Capquest debt. Advice appreciated

mornevaey · 16 March 2012 at 1:18PM

Hi,

I accidently opened a letter of my partners this am and discovered that he owes £2245.91 to Natwest, which has been passed on to cap quest. I realised he had debts, but thought he was dealing with them. Obviously not! The letters basically says that he has to reply before the 27 th March, otherwise his debt will be passed onto their solicitors and legal action will be taken. I luckily have no debt and am pretty clueless about what to do next. My partner is working, but he is on minimum wage and would not be able to pay the balance in full.

So what I am asking is, is it best to go through payplan or should he contact cap quest directly. I have no idea how to approach this and am a bit shocked, as he has obviously been lying to me. I just need advice on what he should do next.

Thank you

Tixy · 16 March 2012 at 1:50PM

Does it say legal action will be taken - or legal action may be taken, you'll often find the wording is ambiguous and designed to scare.

Definitely don't pay anything on his behalf today.

What is the best course of action will depend on his financial situation and on the details of the debt. For example perhaps the debt is statute barred, or very soon will be in which case making a payment today would be a very bad idea.
Of perhaps he has already ascertained that this debt is unenforceable.

Assuming the debt is not statute barred or unenforceable and considering he cannot afford to pay off in full then he ideally needs to look to offer to pay the debt in installments - if this was his only debt then he could do that himself easier enough, if he has lots of debts then suggest to him he contacts a debt advice charity to decide on the best course of action and whether perhaps a debt managment plan would be a good option for him, or what other options may be more suitable.

IMPORTANT - Where to seek professional impartial advice about your debts.

VitaK · 16 March 2012 at 1:51PM

Sometimes mail get opened for no other reason than you got it though the letterbox and you didnt check before opening. I do it all the time.

Please sit down and talk with him. Most find that debt is easier to deal with when there partner know about it. If the debt belong to him why not give them a call to make a repayment arrangement. it may be worth making a budget in advance so you know how much you can resonably afford.

mornevaey · 16 March 2012 at 2:20PM

Argh, I just typed a long reply, then lost it. Thanks for the replies. The debt is from 2008, so I take it that it is not statute barred. It is his only debt afaik and is a student debt, but as he never completed uni, it won't be classed as one. He has shown me his pay slip and he is paying £8 a month towards his student loan, which he said was this debt. Surely if he is getting these letters, then that can't be true?

Is the general consensus that he should contact cap quest directly over the phone and set up a payment schedule. He earns approximately £1110 including his bonus. His outgoings are probably £600 a month, if he reins in his spending. Does that mean he would have to pay the remaining £500 a month to cap quest?

wyebird · 16 March 2012 at 2:29PM

I think you need to speak to him first as it may not even be his debt. DCA sometimes go fishing and it could belong to someone else with a similar name. Always best to correspond with DCAs in writing and not over the phone.

DS4215 · 16 March 2012 at 2:52PM

mornevaey wrote: »

Argh, I just typed a long reply, then lost it. Thanks for the replies. The debt is from 2008, so I take it that it is not statute barred. It is his only debt afaik and is a student debt, but as he never completed uni, it won't be classed as one. He has shown me his pay slip and he is paying £8 a month towards his student loan, which he said was this debt. Surely if he is getting these letters, then that can't be true?

Is the general consensus that he should contact cap quest directly over the phone and set up a payment schedule. He earns approximately £1110 including his bonus. His outgoings are probably £600 a month, if he reins in his spending. Does that mean he would have to pay the remaining £500 a month to cap quest?

You need to sit down with him and do a full SOA (if only for your own use, but posting on here will get helpful advice on it) listing all income and outgoings. Only when everything is worked out (including all debts) can you see how much he can afford to pay them back each month.

Tixy · 16 March 2012 at 3:30PM

The money going from his wages will be his student loan (to the student loan company through HMRC). By the sounds of it this was probably a student overdraft - in which case it won't be the same debt as he is paying through his wages.

The only way he could be paying off a bank debt through his wages is if he'd been taken to court and they'd obtained an attachement of earnings, but that wouldn't be shown as student loan repayment on his payslip.

Agree with above - he needs to work out a detailed statement of affairs to see what he really has left a month (remember to budget for things that don't happen every month like presents, clothes, haircuts etc, he's allowed to budget for things like entertainment etc).
He doesn't have to offer all of his surplus to capquest - and £500 would be a very large amount on an income of £1100.

Definitely don't tell him to contact capquest by phone - he should do it in writing - stating how much he can afford per month and then asking them for their bank details so he can set up a standing order, or a paying in book.

mornevaey · 16 March 2012 at 6:32PM

Thanks again. Is there a template available for this kind of letter? Does he need to include the soa in the letter or does he simply need to acknowledge that he has received the letter and as Tixy said, state how much he can afford to pay per month. Are there any other things he needs to include in this letter?

nottoolate · 16 March 2012 at 6:34PM

budget sheets and templates http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/debt_advice.php#5

Capquest debt. Advice appreciated

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