please help, with problem with CDEF and HSBC...

[ladyjayne]

Hello,

 

First of all please forgive me, I'm very new to here, I just wish I had found this site 4 years ago when this all started....

 

I got into trouble with a couple of accounts, one was a loan with Egg, the other a current account / managed loan with HSBC, I was made redundant and couldn't pay so agreed to pay £10 a month to each of them.

 

Since then I have gone to uni to retrain and find a new carrer, still paying the £10 a month, this year the student loans company thought it would be a good idea not to give me my student loan and so in september I was unable to make the £10 payments.

 

DLC for Egg have been great, aside from the harrasing phone calls they have now agreed to reduce my debt to £1000 and if I pay that (thank you grandparents) they will write it off.

 

Central Debt Enforcement Agency (part of Metroplitan Collection Services) have however just had me in tears, they say that as I have been a student almost 3 years they will no longer accept £10 a month, and will only accept a full settlement of £7583.46 or they will take me to court and get CCJ. I offered upto £2000 as a full and final settlement but the guy laughed at me down the phone, telling me they have been generous enough to freeze almost £4000 of interest so they aen't going to accept £10 a month or £2000.

 

I would love to know how he sleeps at night, but more importantly, is there anything I can do? (please remember, speak slowly, I'm new to all this)

[sequenci]

hi jayne.

 

sorry to hear about your woes.

 

you will need to have a shot at filling in a budget sheet to send to the creditors. you can download one from National Debtline, for FREE CONFIDENTIAL and INDEPENDENT ADVICE call 0808 808 4000. this will show a snapshot of your finances to them.

 

the budget sheet will allow you to calculate a reasonable offer of payment to offer them ( if it transpires you have a negative figure at the end then offer a token payment of £1 - it is reasonable to do so! )

 

if they keep asking you to make an unrealistic high payment then it could constitue harrasement. more info here:-

 

National Debtline England & Wales | Debt Advice | Factsheet 03 Harassment

 

these guys also 'should' adhere to the OFT debt collection guidance. it's well worth a read. take a look here:

 

http://www.oft.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/50F06527-9FC5-4610-B385-999D6E2A8950/0/oft664.pdf

 

pull out any info that could be relevant and write a letter to them with your offer of payment, start making the payment to show goodwill.

 

also deal with these people in writing, not on the phone!

 

if you need anything else just shout!

[LondonPam]

Hi Jayne. As sequenci says the best thing you can do is see just what you can afford to pay them, even id it is only £1 a month. If the worse comes to the worse and they do take you to court to obtain a CCJ, you can show the judge exactly what you can offer. It is very luckily that the judge will agree the figures and the DCA will be forced to accept the token payment. You can not pay them what you haven't got, that's how simple it is!

Good luck.

Oh and I wouldn't bother talking to them on the phone, they harrass people and "forget" things. I would put everything in writing and insist that they do the same.