Advice needed Please how to deal with debt collectors

purpleflowers01

Hello not sure if this is the correct place for this message so forgive me if it is not

Back in 1999 i was very ill and unable to work, it took a long time to be diagnosed and for benefits to be issued my husband gave up work and became my full time carer - well in the time it took to sort out all the benefits we wound up with some debt (we both worked full time before i was ill and had loans credit cards etc)

Anyway i am now registered disabled we receive income support and dla and my husband is my full time carer and we have managed to pay some of our debts of but still have a few outstanding one in particular was an unotherised overdraft with tsb about £1200 - it was mainly charges! but from 1999!

A company called EVERSHEDS has bought the debt and is really hassling us to increase our monthly payments, today for instance they have telephoned twice and we had a letter in the post - they are rude and really make my husbands life hell we pay them £5 a month as we are on income support we have sent them finacial details and yet they still keep phoning

I can continue with the £5 but cannot increase it at all but they will not accept this

what are my rights ?

can i tell them to stop phoning me?
Can we ask them to take us to court for a ccj - we already have some and since having them the creditors do not hassle us?
we have not missed any payments and have proof of all payments sent
can i complain to someone about how much they keep hassling us so far this week we have had 4 telephone calls and 2 letters and it is only tuesday!
please help all advice very welcome

I am not looking to get out of the debt even tho it is 90% chargers but just want to have a payment plan and for them not to hassle my poor husband

Thank you

fatbelly

Hi

First thought - did this debt ever have a six-year period when no payments were made and no written acknwledgement?

If so, it is statute barred, cannot be enforced in court and any payments you choose to make are voluntary.

Next thought - have you asked CCCS/Payplan/CAB to set up a plan for you on all your debts?

Third - you can complain and write letters about harassment but often it is simpler to change your phone number.

Miss_Piggy_2

Hi there

Firstly I would write to them asking them to contact you only by writing. As Fatbelly says, changing your phone number might be a good idea!

Secondly, why not speak to the CAB or CCCS. That way, if they set up a DMP you can forward all correspondance on to them to deal with.

Good luck

Miss P
xx

GeorgeUK

Also, depending on whether you are in Scotland or England, you may be able to recalim the charges for the last 5/6 years. There is some debate as to whether you can actually reclaim charges as far back as 20 years in Scotland, but i don't know enough about that to comment.

To stop the telephone calls, you could send one of these letters
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=11571485&postcount=5
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=14588705&postcount=10

You could ask them to take you to court, but i'm not sure if they would.
There is a letter from the national debtline for this.

Dear Sir/Madam

Acc/Ref No xxxxxx

Thank you for your letter of xx-xx-xxxx. We are very disappointed that we seem unable to reach a satisfactory compromise in this case. As we have already explained, we can only afford £x per month at the present time,
and we feel that it is pointless paying this amount to you only to see the debt increase {if interest is still being added}. We invite you therefore to sue us for the debt, when we shall have the opportunity of offering £x per month through the courts.

In addition, once judgment is granted we understand that further interest will be suspended in any event {If applicable}. It seems that we can only achieve a reasonable outcome to this matter by allowing the courts to decide, although this will involve us both in extra expense and time wasted with court proceedings.

The offer of £x per month {plus suspension of interest} is of course still open to you to accept.

Yours faithfully

Not sure how long ago the charges went onto the account, but this may be worth looking at - for all your accounts.
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/

purpleflowers01

Thank you for your advice we receievd a further telephone call at 8.40 this morning
so far this week 5 telephone calls and 2 letter and it is Wednesday

Why do they have to make you feel so small and degraded and suicidal:mad: ????

Does anyone know can we ask that they take us to court? its just we have never had an hassle from the people we pay out ccj to!

There was a break in the money being pursued but i think it was only about 18months when a older collection agency went out of business and sent back all our payments

I really am greatful for any advice
Thank you for your time
x


Thank you George UK our posts must have overcrossed i will send that letter and see what happens Thank you all

GeorgeUK

Are any of your debts (that are not CCJ's) for loans or creditcards? (not overdrafts)

You could try requesting a copy of the customer credit agreement (CCA) and seeing if the debt is enforcable or not. If the credit agreement was signed before 6th April 2007, it must contain certain terms for it to be enforcable. If the company trying to collect the debt are unable to provide a copy of the CCA within 12+2 working days or it does not have all the prescribed terms, then the debt may be unenforcable.

Details: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=578486
Template: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=11636295#post11636295

Jesthar

Hi, purple, and welcome

Just thought I'd mention that it would be a good idea to keep a detailed log of all calls received - when they call, what they said, threats made etc. If you can record the calls, even better - you can take great pleasure in telling them this at the start of each call, as they very often like to tell the most outrageous lies in the name of extortion.

And yes, you can request that they stop phoning you and only deal with you by letter - there is a template letter for that somewhere too (anyone? You think I'd remember where it was by now! ). If you send that letter and they don't stop calling, you can then report them and get them into a nice heap of trouble.

George is right about the charges, too - you can reclaim any applied to your credit cards/bank accounts in the last 6 years (5 in Scotland).

*hugs*

~Jes

fatbelly

When you dial 1471 does it reveal a phone number? If so, the BT service 'choose to refuse' can block it.

If it doesn't, then 'anonymous call blocking' can block it. However, both these services cost money, so a blunt letter then a change of number if that doesn't work, might be cheaper.

You can of course call their bluff by saying 'accept £5 per month or chance it at court' but you should know that many courts/judges would not accept £5 per month against a £1200 debt.

If you are a homeowner then I would definitely not recommend inviting court action.

purpleflowers01

Thank you all

I don't own my own home or have anything of value I have a CCJ for £1400 which I pay £1 a month

But thankfully after a telephone call at lunch time i requested they took my number from their system and deal with me via letter and so far today no more calls - I have put together a letter using the advice /templates given and will post it tomorrow with proof of benefits etc

All your advice has been very helpful, hopefully they will stop harrassing me i did think when i send the monthly postal order i will now include a copy of my benefits letter and each month tell them my circumstances haven't changed and that way they should have no reason to contact me at all

I do keep a log of all calls and keep the lettters and take names and have a specal file just for this and have proof of payments sent too as they are very good at saying they haven't recieved this months payment arghhhh:mad: I would suggest anyone keep a good record of details/calls letters as its always good to use in cases of queries

Thank you all again -