phoning DCA - advice?

emma126

hi and sorry for the million questions, but i have been ignoring my post for so long and really need to get things sorted as have finally realised that i am not going to discover five thousand pounds on my doorstep any time soon!

moorcroft have been sending me letters for ages, ive written to them with an offer of payment but theyve completely ignored it. i didnt send it special delivery, so my fault there i guess!

one of the letters they sent me said they would accept payments of £40 a month (debt is 500 and something), which i cant afford so have written and offered them £20 per month.

Ive got a letter now from their "home collections department" (why do i get the feeling that this is not an actual dept and just a header on the letter to frighten me? lol) saying that if i dont contact them by 10am tomorrow that they MAY send someone round.

I dont want to waste my time and money by writing to them again, so Im going to phone them. but i am sooo scared!! what should i be prepared for? I know they wont be happy with my offer of £20 per month, but its what I can afford, they wont refuse to take a payment that is less than the £40 will they? Can they still take action if I only pay the £20?

sorry for all the questions, i have about a hundred more but dont want to flood the board with them!

emma x

GeorgeUK

Put all your questions on this thread and we'll go through them.

I would advise NOT to phone the DCA. Alot of the time they will say things and threaten things that they would never put in writing. Also once you phone them, they will have your phone number and probably call you all the time.

Has there been a period of 6 years (5 in Scotland) where you have made no payments towards the debt? If so, the debt may be statute barred.

Are there any penalty charges that you can claim back from the original creditor?

Although they may not be happy to accept £20, i'm sure they won't send the money back. I'd make this payment (only if you can afford it) so that if it ever goes to court you can show you have tried to make payments and it's the DCA that's been faffing around.

emma126

thanks for that, I didnt think about theym getting my number when I called them!

Would it be better for me to send a special delivery with a postal order for £20? I do not have a bank account to be able to make payments by cheque (or even debit card over the phone, Ive written to them and asked that they tell me how to make payments but been ignored). Ill just send the letter I sent the last time, and Im sure ive seen a template on here about doorstep collection thingies.

Also, I had a letter from someone called Debt Managers Ltd a few weeks ago saying they are collecting on behalf of Npower, wanting £185. When I left Npower, I didnt open all of my post from them, but the ones I did open were for £70.79, so couldnt understand where this £185 had come from - especially as the smaller debt had been passed on to wescot (have now paid this off), wouldnt Npower sell the whole amount to one DCA? Maybe some of my unopened mail has been for £185, but thats a pretty big coincidence! I didnt get round to replying to the first letter and then got a pretty strongly worded "amount to be sued" letter from them this week. I am worried that if i dispute this payment that they will take further action as i havent made a payment. also have no idea how to dispute it!

I paid my wescot balance in full yesterday online. I got a confirmation number etc, but would it be worth calling them to check that they have received the payment and the account is closed?

thank you

emma126

oh, and the debt (none of them!) are statute barred, unfortunately!

blind-as-a-bat_2

who are moorcroft chaseing the money for? Do you know if they are just acting as a agent for the creditor? (most likely)

I agree with GeorgeUK, phoning them is pointless, they will just try to scare you into paying more, then deny that you rang at all.

Keep everything in writing, sent by recorded deliver, so they cant deny anything.

If they are only acting as agents, they legaly have no power to do anything;)

GeorgeUK

It might be worth posting up a statement of affairs so we can see if there are any savings that can be made from your expenditure. At the end of this, list the debts that you are being pursued for and who is chasing you for payment.

Before any payment is made, we first need to know that the debt is owed. Have they provided any proof or details of the debt owed? Statements, period debt covers etc?

emma126

ok, ive found an Npower bill for £185, how dim am i?

none of the DCA have ever sent proof of the debt, although I know that I definately do owe it, do they still need to give me proof?

emma126

blind-as-a-bat wrote: »

who are moorcroft chaseing the money for? Do you know if they are just acting as a agent for the creditor? (most likely)
If they are only acting as agents, they legaly have no power to do anything;)

moorcroft are acting for E-on (gosh, it sounds like ive never paid a gas/electric bill in my life, doesnt it? lol) i dont know if they are acting as an agent, is there any way to find out?

I think they must have bought the debt though, a while back i was being chased by e-on's in house debt collecters, then moorcroft started sending me letters.

GeorgeUK

The proof was jsut to make sure it was your debt. It has been known for DCA's to request payment from someone with the same name and not care if it was their debt or not.

If you can't pay the full amount, would it be possible to offer a reduced full and final settlement?
You may be able to get a bit knocked off the bill.

emma126

no, not with the moorcroft one, ill have to pay them off monthly for now. I'm going to send them a postal order this afternoon but their letters dont mention who to make cheques/POs out to! should i just make it out to moorcroft debt recovery do you think?

cheers

GeorgeUK

I think that would be okay.
They'll probably huff and puff, but as long as they're getting paid, you've done all you can.