Missed first Capital One payment of many

[erikborgo]

Hi,

I'm not sure if this is the right section of the website to post this,

 

but I've just missed a repayment on a Capital One card debt and I would like to know what happens exactly when I fail to pay the subsequent payments.

My business has collapsed and I can't pay them, is it bailiffs next?

What rights to I have?

Can I deny bailiffs entry and how long will it take before they take me to court?

When will they freeze the interest?

 

I also have an Aquacard debt which I also am unable to pay.

I've paid thousands more back to Capital One than the original debt.

[AndyOrch]

Is it a personal use account/s or connected to your business ?

[erikborgo]

The Capital One card debt is a personal debt dating from 2005. 

The Aquacard is from 2007, also a personal debt.

I've been paying £120 a month in interest ever since.

[AndyOrch]

https://www.capitalone.co.uk/support/coronavirus-guidance-and-information.jsf

 

https://www.aquacard.co.uk/faqs/payment-freeze

[erikborgo]

If you ask for a payment freeze from Aqua, they increase the interest rate to 39%. 

I'm not in a position to pay Aqua now or later. 

I can't pay Capital One either. 

 

I'd just like to know what happens next - is it bailiffs? 

Does the debt recovery process start after 3 missed payments?

Can I deny access or will they break in?

How much are bailiff's charges? 

How long will it take to get to court? 

Will they freeze interest once it gets to court?

Can I convince them to freeze the interest now? 

I've paid so much more than the debt, what chances are they can be convinced to write both debts off?

 

[dx100uk]

13 minutes ago, erikborgo said:

If you ask for a payment freeze from Aqua, they increase the interest rate to 39%. 

I'm not in a position to pay Aqua now or later. 

I can't pay Capital One either. 

 

I'd just like to know what happens next - is it bailiffs? - no bailiffs are only MIGHT get involved IF the original creditor sells the debt to a powerless DCA and they MIGHT take you to court, but that is months if not years away.

 

Does the debt recovery process start after 3 missed payments? - original creditors might start sending letter straight away.

 

Can I deny access or will they break in? - no-one can ever break-in on civil consumer debt - even if they get a CCJ and the jusge latterly allows bailiff enforcement.

 

How much are bailiff's charges? - max £310.

 

How long will it take to get to court? - as above.

 

Will they freeze interest once it gets to court? - interest should be frozen now.

 

Can I convince them to freeze the interest now? - as above.

 

I've paid so much more than the debt, what chances are they can be convinced to write both debts off? - quite likely, shame you've blindly kept paying for so long.

 

 

when did you take these cards out please? 2007 and 2007 as above?

 

dx

 

[AndyOrch]

Once you miss payments you will be informed by the creditors with Notice of Default...allowing you time to rectify the arrears.....if you cant rectify the arrears you will then receive a Default Notice..allowing 14 days to rectify otherwise they will default the agreement and possibly terminate the account.Your credit files will reflect the default and will remain on show for 6 years.

 

Normal procedure then is that they sell the debts to a DCA ...who will chase you and possibly litigate against you with a court claim for a CCJ.

If you fail to pay the CCJ or agree a payment plan then they can execute the judgment by use of County Court Bailiffs.

 

So its important to speak to the creditors now and explain your situation...they should be more sympathetic during the present crisis's in agreeing some payment holiday.....but as you state you will possibly be never in a position to resume payments...then ultimately your credit files will be marked....what comes after that is unknown until it happens...there is no set process. 

[London1971]

Just tell them the truth. There is a lot more forbearance out there than you might think at the moment.  Ring them now, it will put your mind at ease.

[erikborgo]

Thank you for your replies. I don't know how to quote text, apologies:

 

"Can I deny access or will they break in? - no-one can ever break-in on civil consumer debt - even if they get a CCJ and the jusge latterly allows bailiff enforcement."

 

That is reassuring to know, thank you.

 

"Will they freeze interest once it gets to court? - interest should be frozen now."

 

How do I go about requesting that the interest gets frozen now?

 

"I've paid so much more than the debt, what chances are they can be convinced to write both debts off? - quite likely, shame you've blindly kept paying for so long."

 

You're right.  I've been trying to get to a position where I am able to finally pay these debts off but with this Covid-19 pandemic, it can't happen.  I really thought I'd be able to finally settle these debts this year, but much of my trade is tied to the restaurant sector and that has all but collapsed.  I can't afford the interest payments in any sort of arrangement.  How do I go about requesting that they write both debts off? 

 

"When did you take these cards out please? 2007 and 2007 as above?"

 

Capital One debt started in 2005, Aquacard debt started 2007.

 

I wonder what kind of help they could offer over the phone? 

If you apply for a payment holiday online with Aquacard, you must agree to an increase in interest rate to over 39%, what sort of alternatives can they offer on the phone? 

 

Will they freeze the interest or write off the debt via a phone conversation? 

I'm nervous of phone calls and would much rather have a paper trail.

Edited May 19, 2020 by erikborgo

[dx100uk]

do NOT ever use phone nor email. or at best record your calls.

it is better never to talk about debt over the phone to anyone

 

send them our pro-rata letter from the debt collection section of our library.

 

use the advice in the two links andyorch referred too and add a line about the current  covid-19 situation also asking to take-up the 3mts break

[AndyOrch]

You wont know until you speak to them.....but speak to them not on line.....

 

Here a re a few letter templates from our library

 

https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/298-debt-collection/

[erikborgo]

1 hour ago, London1971 said:

Just tell them the truth. There is a lot more forbearance out there than you might think at the moment.  Ring them now, it will put your mind at ease.

 

I'm not sure how much help they could offer via phone, given that Aquacard in particular want you to agree to an increase of interest rate to over 39% when you apply for a payment holiday online. 

 

I would much rather communicate with them by letter because I would never have a record of what happens during a phone call.

[dx100uk]

follow post 11 then

 

dx

 

[erikborgo]

Thank you for all of your replies. 

 

How do I prepare a financial statement?  Is there a general form which is acceptable? 

 

Will the financial statement require my business accounts are up to date?  I haven't yet submitted my accounts to the HMRC for 2019-2020, only 2018-2019.

 

This might seem a silly question but on the CAG library letters, where it says:

 

PRINT OR SIGN YOUR NAME DIGITALLY

 

Do I write my name in block capitals by hand or print my name using a printer in whatever font I'm using?

[AndyOrch]

Not really we get it all the time...... Print it ...there is no requirement for a wet signature.

[erikborgo]

Sorry about this, do you mean print a scan of my wet signature? 

 

Or do you mean print my name in block capitals using something like "Times New Roman" and use that to serve as a signature?

[dx100uk]

never sign any letters

just computer type you name 

[erikborgo]

Thank you. 

Sorry about my continuing to run at a question, the answer to which is undoubtledly very obvious to those in the know. 

This means I can use my 33 year old dot matrix printer, which is the only one which has any ink.

 

Should I send the letter asking them to write off the debt first?

 

 

Or should I first send the one asking for them to freeze the interest?

 

 

Or can I combine the two letters asking them to freeze the interest and write off the debt, in one letter?

 

Is there a form in your library for a Personal Budget Sheet or any guidance on how best to draw one up for Creditors?

 

 

 

[AndyOrch]

If you amalgamate the templates it kinda defeats the object...its one or the other...try the freezing interest first IMHO.

 

There is a good I&E sheet attached to the N245 which is the court approved for......see here:-

 

 

[dx100uk]

I would go with the pro rata letter for now

get the issue sorted then p'haps later please poverty.

 

there is a budget sheet in post 3 of the pro-rata letter topic use that?

 

 

[erikborgo]

Thank you, I will use the items listed on the form and type it all out into a separate sheet. 

 

I have a couple of hundred pounds in my account for suppliers, which I need to keep in order to maintain my current earnings - such as they are during this pandemic.  Can my creditors see how much I have in my bank account?  If they can, it could give impression that I can pay the current monthly interest.

 

I will send them this letter and the sheet.

 

Is there some threshold of savings beyond which my pleading poverty would be ignored? 

I have to pay suppliers from my bank account and have a couple of hundred pounds saved, in order to enable me to do so.

 

 

[dx100uk]

if the business a/c is showing on your credit file under your name not a business one, then yes they can see it's balance.

but for now I wouldn't worry about savings etc.

credit card consumer debt is at the bottom of the pile and is NOT a priority debt, which IMHO paying suppliers IS a greater priority.

 

might help you to understand debt better if you pop along to our debt selfhelp forum and read a few stories there.

 

 

dx

 

[London1971]

Yeah, I think you're giving this way too much worry time. I don't say this causally but as a person who had £20k worth of credit card debt, that in the end I never paid back.  I just couldn't afford it and feed my family!

Sure, it's better if you don't default and can pay a little, so you try your best. If they don't agree, worst that happens is a default, and it gets sold on to a DCA, your credit file will be clean after  6years. Bad? maybe, but not the end of the world.

 

You pay Rent , Food, Bills Council tax. If there is nothing left for a Credit card after that. Tough luck to them!

[erikborgo]

You guys are brilliant!  I sent the Budgeting Sheet to both Aqua and Capital One and they have both agreed to freeze the interest and charges for three months.  That was about 6 weeks ago.  I am paying them both £10 a month each.  How can I go about convincing them to cancel the debt?

[erikborgo]

Aqua sent me a letter saying that they have passed my account to Wescott. They apparently did this as soon as a three month period of frozen interest charges was over.

I spoke to Aqua today, the first advisor hung up when they said they were transferring me to Wescott. The second one said that Aqua can't help me at all and I had to speak to Wescott. I quoted the Lending Code guidelines, and asked to be dealt with sympathetically. Could they accept small payments for a few months? The advisor said that they couldn't, so I asked to speak to a manager.

I had to repeat this request many many times and after a 12 minutes on hold a manager who said they had no idea what Lending Code Guidelines I was referring to, said she couldn't help either. She said that now that the account is with Wescott, Aqua couldn't do anything. I pointed out that it was within Aqua's power to take the account back from Wescott and asked that Aqua do that. She said she couldn't.

I asked to speak to her manager and she repeated the same phrases "Sorry I can't help, speak to Wescott", over and over again along with "No there is no manager here." until she got sick of me and hung up. I have the recording of that conversation for the Financial Ombudsman, if that has any use whatsoever, I have no idea.

I rang and asked to speak to a manager again, and that advisor also hung up, saying that he couldn't help me and that I had already spoken to a manager.

Do I send Aqua a budget sheet and an offer of a small monthly payment? At this point, am I doomed with Wescott? I was going to ask Aqua to write off the debt, but it might be too late for that now that it's in the hands of a debt management company.

I'm in the same situation with CapitalOne, although they haven't sent me any letters yet.
 

Edited November 14, 2020 by erikborgo