Needing some help!

dottydee854

Hi,

This is going to sound really stupid to some people, but it is genuinly concerning me.

I owe some money on some utilities, this was due to the company fluffing up when i moved in to my property. So i set up a payment plan to set it up.

Now because of this, and the fact of income support one of my other bills has had to go unpaid, and i'm in arrears.

This is where it's going to sound stupid it's only for £69 but i'm getting bailiff letters and i can't afford it with paying back as well as paying back my other utility debt...

Any advice would be extremly welcome and gratefully accepted!

Thanks for reading!

mr.ton

The only way bailiffs can turn up is if you ve had a CCJ issued against you and defaulted on it.

dottydee854

Thanks for the swift reply!

Maybe i should do some research as this may also sound a bit silly, but what is a CCJ? Lol.

I've never been in debt before, and never planned to.

Thanks again!

Geebee

Hi Dottydee, welcome to the forum.

The letters that you are receiving.... are you sure they are Bailiffs letters?. Is this also for a utility bill?. Have you made an offer of a payment to the company?. Whatever you do, keep all communication in writing, don't call them or they will have you agreeing to paying money that you simply cant afford if you're on income support.

Maybe you could use this link... http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html and work out an SOA that you can post and people will be able to advise where you can maybe cut back a bit as well in the meantime.

GB

dottydee854

Hi, thank you for your quick reply!

Yeah its for sky, i can't get loans or credit cards on income support which is a thankful thing frankly!

I haven't yet no seeing as i only recieved it yesterday, but it's deffinatly a bailiff letter. As they are on about coming to the property.
Just stuck for what to write. Found it kind of scary though as i'm a single mum due to husband leaving hence being on benefits.
I don't want bailiffs banging on my door t reposses...Not that anything useful for them to reposses lol!

Thank you very much again GeeBee!

dancingfairy

Have you tried speaking to the utilities provider and asking to pay the arrears back over a slightly longer period of time?
Have you spoken to Sky at all regarding the fact you are paying back priority bills and trying to come to some sort of payment arrangment with them? - how many months are you behind on payments to sky? are you still in contract with them?
df

Ames

It's almost certainly not bailiffs. Debt collectors letters are usually written so that you think they're bailiffs when they're not. If they do turn up on your doorstep, don't let them in and don't talk to them.

If you only owe £69 to sky, then it's almost impossible for them to have gone to court without you knowing and got an order to send in bailiffs, because it can only really be about 3 months of arrears tops. And you'd have had court papers if it had got that far.

So they're just debt collectors, keep paying your priority bills and offer sky £1 a month until you're caught up with the important stuff and can afford to tackle sky.

dottydee854

Hi!

Thanks for the replies guys making me feel more at ease. No i haven't contacted sky yet, it shall be on my list for Monday! I'll see if i can get through to someone. I can never get though to anyone on sky either get cut off or transfered to some american..lol.

Yeah it's three months i believe. Not sure if i'm still in a contract with them. Again will have to check.

Ames, thats a good idea the £1 a month, do you think they will accept it though?

Thanks once again guys!!

mr.ton

DCA's are all full of hot air & like to make out they have some sort of power/authority over the individual when they dont.
Only a county court has this.
A CCJ is a county court judgement & you would have had to have defaulted on one of these 1st before and bailiffs could call out (even that would be a last resort) - only court bailiffs have power, others dont.

dancingfairy

dottydee854 wrote: »

Ames, thats a good idea the £1 a month, do you think they will accept it though?

Thanks once again guys!!

Well - to put it bluntly they can't have what you haven't got, no matter how much they squeal/make threats/send snotty letters. Paying off utility bills is far more important than paying Sky so if 1 pound per month is all you have spare then that's all they can have.
df

pipsi_2

If you're no longer committed to a contract with sky, it might be an idea to cancel your subscription, you'll still be able to pick up the free channels through your sky box. Or try to downgrade to the cheapest package. Like others have said, explain the situation to them and offer them a small payment and let them know it is all you can afford right now. You may also be able to get funds from the Social Fund (contact your local jobcentre) although i'm not too sure if this is only for people claiming jobseekers allowance. Worth checking though. You would have to pay it back but they will only take a small amount off your benefits and it stops the threatening letters from sky.