Moorcroft - Home visit

gjpollitt

Hi all

Got married end of last year. Wife has gotten herself into a bit of debt, total she owes is around £12000. She barely earns enough to pay her bills let alone her debt. 2 of her debts have been passed to Debt collection agencies which I only found out about last week.
I have negotiated paying £60 on a £250 debt which will be clear soon but another one £570 resulted in a visit from Moorcroft. I negotiated a monthly payment of £50 and the first was collected this week.

Questions, the total outstanding now is £520 so when this has been reduced to £0 will that be it or can I expect the outstanding balance to increase every month? The guy told me there are no charges or interest being added and gave me a payment card with the balance listed.
As the debt is now transferred to the agency do all payments have to be by a visit or can I contact the agency by phone and pay via card?
Am I liable for the debt now as well even though its not in my name? What would happen if bailiffs came to take things as most of the stuff in the house I bought?

Thanks
G

MCBIRNIE25

Hiya,
once paid, then that should be it. Just make sure that card does not go missing.
You can ring them and they will send you a payment book to pay over the counter in post office, or through your bank.

mrs_mix

I had dealings with moorcroft once (for my sins) the figure that is on the top of the card is it that will go down each month until zero it doesn't go up any more
pam

Wendy17

I would definately phone them. They say you have to pay them at the door but you don't. I think they want you to pay at the door because they get commission. That was the impression I got from the Moorcroft person that visited me.

The only thing I would say is that you is keep very detailed records of money you pay them. I didn't and then they told me I still owed them money. I knew I didn't but I couldn't prove it. Also get them to confirm in writing that the debt has been settled because they failed to do it with me and it sat on my credit file as outstanding and I had to chase them to get it off.

gjpollitt

Thanks for the fast replies
I have a payment card and will make sure I dont lose it

I have a few debts of my own which until now I have been able to keep up with the repayments. My wife spoke to a debt management company recently who advised we apply for an IVA. This, we were told, means that we can be debt free in 5years and pay a fixed sum with having some of the debt written off. As we are married we would have to do it jointly as my wife cant do it on her own. Also as her income is a lot lower than it used to be my income is being used to supplement both her bills and her debts so this IVA thingy sounds promising.

Anyone here have any experience of this? The company we have spoken to is Debt Busters. Are these reputable?

Next month I am going to have to start reducing what I pay each creditor as I have 2 sets of bills to pay! I will write/email them explaining the situation and see what happens.

Many thanks
G

file_wizzard

If you can, try to pay direct and not on the doorstep, is a pain to you, and also cash payments are never as tracable as a cheque or direct debit payment ( dont ever give them your debit / credit card details!

With regards to the IVA this may not be the best option, speak to pay plan or the CCCS to see if they can negotiagte a DMP on your behalf, they will not take a cut of what you pay, and your debt will be repaid a lot quicker, and with a lot less hassle, also they will deal with all your creditors directly so that you dont have to deal with doorstep visits Ect

lightatendoftunnel?

I have just come to an agreement with Moorcroft they sent me a payment book, but said if i want i can just phone up each month and use my solo card.

Mike_St_Helens

If you call payplan and tell them the situation (or your oh's) they could take care of the whole thing fopr you and you wouldnt even need to speak with them again.most of all they would be dealing with a great agency who have your best interests at heart !

file_wizzard

lightatendoftunnel? wrote:

I have just come to an agreement with Moorcroft they sent me a payment book, but said if i want i can just phone up each month and use my solo card.

Don’t risk it, have heard of many cases where they "accidentally" take additional payments from cards ( allegedly)

lightatendoftunnel?

file_wizzard wrote:

Don’t risk it, have heard of many cases where they "accidentally" take additional payments from cards ( allegedly)

Thanks for the tip, think i will stick to the payment book as its good evidence.

Wonder_Girl

Moorcroft are one of the "better" collections peeps, If they say they are not charging interest i would ask for this in writing, but to be honest i have never seen an account where they have charged it, at the end of the day they bought the debt from whoever for about 40-50% of it's value so they are already in the money.

You could do a joint IVA (cost around £9k) but to be honest i would want to find out a lot more from you before i would say it's a good idea, as to Debt Busters RUN AWAY!!!!

Have you worked out your SOA? what is your monthly surplus? what is your total debt between you? an IVA is a big step and isn't as straight forward as these TV ads would have you think.

Give CCCS a call and get an appointment with a counsellor. IF an IVA is the best solution for you you will be referred to a reputable company who will take you through the process. if a DMP would suit you better then they will negotiate with all your creditors on your behalf and pay them monthly, also a lot of creditors will freeze interest whilst you are on a DMP.

Also i would like to point out that bailiffs CAN NOT come to your home until firstly they have to get a CCJ, you then fail to keep up with the payments set out by the court and then they have to return to the court for a warrant of execution. anybody coming to your home before any of this happens is NOT a bailiff, and they have no rights to enter your home or levee any goods. they would be breaking the law.

Hope that helps.