Ask a CCCS counsellor a question

CCCS_Amanda

aero1607 wrote: »

Hi been on DMP now for 5 months now with no problems however today recieved letter from M&S money offering me settlement figure which i cant obviously afford and default notice saying been in arrears for £747 which i cant pay.They say that if they dont recieve payment they will take further action then they go on to say you can apply to the court for more time.Well im bit confused firstly im on DMP,secondly the letter is from M&S Collections & Recoveries Department,which i think im right in saying is not collection agency just in-house.This is the first letter recieved from them for 3 months they initially said they could not accept my payment offer because it was just below the minimum they required then they changed accepted it and they stated that they would review after 12 months,im totally lost why the different messages

Hi there,

I am glad to hear that for the most part your DMP is running smoothly.

As M&S are unhappy with your offer of payment they are within their rights to issue the Default Notice. A Default Notice is a legal requirement for the creditor and its intention is to let you know that you are not keeping to the Terms and Conditions of your agreement.

Now they will probably send or sell your debt to a Debt Collection Agency (DCA). When you get contact from the DCA make sure that you let our client support department know. They will change the details on your file and send a new proposal to the DCA. This is another opportunity for you to negotiate a reduced payment and hopefully your offer will be satisfactory.

If you have any problems contact client support, they are there to answer your queries and, hopefully, put your mind at rest throughout this stressful time.

Regards,
Amanda

CCCS_Amanda

jules23958 wrote: »

Hi
I have come to the CCCS section of the forum although this is really a student loan query as I don't seem to be getting any help.
I went to university between 1994-1999 with a degreee and then following on with a pgce. I had to leave my pgce half way through then went back a year later with the result that I have 5 student loans.
As I am 51 I was under the impression that your student loans were wiped after 50.
However I have some arrears though not directly for my own fault. I divorced in 2000-2001 and as a result had a lot of debt including my student loans. The debt was very high so I consulted Norfolk Money Line (part of citizens advice bureau) and signed a power of attorney for them to act on my behalf. They said that it would be best to go bankrupt and as such not worth deferring my student loan. However, I did not have the money at the time to go bankrupt and since then they removed student loans from bankruptcy relief. I later moved to a solicitor Ian McNally under Allan Rutherford for help with debt, housing, maintenance problems and signed two separate powers of attorney for him to act. However, he did not act for debt though I have proof he consulted utilities and my ex husband and housing but he does not appear to have contacted student loans with the result I went into arrears.
He is now claiming I only consulted him for housing issues though I know this is not true and on the second time we went back he seemed to have lost all of our documentation.
Then in October 2002 I became so unwell with stress and Crohns disease I had to stop working until September 2005. I received requests for payment from student loans but continued to send them into the solicitor assuming that he was dealing with them for me.
In September 2005 I returned to work and contacted all my debtors telling them I was planning to go bankrupt and could they give me all their details. I saved enough in April 2007 and went to court to go bankrupt. I was discharged in October of the same year as no monies were found to pay the creditors.
I received notification from student loans that some of my accounts were going to Thesis Servicing and under my bankrupty the official receiver allowed me to pay £100 towards the student loan debt. This was divided between student loans and thesis servicing. Then a year ago I got a letter from student loans saying that the 'agent' who was giving them the money no longer was doing so and I needed to instruct this person and pay them instead. I wrote to thesis servicing asking them where they were getting their money from and they said they had an SLC agency cheque for £57.31 each month. I responded back to Student loans that they were sending Thesis a cheque each month and asked them why they were not getting the money. It seemed that they were but they wanted more. Now a year later they have been constantly harrassing me for more money and they have sent another of these strange letters out which doesnt make sense as they already are getting paid.
Where should I start?

Hi there,

Unfortunately, Student loans are not written off at age 50; it is age 65 on the old style loans, and after 25 years on the new loans.

As your Student Loans are not written off in Bankruptcy, the only thing that you can do is to make an offer of payment to them at a rate that you can afford.

I would suggest that you find out where the 5 separate loans are looked after. Once you have established where the loans are and the correct balances you can then make a pro rata offer with the £100 pounds that you have available.

To calculate how much to offer your creditors you can use the following formula:

Total money for credit x amount of the individual debt / total debt = pro rata payment

I hope that this helps.

Regards,
Amanda

Charlie1986

I need some advice on where to turn next. I have an email from BCW saying that they do not know where I get the idea that they now own the debt from O2 but they can assure me that they don't. We phoned O2 who say that they don't own the debt and BCW do so O2 can no longer help.
I have asked BCW to supply proof of the debt they are asking us to repay as the email they have sent says they don't own it, BCW say they cannot supply the documents asked and to ring them to set up a repayment plan anyway :rolleyes:.
I'm not happy about paying BCW when we have this email saying that they do not own the debt and cannot supply and documents. We tried arranging payment with O2 who say we cannot do that now
I'm not sure what to do next, we know we owe the money but O2 don't want it and BCW say they don't own it and cannot supply the documents.
Hope this makes sense, any help is appreciated x

CCCS_Sue

laineygirl wrote: »

Posted on 11th about non delivery of fire.
Success.
Sent email threatening internet watchdog, internet banking practices regarding payment and the promise that it could curtail their business from accessing funds from internet customers for up to 6 weeks whilst things were looked into. (Dont know whether these exist or what but sounded good on paper)
Threatend to write letters to TV companies who they have supplied and use to promote their business,Trade bodies and associations and a load of other agencies. It did the trick, within 20 minutes of sending it (after 6 weeks and 10 emails without an answer and no contact from anybody in their company, (Its internet you know all run via the web said the man from the Megastore whose email address is the same) A man called Bob telephoned to say that there had been a dreadful mistake, not his companies fault and he'd arranged (at expense to them,'we're not making money on this', as though it's our fault) for our fire to be sent from a company in Sheffield (where we live) would be with us in 4 days.
We phoned the company Plumb Centre who said it had been ordered but for delivery in January!!!!!!! We explained to them what had happend and they ordered it from their own supplier couldn't do enough to help us and it wasn't even their problem. We collected 2 days later. He would have delivered but we were passing.
THEY DID SAY THAT IF WE HAD A WEB PRICE THEY WOULD HAVE MATCHED IT, NOW THEY TELL US.
Anyhow..........
RESULT

Hi laineygirl

Really glad you managed to sort it! Great result!

Regards
Sue

CCCS_Sue

Charlie1986 wrote: »

I need some advice on where to turn next. I have an email from BCW saying that they do not know where I get the idea that they now own the debt from O2 but they can assure me that they don't. We phoned O2 who say that they don't own the debt and BCW do so O2 can no longer help.
I have asked BCW to supply proof of the debt they are asking us to repay as the email they have sent says they don't own it, BCW say they cannot supply the documents asked and to ring them to set up a repayment plan anyway :rolleyes:.
I'm not happy about paying BCW when we have this email saying that they do not own the debt and cannot supply and documents. We tried arranging payment with O2 who say we cannot do that now
I'm not sure what to do next, we know we owe the money but O2 don't want it and BCW say they don't own it and cannot supply the documents.
Hope this makes sense, any help is appreciated x

Hi Charlie 1986 and thank you for your message

I have attached a letter you can use to send to them, asking for a copy of the original agreement. They cannot enforce the debt until they can provide this for you.

From:
Name:
Address:
Postcode:
Date:
CCCS Client No:
To:
Creditor’s Name:
Account/Agreement No:

Without Prejudice

Dear Sirs
With reference to the above account
Please will you send me a true copy of the original signed agreement together with an up to date statement of the account showing all transactions, including interest and charges, and a copy of any other document referred to in the agreement.
I understand I am entitled to this information under ss77-79 of The Consumer Credit Act (CCA) 1974.
I also understand that this information should be sent to me within 12 working days of you receiving this letter. The CCA states that creditors are unable to enforce an agreement until this request is complied with.
I am enclosing the £1:00 fee, payable under the Consumer Credit Act 1974, for each account.
Yours faithfully
(Print name)

Hope this helps

Regards
Sue

Charlie1986

Hi Sue, The debt is for a mobile phone contract. Can they still not enforce the debt on this? I have sent a similar letter asking for a signed contract and statement of account and they replied with:
'You will need to approach the original retailer if you wish to see a
copy of your contract. I'm not sure where you get the idea that bcw have
bought your bad debt but I can assure you that we have not.

If you fail to make a reasonable offer of repayment then we will
consider the use of field collectors or solicitors to collect this debt.


Thanks, '

I will try sending the letter you gave by recorded post with the £1 fee. Do you know who we would pay the debt to if they cannot supply the information as O2 would not set up a standing order for it because they say it isn't their debt anymore

Thank you
Charlie

CCCS_Sue

Charlie1986 wrote: »

Hi Sue, The debt is for a mobile phone contract. Can they still not enforce the debt on this? I have sent a similar letter asking for a signed contract and statement of account and they replied with:
'You will need to approach the original retailer if you wish to see a
copy of your contract. I'm not sure where you get the idea that bcw have
bought your bad debt but I can assure you that we have not.

If you fail to make a reasonable offer of repayment then we will
consider the use of field collectors or solicitors to collect this debt.


Thanks, '

I will try sending the letter you gave by recorded post with the £1 fee. Do you know who we would pay the debt to if they cannot supply the information as O2 would not set up a standing order for it because they say it isn't their debt anymore

Thank you
Charlie

Hi Charlie

If you have already written, then there is no point in sending the same letter again.

You should have received a ‘Notice of Assignment’ to say that BCW are now able to collect the debt.
Both the OFT Debt Collection Guidelines and the Credit Services Association Code of Practice place obligations on creditors and their agents to provide information, and failure to do so could be a breach of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trade Regulations. If court action is taken and they go for a county court judgment ,you could put in a defence against this and the creditor will need to supply all relevant documents.

Regards
Sue

Charlie1986

Thank you so much for this information Sue. Do we now just ignore them and not pay anything?

CCCS_Sue

Charlie1986 wrote: »

Thank you so much for this information Sue. Do we now just ignore them and not pay anything?

I would recommend that you just write them a letter that states, until they can provide proof that they own or are able to collect the debt then the account is in dispute. According to the debt collection guidelines they will be unable to take any action against you whilst the account is disputed.

drpowermax

Can anyone shed some light on this company: Kensington Financial Management Consultants? my wife was put in contact with them by one of the catalouges she has. Just wondering if anyone has had any experience of them good or bad? on the phone they sound fantastic and as mum always says "if it sounds to good to be true........"

Regards

Steve