Allied International Credit - please help me!!

lisatink

I recieved a yellow card from AIC in the post this morning and after googling the company and reading various forum threads, i am now terrified to call them.
The debt was created by £650 worth of charges built up on a Natwest account opened back in 2005. It was passed to Triton with which i had a £20 per month repayment plan set up with them. They continusly hassled me for more money every month when i called to make a payment so in the end, i stopped calling and stupidly ignored the whole thing. The debt has now been passed to AIC and i really don't know what to do. I'm officially on maternity leave til October but my wage stopped being page this month so my partner now pays for everything. (I haven't told him i've recieved this letter because he doesn't need the extra stress) the only income i recieve is my child benefit and child tax credits now which totals £120 per month. Im happy to pay whatever i can but i'm so scared to call them and face the abuse others have recieved. Can anyone help me? Whats the best way to tackle this? shall i just sit tight and wait for an official letter from them? i also have not recieved any notification from natwest that they have passed the account onto AIC.
Please help or advise me anyway you can - i can't sleep and i can't talk to anyone about it...:(:(:(

unholyangel

Well when you go back to work are you going to be in a position to repay it?

lisatink

I'm not in a position to be able to go back to work unfortunately. I'm happy to pay it back but it'll have to be a small amount every month.

DarkConvict

Contact national debtline.

Benefits are protected from payment of debts. Especially child benefit as it is paid for the child.

have you checked out to see what you are entitled to - http://www.turn2us.org.uk/benefits_search.aspx

lisatink

Thank you for your replys - I'm so worried, i know its for only £650 and others have bigger amounts to worry about but i'm terrified about it. AIC don't have a very good record in regards to being 'understanding' and I have just about had enough of abuse down the phone from Triton!
I'm not entitled to any benefits as i live my OH who earns just over the threshold for benefits. I'm also worried that they may tell my OH that he has to pay the debt for me seeing as he's the only one earning. (the debt was created before we met.)
I'm going to give the national debtline a call - hopefully they will be able to help me.
I'm sorry for being so worried over a silly debt, but i have been recovering from deep depression since my child was born last year and this is pretty much tipping me over the edge. I can't believe i actually thought the debt would just go away