My ugly credit-obtaining indiscrepancies.

DON79

Hi FP

Please check your letters as I am sure I had a letter from a company which just had BCW at the top of its letter (Buchanan, Clark and Wells).

They were only after about £600 from me for a HP shortfall but it certainly had not been to any sheriffs officers or courts despite threatening this in their letters so I think they are just trying to scare you.

You will probably find the letters are full of "if's" and "we may do this if you do not pay" blah blah blah!

When you call for arranging payments, just keep repeating "I can only pay £20" everytime they ask for more.

BCW took my I&E and other creditors details and at this time I had £52 available which I paid to cccs but my hubby was gonna offer them £25 pm for me which they refused. They kept trying to insist I pay £46 as I had this available??

They were just assuming that I should pay them before I pay CCCS which is just stupid.

So the result is my hubby kept his £25 pm and they now get a £5 pyt per month like the rest of my creditors. Their loss!

But don't let them bully you into paying more than you can afford. Or just fob them off saying CCCS or some other financial adviser will contact them shortly.

Financial_Pain

Cheers peeps........have just had a rethink.

I have bought myself a little time with this "mob" as I am not due to start the £40 payments for a couple of weeks yet. As to my rethink.........well........I didn`t actually AGREE to anything........was only a phone call after all........wouldn`t I have to have put offer of payment in writing for them to be able to enforce it???? Just a thought.........

Actually........am thinking of volunteering as a guinea pig for the next space shuttle!!!! lol

FP

blind-as-a-bat_2

Looks like im in for some fun then, i have just started dealing with Buchanan, Clark and Wells, Argos has passed an alledged account to them, shame Argos are in default of a CCA request so they cant do a dam thing, there not going to be pleased with the letter i have just sent them

tommo20

Another epiphany.....!!!!

Perhaps you could start a thread asking for info on the usual M.O of BCW......there's stuff all over t'internet about them. None of it good.

blind-as-a-bat_2

tommo20 wrote: »

Another epiphany.....!!!!

Perhaps you could start a thread asking for info on the usual M.O of BCW......there's stuff all over t'internet about them. None of it good.

I already know But thanks for the suggestion.:D

Financial_Pain

Am laughing again, just thinking about this buchananclark lot. After she`d pressured me into agreeing to the £40 per mnth over the phone, I asked her if she would send out an acceptance of that arrangement in writing, to which she replied, "We don`t do that. We`re a paperless organisation".........strange considering the harrassing letters, aka PAPER they are sending me and countless others.

FP

DON79

:rotfl: They are all the same really! They claim to be paperless but send you six letters in day all at the same time from the same company for different accounts! Or they send you separate replies to a letter you send them, one reply for each account when they enquiry is the same for them all! Or they send you a stupid arrears letter for £0.46p! I have had that for paying just a little less than I should have. :rolleyes:

Financial_Pain

Thanks for feedback guys.
Yip, I do believe that BCW have been awarded a summary warrant for collection of this debt.......their letter does say it has been granted and........I don`t see any "ifs, buts" or "maybes" in that letter.

Anyway........despite having made a payment arrangement with them over the phone........I am not paying them a penny before I (Godwilling!!!) can go BR. I`ll just not be daft enough to let them in if they call at my home.

It`s amazing to think that just a few short weeks ago.........I didn`t even know how much I owe to whom.........I binned lots of the demands from creditors without opening them and the ones I did have the guts to open were strewn all over the house.

Am feeling just a tad pleased with myself now........have the latest demanding letters from all my creditors filed in a pretty pink file........this girl has made huge progress these last few weeks. :rotfl:

But, all kidding aside, I am now striving to get as much of my affairs in order as I possibly can, whilst waiting to hear if solicitor can reassure me about BR for myself.

So, 2 questions........

1) I have council tax arrears at this address.......am here 2 yrs and now owe approx. £700........girl in c tax office gave me that balance over phone today. How do I include this in my BR ? Do I just state the reference no. and say what the balance is as I know it just before I fill in my application??

2) also........social fund crisis and budgeting loans.......do I need reference no`s for these or will they go through alright on the BR as per my N.I. number. And, how do I state the balances on the form?........just get a balance over phone for each right before filling form and state that balance??

Blimey........this all seems like a lot of preparation, but if all goes according to plan........will be well worth it to be debt free.

FP

coolcait

Financial_Pain wrote: »

<<snip>>

The history of this c tax bill is that they sent me a letter in Sept., stating that a summary warrant was granted in Sheriff Court for payment of outstanding c tax. I got a letter from them today (account is with buchananclark and Wells).......today`s letter from them says that authority has now been granted to proceed with a Personal Visitation by a Debt Investigation Officer (sheriff officer??? :eek: ) at my home.......can they do this? and........do I have to let them in?? Should I pay a few pounds at their office til I see if I can go ahead with BR??? Am afraid to ignore this.

Sorry for long post. Thanks.

FP

Hiya FP

I don't know if you've been to see your local CAB or anyone about this, but I would strongly recommend you go and discuss BCW's claims with them - even if you're not yet ready to discuss your debts.

It seems to me that BCW are mixing different things up, to try to blindside you. They may (or may not) have had summary warrant granted in the sheriff court. It doesn't appear that they've had it served on you by sheriff officers...

'Authority to proceed with a Personal Visitation by a Debt Inverstigation Officer' sounds awfully official, especially when it's mentioned in the same letter as 'summary warrant etc etc'. But I suspect it just means that BCW themselves have kind of got around to kind of thinking that it's maybe time to threaten you with sending round one of their guys to have a chat :rolleyes: (which is about as much as he can legally do, and you're under no obligation to talk to him).

In Scotland, a creditor can't come into your home and take things unless they have an exceptional attachment order. A (normal) attachment order allows them to seize goods which you own, but are kept outside your home - eg in a garage, driveway, building used for a business etc.

A creditor has to get either of these orders from the sheriff. And they have to go through quite a lot of hoops before they can get an exceptional attachment order - including sending you a copy of the Scottish Government's Advice and Information Package (DAIP).

The bottom line is that, even if they do have an exceptional attachmentorder, they can only take non-essential items.

Add to that the fact that there are so many changes to the law in Scotland since 1 April 2008, and you can also hit them with this beauty which I just discovered tonight through the wonders of google :

http://www.aib.gov.uk/MainNav/Services/dilligence/CurrentChanges/Attachment

The last paragraph makes it quite clear that BCW, even if they do have a summary warrant (not yet served - tut tut, BCW :rolleyes: ), they need to also get a charge for payment before they can even consider going for an attachment order, much less actually taking your stuff.

So if they're implying anything different to that, they're breaching the Office of Fair Trading's guidelines on debt collection - and they clearly have some training issues when it comes to current Scottish law...

Wouldn't you like to point that out to them?

(Sorry for the bold - cut and paste problems! )

HTH

coolcait

Financial_Pain wrote: »

<<snip>>

1) I have council tax arrears at this address.......am here 2 yrs and now owe approx. £700........girl in c tax office gave me that balance over phone today. How do I include this in my BR ? Do I just state the reference no. and say what the balance is as I know it just before I fill in my application??

2) also........social fund crisis and budgeting loans.......do I need reference no`s for these or will they go through alright on the BR as per my N.I. number. And, how do I state the balances on the form?........just get a balance over phone for each right before filling form and state that balance??

Blimey........this all seems like a lot of preparation, but if all goes according to plan........will be well worth it to be debt free.

FP

Hiya again, FP

It sounds like you've come a very long way in a very short time - that's brilliant!

Broken record again (sorry ) but your local CAB might be able to help with form filling and stuff.

My on and off OH (don't ask - not relevant to the forum, apart from explaining why I sometimes talk about OH and other times ex-OH ) went bankrupt under LILA not long after it started. I'm pretty sure that he could only have given 'best guess' amounts for his debts, because I think he'd just been throwing a lot of letters and stuff away, so couldn't have had any real idea of his debts.

As far as I know, the Accountant in Bankruptcy just wrote to his creditors letting them know that he was bankrupt - I don't think the actual amounts came into it.

Sorry, I know that's all a bit vague (communication issues :rolleyes: ). But, I am 99.9% sure that I would have become involved if there had been direct questions about balances. That's how I found out about it in the first place...