. It is an unregulated sector where anyone can set up as an agent in a back room without a licence, or scrutiny, and use fair means or foul to identify debtors. Reputable companies join a trade association that operates a code of practice, but membership is not mandatory, and mistakes are common. Last year, a teenage boy was chased for a debt of more than £900 by debt collectors acting for the energy company Ovo. A "trace agent" had somehow linked him to the debt because his parents had previously rented the property in question. An investigation by the Observer established that the debt had been run up by a subsequent tenant. The consequences of mistaken identity can be catastrophic. Individuals who are erroneously linked to a debt face, at worst, court action, bailiffs and a ruined credit rating. At best, they can endure weeks of stress and paperwork in order to prove they are not the debtor. It is estimated that 20m identity traces are made in the UK every year, many on behalf of companies that are owed money. Personal data is often obtained from credit reference agencies, which record applications for credit, and details are supposed to be verified with several different sources before being used for debt enforcement. In practice, however, this does not always happen. Simpson's details had been passed along a chain of intermediaries before the demand was issued. Octopus had given the unpaid account to a debt collection agent, which had contracted a tracing service, GBG, to find the debtor................ Full Article: https://www.theguardian.com/money/2023/oct/04/a-cry-for-help-energy-providers-play-the-villain-in-dramas-to-chill-the-blood ..............The Financial Ombudsman Service, which investigates complaints about financial firms, states that debt collection agents have to produce convincing evidence to link an individual to a debt, rather than rely on names, addresses and birth dates. According to the trade association, the Institute of Professional Investigators, an unknown number of investigators and trace agents are operating below the radar. Many more are merely inept, as data protection compliance training is not mandatory. "We have been campaigning for many, many years to try to get all private investigators regulated," says secretary general Glyn Evans.
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I have just entered into an IVA with Payplan. From the beginning I informed them that I work for a company who only pay SSP when anyone is off sick. I informed them that I have been off sick during various times of the year however they took an overall estimate of my salary based on my wage slips over 3 months. This meant that the estimate was higher than my salary that I have been receiving due to illness. I am currently off sick as I sprained my shoulder due to passing out from a sinus infection and may only receive SSP for the who duration of my sick leave which means that I will have to claim benefits in order for my rent and council tax to be paid.

 

I have discussed this issue previously with Payplan however they have insisted that I need to stick to the amount they have set out. I know that if I only receive SSP for the month I will not be able to pay them and also afford to pay gas, electric or buy food.

 

Any suggestions?:|

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Payplan should have discussed bankruptcy as an alternative option with you, especially if you're in rented accomodation. They are supposed to inform you of all options. Based upon the small amount of info you have provided an IVA has the potential to have been the wrong option to have suggested - ** IF ** your income fluctuates, as it may fail - which seems quite likely.

 

Paylan CAN apply to the creditors to modify the amount you're paying, it may be difficult to get the creditors to agree if the IVA is very new.

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Bankruptcy was discussed however I was not keen on the various restrictions and the stigma of being a bankrupt as this would affect and future employment plans.

 

And Payplan were quick to make you aware that many of the implications surrounding bankruptcy are either the same, or at least very similar, under an IVA; right?

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  • 3 months later...

I need some advice.

 

I am currently on an IVA which unfortunately is failing for various reasons and I have reported the company to the FSA.

 

However during this IVA I have been receiving letters from a preferred creditor and was told to pass this on my IVA advisor so that she could contact them which I did.

 

I received further letters from the creditor then the debt was passed to a debt collector and now I have received a Claim Form form the debt collectors

who are also requesting interest payable at 8% per annum and a thereafter at a daily rate of 0.05%.

 

I am so angry as it appears that this company have not made any contact with this creditor as all the letters I have received state that have not received any responses.

 

What can I do?

 

I will be writing to the FSA with this further information as they have received my letter of complaint against the company. :x

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I have moved your thread to the legal issues forums, I think you might get more help there.

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names shame please

 

OC and who got the claim.

 

dx

please don't hit Quote...just type we know what we said earlier..

DCA's view debtors as suckers, marks and mugs

NO DCA has ANY legal powers whatsoever on ANY debt no matter what it's Type

and they

are NOT and can NEVER  be BAILIFFS. even if a debt has been to court..

If everyone stopped blindly paying DCA's Tomorrow, their industry would collapse overnight... 

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tell the OU story

 

its ra for them to do this.

 

has the debt been sold?

 

check your cra file please

 

see below

 

noddle is free

 

dx

please don't hit Quote...just type we know what we said earlier..

DCA's view debtors as suckers, marks and mugs

NO DCA has ANY legal powers whatsoever on ANY debt no matter what it's Type

and they

are NOT and can NEVER  be BAILIFFS. even if a debt has been to court..

If everyone stopped blindly paying DCA's Tomorrow, their industry would collapse overnight... 

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I have checked my CRA on Noodle but it only appears to show some of my credit file however the Open University is not listed.

 

All I remember are letters stating that they will pass it on to another agency if I did not respond to their letters requesting payment.

 

I was studying with the OU and paying monthly for my course

however family problems meant that I was unable to continue with my course and sickness meant that I was unable to continue with the payments.

 

 

I took out an IVA for all my debts and this was included as a preferred creditor

however I continued to receive letters from them to the point where they passed it on to Geoffry Leaver Solicitors.

 

 

They started to write to me and I passed all the letters to my IVA advisor who stated that she would contact them,

 

 

however now I have received a Claim Form asking for the money plus court costs and have 14 days to respond.

 

 

I have forwarded a copy of this claim form to the FSA as I have made a complaint against Payplan, who I was doing the IVA with and am waiting a reply.

 

If the IVA advisor contacted them why did I continue to receive letters and now receive a Claim Form?

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If this creditor is mentioned as part of your IVA, and you are maintaining payments they cannot issue a cliam against you.

 

Check your IVA documents.

 

Lodge an official complaint with Payplan.

 

However, if the IVA has failed, you have missed 3 or more payments than this is probably why Payplan have dumped you in the s**t. Once you stop paying, they don't give a damn, it is than up to you to deal with your creditors.

 

You must take control of this yourself. How you respond to the claim depends on whether you are still in the IVA.

 

Debbie xx

 

Just tell us your situation and the relevant help will be provided.

 

I was in an IVA for 3 years paying £300 per month ( it had cost £1000 to set it up), when it failed I discovered the practitioner had not paid any of the creditors, not a single penny. I was no better off, on top of that my main creditor, a bank had been applying interest throughout...so my debt to them had gone from £22,000 to £48,000 even though the account should have been frozen. Did the practitioner help....did he advise me on how to challenge this...no, he had extracted as much money from me and when I had no more to pay, didn't give a damn. CAG wasn't around then, if it had been I would have known how to deal with my problems.

 

 

Debbie

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This is my situation.

 

I have a large amount of debts, (£53,000) which I have been trying to tackle for a number of years.

I contacted Payplan for the best options and they said that an IVA would be best.

 

After sending my wage slips so they could ascertain how much I could afford,

I was contacted by a Case Officer who asked me about any medical conditions.

 

 

I informed her that I have medical conditions which are a left clavicle joint injury which means I have a screw in my shoulder to hold my clavicle bone in place to my collarbone.

 

 

I also have Sacroiliac joint injury on my right side which causes me pain and immobility especially when I am under stress, cold and exert myself too much through walking.

 

 

Due to this I have been issued with a freedom pass as I have been informed that there is nothing they can do as the tissues have worn away from the joints.

 

 

I also have a suppressed immune system which means I am susceptible to colds and flu’s.

She asked if I was entitled to any extra benefits and I said no

 

When I received the IVA form I looked through it and contacted the Case Officer as I realised that they went on my highest pay which was unrealistic.

 

 

I also informed them that the amounts stated for rent and council tax was wrong as they were lower than I paid.

This was despite me telling them what I pay.

 

 

I also informed the Case Officer that where I work I only receive SSP when I am off sick which means that my salary is not consistent.

 

 

She told me that they would take this into consideration.

However I was off sick from work at the time that the IVA started and they reduced the monthly amounts.

I then was off sick from work for a longer period of time which meant that I only received half pay and was unable to pay the monthly amount.

I also had to claim housing and council tax benefit.

 

 

Despite this,

I was told that I would still have to pay the monthly payment even though I could not afford to.

I did not receive much housing benefit and ended up having to pay £337 for the month of June.

 

 

As I was unable to do this I contacted the local authority and told them that I would increase my monthly rent payments,

(I already have rent arrears).

 

 

I informed my Case Officer of the changes,

eg. increase in rent payments and also council tax and she said that she would inform the Supervisor,

however I did not hear anything back.

 

 

Set up fee was £2000 and I was due to pay £181.81 for 7 months

then 53 months @ £228.81 as I was unable to afford this it was reduced to £154.54 for 6 months

then it was to increase to £228.

 

Further to this, despite being informed that I had to include the Open University in my IVA and that they were a preferred creditor,

 

 

I continued to receive letters from them to the point where I have now received a Claim Form.

this started on from the beginning of my IVA.

 

 

My Case Officer advised me to forward any letters I received from creditors which I did so that they could contact them but I am not sure that they did.

 

After discussing this with a friend,

I went through the creditor list that the Case Officer printed up and found out that some of the amounts on the IVA were higher than the amounts that the companies said that I owed, up to £1000 higher.

(I was asked to request outstanding balances from the companies which they sent to me in writing).

 

I felt that Payplan have not helped me and encouraged me to take on the IVA despite me informing them of my circumstances and knowing that I would not be able to keep up the repayments.

 

I have now complained to the FSA about this and a variety of issues concerning Payplan and I received a letter stating that they would provide me with a response within 4 weeks.

 

The IVA is set to fail as I have been told that I am now in arrears of £449 which is impossible for me to pay on top of the amount they are expecting.

 

 

Payplan have also written to me stating that if I am unable to afford the amounts I need to contact them so that they can take it back to the creditors.

 

 

I informed them of this in June and was told that there was nothing they could do as I have just entered the IVA.

 

What to do???????

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Okay.

 

Got it totally.

 

Some may disagree, but this is my suggestion. Payplan have totally mislead you, your disabilities and inconsistent salary, you should not have gone into an IVA,

 

Here is what I think you should seriously consider. Threaten each and every creditor with an intention to declare yourself Bankcrupt, you are in rented accommodation, have no money left over for creditors and are prone to sickness.Infact even encourage them to make you bankcrupt, they will have to pay.

 

Inform each and every one that if they initiate legal proceedings, and even gain judgment, they will not get a penny. You do not own your own home and have nothing of any value that they can seize, and they cannot make an attachment of earnings as you are currently not able to work because of your disabilities.

 

Look at it this way, they cannot take what you do not have. The pressures of this are probably making things worse, so quite simply....its such a large amount of debt, stop worrying about trying to pay it and adopt the attitude, as a consumer with no assets what is the worse they can do,what are my rights, what am I entitled to. If they send a bailiff to my home, do I have to let him in ? No. If you know your rights, it will help you to respond to any demands and nasty letters.

 

Inform everyone that you owe a total £53k. tell them how much you earn or don't earn and what you owe.

 

Take care and don't worry .Concentrate on you, understand your rights as a consumer and make sure you are recieving all the benefits and help you are entitled to.

 

Debbie xxxx

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Thank you Debbie for your reply.

 

I will consider what you have said but I would just like to say that I can work however I am prone to sickness which means that I am sick nearly every month. This causes the fluctuation in my salary.

 

I do not like the idea of forcing my creditors into thinking about bankruptcy as I do not wish this to back fire on me. I do not want to become bankrupt as this has implications on my future.

 

Does anyone have any other suggestions with I can consider as well as this one:?::?:

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The reason I suggest this is to put you in a position of strength. Your creditors will not pay for bankcruptcy unless you have assetts and a regular salary so they can recoup the costs of the court process and get their money back.

 

By making them aware of other creditors and your health problems puts you in a position to negotiate with them, getting the account frozen or offering a full and final of say 10% of the debt. Also make them aware of the CCJ, how much you owed GI and the £10 judgment order....some may decide it just isn't worth it.

 

For instance with GI, it will cost them more than £10 per month to manage the account. set up a direct debit, and in a year offer them a full and final.

 

I am not suggesting bankcruptcy, just the threat of it if they put you under any undue pressure which may cause you further distress and prevent you from working.:-)

 

Deal with each of your creditors individually. Are any of the accounts unenforceable ?

 

Debbie xxx

 

Debbie

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Thanks for your reply.

 

There is one account which I am disputing as they have been adding interesting at £300 and £400 every time I hear from them. When I have questioned them, they have failed to respond therefore I do not believe that I owe them the amount they state. The others I have been paying on and off for years.

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  • 2 months later...

Following on from the above threads, I have had to make a complaint against Payplan to the FSA for various reasons eg. stating that they are going on my average salary which was a salary that I had never received, adding a creditor to a list which I have not given them, increasing the amounts that I owe creditors who do not add interest to their loans eg. housing benefits and social fund and various other things. Payplan have stated that they are unaware of my complaint to the FSA despite the FSA informing me of the dates that they sent the letter and giving them a deadline. They have been attempting to get me to provide them with a revised income and expenditure and keep stating that my IVA will fail, however I have stood my ground and requested that they deal with my complaint which they are doing now, however they have not deal with the FSA. The FSA has said that if they fail to respond they will investigate them. What I want to know is what can the FSA do by way of penalties? They always ask what you want to happen but right now I do not know. Any thoughts???

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  • 3 weeks later...

After experiencing a number of problems with Payplan concerning my IVA, I reported them to the FSO. After making a complaint I received an email from them stating that I had a new Case Officer who informed that she was aware that I was experiencing problems. I wrote a number of emails to the previous Case Officer informing of her this and her response was that there was nothing they could do to assist. Anyway, this new Case Officer tried encourage me to complete a new Income and Expenditure despite me informing her that the salary information they had for me was incorrect and that the case was with the FSO.

 

To cut a long story short, she informed me that she was not aware that I had made a complaint to them or the FSO and requested an email trail of conversations with them which I did not give, however I gave her the name of the Case Officer, reference number and telephone number to call. She then asked if I wanted to lodge a formal complaint about the way my IVA was handled, which I considered since I already sent a letter complaining, it should have been investigated anyway to which I responded yes and was informed it would be investigated.

 

Since they did not respond to the FSO after the 8 week deadline, they requested that I complete a form and send it back so they can be investigated which I am going to do.

 

I know that at the end of the form they ask what would you like the remedy to be and although I would love my debts to 'disappear' in one way or another, I really do not know what to ask for.

 

Any suggestions.:???::???::???:

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