Lost FOS appeal and now received solicitors letter

AdviceSought

Since posting this a good few weeks back:

Found out that I lost my complaint to the FOS regarding NatWest's charges and their handling of my bank account and the default notice they applied against me.

This now means I will need to be paying out an extra £170 per month to repay the amount I owe to NatWest (all but £500 of it was in bank charges they hit me for after I informed them of my problems).

This has came at a time when I was finally started to see light at the end of the tunnel regarding solving the problems that were built up during a 6 month period of unemployment.

The only way I can think of that would help me would be to get a loan for around 6k to clear all of my current debts and then repay it over 2 years, I can afford up to £400 per month for this (which is less than my repayments will be each month when I need to start repaying Natwest).

I contacted a couple of banks to see if they could help, including my own bank and I have been knocked back by both.

This has been a real blow to me as I know I can afford the repayments on terms that would give them a good return but this default applied by NatWest seems to be killing me and I now have no idea what to do next.

Any advice?

I appealed to the FOS who have yet again rejected my complaint (I received the letter from them today).

I have also received a letter from "Bryan Carter Solicitors LLP" who state:

We write with regard to this outstanding debt.

Payment must be made in full within the next fourteen days failing which we will reccomend to our client that proceedings be issued without further notice.

Should proceedings be issued, additional charges will be added to the existing balance as shown below:

Outstanding Balance to pay now £2294.65
Interest £0.00
Court Fees £75.00
Solicitor Costs £80.00
New Balance if proceedings are issued £2449.65

If you dispute liability for this debt please state your reasons in writing and supply us with documents in support of your defence to any claim.

Before the account is referred to us to litigate you still have an opportunity to contact Fredrickson International Ltd with your payment proposals. In order to avoid further action you should telephone them immediately on 0845 3136608.

This is a serious matter and you may wish to seek independent legal advice.

What should I do now?

I also note that the telephone number given for this solicitors firm is the same one they are telling me to call Fredrickson on.

Tixy

Bryan Carter and frericksons are essentially the same folk.

If you have lost your appeal then I would suggest you make an arrangement to pay the debt.
If you cannot afford to pay the amount they are requesting then write to them with a repayment proposal that you can afford.
They might accept this and not take court action.

If they decide to still take court action then at that point you'll need submit an income & expenditure account to the court to demonstrate how much you can afford to pay. In which case a judge would likely issue the CCJ but allow you to pay in installments.

AdviceSought

Who should I write to and where?

Bryan Carter at the address on the letter?

Tixy

From the letter I would say fredrickson.

AdviceSought

Tixy wrote: »

From the letter I would say fredrickson.

I've never officially had any contact with them though.

Tixy

Who was the last person who wrote to you about this debt prior to Bryan Carter?

You could send it to BC then - they are the same people so it won't make much difference, just that they said to contact Fredrickson.

AdviceSought

Tixy wrote: »

Who was the last person who wrote to you about this debt prior to Bryan Carter?

You could send it to BC then - they are the same people so it won't make much difference, just that they said to contact Fredrickson.

The only other people I've ever had anything from about this was NatWest prior to me going to the FOS.

RAS

Hi

Regarding the default notice, have you checked that it is legally compliant?

AdviceSought

RAS wrote: »

Hi

Regarding the default notice, have you checked that it is legally compliant?

The FOS believe it is.

RAS

Does 10past6? Send him a pm.

AdviceSought

Tixy wrote: »

Who was the last person who wrote to you about this debt prior to Bryan Carter?

You could send it to BC then - they are the same people so it won't make much difference, just that they said to contact Fredrickson.

I wrote to Fredrickson and BC, both of whom had different postcodes and shock horror the same person signed for both letters.

I asked for a response within seven days of their signed receipt of my payment proposal, although based on the dealing I had with NatWest in it even getting to this stage I wont hold my breath waiting for a reply.

Assuming they don't reply within the timeframe, Natwest hardly ever replied and if they did it was well after the timeframes I asked them to repsond in, can anyone advise as to how I should procede next?