Moorcroft

Mrs_Jones22

Hiya, wondering if anyone can help me with these people. (don't know if this is the right section to post this)

ive put this on already as a reply to someone else having a prob with them but scared it might be missed, i am really scared and don't know what to do.

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.(because i didn't notify them straight away i am lialbe for the charges)

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 wouldn't 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

Mrs_Jones22

help lol:A

MyLastFiver

This is insane. You are paying £1200 of debt because you had your phone stolen by some scumbag?

Personally I would have refused to pay a penny and let them take me to court. Even though the debt was technically yours, the court may have forced the phone company to settle for a lower figure due to the theft/fraud aspect.

If £2 a month is all you can afford, then £2 a month is all they are entitled to receive. DO NOT SPEAK TO THEM ON THE PHONE ANYMORE. It doesn't do you any good and just allows them to intimidate and bully you into making higher payments.

My advice? Continue to pay the £2 per month. If they're not happy, they can take you to court. It's unlikely they will, because they know that if £2 per month is all you can afford, then the court will not order you to pay any more. Given that this debt was run up due to someone else's fraud, and that you have dilligently paid over half of it, the court may decide that enough is enough and consider the matter settled. Citizen's Advice would be able to give you some better-informed advice about this.

Good luck.

Mrs_Jones22

Thank you for your reply, I am going to ring up to make my £2 payment on Tuesday and record the call so if they do refuse to accept this then i have the proof if it does come to court that they have refused to take payments from me so it does not look like I have defaulted.

You are right about them being bully's even though I have explained the reason for the debt all I get is that its not there concern.. they just want the money.

I am going to send in postal orders if they refuse my payment and I am also going to send them a letter again to either accept the full and final settlement of £250(friend willing to lend me to get rid of them) or the £2 a month and if they refuse then I am going to invite them to take me to court.

I was reading the forum yesterday and I may ask for a copy of the CCA from them see what happens as you say I have paid every single month, and over half of a debt that wasn't mine.

I am going to ring the debt line the government one tomorrow and see what advice they can give me too.

I would really love to know if my student bursary's and loans are classed as income as i have openly told them about the bursary but not the loans as they are not an ''income''.

the reason i have been paying is because my mortgage deal is up in Aug next year so i don't want any further problems on my credit file, I am already paying over the odds for my interest rate due to this and want a decent rate this time, I'm worried about having going to court on my credit file or records.

Mrs_Jones22

Hiya.. i am after any advice as to what to do next after recieving this letter today.

I got one the other day saying more or less the same thing but not with the court information request on it.

They received my letter on the 1st of December, where i also asked for a copy of all data held by them, they have asked for me to send in some form of id for them to be able to provide me with this information..??


Here is a copy of the letter i got today so any advice on the next steps to take would be great.

[FONT=&quot]I refer to your recent correspondence. We are continuing to seek to obtain a copy of the Consumer Credit Agreement that you have requested. Our systems provide for reviews to be sent to our client on a regular basis and this we are continuing do. I will contact you again just as soon as the agreement has been made available to ourselves and confirm that at this stage the account has been placed on hold and that we will not seek to enforce the debt until such time as the agreement is obtained. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]In the meantime however we believe that it may be of assistance to all parties if we also take this opportunity to ensure that any potential areas of dispute are addressed prior to any possible court action or further investigation. Please could you give an indication of the information you will be providing, when giving evidence to the court or providing information to the relevant statutory authorities in relation to the alleged subject matter of the account. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Please could you provide this information by return. We believe that this is a simple request that will assist in ensuring that all possible areas of dispute are identified as quickly as possible and potential costs and delays kept to a minimum level. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Mrs ***** Operational Support Supervisor [/FONT]

RAS

Hi

Telephones are not generally covered by the Consumer Credit Act, which makes the whole letter quite bizarre. The rest is however identical to vast number of other computer generated letters posted up from Moorcroft and other agencies. Most other people post up Mrs whatsits name though. The idea is that you ring and it gives them another chance to bully you.

I think you need to start talking to Trading Standards, check whether you have any insurance for your mobile on which you can claim and learn about the OFT Guidelines for debt collection.

Mrs_Jones22

Hiya thanks for your reply, it was a credit agreement so it is covered I have checked this out as it was a 12 month contract and i was credit checked for it. I wasn't sure if I could post the persons name who sent the letter so I just blanked it out to be on the safe side.. it is Mrs K Murray.

Can you post any links where these letters have already been posted for further advice please.

Thanks in advance.

RAS

If it is covered great. My suggestion is that you just sit tight and after 12+2 days, send then a letter telling them you are

a) not paying any more (if you are already defaulted)
ARE PAYIGN £2 AS THAT IS WHAT YOU CAN AFFORD.

They will be in no position to argue.