Debt Collection Agency letters appearing all of a sudden after obtaining copy of credit report.

[Georgie02]

Hi,

 

I am new here and hope someone might be kind enough to give me a little advice.

 

I have recently been inundated with letters from debt collection agencies chasing years old debts after I obtained my credit report.

 

If I give you a little of my background to make my situation clear,

 

I am currently unable to work due to a disability.

 

I had to sell my house in 2007 because I could no longer work, but rented it back from the buyer.

 

I receive Housing Benefit but because my adult children left home, I now have to find a shortfall in my Housing Benefit to make up the rent

whilst we are looking for somewhere else to live

(although this has proved difficult because we need a bungalow and are on benefits no one wants to rent to us - so far!)

 

We still have an 11 year old at home.

 

we have to find £150.00 per month out of our benefit to pay towards the rent.

 

Due to the governments review of benefits, we have had a reduction in Disability Living Allowance and now receive £82 per month as opposed to £237.

 

To cut a long story short, we just don't have enough money to pay everything.

 

Due to my neurological health issues, I cannot return to work at the moment or for the forseeable future.

My husband is also physically disabled through a work related injury.

 

I ordered a copy our credit files to clarify what debts we still owed.

I had thought we settled everything after the house sale went through but it now appears that some companies are still chasing for money.

 

We have suddenly received several requests for settlements of debts still owed.

There just isn't enough money to pay everything.

 

 

I have prioritised by paying the rent and energy and water providers, but there isn't enough money left to buy enough food and clothing, let alone pay off these debts.

 

I am at my wits end, and the stress of it all has a further negative effect on my illness. So much so, that suicide had crossed my mind.

 

I know that its not an option as my husband and children will still be left to sort this all out, but on a really low day, I had thought that it was the only option left.

(I have come to my senses now)

 

We've sold everything we possibly can to try and get through, there's nothing left to sell.

 

I'm not looking for sympathy, just trying to paint the full picture. Can anyone offer any good advice to help me sort this mess out, please?

 

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

[Georgie02]

Sorry, one more question. Does a debt show on the credit reference agency file 6 years from the date of default or from the date of settlement? Thanks.

[Stigman]

Hi,

 

First of all, never ever let a Debt Collection Agency (DCA) stress you out!!!

 

The DCA's are mainly all hot air, the letters are designed to scare, frighten and intimidate the alleged debtor into contacting them via telephone, that way you then fall directly into their trap, the people you speak to on the telephone are on minimum wage with a commission top up of whatever they can get you to pay, that is why they lie, bully, cheat and manipulate the laws to get whatever they can out of you.

 

You need to start a thread with each debt listed, that way nothing will get too confusing later on when the threads reach xx amount of postings.

 

The Credit Reference Agencies have a list which is supplied by the DCA's, when someone applies for their credit file or it is updated by a creditor, the Credit Reference Agencies then contact the DCA's and supply the DCA's with the new information, they (the CRA's) do this for a fee which the DCA's pay them.

 

Usual rules apply, please do not telephone the Debt Collection Agencies, you need to keep everything in writing, if they telephone you, refuse to go through the security questions and just say "in writing only" and hang up.

 

Stigman

[unclebulgaria67]

Sorry, one more question. Does a debt show on the credit reference agency file 6 years from the date of default or from the date of settlement? Thanks.

 

The date that is important is the date of the last payment on the accounts, as this will then say when you breached the terms of the account. For example, if you had a bill due on 1/12/07 and the terms wanted payment within 30 days, then it would be 31/12/07. The debt would become statute barred from 31/12/13 in England/Wales and 31/12/12 in Scotland.

 

Sometimes the default date showing on a credit record can be incorrect and you should therefore find out the date of the last payment from the original owner of the debt. If a debt is not showing on your credit report, then it may be statute barred and therefore you do not have to pay.

 

Can you please post up details of the debts, but only approx amounts/dates, so you cannot be identified.

 

Debt 1, Debt collection company chasing, original debt owed to x, type of debt e.g credit card, loan, approx date for debt, approx amount of debt, showing on credit record yes/no

[Georgie02]

Arrow Global - Mail Order

Default date: 10/02/08

Start Date: 28/11/05

Default amount: 607

 

This was originally with Littlewoods. I have wrote to them asking for full details of the debt and the date the last payment was made. I don't believe the information is correct. My memory is very poor so I may be wrong but I think that Arrow Global have shown the default date as the date they bought the debt and not the true default date.

[Georgie02]

I meant that I have written to Littlewoods for clarification.

[Georgie02]

I'm not sure if I should post all the details of each debt on this thread or should I start a new thread for each debt (not sure if that would be even more confusing!)

 

Arrow Global - Mail Order

Default Date 10/02/08

Default amount: £168

Start Date: 28/11/05

 

I also sent a letter to Littlewoods asking for date of last payment.

 

 

 

Credit Card Cabot Financial

Default Date 31/07/07

Default amount: £366

Started: 06/06/06

 

I don't know anything about this one. I cannot remember this at all so I don't know who the original creditor was.

[Georgie02]

Bryan Carter also sent me a letter to say that a CCJ had been issued against me for a debt with Arrow Global for £240.00. I didn't know anything about this and so I contacted the court and asked for the judgement to be set aside. I'm still waiting to find out if thats happened or not.

 

I'm finding it very therapeutic to write all this down, so thank you for that.

[smithy70]

Hi

I just want to say that it is not necessarily the date of last payment but the date of last acknowledgement. So iof you write to any of these companies do not refer to my debt or my account but use generic terms like the alledged debt or the above account. If you have not paid since before the default date then I would suggest that the last payment date will be some 3-6 months prior to that.

 

The cataloge debts are almost certainly unenforceable which puts the power in your hands about how you pay them back.

Good l;uck

[unclebulgaria67]

See what Littlewoods come back with, if they do. I have seen other treads on here, where people have had trouble getting any information from them.

 

I think you are doing all that you can for the minute. I would suggest that you don't speak to or write to the DCA's until you have the information you need from Littlewoods and other original creditor about the date of the last payment.

 

What happened with the debt you are looking to set aside ? Did you not receive the court claim form ?

 

Be careful about the mail order debt of £607, as if they add interest to that, it could go above £750, which is the threshold which if you exceed could enable them to threaten bankruptcy. I would not worry about this for the minute, as it is more likely they would go for a CCJ. Don't ignore any court claim if you recieve one.

 

If you have trouble getting hold of the last payment date information and get hassled by the debt collection agencies, you could send CCA requests to them.

[Georgie02]

No, we didn't receive anything. After reading about this company on here, I'm beginning to doubt whether they even sent the forms to us like they said they had.

 

Littlewoods replied by saying they couldn't provide details unless I had the account numbers (which I don't).

[Georgie02]

I sent a CCA request for the CCJ debt and also for the Cabot Financial Credit Card debt.

[zydeco]

Bryan Carter also sent me a letter to say that a CCJ had been issued against me for a debt with Arrow Global for £240.00.

Uncle Bryan is well known on this site.

 

have you had a judgement from the court? (not bryan carter)

[Georgie02]

We didn't receive any paperwork from the court but it is showing on the credit file. I rang the court and they sent me N244 form by email. I sent it off by recorded delivery and now I'm waiting for the outcome of that.

[unclebulgaria67]

We didn't receive any paperwork from the court but it is showing on the credit file. I rang the court and they sent me N244 form by email. I sent it off by recorded delivery and now I'm waiting for the outcome of that.

 

I suspect that the court claim had the wrong address on it and therefore you should get the set aside.

 

Some of these debts will be approaching statute barring during 2013 I would think and therefore it may be worth sending a CCA request for each debt. For these catalogue type debt they appear to have difficulty providing CCA's.

[Georgie02]

I emailed Littlewoods back asking if they could provide all the information I asked for by post to the address they already hold on file for me and they said this was not possible and that I had to telephone them. Well what a waste of time that was. Because I didn't have the original account numbers, they weren't prepared to do anything.

 

Should I send a CCA request? If so, who should I send it to, Littlewoods or Arrow Global?

 

And I really appreciate all the advice being given, Thank you.

[Georgie02]

Sorry, I have one more question.

 

When we owned our own home, we had a mortgage and a personal loan secured against the property. We defaulted on both. When we sold the house, they were both settled at the same time. However, the mortgage no longer shows on the credit file but the personal loan does, although it does show as settled. Will that stay on file until 6 years after the final settlement payment was made? Or from the date of default? And why has the mortgage disappeared from the file? Its all a bit confusing.

[unclebulgaria67]

CCA to Arrow Global. The bit about mortgage is complicated, as I think they are allowed to register the default for a period but once settled it comes off. I think it is something to do with the way mortgage debts are reported. The personal loan debt will be on there for 6 years from the original default date.

[dx100uk]

i'd send littlewoods an SAR

 

get all the statements, and get reclaiming

 

also look at everything for PPI too!

 

as fot the credit file

 

any A/c will vanish 6yrs from settledment or fromdefault date [paid or not]

which ever is the first.

 

dx

[Georgie02]

Hi and thanks for your replies.

 

I have just downloaded a PPI Claim Form and I'm sending it off to the Personal Loan people who are still showing on my credit file. That may help if I can get any of it reimbursed. I hadn't thought about the PPI that was attached to the loan until I came across the company on my file. So some good may come out of this after all!

 

I'm not sure how to go about getting the information removed from my credit file for the personal loan that shouldn't be showing on there anymore (the default was in Mar 2006), do I write to the lender or to the CRA?

 

I can't tell you how much this is helping, Thank you so much.

[Georgie02]

Oops, forgot to add, Do I send 2 separate CCA requests seeing as there are 2 mail order debts or can it be just one to cover them both? Thanks. and sorry!

[unclebulgaria67]

1 CCA request per debt.

[dx100uk]

ppi reclaiming is not 'just' sending the FOS CQ!

 

dx

[dx100uk]

Hi and thanks for your replies.

 

I have just downloaded a PPI Claim Form and I'm sending it off to the Personal Loan people who are still showing on my credit file. That may help if I can get any of it reimbursed. I hadn't thought about the PPI that was attached to the loan until I came across the company on my file. So some good may come out of this after all!

 

I'm not sure how to go about getting the information removed from my credit file for the personal loan that shouldn't be showing on there anymore (the default was in Mar 2006), do I write to the lender or to the CRA?

 

I can't tell you how much this is helping, Thank you so much.

 

 

cra ask why as the defalut has passed its 6th birthday, is the account still showing.

 

dx

[Georgie02]

ppi reclaiming is not 'just' sending the FOS CQ!

 

dx

 

 

 

 

I didn't say I was "just" sending the form, I said I had just downloaded it to send ....as in I had just that minute downloaded it. I wasn't being flippant in anyway.

 

I have read your attached guides and realise its not a simple procedure.