London scottish finance limited and Robinson way

jng

Hello,

I am new to this and haven't as yet had time to have a read of the boards. I have recieved a letter this morning from Robinson way making a formal demand for payment of £7,061.10 on behalf of London Scottish Finance. Me and my partner do not really know what this is for. 5 and a half years ago we bought a car from a garage (company has since gone bust)for about £2000 we tried to return the car the next day as we felt "bullied into it" we were told that there was nothing they could do. To be honest at the time we were young and niave and took the car. We made various phone calls at the time to the garage in question who told us it was not there problem anymore and we would have to take it up with the finance company who possibly may have been London and scottish( its the only thing i can think of) after a few months of rows and us refusing to pay (again being niave) they came and picked up the car and we have never heard anything else and assumed the cost was covered. If this debt is for this we have brought the problem on ourselves but £7000 is a huge amount of money we do not have.

I am nervous of ringing robinson way to see what the debt is for (like i say i can only imagine the debt is for the car we never wanted). Does anyone have any advice on what to do? The letter thay have sent sounds awful i am currently on maternaty leave and we are pretty much trying to live on a fairly low income. I am really worried!

Thanks for looking hope you can help.

Tixy

Hi

Definitely don't ring robinson way. Your first response should be to send the prove it letter to robinson way asking for them to prove the debt and prove they have a right to collect it - http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=11570893&postcount=2

When you have a response from them come back for more advice - key thing is not to admit to them that you owe this money. Are you in scotland by any chance?

jng

Thank you for finding time to reply. We live in yorkshire. The letter we have recieved says we must pay the full amount in 10 days from the 2nd of may or we will be taken to court. How serious is the threat?

ladybez

Read the letter from Robinsons carefully. Does it say ...will be taken to court OR ...may be taken to court.

Tixy

I would send the prove it letter recorded delivery today.
They then cannot take you to court until they prove you owe the money. Debt collectors will threaten a lot but do mostly use ambigious phrases designed to frighten people.

jng

Thanks again the letter does say may. I just read it in a panic when i saw the figure we are told we owe. If this is a debt for the car then we have acrued £5ooo pounds of debt and they have had the car back like i say its the only thing i can think of the biggest loan amount we have ever had his £1500 and thats been paid every month and is due to end in october so it cant be that. I am really frightened of possibly owing out this kind of money. Will the letter be ok hand written? I dont have access to a printer today? then i can send it today?

Thanks again

Its nice that people are willing to help

Tixy

Panicing is what they want you to do!

It would be okay hand written if you cannot print but ideally you need to keep a copy if it. But hopefully you may be able to photocopy it at the post office before you send it (I think most post offices have those 5p/10p copiers?).

Even if they prove you owe it, then all is not necessarily lost. There may be other options to explore or always the possibility of making them a reduced offer. And even if you do have to pay you should be able to negotiate to pay in installments.
But don't do anything until you get a response to this letter.

jng

Just to update I have sent the letter and am now awaiting thier responce. Thank you all for your help so far I will be back as soon as i have any new info.

TSF_2

I'm not sure if you have sorted this out or not, since your last post was back in May....i just wanted to add something i think may be useful!
I moved into my current home almost 4 years ago, and when i first moved here, i sent all mail back return to sender, with no longer at this address printed on them....most companies accepted this information, and i got no more letters....however, London Scottish have continued to send mail for the whole time, i only know its them cause today....i was half sleeping and i opened the letter without checking the name on it, and it was for debt to them for the previous occupant!
If they are willing to chase for that long, with no action, no visits, no court hearing papers....i would think they are just trying their luck! And if you feel you should not owe this money (especially as the car is no longer in your possession(if that is what it is for)) then you should get advice from citizens advice before doing anything further....most of these types of 'court' threats are just that, a threat, and aren't followed through, they will write off most debts as 'bad' debt after they get no luck!
Do not pay till you have PROOF that you really do owe them money, and also, dispute the amount, if this is the first time they have asked for money, they cannot expect you to pay interest, as you were unaware that you should have been paying it!
Hope you have sorted it out already, but if not, hope it is sorted soon for you!
I have had similar letters myself in the past, and panicked....but i have always worked it out amicably in the end!