Urgent Advice Needed

Scotty501_2

Hi All,

Been reading the forums for sometime now - but first time posting. I, like many, am currently fighting my way through credit card debt.

I have an Egg account which I was struggling to keep up with the payments of £106. per month. My last payment made was in June. I contacted Egg and explained my position and that I would need help with a reduced monthly payment for a period of time to help get myself straight.

After a few phone calls - they went through my Income vs Expenses. They said that a SAU or SUA (posh name for credit adviser) would contact me to discuss what would be an acceptable amount for me to pay each month.

This call never happened - it has been some 2-3 weeks since I went through the IvE details. I know - I should have chased this up.

The next thing I get is a letter from a debt agency called Collect Direct UK based in Leeds. I called them and they said I need to pay 10% of the total amount (£5478.98 total) so £547 - ish by this Friday or it would go to court - and a further £2000 would be added to the outstanding amount! I accept I missed 2 payments to date totalling £212 - but Egg have terminated my account - and Collect Direct UK want this amount by Friday.

What the hell can I do? I am happy to pay an amount each month to Egg as per my call to Egg - but now to be told pay the amount asked by Friday or the debt goes to £7400+ is not the help needed - clearly.

Please advise what I should do!!!!

10past6

Hello Scotty :hello:

Welcome to the forums, first and foremost, don't let the wording on the letters worry you, they are worded to intimidate us, those of us with experience of these letters know how to deal with them.

Now, first things first, as your debt has been passed on / sold on, and you have not been informed obtain the name for the CEO / MD of the previous Financial Company you were dealing with, write to them addressing your letter "Formal Complaint" informing them they are in breach of OFT guidelines:

2.6 Examples of unfair practices:

E: Not informing the debtor when their case has been passed onto a different debt collector.

Make sure you send your letters recorded delivery, when you write, inform them if no reply is received within 7 working days, you will raise a complaint with the OFT.

Also write to your new creditor informing them your a/c is in dispute due to the above reasons, this will put your a/c on hold.

Next, take advice from one of the debt free charities details within my signature, any other questions, just ask away.

Scotty501_2

Thanks for thw swift response.

I will certainly do as you suggested, I did received a letter from Egg saying that they debt had been passed over - but this was in the midst of the original discussions. So I think Egg covered themselves with that regard. As I say - I was awaiting a call from a SAU or SUA to agree an reduced amount - that was the last conversationm with Egg some 2-3 weeks back.

What about the £2000 extra that they will impose as of Friday?? This is really concerning me?

10past6

Scotty501 wrote: »

What about the £2000 extra that they will impose as of Friday?? This is really concerning me?

If you believe your a/c is in the hands of Egg, then as per the letter above, your a/c is in dispute, nothing they can do at this stage.

MrsTinks

They can't just "impose" £2000 extra debt - they would love you to THINK they can though because that is how you scare people into paying more.
Have you contacted one of the free debt charities yet? Or why not post a full SOA on here and let's have a look at how the situation is over all and then you can decide from there how you want to handle them. It might be best to go on a DMP but we can't advise that till we have the facts

http://www.makesenseofcards.co.uk/soacalc.html

Scotty501_2

Thanks all for the help. I will send a letter to that effect and fax it tomorrow. I guess it will make sense to call and confirm receipt of the fax too.