Debt Colle?ctors Charges,,,,is this legal and correct

[wannagethelp]

Hi,

 

Was just looking at some threads on this site and wondered if anyone here could advise me?

 

I had 'apparently', been overpaid by local borough for fostering,(yes, for trying to put something back into my community and help someone),,,,so to try to summarise this, the local borough took me to court for this overpayment, I was silly enough not to attend and defend myself, (scared stiff of a court), so they got a CCJ against me and the debt was handed over to a debt collection agency.

 

This overpayment/debt was originally £1098.90, as what I can make out of the paperwork, finally ended up in the court at £823.90, (as far as I can remember had paid some off to the borough, but asked the debt collection agency (Steels debt recovery) for an itemised bill as this had been finalised at £1115.00:confused:

 

This is what I received from Steeles debt recovery.

 

Original debt £823.90

Claim form interest £267.67

Claim fee £115.00

Claim form costs £80.00

Judgement interest £22.00

Judgement costs £15.04

Oral exam fee £40.00

 

Total £1363.61

Less money paid -£248.61

 

Total outstanding £1115.00

 

Is this lawful and correct. I know I should have defended myself considering what it was for but I honestly was too scared to go to court.

 

Any advice, anyone:-)

[lookinforinfo]

I take it that the £267 interest was charged by the Council prior to the Court case, which would imply that the overpayment was made some years ago.

Does it clearly say in your agreement with them [fostering] that in the event

of overpayment they are entitled to claim interest, and if so at what rate?

 

As for Steeles, I would write back and query the £115 claim fee, the judgement interest £22 and the oral exam fee £40. I am assuming that the claimform £80 and the £15 judgement costs are legit, but if someone else

could confirm?............

 

It is a pity you did not go to Court as once you get in front of the Court

the magistrates are quite relaxed and the dealings are fairly informal-nothing at all like you see in the cinema where all the Judges and barristers wear wigs.

[wannagethelp]

Hi, Thank you for answering,

 

Do you know,,,,,I'm not sure that the interest was put on by the council and I will phone the court Monday morning to find out,,,,will they be able to give me a breakdown of the charge? I know I'm paying a monthly amount to the council, at their local rent office/customer service office. Although I think the council have just asked for the basic amount so would Steeles be able to add on this much and it all be included in the CCJ? I will also phone the council about the procedure for an overpayment and if lawful to include interest.

 

If anyone can shed any more light onto this I would be very grateful.

 

Thank you.

[lookinforinfo]

Ring the Court by all means. They will tell you how much they charged-£80

sounds right for the claim to be made. The other Court charges are more debatable and it would be in your interest to make sure what else, if

anything was charged by the Court, as you are liable to pay those costs.

However the Court would not be able to give you a breakdown of the other charges.

You stated that the original debt was £1098.90, which I assumed was the amount the Council were asking you for, prior to the Court case [£823.90+

£267.67]. Might be worthwhile checking that the interest was levied by them,

though whether they will discuss the matter with you may depend on which

Council you are dealing with.

At the moment they will have received no money from you as the DCA will

keep all the money you send to pay off theirr charges before they start to

send the Council anything. So it is in the interest of the Council to work with

you on this so they get their money quicker, but not all of them do.

Once you have spoken to the Court and the Council and ascertained their

charges,

 

Incidentally, I can find no record of steels debt recovery on the net or with

the ICO or on webcheck. Do you have their actual trading name and address?

[wannagethelp]

Hi

 

Thank you for responding to me.

 

Its really strange you should say that about steeles as I do not pay them directly, I pay the council and when I called the council dept the debt is owed to, ages ago to see how much left I had to pay them it did tally with that original amount £109x - £2xxx already paid off, they had asked,,,,,not all this added stuff from Steeles, and I only owe the council now about £40 from the debt and feel uneasy about all this extra money put on by Steeles..........does that make sense?

[lookinforinfo]

What I found strange was that normally when councils take you to court

they would then use bailiffs to collect the debt, not a debt collector.

So it may be that your case did not go Court at all.

If that is the case, perhaps they should consider changing their name to

Steals.

However if there was a Court case, Steeles will be entitled to claim for any

charges and fees legally incurred by them from you.

[wannagethelp]

Hello again,

 

Yes, there was definately a court hearing, have a court case no. and on my credit file ccj against my name for this. I don't understand though how Steels (Mount St, Diss, Norfolk), can ask for all this extra money, totalling £539.71, when the debt was only £823.90,,,,,,can I dispute this? I accept there will be charges but it seems a bit steep, doesn't it?

[Markiemark1]

Looks to me like most of the charges are fixed costs so allowable in law.

 

The interest is likely to be statutory interest at 8% per annum which if pleaded in the particulars of claim will have been allowed. There's little you probably can do about it now to be honest.

 

RM

[wannagethelp]

Awwwww, I thought maybe there was some hope,,,,,never mind, I just wished I'd gone to the court as on reflection I feel sure the judge would have been sympathetic given the circumstances of this debt,,,just a shame its on my credit file:( ,,,,,well at least I've learned a lesson, although a tough one eh?

 

Thanks to both of you for your honest advice.

[lookinforinfo]

Sorry Repoman, I cannot agree with you. What on earth is an oral exam fee-and if he didn't go to Court and didn't do the exam-why pay?

 

You are best to speak to the Court and see what they charged-I suspect

just the £80 and perhaps one more fee-no more. The rest may be sheer

concoctions and so not payable

[wannagethelp]

Me again:-)

 

I think I will phone the court tomorrow and ask just how much is the charge, its worth a try eh?

 

I believe the 'oral exam', ld have been when I phoned Steeles trying to work out how much I can pay, but it was eventually agreed by a man from the court that I could pay £10 a month because I was so so poor at the time and in lots of debt, (although no ccj's, this was my first and only one, that's what makes it so upsetting)....also although it was agreed that I could pay only £10 at the time I have been paying 4 times that much month, sometimes more, so the debt has reduced quickly, much, much quicker than the agreed payment plan/time.

 

I just don't feel that this is fair or just, or am I just being too hopeful?

[wannagethelp]

Oh, probably not too significant or relevant, but I'm a 'she', not a he,

[lookinforinfo]

They don't charge £40 for that. And for them to charge, there would need to be something in your original contract allowing such fees. If you have one

in yours, it will be a first I have seen.

[wannagethelp]

No, I don't believe there was a contract about this, it was a supposedly overpayment of money for when I fostered children for the council/borough,, I don't understand all these charges and I'm not sure this is justifiable. Can I go back to court to ask for them to be taken off? Is that something I could do?

[wannagethelp]

Hi, Is anyone there:)

 

I've just spoken to the council who have advised me that they did just ask for the debt, none of these extra costs and that I would have to speak to Steeles regarding them.

 

Also, I have cleared the debt completely with the council, in fact I'm in credit for £4.xx,

 

So, it is steeles that have put on these charges,,,,,,can anyone advise me what to say to steeles about them? I don't want to call them and be floundering around....

 

Thank you

[wannagethelp]

Hi

 

I've phoned the court today and spoke to a lovely lady who was very helpful to me. I told her the story and 'how it had affected my life, ccj meant I could not even go to a high street bank for my mortgage and had to get one that I pay high rate for.....because of this council administration error,,,,she advised that I could pay £35 for something (didnt understand that bit) but it is so I could go back in front of a judge and plead my case.....I told her I would have the courage now to do that, Ithink??? So, she is posting me off the relevant forms today and hope I will receive them tomorrow.

 

It looks hopeful doesnt it:)

[wannagethelp]

Hi,

 

Can anybody advise me about this procedure or give any advice at all please?

[lookinforinfo]

In order to get the ccj set aside you are going to have to come up with a good reason. And saying that you were unaware of the consequences of

not paying the Council and not appearing in court are reasons why the CCJ should not be removed.

if you didn't know you owed the money, that would be a reason-but hard to prove as the council doubtless will have copious records to show that you were informed.

you can also claim that you didn't know there was a court case, in which case they will look at your claim. But the CCJ will remain if you have no good

reason for not contacting the Council aboutt non payment-the fact that you have paid now is irrelevant-the Order will remain in place for 6 years. Save

your money unless you have a valid reason.

[lookinforinfo]

As you have paid the Council, I would wait for Steele's to get back to you

with their charges and once they do, point out that the Court did not add any

of the charges specified. And if they insist on demanding money that the OFT has stated in its "Guidance for Debt Collection" that collectors should not add charges of their own, since there is no contract between a debt collector and

a debtor allowing such charges, you will complain to Trading Standards about

the fitness of Steeles to hold a Consumer Credit licence.

[wannagethelp]

Hi LFI,

 

I understand what you mean about the court appearance, honestly was overwhelmed at the time,,,,I had filled in the bit to say I was going to dispute the matter, but couldn't get myself to court, too nervous, never mind, its done now:( and just to make it even more painful, the ccj on my credit file says the amount of £13xx.xx, so that looks like the charges from steeles were included somehow, I don't understand how that could be though because it was the council that took me to court, can you throw any light on that, would that be possible the debt collectors can add charges from court to a ccj?

 

I will wait for the leaflets and the forms the lady said she will send and just have a look and see if they can shed any more light for me. However, this debt apparently was from 1998 and the council took years even before , as far as I can remember, before they started chasing me for it:confused: But I do know that it may be legal, but given the circumstances of the ccj, its not just, but I'll have to accept it.

[lookinforinfo]

DCAS can only add legitimate charges to the debt.

In addition to asking for a set aside on the grounds of misadministration, you

should also ask that the charges are checked-some look dubious.

In addition, if the council have claimed interest since 1988, you should query that if you were unaware till much later that there had been an overpayment.

And have they proved to you that there was an overpayment?

[wannagethelp]

Hi LFI,

 

Thank you for your reply, it does sound hopeful and I will question these charges,,,,higher than a loan shark I bet! I will also look into the possibility of getting the ccj set aside because it certainly was misadministration,,,,,not a payment I had requested, I didn't even realise there was overpayment until they told me, so surely that must show the court that this was not a debt I had delibrately set out to aquire and if it wasn't for their misadministration I wouldn't be in this position.