BPO debt collectors giving me hassle

emmagerrie

I'm on benefits and had my house repossesed. I had a debt with virgin media that went to BPO. We arranged to pay £5 pw. The debt is arount £500. Everything has been fine for about 6 months, just paying £5pw. They have phoned me today demanding £10 or more per week. I told them this is impossible, we are on benefits with 2 children and alot of other debt that we are paying off.
Other debt companies have accepted payment of £1-2 per month, being repayed by 2030. which is great and they dont moan. BPO have said that we have paid one off payments of £20 and £40, so why cant we pay these amounts on a weekly basis.

I told them this was as we were waiting for benefits payments which made us go into arrears, so when we got the benefits backdated we then paid arrears on debts. They said that because we havent set up an official reapyament they can take us to court, which will add fees onto the accounts. which will no doubt be about what we have paid in our weekly payments and put us back to square 1.
Can they take us to court if we have been making regular payments of £5 per week?
should we continue to pay them?
I was argueing with them for ages on the phone about our situationa nd that if they take it to court it will add fees and the court will accept £2 a week so virgin will be better off keeping our arrangement.
I feel i am fighting a losing battle with this debt and end up soooo angry and in tears everytime i speak to them. Wescot are always so helpful. please help!!!ime today, i wanna SCREAM. what shall i do? what steps should i take?:mad:
they phoned for the 4th t

russt2000

HI, first thing is these debt companies will make an agreement ,then after a certain time try to get you to up the payment...
they care little for you circumastances. I would stop speaking to them on the phone , make them write to you so ,you have arecord of what they are saying, you too keep a record /log of all calls and letters they send ,incase it turns more in to a harrassment case.
If you are paying regular ammounts to your creditors,due to your situation, if you have some extra now and again, put it to one side and build up a reserve, for either yourselves or towards paying one off in full at some point. if you owe them 500 after a while they may accept maybe half or two thirds as a full and final offer. Dont waste your time on the phone, tell them to write ,for your peace of mind. it is doubtful they would even try court for such a small debt its just a threat. they send out the same letters over and over ,same as bailiffs they need a court order to do that , so if anybody came to your house tell them to leg it, you do not have to talk to them at all.

russ

Potplant_2

Firstly stop speaking to them on the phone. Demand that they remove your number from their computer and only deal with them by letter. This is a non-priority debt and that's why they try the heavy arm tactics and bullying. They know full well that even if they took you to court that a court is not going to set up a payment that you are unable to keep to and further more a court will look most unfavourably on a company that takes someone to court who has kept up regular payments. In fact if they went down that route they could well find that the court will wipe the debt completely.

I went through the same thing a couple of years ago. I was called 27 times in one day by one company and only stopped when I quoted harassment laws at them. Making them deal with you by letter rather than my phone gives you control. Ensure that all correspondence from you to them is sent by Recorded Delivery and stick to your guns about the amount you can pay. If they continue to give you grief go to the Citizens Advice Bureau and they will write a letter on your behalf.

Merlinexcalibur

Send all of your creditors/DCAs this letter. Yes, I know it will get ignored but not the point! It proves you have formally given them warning to stop harassing you in this way and if they ignore it (as they will) it will look bad on them later. If they continue to do so report them as per the letter:

Your Street
Town
City
Postcode
DATE HERE
Company Name
Road
Town
City / County
Postcode


Dear Sirs
Harassment by telephone

Account Number: XXXXXXX



I am writing in relation to the quantity and frequency of telephone calls that I have received from your company, which I deem to be personally harassing.



I have verbally requested that these stop, but I am still receiving calls. (Delete if necessary)
I now require all further correspondence from your company to be made in writing only.



I am of the view that your continued harassment of me by telephone puts you in breach of Section 40 of the Administration of Justice Act 1970, and the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.



If you continue to harass me by telephone, you will also be in breach of the Communications Act (2003) s.127 and I will report you to OFCOM, Trading Standards and The Office of Fair Trading, meaning that you will be liable to a substantial fine.



Be advised that any further telephone calls from your company will be recorded. (**Even if you don‘t yet have recording equipment!!**)

Yours faithfully,


[NAME HERE]

If I were you - up to you - I would also request your CCA off them. As that will give you much more leverage with them if they cannot provide one. Someone else will help with that.

aj2703

Merlinexcalibur wrote: »

Send all of your creditors/DCAs this letter. Yes, I know it will get ignored but not the point! It proves you have formally given them warning to stop harassing you in this way and if they ignore it (as they will) it will look bad on them later. If they continue to do so report them as per the letter:

If I were you - up to you - I would also request your CCA off them. As that will give you much more leverage with them if they cannot provide one. Someone else will help with that.

Don't forget to send it recorded so you have proof of delivery:D

emmagerrie

They called 3 times today, i told them to remove my phone numbers from there systems and to contact me via post, Her response was "Icant do that". She continued to harass me so i hung up and intend to hang straight up on any future calls without any conversation.thankyou very much for your responses. I will get letter sent. thanks guys:T

fatbelly

I've read your other thread and it's probably better that I respond here as the other one has been abandoned.

Instead of giving us little clues about your situation, why not post a statement of affairs using that calculator and formatting for mse.

Then perhaps we can help you to find a way forward that doesn't mean a 22-year plan!

flower_garden

First time on site and having a few gliches.
Started a thread before about virgin media but it was posted before finished.
Daughter upset today because having to downsize to a smaller house 2 months ago because of economic situ 1 wage coming in and they have a 3 year old and no other financial help.
Anyway they cancelled there basic phone package that they now consider a luxury before they moved and were assured they would get the final bill within 2 months at there new address.
Anyway she got the final bill 5 days ago and then today recieved a debt collection letter from that BPO for all the payment which i add is £123.00 thats it and she spoke on the phone and said to this person that she could not pay it all up front can she make installments as she did not expect a debt letter to come to her regarding payment straight away from this so called debt company when she had just got the bill.
This BPO has told her that they will not accept a small amount they are sending a collector round this week and they want full amount her partner only gets paid monthly.
She has never been in debt and was crying on the phone to me yet she is doing her utmost to sort it and they arent having it!!!!!
We live in another part of the country so i am looking up all the gen i can for them .Why do companies do things like this and yet people owe millions and as the average family finds out they are the ones that suffer and they are trying!!!! Sorry for the rant but Virgin Media and this Bpo so called debt company need to get REAL !!!