want to cry .. bank taking me to court

vicki98_2

I've had so many problems with my old bank and now i just want to cry.

heres the situation:
bank od at £2568 & account closed by bank because of default (basically i didn't keep to terms because i paid nothing into account for 3 months) - this has been passed to DCA for full recovery who until this morning were quite helpful.
1st contact with them (before any court action) I explained my situation - that i'm a post grad student with no source of income and am looking desperately for full time work for when i complete course in May. At the time i was told to go to citizens advice and draw up a holding letter (telling them i cannot pay at present becasue of X Y Z and requesting they hold action on the account until my situation improved) - this I did

Today I received a letter reference court proceedings - I phoned them to again explain my situation and to tell them they should have received my letter by now, only to be told they can't hold action on the proceedings as Natwest wants their money back.
After stressing my situation again and again (fighting back tears at the same time) they suggested i ask my parents or partner to pay it for me (something i can't do as my partner has his own debt & my mum is poorly so i dont want her to even know about this debt let alone pay it)

I have offered them what (at a stretch) i may be able to afford - that being £5 a month until i am working but this got dismissed. I feel i have been fobbed off by them, the guy seemed in a major rush to get off the phone after i offered the fiver and just said 'oh well send us your incomings/outgoings and we'll see' so i asked if by doing this in the next 10 days, and by offering the most i can afford (£5) that court action would be put on hold - all he said before slamming the phone down was a patronising 'yeah yeah then we'll put it on hold'

can't believe they will hold action if i do this, i have done hat they told me all along yet they are still taking me to court. Just dont know what to do

Heres a brief SOA as it is for me at the minute.
Income: £20 per month for basic needs from mum
Outgoings: £20 per month spent on essentials
(rent: £255/council tax: £86/TV licence: £11/mobile phone £25/Gas: £25/Electric:£25 - all paid by partner)

Emmzi

Vicki,

(((((((((((((((hugs))))))))))))))

Have a cup of tea, sit down and write the letter later today. But do send it off today.

Emmzi

mom23

Hi Vicki
As Emmzi says sit down ,calm down and don't panic!!!
Def write the letter and post today!!(which you will be able to do better once you have calmed down!!)
Don't know much about these things but think you'll find it will cost them more at the end of the day to take it to court, than if they were to accept your payment!!
BIG(((HUGS)))

climbgirl

Don't worry too much about the threat of court action, most of the time it's exactly that - a threat. Even if it does actually get to court, no judge in the land is going to make you pay more than what you can realistically afford. They can't have what you haven't got, so don't worry about that side of things. I haven't had experience of this myself, but plenty of people who post on this board have and they all say similar things.

Make every effort you can to make token payments to them and to let them know that you're not working and that you are actively seeking work. If it does end up in court, the judge will see that you have been more than reasonable and have really tried on this. Doing nothing won't look good.

Not sure where you stand on the council tax, but don't let that slide into arrears - that's one debt that is pretty serious and it has bad consequences for non-payment. If you are having trouble, call the council asap to discuss it, don't just not pay it.

good luck.

Broken_hearted

Can you get to a natwest branch and speak to a real person who can't put the phone down on you and can sort out an agreement then and there. Natwest are usualy pretty good to deal with. So I think the letter was most likely to scare you (hugs cos it obviously worked).

jitsuguy

Don't worry about going to court. If all you can afford is £5 per month then that is all the court will make you pay! But do send the debt collection company a letter stating that you can only afford 5 per month and that you would like to set up a direct debit or a standing order to pay them this on a monthly basis. When you send the latter send a £5 cheque as well as a token payment. When you send the letter make sure you send it recorded delivery and get a signature.

This way when you go to court you will have proof that you tried to set up a payment plan. When you do go to court take all letters you have with you and present them to the judge.

Jitsuguy

MORPH3US

Is there no way you could get yourself a part time job?

Is there no "extreme circumstances" fund at your college / uni that you could get money from?

M

fannyadams

can you clim income support? or another benefit?

vicki98_2

thanks guys.. had a coffee and i've wrote a letter..

here goes:

Further to my letter dated 11/04/2006 and telephone conversation with yourselves earlier today, I write with offer of payment of £5.00 per month to be made with the attempt of clearing the above debt, and enclose payment to that amount within.

Also enclosed are current details of my income and expenditure. I am sure you will see from this that £5.00 is the absolute maximum I can afford at this moment in time, and trust you will accept this as a reasonable offer of payment, given my circumstances.

To reiterate previous communications with you, I am currently studying a post-graduate masters course, which I am due to complete in June of this year. The extensive research and voluntary placement, which have been necessary for completion of my studies, have resulted in both the loss of paid employment and the inability to begin paid employment at the present time. I am currently making every effort to find work that I can take up once my studies are complete, and intend to contact you again with a more substantial amount of payment, once this has been achieved.

I request that you accept this offer as reasonable and hold any further action on my account, suspending interest and other charges to prevent my indebtedness from increasing.

what do you think?

montycat_2

Go to the Citizens Advice bureau -They have excellent debt people who will action for you .
We have done that and ,it kept the beasties off our backs .We offered £5.00 a month for a debt of £10,000 and ,it was accepted .
Good luck to you

BlondeHeadOn

Good letter - I am sure they will have to look on you more reasonably after receiving this.

Has anyone else mentioned sending it recorded delivery? Just so you have proof you posted it, if they ever claim not to have received a copy.

Good luck, and loads of hugs.....

:grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug: