ARC (Europe) Ltd (Debt Managment)

banzai

Apologies if this has been posted in the wrong forum, or if it hasn't then i take that back...but....

Has anyone had any dealings with these people?? They are by far the worse people i have ever had to deal with, their customer service is terrible and they seem to be more interested in collecting their commision than actually helping anyone on the other end of the telephone!!!

I owe approximately 2/3 months membership to Holmes Place.. which i have advised them i was unable to pay due to being unemployed... they then decided that that wasn't good enough and passed my account onto ARC credit managment (:mad: )! Who appear to think they can just add on whatever they want to my account, despite the fact i've told them i'm unemployed and am having trouble with getting my JSA claim.. They have set up an arrangement with me with the first payment starting on the 25th of may. I rang today to inform them that it looks like I can't make the payment as my JSA claim doesnt' seem to have come through.. Their response!!?? "Oh well, you'll just have to borrow the money of somebody", At this I advised the guy that I wouldn't be able to do that because I already owe enough money.. and he said well theres nothing we can do, if you miss the payment we'll continue adding charges!?!

Is this even legal.. looking at the recent posts about bank charges etc.. surely any credit company are bound by the consumer credit act and hence unable to add any charges they want? I was prepared to go mad at the guy, but i thought it pointless unless i had more information to back it up!

Besides the point.. this ARC company looks like some kind of fly-by-night, 2 bit operation.. their letterhead looks like something that has been thrown together in 15 minutes! Using my better judgement.. i might even say that this company is more than likely an internal debt collection department within Holmes Place, which has been registered as a company!

Up until recent my finances were all fine, I actually worked for a debt managment company, and although in debt I was able to keep paying this as I was regularly earning. I left the job however due to depression and family troubles, meaning i couldn't really cope at work anymore. Since then i have been unable to stay in the jobs that i have been given.. and i am thinking of possibly seeing a doctor about this. although I believe it to be possibly linked to the types of jobs i've been getting (office based admin work), which i don't believe is the right type of work for me!

Any advice on my present situation with ARC and my general Situation overall?? I'm planning on speaking to CAB to try sort out something with my creditors, as a kind lady at the halifax advised me!

I don't really want CCJs on my credit score..

banzai

ok....

Since no one has any advice on my ARC situation.. would anyone be able to help me with this?

As I am now unemployed I will be unable to make regular payments to any of my creditors.. I have been advised by someone that the best option is to make offers of £1 per month to the companies that i owe money temporarily until I can get a job.

The reason the offer will be so low is due to the fact that I have to pay my parents housekeeping money every month to ensure that i have somewhere to live.. now and this value is basically more than my monthly JSA is!! however they are willing to accept the lower payment whilst I am jobless.. the problem being that this leave me with no money at all to pay anyone else.. in my opinion it is prioity to give them the housekeeping money.. as I don't want to be kicked out.

Does anybody know of any letter templates that could help?

mattp_3

There is a useful guide on the Payplan website here:

http://www.payplan.com/debt-library/budgeting-self-help-pack.php

it gives you letter templates and helpful tips and advice on how to deal with the creditors whilst offering them £1per month each.

Good Luck

lynzpower

Banzai
Sorry to hear of your situation.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news My feeling is is if you left your job then you wont get JSA. Or have you heard differently? I really am not an expert on JSA rules though. You need to check with he DWP, as you may need to apply for something else instead. In any case I als othink you can work up to 16 hours a week and keep JSA, check the rules on this. If your illness makes it impossible to work, find out about income support or incapacity benefit.

As I understand it, you MAY be able to apply for housing benefit if you are living at your parents, if they are in reciept of any benefits. Again, not an expert, but do check this out.

If you wanted to pop up up a SOA, then we can have a look, someone will be along soon to let you know about how to do letters to creditors, Ive never needed to do one (yet!)

All the best & stick with us
Lynz
x

C_Ronaldo

imo thats unfair, to keep on putting charges onto your account when your out of a job,

Broken_hearted

They sound like Halifax.

Xbigman

If you live with parents you normally can't claim any housing benefit. Its also worth knowing that the amount of JSA is set on the basis of you spending about £20 on utilities + about £18 on food. The rest is for clothing, travel and general expences. If you are giving your parents all your JSA then you are giving them too much in relation to what it is set at. I say this because you need to look at other options, such as telling the council your parents are throwing you out and you need housing. This will mean bed and breakfast accommodation initially but at least you will get the full range of benefits available. There is a benefits board on MSE that would be a better place to get advice on this subject.

As for your debts. Send all your creditors a statement saying you have zero income and can pay nothing. They won't like it but they really can't do much at the moment. Many of them will start adding charges. You should dispute these charges in writing (recorded delivery) for now but they will probably keep adding them on. This will turn into a long process of them adding more and you disputing them again and again. If they insist on trying to collect these charges it will end in court where you can ask the judge to remove the charges as unreasonable and unenforcable, as they are a penalty and not a charge. What happens then is up to the judge but you should get at least some of them removed. You should also get them to communicate with you in writing only. Send them a separate letter about this recorded delivery stating you will communicate with them in writing only and will not discuss this on the phone any more. Then keep a record of every time they call you. If it continues after a few weeks you can complain to the office of fair trading.
Regards




X

banzai

Last time i got JSA i left the job and it was something like £90 per fortnight, this was actually a temp job and the contract ended anyway.. so hopefully that shouldn't affect it.

The reason i have to pay all that money to my parents isn't because they are mean, its basically because one of my parents are retired and the other not able to work, this makes it difficult.. because in effect i am the sole income of the house! The main reason i pay this keep to them is because i'm living here basically rent free and with free internet, free TV etc. As well as being fed by them, if i can't pay its going to put them in quite bad financial difficulty, and if i leave home. the result will be the same, so i don't really want to go down that route. I only intend to be on JSA for a short period anyway, so hopefully I will find a better job soon!

banzai

What I have done so far today:
Sent out complaint letter to ARC in relation to customer service and addition unfair charges, which i advised would potentially fall under the consumer credit act (unfair contracts section). I have also noticed that they have added a cancellation charge, I have asked to be broken down exactly what has contributed to this charge (as in cost to them) and why this charge has been applied unfairly. I advised that simply because they write it into their terms and conditions does not make it a fair or legal charge.

Other than that i have advised all creditors of my financial status by letter along with a copy of my current budget and asked that they recieve 0 payment temporarily to be reviewed in 6 months!

Hopefully this will stop action temporarily!