debt id thought had gone, attachment of earnings order?!

RichUncleSkellington

Dear Sir or Madam,

I write in reference to a letter received this morning from St Albans County Court, in which I am informed (I believe) that Mortimer Clarke now own a debt of mine.

I have called your office twice, the first time to establish what the debt was, as I have never heard of your company previously; and the second time to try and make an arrangement to pay the debt.

As I explained to your operative Sam, I was regularly paying this debt until I received a very dubious looking letter from another company, explaining that First Response Finance had been liquidated. I was very suspicious of this, and as the wording did not specify any particular action I continued to make my normal payments for some months after, until eventually the direct debit was returned to me. The bank cancelled the direct debit and I rather naively thought I would wait for someone to contact me about the debt.

This was nearly 5 years ago. Recently Mortimer Clarke had begun to write letters relating to a debt amount that is unfamiliar to me, with no reference to the source of the debt. On the one occasion I had spoken to one of your operatives (apparently Sam again), I refused to give my current employer to her so she would not explain what the debt related to. I have been advised on many occasions not to give anything more than name, D.O.B and address. Today is the first time First Response Finance has been mentioned, a debt as already stated I am aware of.

Unfortunately I am in debt with a number of companies, and quite simply with the recent stress of being made redundant I found myself in such a poor mental state I felt unable to deal with these letters. Had I have been remotely aware that Mortimer Clarke related to this significant debt, I would have taken steps to deal with this much sooner.

As advised, I was told firstly by a gentleman at MC to speak to the court – I did this, they told me the letter was just for information, and to speak to MC. I did so again and offered to reinstate the payment of £35 a month that I previously made. Sam said this is unacceptable, and told me £120 would be the minimum. I explained my current financial predicament, I have no assets, I have a girlfriend on statutory maternity pay, infact I am currently on the emergency homeseeker application list with our local housing authority, such is the state of my finances. I have one young daughter to support and another one to arrive any day now. Sam then said £56 is the minimum you could accept, should I fail to meet this figure I would be taken to court.

I have spent the evening since my conversation with Sam worrying and desperately seeking a way to meet this figure, to no avail. The absolute maximum I can afford to pay is £45 a month. Even this figure will make life very difficult for me, however I am not able to suffer any further mental anguish that a court case and attachment of earnings order could and indeed would bring me.

I am pleading with you/your client to permit this amount of £45 a month to be paid, I can make the first payment immediately. I will agree to the debt being reviewed in 6 months, lest my financial situation improves. I do not want to spend my life in debt, I have a young family to provide for and being in debt prohibits this. I am able to provide incoming and outgoing figures to you, and indeed a court – infact I have worked this out this evening and the figure I have free is £28, I will however adjust other debts to meet the £45 I have offered.

I do hope you will consider this, you have my word that payments will not be missed.

NorthernLas

OP: I am not sure what you want people to say about this letter - I hope you haven't sent it yet.

My suggestion would be that you should be speaking to one of the debt free charities. They will be able to advise you regarding all of your debts and help you understand whether any threats you have received are real. If this is a debt collection agency you CANNOT be made to pay more than you can afford and they should PROVE that you owe the debt by sending you evidence before you do anything.

See the link for phone numbers of who to contact. https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2077631

Do not admit to the debt and as them to PROVE IT first

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=33792241&postcount=37