Bit of Advice needed

immoral_angeluk

mrton. wrote: »

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.

If you don't mind me asking, what experience is this you're referring to, as every judgement I've seen has included the additional costs, and as for investigating the legality of the fees? This would have to be added to the defence if the cl felt that they were unfair and would not be looked at automatically. Obviously local court practice varies but I have never seen a case similar to what you are describing.

mrton.

Firstly let me point out once again that Debt Collection Agencies do not have any legal powers whatsoever to obtain monies out of individuals and i would love someone to point out were/how they actually do?
The most they can do is "ask" a person to repay monies (although everyone knows that they threaten and dont ask)
To the person who said i was advising the person to ignore - i wasnt advocating that at all.
As someone else said - the OP's 1st step would be to send a "prove it" letter to whoever was demanding the monies.
A debt collection agency has to cease all communication if ordered to by the OP.
If they dont then thats were the law steps in to enforce that (OFT/trading standards etc...)
Only the court system in this country has powers over & above the individual - DCA's do not.
It is simply another modern myth peddled by the finance industry that implies that DCA's do.
Like i mentioned earlier - it costs a creditor or a DCA money to take someone to court, thats why they very rarely do and just rely on threats/intimidation to make the person pay up.
The county court system has a process...you dont just turn up there and pay up there and then. A process has to be gone through & an I/E gets done.
However much is left over is what gets ruled upon.
Some people may see what im saying as "debt avoidance" - but i disagree, it is repaying (or eventually repaying) based on their personal circumstances.
With due respect to some of the replies here, i actually think that im giving the OP sensible advice here based on what their rights are and not what the "system" wants them to know

immoral_angeluk

You seem to be completely ignoring everything I'm say but as I don't want to hijack the OP's thread I'm off to take my cat to the vets!

mrton.

immoral_angeluk wrote: »

You seem to be completely ignoring everything I'm say but as I don't want to hijack the OP's thread I'm off to take my cat to the vets!

Im giving my advice based on how i see it - which is what this forum is about i assume.
Its up to the OP who/what they choose to believe etc...
Other posters think their advice is right and say why - i give my advice and explain why i think its right also.
That sounds sensible and quite healthy to me :T

dancingfairy

O.K well I guess it depends on what year you are in at uni - if in the first/second year can you get a part time job to help you out and work during the holidays at all?
If in the final year this may not be practical but you would hopefully be in a position to repay the debts sooner. You could offer token payments to your creditors on the assumption that you would hopefully get a job upon graduation and repay more of the debts.
I would definitely have a chat with your local CAB and see what they suggest as well.
A DRO may be a possibility but I'm not sure whether it would be classed in the same way as bankruptcy in that it would affect our future career options - for example I believe some jobs like lawyers, accountants etc are not allowed to be bankrupt -IA would know more about this or your cab should tell you.
Are you eligible for any grants/hardsip funds form the uni? you could get in touch with the student union/financial assitance office and see if you are eligible.
Oh and if you are a full time student (undergraduate) make sure you are getting council tax exemption.
df