Bit of Advice needed

olliejames87

Going to sum it up.

Im a student at University, basically trying to hide the fact i owe a few thousand to various companies or what not.
Went home for christmas and have loads of letters still, mum getting worried and so am i now.

A few of the letters say after recent attempts they believe i reside in the address and have added £15 on for tracing! Not sure how as im at University.

Being at Uni i have no income whatsoever, my loans have gone to rent, and whatever is left over puts my food on the table.

What can i do?

immoral_angeluk

If you're not responding to letters then they reserve the right to using tracing tactics and add the cost of such onto your debt. You need to send them a financial statement and explain the situation. Alternatively you may be eligible for a debt relief order if you have no income and/or assets.
http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/factsheet.php?page=37_debt_relief_orders

Doing such involves a £90 fee but after that the debts would be written off, however it effects your credit rating for 6 years. But, from the sounds of it, you're already at the stage where your credit file would be pretty trashed anyway if DCAs are having to trace you to get contact.

Alternatively you could do a financial statement as previously mentioned, then send them £1 token offers of payment until your situation improves, but there's no guarantee of them accepting and the debts would remain until you paid them off. Plus there's the risk of additional action by the creditor, CCJs, Bailiffs etc.

olliejames87

Thanks for that!

Yea my rating is pretty trashed at the moment, just gutted i have to wait another 6 years.

As for the tracing part, i dont actually live at the address they are sending letters to, even though they are saying that they have traced me to that address. What do i do about that?

immoral_angeluk

olliejames87 wrote: »

Thanks for that!

Yea my rating is pretty trashed at the moment, just gutted i have to wait another 6 years.

As for the tracing part, i dont actually live at the address they are sending letters to, even though they are saying that they have traced me to that address. What do i do about that?

Are you on the electoral role there? If that was your last known address then yes they will have 'traced' you to there as you probably wouldn't be on the electoral role at your new place with the uni. Not a lot you can do about their fees as it's usually part of their terms and conditions.

olliejames87

Not that i am aware of.

Another question, i have various letters from different companies from old dates, i wish to contact them but not sure who holds my account. Is there any other way in finding out who holds it

I have just booked an appointment in the local CAB

Thanks for your help

mrton.

olliejames87 wrote: »

Going to sum it up.

Im a student at University, basically trying to hide the fact i owe a few thousand to various companies or what not.
Went home for christmas and have loads of letters still, mum getting worried and so am i now.
A few of the letters say after recent attempts they believe i reside in the address and have added £15 on for tracing! Not sure how as im at University.
Being at Uni i have no income whatsoever, my loans have gone to rent, and whatever is left over puts my food on the table.
What can i do?

Firstly....they have no legal authority whatsoever to charge you this "tracing fee".
Infact...they have no legal authority to any money off you whatsoever.
Only a county court has this power & no court will make you pay more than you can afford (that could be £1 per month for example after all essential outgoings are catered for)
Whoever the debt collection company is, tell them to either take you to a county court (at cost to them) or to stop harrassing you.
If they refuse then report them to the likes of the OFT & trading standards etc...
Hope all that helps you.

pelirocco

mrton. wrote: »

Firstly....they have no legal authority whatsoever to charge you this "tracing fee".
Infact...they have no legal authority to any money off you whatsoever.
Only a county court has this power & no court will make you pay more than you can afford (that could be £1 per month for example after all essential outgoings are catered for)
Whoever the debt collection company is, tell them to either take you to a county court (at cost to them) or to stop harrassing you.
If they refuse then report them to the likes of the OFT & trading standards etc...
Hope all that helps you.

And a cost to the OP as this will be added to the debt , along with interest . I suggest the OP takes note of the other more sensible advice on here

immoral_angeluk

Firstly....they have no legal authority whatsoever to charge you this "tracing fee".

If it's in the terms and conditions f the original credit agreement, yes, they do. You may be able to argue it being unfair, but that would involve a lengthy court case if you couldn't agree with the creditor.

Infact...they have no legal authority to any money off you whatsoever.

If the cl owes the debt and they can provide proof of liability, then they are legally entitled to enforce the debt.

Only a county court has this power & no court will make you pay more than you can afford (that could be £1 per month for example after all essential outgoings are catered for)

True, but additional costs will be added to the debt for their expense.

Whoever the debt collection company is, tell them to either take you to a county court (at cost to them) or to stop harrassing you.

See above. You can ask them for a true copy of the credit agreement/proof of payment etc, but from what the OP said it sounds as if he's aware of the debts and he said he was trying to hide the face he owed the debts. To purposefully avoid repaying debts you are aware you owe would possibly be seen as fraud.

If they refuse then report them to the likes of the OFT & trading standards etc...

Who would not be impressed with the client running away from his liabilities..

mrton.

immoral_angeluk wrote: »

If it's in the terms and conditions f the original credit agreement, yes, they do. You may be able to argue it being unfair, but that would involve a lengthy court case if you couldn't agree with the creditor.


If the cl owes the debt and they can provide proof of liability, then they are legally entitled to enforce the debt.


True, but additional costs will be added to the debt for their expense.

See above. You can ask them for a true copy of the credit agreement/proof of payment etc, but from what the OP said it sounds as if he's aware of the debts and he said he was trying to hide the face he owed the debts. To purposefully avoid repaying debts you are aware you owe would possibly be seen as fraud.

Who would not be impressed with the client running away from his liabilities..

No one said anything about debt avoidance etc...
If the OP owes it then repay it, yes of course.
But if they havent got the money to repay (for whatever reason) then thats what the county courts are there for.
Contrary to popular myth, they are there to actually help, not punish people.
It will cost a creditor (or usually a debt collection agency) money to take someone to court.
Thats why most of the time, they never do go there and just rely on threats.
If the DCA is told to stop all contact/harrassment, then legally they must do that as there are specific laws on that in this country.
You mentioned about "additional costs" - well given that the legal minimum is £1 per month in this country (after all outgoings are catered for) then it will all just take a heck of alot longer to repay at that rate

immoral_angeluk

mrton. wrote: »

No one said anything about debt avoidance etc...
If the OP owes it then repay it, yes of course.
But if they havent got the money to repay (for whatever reason) then thats what the county courts are there for.
Contrary to popular myth, they are there to actually help, not punish people.
It will cost a creditor (or usually a debt collection agency) money to take someone to court.
Thats why most of the time, they never do go there and just rely on threats.
If the DCA is told to stop all contact/harrassment, then legally they must do that as there are specific laws on that in this country.
You mentioned about "additional costs" - well given that the legal minimum is £1 per month in this country (after all outgoings are catered for) then it will all just take a heck of alot longer to repay at that rate

Noone was saying anything about the courts not being there to help, but your posts are implying that if the OP ignores this that nothing negative will happen. You can't just tell a DCA to stop contact and they won't contact you again. Unless it DOES consitutute harassment then they are perfectly entitled to contact you, and to add relevant costs, to attempt to enforce a debt which is owed.

mrton.

pelirocco wrote: »

And a cost to the OP as this will be added to the debt , along with interest . I suggest the OP takes note of the other more sensible advice on here

It would be for a county court to decide how much the OP owes, not the original creditor or a DCA.
For example - if a debt was £900 & lets say £100 had been added onto that in charges/fees - then its for the court to look at the legality of those fees.
From my experience, they would be ordered to repay the original £900 and not the extra £100 on top.
If you are referring to court fees that have to be paid on top of a debt - then that will all just be taken into account when the OP hands over an I & E form to the court.
Conclusion being - they will never be ordered to repay more than they can afford.