Paypal Debt Collection demanding full £613 payment. Pls Help!

jammy86

I owe Paypal £613 which i can't afford to pay back in full. They appointed a debt collection agency which i spoke to i think i november, and they were nice and agreed to let me pay £5 a month and they would then phone back in january to review which they didnt but they continued to take the £5 in feb. On the 17th feb i got a letter of another debt collector called EOS Solutions saying they have now been appointed to take recovery and the whole balance is due for immediate payment. I left it as i dont know what to do, and then i got a letter last weekend saying it needs to be paid in full and if i ignore the letter they are going to start to add admin charges on.

What shall i do. I can't afford to pay the whole balance and i;ve read up that EOS refuse installments. I assume paypal have passed it on to a different agency because they weren;t happy with £5 a month. Can they add admin charges. Can they take me to court? Can they refuse installments? Should i phone and explain? Would i ever have to prove my incoming and out goings. Thanks for any advice, i'm really worried.:(

sallyx

Can I ask how you manage to owe Paypal that huge amount?

Tixy

If it went to court then you would have to prove your income & expenditure to the judge. You don't have to prove it to anyone else but if you want a DCA to accept a low payment offer its usually a good idea to let them see that you are paying all you can afford and are not spending on luxuries.

I would probably write to EOS, explain you cannot afford to pay in full and ask them to accept £X per month as this is all you can afford at present.

They may or may not accept it but at least you will be able to prove in court that you were willing to try to pay it off, which always looks better if it does end up in court. Is £5 all you can afford? Maybe if you could increase your offer a little they would be more likely to accept, at £5 per month even with no fees it will still take 10years to repay.

I assume you would not be in a position to raise a lump sum to try offering a full & final settlement? (even a 25% offer could be accepted)

jammy86

Tixy wrote: »

If it went to court then you would have to prove your income & expenditure to the judge. You don't have to prove it to anyone else but if you want a DCA to accept a low payment offer its usually a good idea to let them see that you are paying all you can afford and are not spending on luxuries.

I would probably write to EOS, explain you cannot afford to pay in full and ask them to accept £X per month as this is all you can afford at present.

They may or may not accept it but at least you will be able to prove in court that you were willing to try to pay it off, which always looks better if it does end up in court. Is £5 all you can afford? Maybe if you could increase your offer a little they would be more likely to accept, at £5 per month even with no fees it will still take 10years to repay.

I assume you would not be in a position to raise a lump sum to try offering a full & final settlement? (even a 25% offer could be accepted)

i can't really afford more. im unemployed at the minute and struggling with mortgage and bills etc. i was only asking about proving income as i used my mums paypal, so its in her name but i changed it to my address. she is employed therefore has an income of 32,000, but she wouldn't be able to afford it as she's in alot of debt and a sinlge mum etc., i've even had to borrow her money for food, but if any1 did need to see proof i'd obviously have to send her details. is there any way to transfer a debt

jammy86

Also someone on here suggested sending them a cca letter to make sure they have all the paperwork? is that a good idea

jammy86

i know £5 isn't alot but thats why the original debt collector agreed to phone me in january to see if i've managed to get a job, therefore increase it, which i haven't.

My friend said she worked for a debt place, and they have to accept installments, not demand the whole lump sum, or 25%, if they do the debt can get written off as their breaking some rules or agreements and that her company had written off quite a few debts for this reason. Has anyone heard of this?

Voyager2002

If your mother agreed to let you use her account, then it is money that she owes and so is her problem. If she did not, then you have committed fraud and could face criminal proceedings as well as your present problems.

I suggest that you clear up this issue before worrying about technicalities, debt cancellation and the like. You may be sure that the agency would check the paperwork very carefully before agreeing to a write-off, and would certainly notice anything odd about the person owing the money.

Tixy

That does make things awkward. Unfortunately your mother is legally responsible for the debt - her credit file will be affected by the default and if they did decide to take this to court it would be her they were taking to court and would want to know her income & expenditure. They may also believe that fraud has been committed by saying that the person who owed the money was unemployed and could only afford the token payment each month.

A DCA 'should' be reasonable and accept installments but if they are not happy with the level of installments they are within their rights to take it to court. (The debt will not get written off for this -sorry).

That said £613 is not a huge amount and they may decide its not worth the legal cost of taking your Mother to court. If she has any assets a judge may order immediate payment or much higher installments that you could afford.

Presumably your mother is aware of the situation? To me it sounds like a F&F settlement would be the best way out of this if at all possible for both you and your mother (who presumably isn't going to be very happy with a CCJ for a debt that is not to do with her). Any chance that your mother could somehow afford to make a F&F offer and for you to repay her.

jammy86

Tixy wrote: »

That does make things awkward. Unfortunately your mother is legally responsible for the debt - her credit file will be affected by the default and if they did decide to take this to court it would be her they were taking to court and would want to know her income & expenditure. They may also believe that fraud has been committed by saying that the person who owed the money was unemployed and could only afford the token payment each month.

A DCA 'should' be reasonable and accept installments but if they are not happy with the level of installments they are within their rights to take it to court. (The debt will not get written off for this -sorry).

That said £613 is not a huge amount and they may decide its not worth the legal cost of taking your Mother to court. If she has any assets a judge may order immediate payment or much higher installments that you could afford.

Presumably your mother is aware of the situation? To me it sounds like a F&F settlement would be the best way out of this if at all possible for both you and your mother (who presumably isn't going to be very happy with a CCJ for a debt that is not to do with her). Any chance that your mother could somehow afford to make a F&F offer and for you to repay her.

No she doesn't have that sort of money, she can barely buy food atm as shes has credit card etc shes paying. My mums aware of the situation, and obviously unless it gets taken further like court then i'm dealing with the debt myself at the minute. Im just worried about ringing

Tixy

I wouldn't ring them at all. I would only deal with them in writing, if you speak to them on the phone they can bully you and threaten all sorts - they are likely to behave much more 'reasonably' by letter as you have a paper trail of everything.

It looks like your only option is to write back to EOS to reiterate that you can only afford £5 each month. You could also say that if your circumstances improve you will increase your offer.

jammy86

Tixy wrote: »

I wouldn't ring them at all. I would only deal with them in writing, if you speak to them on the phone they can bully you and threaten all sorts - they are likely to behave much more 'reasonably' by letter as you have a paper trail of everything.

It looks like your only option is to write back to EOS to reiterate that you can only afford £5 each month. You could also say that if your circumstances improve you will increase your offer.

I will do that then. Would it be best to send it recorded delivery so that they can't deny receiving it? If they refuse payments i might considering trying to get a 0% credit card to pay it all off. I really think they will as £5 is a small amount, im surprised the original debt collector agreed to that amount. If it was in my name i wouldn't be as bothered, just worried incase anything happens to my mum. Thanks for your help