Moorcroft Chasing me after not hearing anything for 4 years!!!

mahon84

Hi Four years ago being young i got myself several debts adding up to around £4000 I got myself a second jobs and paid all of these off except for one my orange phone bill. I had contacted orange to pay it all off but they always told me no they did not have any account for me they would chase it up and get back to me this happened alot in the end i gave up and just left it as that. Now four years on I have had a letter from a company called moorcroft who have brought the debt from orange saying that they have only just found me at my new address and that i owe them £450 and it is to be paid by the end of the week if not they will take me to court. I am confused as no one wanted me to pay this bill at the time and now 4 years after they want it can they do this and expect me to pay this all off in a few days?

mandi

Hi

Firstly DO NOT CALL them , if you do they will take that as you admitting liability

Secondly they cant froce you to pay be the end of the week .. and they WILL NOT take you to court if you dont
Moorcroft , along with Red, Hamptons, Lowells are Nasty debit collection agencys , who buy old debits, then scare the life out of people, with threats of repossesion , baliffs, and " attachment " to earnings, none of which they can do , unless the matter goers to court...


You should contact http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/.. for some free , confidential ,expert advice.


Dont let this letter worry , you Mahon ..:D

Jesthar

Hi mahon,

First off, don't panic! Moorcroft are some of the worst bullies around, even for debt collection agencies, and this sounds like their standard opening gambit to try and extort money out of you. They will basically threaten all sorts of outrageous things to try and coerce you into parting with your cash, but there are things you can do.

1. DON'T CALL THEM! I bet the letter asked you to phone them ASAP to discuss this, right? Well, don't. EVER. Their telephone bullying is worse than their letters, and once they have your number they will hound you as much as they can - so never give them a contact number either, no matter how much they threaten!

2. DON'T give them anything with your signature one, EVER. Some of these companies have been known to forge 'original' documentation after obtaining signatures. If you write to them, DON'T sign your name, only print or type it.

3. Find the template letters somewhere around here and send the one requesting a copy of the Consumer Credit Agreement (CCA) for your account debt. Send it by registered/recorded delivery (can't remember which is cheapest!:o) so they can't deny receiving it. If they can't produce that (and they often can't), they cannot legally chase you for the money.

I'm sure other, more knowledgeable people will be along to give more detailed advice soon.

~Jes

Mrs_Jones22

Hiya, wondering if anyone can help me also with these people.

2-3 years ago i lost my mobile phone and a bill of over £1,000 was run up on premium tel numbers, then with remainder of term on the account the bill was over £1,200.

The mobile company would not accept my offer of payment therefore sent it to Moorcroft,

Since then they have changed my payment dates, refused to allow me to set up a standing order as the initial payments were under £15, and they advised would only accept a SO for £15 or above.

Any way over the years the payments have increased to £15 a month, i have never missed a payment, i think twice maybe tree times i have been late, once when my Mum died i was a month late as it was around the due date for the payment she died others have been by 2-3 days maximum.

I have always made payments never missed one, and i have now gone into full time education.

I made an offer of a settlement of £250 failing this being accepted i could only now afford to make a minimum £2 a month until i was out of full education. ( trying to better myself)

I do not know if student loans or bursarys can be included in my incomings but when i sent the letter of the offer, which was sent by recorded delivery i included my bursary and my part time job, which after my bills were paid travel etc i was actually in debit by approx £150 a month.

After hearing nothing from them i rang this morning to see if they had got my letter as id not heard anything from them. They advised that had sent me a reply stating this was not acceptable, when asking which offer she stated both and that as i had no kids and lived on my own i am still lialbe for the £15 a month payment. She was asking me about my student loans which i think cannot be classed as an income as are repayable, my bursarys and wages i included in the letter, which she then said i had to send a financial statement to them, which grrrr i had just done in October.

I said i could not afford the £15 a month and that is why i sent them a letter, i said i will pay the £2 over the phone on the 25th or day or so after, in which she replied , due to you being late paying in june (was a couple of days) ''we have changed your due date to the £25th and we will refuse to take your payment of £2 over the phone and if you send it in to us'' (these payments could of been made on time but were late as they have refused to let me set up a SO for this amount)

Previously i have had leters from them saying they are putting my payments up, ive had to write to them to say i cant afford it and sent in finacial information about my imcome and they have kept it at the £15.

Has anyone got any info link, or anything they can send me so i can print it out about my student loans, bursarys or any advice as she said they will leave it up to the courts to decide.

i did say that i have never missed a payment i owe just about £635 from over £1,200 and she stated that this wouldnt make a difference and this was the reason they couldnt understand why i needed to lower my payments , which i replied becuase i have gone into full time education!!!

Any help would be great first time ive asked for advice on here and see that you are great at this.

Mrs J xx

pepe2008

Mrs Jones,
Stick to your guns, re-send them the financial info ( in the same form as thesoa on here ) tell them that you are doing all that you can to repay the debt, point out that you have already paid over 50% of the original debt back and that, as soon as your financial position improves, then so will your payments.
Is there any way that you could raise a small lump sum, say £200/£150 to offer as a Full and Final as thi would be a good time to do so.

edit. Basically, make your story one that would look good if you had to go to Court,, not that that is v likely, but if they can see that it would stand up in Court then they are more likely to take your offer.

Mrs_Jones22

pepe2008 wrote: »

Mrs Jones,
Stick to your guns, re-send them the financial info ( in the same form as thesoa on here ) tell them that you are doing all that you can to repay the debt, point out that you have already paid over 50% of the original debt back and that, as soon as your financial position improves, then so will your payments.
Is there any way that you could raise a small lump sum, say £200/£150 to offer as a Full and Final as thi would be a good time to do so.

edit. Basically, make your story one that would look good if you had to go to Court,, not that that is v likely, but if they can see that it would stand up in Court then they are more likely to take your offer.

Hiya thanks for your reply

i did offer a full settlement of £250 which was refused or a £2 minimum payment per month if it was not accepted due to my circumstances.

they are being very bullying and i have never been in a situation like this before so as you can imagine its quite scary being spoken too like this.

I cannot afford to pay the £15 they are asking for and if they refuse my payment of £2 when i call on Tuesday i dont know what else to do as i will then be in ''default'' and this would not look good to a court.

I think i will send them another letter and request a copy of the letter they state was sent to me on the 22nd of October and i did not recieve and also i am going to ask for a copy of my CCA as i have been reading this site for the last 2 hours for advice.