Admiral Insurance are threatening my son with Bailiffs

[AnnC]

My 21 year old son has got himself into a mess with his finances.

 

He has had to leave University in his third year as he couldnt continue to afford to live in Cambridge due to high rent.

He had bought a car to try and drive each day to University but unfortunately it fell to pieces and had to be scrapped.

 

He owes money to the University,

has had his phone cut off and

 

when the car was scrapped he tried to speak to Admiral Insurance to explain his situation and cancel the insurance.

 

He realised that he would still have to pay the outstanding year's insurance but had over the phone they agreed that he could have a breathing period

and pay the month over a couple of months.

 

Unfortunately Admiral have now decided not to honour the verbal agreement,

tried to take over £750 from his account,

resulting in a £30 charge from his bank as he has no money.

 

He rang them again today and they have told him that they are passing his debt to Bailiffs!

 

Any help where to go with this.

 

He hasnt got any money,

 

owes 3 years tuition fees although he couldnt finish his course and

 

now Admiral are threatening him with Bailiffs.

 

Not quite sure what they can take from him.

 

He has a part time job 2 days a week pushing trolleys at a local supermarket so not much collateral.

 

He knows he has to pay the money but I find the actions of Admiral very harsh.

 

Can anyone help.

 

Would someone like Payplan be an appropriate source of help?

[dx100uk]

I would suggest they said Debt Collection Agency rather than bailiffs...BIG DIFF!!

 

DCA's are not Bailiffs and have

NO SUCH LEGAL POWERS

 

bar sending threat-o-grams

 

he should have CANCELLED the insurance then only the cancellation fee would be due

 

as for them trying to take £750

 

did they WRITE informing him they would do this..i bet not!!

 

so that's not right either

he should bill admiral for the bank charges fee.

 

dx

[andydd]

You cant go from opwing or allegedy owing money straight to bailliffs, there is an important step in the middle called Justice, in order for bailioffs to be involved, the company would have to start a court claim, win it and choose enforcement options.....for many 'iffy' debts such as RLP claims, they simply don't bother and realistically for debts under £200/£100 is probably isnt worth it financially.

 

Im not sure if someone has to pay a whole years insurance if they decide to cancell it or (as in this case) get rid of the car.

 

Dont worry about admiral at the moment, as mentioned above its probably a DCA NOT bailiffs and DCA's are not something to worry about.

 

The two options are to do nothing and see if Admiral do pursue a court claim, your son could then either defend this claim (IF there is a valid defence) or admit the amount and pay (there would be court costs on top but nothing too huge).

 

Or the most sensible option would be to contact them and arrange a payment plan, (if this is reasonable then this would give you good brownie point in a future court claim if it came to that).

[AnnC]

I have checked with my son and they did say debt collection agency not Bailiffs. He was panicking as I think was their intention.He did tried to cancel the insurance and when he rang them to cancel they said that he had to pay the whole year's insurance which was £750 plus the 3 months he had already paid. Over the phone though they agreed to give him time but within 4 days tried to take the whole amount out of his bank account.They are now saying he can't have any time and the debt is being passed on. Can they do this and if so what is the correct way of dealing with them.

[andydd]

There will be a contract they he signed or agreed to that will say whether he has to pay for a whole year or whether it can be cancelled, etc..He needs to find this.

 

They may say various things over the phone but no doubt would deny them later.

 

They can pass the debt on, either they still 'own' it and the DCA writes letters trying to be tough but they have no more legal powers than you or I, or they can sell or assign the debt to the DCA, Admiral then no longer are involved, this tactic does reek of desperation though as often it involved debts that are simply unrecoverable.

 

DCA's are often despereate and will accept partial or instalment payments, wait till a letter arrives and come back for advice.

[AnnC]

Thanks for your comments. Will check his contract and then write making some kind of offer of repayment if he has to pay the full amount.