debitas help needed please

[lucy07]

Hi just wondered if someone could help me I had a worrying talk with debitas yesterday regarding my fathers credit card. We lost my mother last october and a couple of weeks ago my father unfortunately had a stroke and is currently in hospital. He had an arrangement to pay £35 a month which was due on the 9th April which understandbly he forgot to mention. They told me that since he has now defaulted on the arrangement they wanted me to pay £120 a month ( his outstanding debt is £800 ) I told them there is no way We could afford that I explained his situation but they did not want to know, they told me that unless we pay £120 by Thursday 19th April a doorstep collector or bailiff will call or they will take legal action. This on top of everything else I have to cope with is very distressing Do I send a letter stating there appauling behaviour could someone please advise

[lookinforinfo]

Lucy, first of all I was sorry to hear the news about your fathers' stroke.

There are some excellent medecines available now that will help to prevent

further attacks though it will mean taking pills every day from now on.

 

Secondly as you are dealing with an uncaring/unfeeling company, do not

deal witgh them on the phone in future-it will only distress you more whilst

they will continue being unpleasant since there will be no record of their

conversation.

 

Writing to them is the best way to a] provide a record of your dealings with

them should legal action be taken [either by yourselves or them] and b] they

will not be so callous by letter normally as they will be aware that theirl

correspondence to you could be used as a complaint against them. Make

sure that any mail you send to them is via recorded delivery as that will

bring home to them that you are not to be messed about with. [You should

also keep copies of everything you write to them and retain everything they

send you].

 

If finances allow, send them this months £35 along with a letter confirming

your earlier telephone call and including the threats they made-so that you

have on record the contents of the phone call. Confirm that the £35 per

month payments will continue when your father is back on his feet again

on the usual payment day [assuming that he will be in a position to maintain

regular payments-don't say that he will do something that he will be unable

to fulfill]. And point out to them that though your father would like to clear up the outstanding amount, their demand to increase the payment to £120

is unreasonable and unacceptable. Complain about their behavior as well

though I doubt that it will do much to change their stance.

 

Include with the letter, a second letter known as a CCA request [you will need your father to sign this one] along with a £1 postal order. Make it quite

clear that the £1 is NOT to come off the debt and that they will understand

that there are time limits attached to the request and until the request has

been properly dealt with, they cannot pursue your father for the debt-that

includes legal action and doorstep collectors as well as phone calls and

letters asking for the debt to be paid.

 

There is a template letter for the CCA request which can be found in the

General Debts section, followed by looking in the "sticky" section-the last

thread in it [written by Barracad] contaims any number of useful letters and

the one you want is letter N.

Once they have received it, they have twelve working days in which to send

you the required document copies, failure will mean that they are in default.

If they still haven't produced the papers within a further month, they have committed an offence, and until they can produce the relevant paperwork

the debt is unenforceable and no payments are necessary.

[danmav]

It amazes me how unsympathetic these idiots can be at times and I hope you get some useful advice about how to deal with them.

 

Debitas have threatened to send a doorstep collector or bailiff on the 19th, well if they do slam the door in their face caus you are under no obligation to speak to them or let them in. The only way a bailiff could be involved with this debt is if it was to go through the County Court and a judgement was passed. However IF they decide to take legal action I would say you have fairly good grounds for a defence considering the circumstances.

 

I would consider making a complaint to Trading Standards and the OFT regarding the behaviour of the company.

 

My final thought is why have they been discussing your father's account with you. Did your father give Debitas permission to discuss his account with you? If not then a breach of the Data Protection Act has occurred.

[lucy07]

Thank you for replying to me I will send a letter today with the payment, I do already have authority to speak on his account but will only deal with them by letter with copies for myself in future. I have calmed down now but still feel agrieved at the attitude of this woman.

[1stdaughterbax]

hi there, im having problems with them aswell. they say my name birthday doesnt match their information. i have a debt for 250.00 and have been trying to pay it but they want my birth cert, marriage cert and sample of my signature. not sure what to do but deff dont want to send them original copies

[powelll]

hi there, im having problems with them aswell. they say my name birthday doesnt match their information. i have a debt for 250.00 and have been trying to pay it but they want my birth cert, marriage cert and sample of my signature. not sure what to do but deff dont want to send them original copies

 

You are not obliged to provide them with ANY of this stuff so i wouldn't be.

[lookinforinfo]

1st daughterbax, are you sure you owe any money at all. Debitas may have got the wrong person if the DOB they have does not match yours. Do not send

them anything and if they continue to push, and if you are sure you do not owe the £250, threaten them with breaches of the Data Protection Act.

Also if they write to you again, please start a new thread so as to avoid

hijacking Lucys'.

[lookinforinfo]

Lucy07, I assume that as you have not come back to us that the problem has

been resolved?

[lucy07]

Sorry I have not replied I have been in hospital and currently off work so finding it hard to access a computer at the moment, I am back at work on the 13th august so will be back on line, In answer to your question I did manage to sort a payment plan out for my father but it did take a while to sort, i didnt have to send any paperwork off though to varify anything

[lookinforinfo]

No they don't care who sends them money-it's only when you want to verify

that the debt is yours [or your fathers', that they want loads of ID.

I take it you didn't send them a CCA request?