Letter from 1st Credit

maxriz

Hello,

One of my debts (£7,000) is with HBOS and is being administered by those lovely people at 1st Credit.

When I first started to repay this debt I was unemployed but used my savings in order to make substantial monthly payments of £100. After a while I had to reduce the amount to £60 and I continue to make a monthly payment of this amount.

Since changing to the £60.00 payment I have secured a job which I am contracted to until March 2011. I did not inform 1st credit of the change to my circumstances and continued to pay the monthly amount.

I did not inform them of this change because the house I live in and now share with my elderly mother is in desperate need of repair. I have a leaking roof, very bad rising damp and old windows that cause many problems during the winter.

My plan therefore was to save some money in order to try and resolve some of these problems.

I have saved just over 2k which is only a fraction of what is needed but it is a start. Today though I received a letter from 1st credit stating;

'We have been monitoring your credit activity with one of the credit reference agencies. We have received recent notification which suggests that your financial position has changed and we would like to review the status of your account with 1st credit.'

Firstly I have to say how awful it feels being spied on in this way. I also have some questions that if anyone could help with I would be very much obliged.

Do I have to inform them of my change in circumstances and provide full details of my income?

How much information will they actually have about me and my situation?

Can I request that they provide the information to me?

Are they in a position to insist my savings are used to pay off the debt?

In addition they have requested I phone them to discuss this but based on previous phone conversations I do not want to speak to them because they bully, threaten and intimidate. How can I get around having to speak to them?

I know that it would be great to get this horrendous debt paid off but if I do not start to get my property in better shape there will be serious consequences.

I would be grateful for any help you may be able to offer.

Many thanks in advance,

Tixy

Hi

maxriz wrote: »

Do I have to inform them of my change in circumstances and provide full details of my income? you don't have to tell them anything but if they think you are not paying all you can afford they are more likely to take you to court (they also may start charging interest if the original agreement allows it - and if it had been stopped before). The only person you would have to tell is a judge in court.

How much information will they actually have about me and my situation?
see this link for what is actually on your credit report (and what is not) http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/credit-rating-credit-score#know

Can I request that they provide the information to me? You could do a subject access request on them (costs £10) but not sure how much they would show you, I believe that they are not actually allowed to keep a copy of your credit file so there may just be an entry on their system to say something like 'CRA suggest improved position' (I'm only guessing with that)

Are they in a position to insist my savings are used to pay off the debt?
If you have defaulted on a debt it is reasonable of them to require you to pay it off as quickly as you can, but they would need to take you to court to insist you use this money.

In addition they have requested I phone them to discuss this but based on previous phone conversations I do not want to speak to them because they bully, threaten and intimidate. How can I get around having to speak to them?
Yes, don't call them when you respond, write to them instead.

I know that it would be great to get this horrendous debt paid off but if I do not start to get my property in better shape there will be serious consequences.

I would be grateful for any help you may be able to offer.

Many thanks in advance,

Hi, its normal for a DCA to request an income & expenditure statement to show what you can afford. However legally you don't have to provide this information. But they may be more likely to take you to court if they think you can afford to up your offer or suspect you have savings.

Have you considered making a F&F offer using these savings to pay off the debt. Which would then free you from the debt to use any future spare money towards your property repairs.

If this debt has been with them a while its possible they would accept around £2k for a £7k debt.

maxriz

Hello Tixy,

I just wanted to say a proper 'thank you' for your knowledge and help with my questions, it is very much appreciated.

Kind regards,