Stopping the phonecalls!

ktg_33

Hi all

I am in about 25k worth of debt, and currently taking advice from CCCS about this. They were in the process of drafting me an IVA, but because my partner (who I live with, but have no debt with) is only in temporary employment, they cannot take his wage as guaranteed and so in their eyes, I don't have a single penny left to make any IVA payments. This is because they take the household expenditure into account, and only my wage, which wouldn't cover it. Of course, I know my partner despite being in temp employment, always covers his share of the rent and bills. Always! But I do understand from their point of view that this cannot be taken as guaranteed. Anyway, long story short, in the meantime I have written to all my creditors explaining the situation and asked them to accept reduced monthly payments, set these payments up, and they will commence on 1st March. All fine for the time being. The problem is that I am receiving upwards of 5 phonecalls a day, at all hours of the day and night, to my house phone and in particular my mobile. I have read the advice on here about sending them the letter to ask them to stop, but because I never actually answer the calls, can I still tell them to stop harrassing me? I am genuinely so scared of being bullied by them that I just don't answer, but I just need to know (sorry for the long intro!) whether or not I can send them such a letter as does their behaviour still constitute harrassment when I don't actually answer their calls??

Thanks for listening.

scot88

Sorry I dont know enough to really give advice but I think you may find that your creditors are not happy with your offer of reduced payments and that may be why they are still phoning constantly. Dont worry someone else more experienced will be along soon to give you more help.

ktg_33

Thanks Scot, I am aware of that, but there is absolutely nothing else I can do in my current situation and was advised that making any kind of payment to them is better than ignoring the situation and/or not paying. I am sure they are not happy with the offers and that's why they're ringing, but that wasn't my question.

confused90

It can still be classed as harrassment whether you answer the calls or not if the calls are frequent enough from the same person.

But they don't have to be officially harrassing you for you to ask them not to telephone you, it is never advisable to deal with financial issues over the telephone especialy in situations like this.

you want to have detailed written records of correspondance showing what offers you have made and your creditors response, be it acceptance or refusual of your offers. this way you can prove, if needs be at any time in the future, that you are trying to act responsibly and deal with your financial problems and have sought the assistance and co-operation of your creditors.

It is also better to have written acceptance of any offer to make lower payments as this can help prevent more calls from DCA's denying that they agreed to your lower payments and demanding more money, which does happen.

so ignore the calls for now or if you answer them refuse to discuss anything regarding the account and simply instruct them to write, don't be swayed by threats just stick to your guns and demand they put everything in writing.

There are a couple of guys on here than can link you to some useful template letters to send to your creditors to get them to stop ringing you, they are 10 past 6 and Never in doubt, they should be along at some point.

good luck

ktg_33

Thanks for that, that's really helpful. I've found the templates and just drafted them, you are completely right that I need everything in writing as evidence!

It's a horrible horrible time and I keep swaying between feeling suicidal and feeling like I am on the right track...one day I am sure I'll be on the road to being sorted but it's not a nice place to be in the meantime.

It's so nice to have support of others in similar situations though...really appreciate your time, thank you x

pure_dead_dopey

ktg_33 wrote: »

Thanks for that, that's really helpful. I've found the templates and just drafted them, you are completely right that I need everything in writing as evidence!

It's a horrible horrible time and I keep swaying between feeling suicidal and feeling like I am on the right track...one day I am sure I'll be on the road to being sorted but it's not a nice place to be in the meantime.

It's so nice to have support of others in similar situations though...really appreciate your time, thank you x

It will get better, once you have sorted something out and they are getting what you can afford, eventually they will stop ringing. I would definitely send the only in writing letter, everything in writing then you have a clear letter trail of what is happening. Good luck, we're a little further along the way, 20 out of 22 have accepted and more or less shut up, so can be done.:)

10past6

ktg_33 wrote: »

I've found the templates and just drafted them

Now is the time to create a log with dates / times / frequency of all calls, you’ll require this evidence should they fail to action your request.