Blair Oliver Scott - HELP!!

Marthasdad

Hi,

It's been a while since I've been on here as (thanks largely to help from you good people) I have been managing my debts really well in recent months.

However, I now have a problem and hope someone can help!!?

Around 3 years ago, I was made redundant and struggled to keep up with all the payments for stupid debts I had built up on credit cards etc. Recognising the problem I have been paying various amoun ts to DCAs and have been managing fine.

One of these was for a Halifax credit card and the account was placed with Blair Oliver Scott (who I believe are Bank of Scotland anyway) - I paid off a lump sum from some of my redundancy money and made an arrangement to pay £100 per month via Standing Order - I have been paying this amount religiously for 3 years and have never missed a payment. I received a letter from them a week ago saying my account was due for review and I should call them to discuss increasing my payments - I had not got around to responding (I have been busy working!) and I then received a phone call yesterday (Sunday!) afternoon from a surly, patronising person from BOS saying that I had to agree to increasing my payments, or my account would be passed on and interest charges would be added, the account would then be "out of his hands". I stated to him that I could not afford to increase my payments and that I have 2 children under 2 years old and my income is the only income in the house. I made clear that I would continue to pay the £100 per month, but I cannot afford to increase them. He then asked if I could just up them by £10 per month - it then became clear that his target in his job is to get increases in payments, regardless of ability to pay! He became very short with me and kept saying "the rules are that your account is to be reviewed every 6 months and an increase in payments is required"!

Can someone please help me - I am unsure what to do? I probably could squeeze £10 per month, but this will squeeze my finances even more in these hard times. They will not take account of the fact that I have paid the £100 per month on time every month. I don't want to send them a SOA as it's none of their business and I don't want some numpty trying to tell me I should spend £10 less a month on food & clothes for my kids, just so he can meet his targets!

Surely if I am keeping to the arrangement that should be enough? I am so angry about this and I want to give them a hard time, but I'm not sure where to start.

Any advice gratefully received.

Thanks

Broken_hearted

Don't increase your payments, redo you SOA and make sure you can afford the payments you are on now. Every time they review our account I reduced the payments till now we are paying £1 a month and they havn't called in months. Hate Halifax more than any other creditor.
Make sure you include all essentials at reasonable amounts, as long as you are trying your best there is little they can do.

Marthasdad

Thanks Broken Hearted - How should I communicate with them though? I don't want to send them my SOA for reasons outlined in my original post?

phil80

Make all communications in writing and if they agree to anything make sure that they put it in writing also so you have it for your records

Broken_hearted

You have no choice as it is their business what you can afford to pay.

stapeley

Continue to pay what you are paying now . IF and it is a very big if , they took you to court a Judge will see making a very good effort to pay your debt . They are not best pleased with these sort of demands from creditors .
Write to them and ask for no more contact by phone and that YOU have reviewed your situation and that you will be endeavoring to keep payment at the existing level . I personally would also add a footnote requesting true signed copy of the Consumer Credit Agreement , only costs a £1 . If they can not find one , you will find the will be happy to recieve any amount you want to pay .

Marthasdad

Thanks Stapeley (sorry, I've been offline for a week).

I got another call from them yesterday and (surprise surprise) the woman I spoke to said she had no record of the call the week before!!!

I've just written the attached - can anyone advise if this looks OK?

Thanks.

Dear Sir/Madam,

I write with reference to your recent correspondence regarding the review of the payment arrangement on the above account.

I was also telephoned by one of your staff last Sunday (7th December) at 1pm, where I explained that I was not in a position to increase my payments above the current £100 per month – the person I spoke to became very aggressive towards me and told me I would have to pay extra, or the debt would be passed to someone else and this would have consequences (he would not explain what these were). I told him that I would write to confirm I could not increase my payments and that any further communication must be by letter, not by telephone.

I then received another telephone call yesterday (14th December) at the same time and the person stated that there was no record of the call last Sunday – I explained the above to her and told her I would find the time to write to you today.

I have reviewed my finances and have no spare income with which to increase my payments at this time. I have 2 young children and my income is the only income in the household. I have maintained payments to you at a level of £100 per month and have never missed a payment, neither have I been late with payment (except I recall on 1 occasion and this was made up immediately). I tried to explain to the gentleman I spoke to on 7th December that I cannot and will not agree to payments that I am unable to afford, however, he showed no regard for my ability to pay and was simply targeted on getting some sort of increase.

I will endeavour to maintain the agreed payments of £100 per month until such a time as my income enables me to increase them.

Furthermore, I now formally request in writing that any further correspondence must be conducted by letter – I will not discuss this over the telephone, as it is clear (from the conversation I had with your representative on 7th December) that full and accurate records of telephone conversations are not kept and the explanation of my circumstances at that time were not recorded or considered.

I trust that the above will be implemented and I look forward to your written confirmation of this.

Yours Faithfully.

Broken_hearted

stapeley wrote: »

Continue to pay what you are paying now . IF and it is a very big if , they took you to court a Judge will see making a very good effort to pay your debt . They are not best pleased with these sort of demands from creditors .
Write to them and ask for no more contact by phone and that YOU have reviewed your situation and that you will be endeavoring to keep payment at the existing level . I personally would also add a footnote requesting true signed copy of the Consumer Credit Agreement , only costs a £1 . If they can not find one , you will find the will be happy to recieve any amount you want to pay .

Some bad advice in there, they are well within their rights to ask for a SOA to prove you are a paying what you can. A judge would question why you refused to co-operate. There are very strict guidelines on the amount you need to live on and the DCA cannot make you live on less than this.
The good advice is to keep it in writing.

At the moment Blair Oliver Scott (Halifax, BOS they are all the same company) are selling off most of their bad debt so you may find its already in the process of being moved over.

Jesthar

BH - I don't think stapeley mentioned the SOA, only for the OP to make sure they carried on paying so as to remain in a judge' good books it things ever came to that. Reading the opening post, I'm not even sure that one has been requested, as that was not specifically stated, only that the OP didn't want to send one.

Marthasdad, not my specialist subject, but a couple of thoughts

I will endeavour to maintain the agreed payments of £100 per month until such a time as my income enables me to increase them.

Fair enough, I'm just not sure I'd want to mention incresing payments at all, just in case! Mainly personal preference on my part, though, I suspect, and I'd take others advice over mine (I'm a MFW, not a DFW ).

Furthermore, I now formally request in writing that any further correspondence must be conducted by letter – I will not discuss this over the telephone, as it is clear (from the conversation I had with your representative on 7th December) that full and accurate records of telephone conversations are not kept and the explanation of my circumstances at that time were not recorded or considered.

Should this be 14th December?

~Jes

Marthasdad

Thanks Jes - they haven't requested an SOA - my main worry is that I still bank with HBOS and, when I got made redundant a couple of years ago (at the time I was stupidly running up debts) they went into my bank account and took all my redundancy payout!! I argued with them and they paid some back to enable me to live for a few months, but it still cleared a big chunk off the balance.

I'm worried that they will just take a load of money out just after I get paid and leave me with nothing for the month - I don't htink i can get an account anywhere else as I've got a terrible credit rating due to the aforementioned stupidity!

Any advice?

Broken_hearted

Fair enough, have had enough dealings with them to know this course of action will only lead to more stress but it's up to the OP how they handle it.