Time to grasp the nettle & deal with this mess

MattyA

dancingfairy wrote: »

Say they take you to court for not paying - if you've written to them, offered them a token payment whilst you sort yourself out and then written to them saying what you can afford and consistently paid what you have offered it's going to look a whole lot better than if you get before the judge and it's a case of well you haven't bothered trying isn't it.
Yes token payments will affect your credit rating but if you haven't got the money to pay then you haven't got the money to pay and your credit rating might not have been that great before if you have been robbing peter to pay paul or odd missed paymentrs or just because of the amount of debt you have.
Oh - the whole token payments thing is only for unsecured debts not for secured loans and mortage etc as if you were to stop paying them you could be in a whole lot more trouble and put your house at risk.
df

Thanks
I will make the £1 token payment(electronically for now) & it is only for the undecured debts.
Not bothered about credit rating as its already 'poor' but only shows one missed payment to date(as of a couple of weeks ago) with the rest of the accounts marked as satisfactory?
Whatever happens Br ,debt management plan,UE my credit ratineg will be shot at anyway.

Matt

MattyA

MustBeatThis wrote: »

Hi, me from the UE thread... I also had advice from CCCS and they advised us to make token payments. Some of my CCs didn't want to accept, some did. But I made payments in cash at the bank so they couldn't not accept - did this for quite a few months!

Most of mine got sold on to DCAs and these have been, mostly, a real pain to deal with. RMA was by far the worst, with hindsight I should have reported at least one of their reps. I just found they took absolutely no notice of anything I said. While I oculd only make £1 token payments most of them wouldn't accept these at all so we had stalemate.

Over the last couple of months, finances have improved a little so I've been making bigger token payments.
Good luck!

Thanks did they ring you at home or did you ask for written communication?
I have been ducking the calls at home but Mint & HFC are ringing me at work,which isnt good when it gets announced across the building!

Matt

Sunnylooloo

Matty you can send them a letter asking them to only contact you by mail and that personal calls are not allowed at work.

Ill try and find the template letter - if not some nice person might post it up

Def start with the token payments - it's a start.

Let us know how you get on with CCCS

LL

missworks2jobs

Sunnylooloo wrote: »

I missed one lot of payments - which resulted in all the calls etc... whilst I was getting my act together in writing to them.

I personally found the allowances for a DMP or IVA were ridiculous and I know I would have ended up failing it, so I did myself a relaistic budget and sent to all with what I had spare and they all accepted it. The National Debtline had all the templates - I did also call them to have a chat so I got a reference number, as many of the companies will try "o we will only deal with a DM company" - this is rubbish they can deal with you directly.

I guess it is up to you if you feel like you can handle it yourself.

Also if you do speak to them tell them you are seeking advice they then usually leave you alone for 14days.

Feel free to PM if you want to ask me anything else.

LL

I too did this, realised I couldn't afford the payments (short term as was selling our house, and would pay off debt in full as soon as it sold) so calculated what I COULD pay for now based on amounts owed and % of my disposable money. Wrote in advance warning them all that I temporarily couldn't pay (as family business had gone bust and that was source of my extra income and at same time I had invested a lot of savings into it so had no savings to use to pay the debts) and asking them to accept these token payments for the timebeing. I still got the demanding phone calls (lots of them constantly, some that were very cheeky and just plain rude) and everytime I explained the situation and quoted back the payments i'd made and the date of the letters i'd sent and also repeated how much I would be paying next and when and that it was just temporary (our house had sold...was just waiting for the paperwork to go thru).

For 2 months I made these token payments (only about £20each short of the minimum payment) and then paid the amounts off in full 2months later when the house sale finally went thru. This was over a year ago.....I recently checked my credit report and they're all down as "missed payments" or "late payments" which really annoyed me as I'd gone to all the hassle of letters, token payments and speaking to these numpties and keeping them informed of my circumstance all the way thru........just to have them screw up my credit file.

Just to warn you!

MattyA

missworks2jobs wrote: »

I too did this, realised I couldn't afford the payments (short term as was selling our house, and would pay off debt in full as soon as it sold) so calculated what I COULD pay for now based on amounts owed and % of my disposable money. Wrote in advance warning them all that I temporarily couldn't pay (as family business had gone bust and that was source of my extra income and at same time I had invested a lot of savings into it so had no savings to use to pay the debts) and asking them to accept these token payments for the timebeing. I still got the demanding phone calls (lots of them constantly, some that were very cheeky and just plain rude) and everytime I explained the situation and quoted back the payments i'd made and the date of the letters i'd sent and also repeated how much I would be paying next and when and that it was just temporary (our house had sold...was just waiting for the paperwork to go thru).

For 2 months I made these token payments (only about £20each short of the minimum payment) and then paid the amounts off in full 2months later when the house sale finally went thru. This was over a year ago.....I recently checked my credit report and they're all down as "missed payments" or "late payments" which really annoyed me as I'd gone to all the hassle of letters, token payments and speaking to these numpties and keeping them informed of my circumstance all the way thru........just to have them screw up my credit file.

Just to warn you!

Thanks for the input.
It just helps to convince me further no matter what I do (unless it is the minimum payment in full,which I cant afford) that my credit report will be trashed anyway......so I might as well just offer a token payment for now & crack on trying to show that the debts are UE and try to claim back PPI that I have had on various financial arrangements over the past 20 years or so.

MustBeatThis

MattyA wrote: »

Thanks did they ring you at home or did you ask for written communication?
I have been ducking the calls at home but Mint & HFC are ringing me at work,which isnt good when it gets announced across the building!

Matt

Luckily I'm self employed. But they rang at home, my mobile, I'd be answering one, saying hello hello, and they'd be ringing the other. It drove me mad! In the end I said I wanted to deal in writing and, having got used to which numbers they call from, I just don't pick up if they do decide to ring.

And my credit file is shot now, 5 defaults... so all my efforts to try to appease them while we got on top of things didn't really help with that regard!

dancingfairy

They say they won't accept token payments because they don't like it and want more (obviously) - you need to pay them regardless because I can see some dubious debt collection agencies using it against people - saying well you haven't paid us anything have you. I haven't heard a company deliberately refusing payments and then taking people to court to claim they are not paying as far as I remember but it wouldn't surprise me.
Some unscrupulous companies will use every trick in the book so you don't want to give them any ammunitition at all. Send everything recorded/signed for and don't speak to them on the phone as you will have no proof what they have 'agreed to'.
Definitely send the do not contact me by phone letter and report them if they persist as it against the rules, also they are not allowed to contact you at work.
df

Sunnylooloo

missworks2jobs wrote: »

I too did this, realised I couldn't afford the payments (short term as was selling our house, and would pay off debt in full as soon as it sold) so calculated what I COULD pay for now based on amounts owed and % of my disposable money. Wrote in advance warning them all that I temporarily couldn't pay (as family business had gone bust and that was source of my extra income and at same time I had invested a lot of savings into it so had no savings to use to pay the debts) and asking them to accept these token payments for the timebeing. I still got the demanding phone calls (lots of them constantly, some that were very cheeky and just plain rude) and everytime I explained the situation and quoted back the payments i'd made and the date of the letters i'd sent and also repeated how much I would be paying next and when and that it was just temporary (our house had sold...was just waiting for the paperwork to go thru).

For 2 months I made these token payments (only about £20each short of the minimum payment) and then paid the amounts off in full 2months later when the house sale finally went thru. This was over a year ago.....I recently checked my credit report and they're all down as "missed payments" or "late payments" which really annoyed me as I'd gone to all the hassle of letters, token payments and speaking to these numpties and keeping them informed of my circumstance all the way thru........just to have them screw up my credit file.

Just to warn you!

What ever way you go your credit history is shot to pieces. One of my creditors mark me down as late payment even though I pay on the same day each month and one has accepted my lower payments but has defaulted on my credit history - it's a pain but I can live without credit as it stands my only problem will be when I sell my house and want to go into rented...........

NorthernLas

There is a token letter example in the sample letters for national debtline http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/debt_advice.php#6. Just select the down arrow and choose the letter.

The letter to stop telephone calls is on the un-enforceability thread in the section about bailiffs and DCAs http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1837507

MattyA

Sunnylooloo wrote: »

What ever way you go your credit history is shot to pieces. One of my creditors mark me down as late payment even though I pay on the same day each month and one has accepted my lower payments but has defaulted on my credit history - it's a pain but I can live without credit as it stands my only problem will be when I sell my house and want to go into rented...........

You shouldnt have a problem renting - just be striaght with the landlord from the outset - tell him if he credit checks you that there will be an issue.
They take a deposit off you anyway...so whats he got to lose?
I have a freind who had to sell his house due to marital problems - he was in arrears with his mortgage / credit shot to pieces & the landlord was ok with it all.,
Matt