can bpo collections hound me for money when the debt is marked as 'settled'

fatlad9

defaulted on my CIT agreement for a dell computer... then paid a load of money to a DCA (cant remember name)... but now have a different DCA (BPO) after me for the same debt

can bpo collections hound me for money when the debt (to CIT) is marked as 'settled' on my experian credit report.

ive actually been paying them money (well one payment) before noticing the debt was settled.

they want 200 pound in 7 days or they will take me to court.

is there a letter template to send stating that the debt is settled?

ive been in a bit of a mess and lost track of what i owed to people thats why i automatically started paying bpo for my dell computer.

gilligansyle

Just because it says 'settled' on your credit report does not necessarily mean it's actually settled. It may just be settled as far as they are concerned, because they have passed the debt on.

You need to get clarification about what money has been paid to each company and what the outstanding balance now is.

ETA: PS they are unlikely to take you to court.

DarkConvict

Do you have proof the debt has been paid off, does the credit report say settled and balance as £0?

fatlad9

hi thanks for your replies

i dont know for deffinate that it is settled. i arranged over the phone with the first dca of a full and final settlement... didnt get it in writing though.

and since BPO have taken over the debt. credit file just says 'settled' for CIT Group - no actual balance.

should i write to BPO and ask for a breakdown of what is owed?

DarkConvict

This is why you should do final settlements in writing, we recommend keeping the confirmation letter for 6 years for this reason.
The verbal confirmation, may not not have included the term that a 3rd party will not chase for the remainder.

I think the best way to go about this would be to contact the previous DCA and ask for a letter confirming you paid the account, if they can't or won't produce one you may need to try sending a copy of a bank statement saying you made a full and final offer and it was accepted, see here the amount going out of the bank account. This is less likely to be accepted as proof as it could just be a part payment.

fatlad9

thanks DC..

looks like I was suckered into paying a chunk off when it wasnt really a F&F settlement? the little rascals!

might just try for a full and final settlement on what BPO want.

as the outstanding balance is #200... what is a usual amount to offer? #150?

thanks for any reply

DarkConvict

Start at 20%, so £40.
Move up if they refuse, get it in writing using the national debtline template.

fatlad9

excellent thanks a lot DC..

ive had a look through CCCS (from your sig), and filled the relevent info in, going to set up a management plan... as I have a lot of stupid 200-400 balances on store cards / catalogues etc, that are eating away at my cash making minimum payments, starting to get myself in a bit of a mess!

DarkConvict

Tip for snowballing debts is to make min payments to them all, except the one with the highest APR. This way you pay as little interest as possible, so each month things get better.

Snowballing calculator - http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx

CCCS are well recommended on these forums, note if you go for a DMP and payments do not meet the minimum payments (which to be fair is the point of a DMP) you will get late payment markers and defaults on your credit file, but that is always the risk with DMPs.

I would start a new topic and post up an SOA in MSE format - http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html