orange threatning with debt collectors help please!

bigmacman

i have a phone bill of 297 pounds with orange for a unpaid phone bill they just sent me debt to a debt recovery company. They have sent me a letter teling me to pay up or it may go to court.
im on a DMP but i rekon i could afford to pay £100 off the bill what do you think i should do should i be worried.

Tixy

Was orange not included in your DMP? or have you got behind with payments since?

If you add it in to your DMP or paid it at an equivalent rate how long would it take to pay off?
I think mobile phone companies do seem to take people to court for quite low amounts but this does tend to be when they are making no effort to repay the debt. If its part of a DMP and its clear you are paying as much as you can, they should be willing to accept it.

bigmacman

im on a dmp with cccs and its included i pay 69 quid and other debts are more then the that they worked out that i pay 7 pounds a month to them but they refused it and cccs said there continue to get them to agree. So would it be worth paying them the £100 pound to keep them quiet for a little while??

Tixy

Its difficult, I know it feels tempting but the possible downsides are
1 once you give in to them pressuring you they are likely to keep asking for extra payments.
2 if your other creditors realise you have given orange preferential treatment (by seeing the balance go down on your credit file) this could mean they refuse your DMP.

Remember the DCA is only saying it may go to court and they always do start with the scare tactics (always with the word may thrown in) just to see if they can scare you into paying more.

bigmacman

ok thanks for the advice i will hold back for now see what happens maybe i could offer them a full and final settlement as say a family member paid it off for me so it dont effect my dmp.
theres always one what hassles for money the others are fine with the dmp

bigmacman

ill get in contact with the debt collectors and tell them im doing a dmp and see what they say from there.

Happytogetdebtfree

I don't know much about dmp but speak to cccs and tell them
you are been hassled, if all you can afford is 7pound 7 pound is all that can be paid don't be pressured into paying stuf after all as tixy said it may make other companies pressure you to get 'family' to pay off. I think people advice written letters only. All the best with dmp and good luck sorting orange. X