Creditor refusing lower payments

sam_star86

Hi, Im relatively new to the forum so I apologise if I have put this in the wrong place. I really need some help or advice with this as I dont know what to do, and am filled with anxiety.
I took out a guarantor loan last year with FLM loans. My ex partner was paying half the loan in lieu of child maintenance and his mother (the guarrantor) the other half as she had half of it. Saldy she passed away at New Year unexpectedly. I have explained this to FLm and supplied the death certificate and they have only recently stopped bombarding letters addressed to her to her address. My ex partner also lost his job at the same time and is now signing on so is unable to help. I have also sent 4 letters now, asking that I reduce my payments in the mean time as I cant afford it all, plus I have money coming out of my housing benefit due to overpayment that was a few years old, and my energy bills have increased. I have explained this to FLM but they have ignored the first 3 of my letters, instead sending me upto 3 or 4 texts a day threatening me with courts unless I pay the full payments, and letters each week to the same effect. They say they are trying to "help" me, but have told me any offer I make will be refused, and they will just go to court and get the money that way, even threatening my home (which is rented so I dont know how they expect to get that!?). My final letter stated that I felt I was being harassed as I am pregnant and unemployed so I am classed as vulnerable, and that I would only correspond with them via letter due to this. This is the first letter I have had a response to - it basically said they texts are through an automated machine designed to help resolve the situation so they are not "harassing" me, and that they wont accept any lower payments as they need the full payments in order to offer loans to others. They say I should call my caseworker there to sort out the situation - but how can this be possible if they flat out refuse to accept a lower offer, and continue to apply charges and interest.
I really dont know what to do - I am on income support at the moment, and have no way of paying the full amount but they are just refusing me any lower payments whilst telling me they are trying to help!? I feel they shouldnt have given me the loan in the first place as they knew I was on income support then. I have tried my best with them, offering more than I can reasonably afford anyway, and they are refusing it. The text messages are written in a personal way and sound really threatening, I hate getting a new one.
Im sorry this is such a long post, but id really appreciate any help.

Fonz_2

If you feel they shouldn't have given you the loan because you're on income support, why didn't you give the money straight back and cancel the agreement on day 1?

msgnomey

not very helpful!!


Have you tried getting some support from the CAB? They will take a while to sort it out but at least you'll have some support.
If the debt is more than £7500 (I think) you can also get help from payplan (google them) they were fantastic when my OH was sectioned and our finances collapsed because he lost his job

Good luck
xx

Fonz_2

Not very helpful perhaps, but this one smells like it's going to go down the 'nasty evil lender shouldn't have given me the money, surely I don't have to pay it back' route.

Prepared to be proved wrong.

immoral_angeluk

You should get someone like the CAB involved and compile a financial statement to send to them with an offer of affordable payment. Keep EVERTHING in writing from now on and include a letter requesting all further contact from them in writing and that any further contact by phone or text will be deemed as harassment. You also should keep copies of all letters and send them recorded delivery for proof of posting, should they wish to take it to court.
Whether you were on income support is irrelevant really as you were only a guarantor on the loan rather than the account holder.

Apples2

I opened this thread and thought..... "jeez, do they simply not teach paragraphs in schools any more??"

So I jumped straight to the first reply..

"Wow, that was a bit harsh" I thought...... until I went back and struggled through that chunk of text and came across this...

sam_star86 wrote: »

I feel they shouldnt have given me the loan in the first place as they knew I was on income support then.

I'm with fonz. All the sympathy I was feeling to the OP disappeared with that sentence.

immoral_angeluk

Re: they shouldn't have lent to you while on income support... you can't put all of the blame on the creditor, they're in it to make money.. if you couldn't have afforded to take on the payments if anything happened to the account holder you shouldn't have agreed to be guarantor.

Just my 2 penneth worth.

ALIBOBSY

To the OP this might get more constructive replies if you post in the debt boards, where people will have dealt with situations like this.

Defo get CAB or one of the debt charities involved. Make a realistic offer and stick to it.
They will either
1) accept this is all you can pay for now
2) refuse and go to court-the judge will then force them to accept the offer and you can ask for any CCJ to be refused as you have made a reasonable offer and they have gone to court anyway
3) Most likely they will sell it on to a debt collection agency, they will likely be more amenable to a payment offer

NEVER NEVER talk to them by phone, this gives any call centre staff who mostly work on commision the chance to lie and threaten you. Do all discusions in writing or via a third party like the CAB etc.

At the end of the day some other posters have been harsh, I believe companies and banks egged on by the city and irresponsible politicians were allowed to run wild lending too much to too many with no consideration as to the customers understanding, knowledge or general financial "savvyness".

However at the end of the day the customer has to take some responsibility as well. Neither party is completely blameless although some on here with have it that the banks are wonderful moral upstanding companies !!!?

ali x

fivefingers

Fonz wrote: »

Not very helpful perhaps, but this one smells like it's going to go down the 'nasty evil lender shouldn't have given me the money, surely I don't have to pay it back' route.

Prepared to be proved wrong.

point is the person is asking for help, and tutting and wagging your finger from your plinth of moral purity is not constructive. why post if you dont want to help? i find it very sad that you feel the need to troll people. get back under your stone sadsack.

dmg24

fivefingers wrote: »

point is the person is asking for help, and tutting and wagging your finger from your plinth of moral purity is not constructive. why post if you dont want to help? i find it very sad that you feel the need to troll people. get back under your stone sadsack.

A person is not a troll just because you disagree with them!

RobertoMoir

I think Alibobsy has made a point I have to agree with and repeat:

Whatever you do, only deal with these people in writing. If you speak to them on the phone there will be no record of who said what to whom, what agreements were made, etc.

It's a lot easier for them to say something to you that goes against the guidelines for ethical behaviour that they are supposed to follow then claim that either they didn't say it at all or you mis-understood an innocent remark when its on the phone instead of written down.

There's a template letter kicking around one of the boards for writing to people to say you will only deal with them in writing. Find that and use it, and simply don't speak to anyone who calls in the meantime.

You will need to consider how you will deal with this debt problem, it won't go away and taking the attitude that they shouldn't have given you the loan because you're on benefits when presumably you chose to apply for it and are therefore at least partly responsible won't do much to help, and as you've noticed puts peoples backs up.

Definitely post in the debt free wannabe boards for help, and consider if you can make "token" repayments at least.

However, as for their threats, they can't get blood out of a stone and they can't make you pay money that simply doesn't exist in your life. If it does go to court (and in spite of the bluff and threats of court, companies like this are strangely reluctant to actually do that) then you will have to show the court that what you can afford and you will probably be ordered to pay that amount. For someone on benefits this would be a trivial / token amount at best.