not sure what to do? mini update- advice needed!

flossieflipflop

Hi,

On top of my other financial messes I am in a pickle with the water bill. Basically they say we are in £1500 of arrears. We only moved into the house in June 2008 so that's just 2 years worth! I've asked the water company for a breakdown of these charges which they have said they will supply within 7 working days.

I have made sporadic payments of £100 lump sums here and there and was using a weekly payment plan of £30 a week (think we paid about 8 of these?) but we didn't pay every week and so the water company passed the debt onto the Lewis Group (over 2 years we probably only paid about £500).
The Lewis group keep sending letters demanding full and immediate payment of £1500 which we just don't have. I have every intention of paying this (and know we were stupid to have let it slip this badly) but can only manage weekly or monthly installments but every written request to the Lewis group requesting this is ignored and we get another (increasingly threatening) letter demanding full and immediate payment.

I have written to the water company asking for a standing order to be set up to them to pay weekly or monthly but they just say the debt is now with lewis group and I must deal only with them. I had been paying weekly using my water company payment slips but they keep writing telling me to stop paying them and pay lewis group but lewis group won't let us pay in bits.

I'm scared they will take us to court over this and don't know what to do?!! All written communication to Lewis group is ignored/not replied to.

So water company are telling me to stop making my weekly payments direct to water company and the debt company writes saying I must stop paying water company but they won't give me an alternative bar full and immediate payment.

At the moment I am continuing to pay weekly direct to the water company as want to show willingness to pay.

What if anything can I do in this situation or do I just wait to be taken to court and hope the court lets me pay weekly/monthly??

Sorry for long post/ramble and thank you for any help/advise

Hannah_10

Welcome to the wonderful world of DCA's, you couldn't make it up could you. *Rolls eyes*. Your letters will be ignored because they're not convenient, how irritating of you to only have £xx spare to pay with, don't you realise you should have magicked up a leprechaun with a pot of gold by now?

Send another letter, this time by signed for post, saying you have £xx free a week and that is what you propose to pay. Each time they ignore it send another one saying, thank you for your letter of (date), my circumstances have not changed since I last wrote, I am still able to afford a payment of £xx per week/month (whichever suits you best). If you include cheques they almost certainly will cash them. If they cash them then they don't have a leg to stand on in court and they know it.

Anyway it costs them money to take you to court, so as long as they can pretend you've ignored the debt and made no effort to pay (by pretending they never got your letters or calls) then they might have a case to take you to court. Once you can prove you have done everything reasonable in your power to repay the debt they realise the court wont give them anything more than they're already getting and it wont ever see a judge.

Sunnylooloo

What Hannah has advised it spot on

Write and send recorded or registered (never sure what it is) and offer your payment.

£1500 is a lot of money for two years! are you on a metre?

Maybe write to the Lewis group and say you want to sort out this debt and make your offer as Hannah has said but also say you are disputing the amount? As I think they would need to put it hold until you agree to what they want to charge.

Sorry I am not great at this but just wanted to show some support.

good luck

bottleofred

Hi flossie,

definately do what Hanna has suggested and stick to your guns. It does seem to be a lot of water use and you should definately query this further. Good luck in getting sorted out and don't let the dca bully you into paying more than you can afford after paying for other necessities.

flossieflipflop

Thanks hannah. So far I think I have been lucky in that all my other debts are still with original creditors so this is my first ever dealing with a DCA.
Do you think I should stop paying the water company direct and send that money to Lewis Group instead?

sunnylooloo - I thought it was a lot too (especially as we have paid off at least £500 or so) hence why I asked for breakdown of charges. I'm not on a metre and we only live in a small house but we do live in Cornwall where our water rates are apparantly on average 50% more than the rest of the country! I have a feeling that the £1500 might also include this years bill (2010-2011) - our water company makes you pay in advance for the year ahead which I think may make up £500 or so of this bill (which is even more annoying that a dca has it!).

I wrote to them again this morning asking for weekly/monthly payments and again to the water company explaining that their dca won't let me pay in installments and asking for their advice (I should add the water company have been great) so we'll see if I get a response. If not I'll follow your advice.

In the mean time should I keep paying the water company direct or send cheques to the dca?

Hannah_10

Sunnylooloo wrote: »

Write and send recorded or registered (never sure what it is) and offer your payment.

Me neither so I ask for signed for at the Post Office and then if they say registered or recorded I say "the 72p one" as the cheap one costs 72p plus the usual stamp.

Hannah_10

You know what, I am a cheeky b*gger and I would pay the water company out of sheer obstinance because eventually the DCA will give up and pass the debt back to them.

Technically you're meant to pay the DCA though.

And I'm also Cornish, which is probably why £1,500 didn't look odd to me. Something SWW don't want you to know is that they have a trust fund for people with water arears they can't pay. You can't apply for it yourself, it has to go through a debt advisor. I would say go to the CAB but I did and my local one didn't know anything about it and I got refered to a charity (not a debt charity, a different charity) who might pay my bill for me... I'm seriously hoping they don't however and that they get SWW's trust people to fund it instead. I'll get a coffee and go look up that trust, I'd suggest you print it off and take it to the CAB and ask them to apply for you.

Oh and Floss, how many people and how many bedrooms? The usual rule of thumb for a meter is if you're under the avarage occupancy you're gonna save by being on a meter and if you're at or over the average you're gonna be better off not.

NorthernLas

Flossie - Water arrears are not a priority debt, therefore you should pay back but what you can afford. The DCA may have bought the debt from the water company.

Do you know which years the arrears are for and are you up to date with this years payments? (they normally issue a statement each year or twice a year if you are metered).

Given the other financial stuff you are sorting out, have you thought about speaking with CCCS or National debtline (there is a sticky at the top of the forum titled 'who to go to for impartial advice') or using the self help pack on National debtliine to get your budget clearer? Once you have this then you will know how much spare you have each month and then can pro-rata to your debts.

Hannah_10

Quotes from here http://www.insolvencyhelpline.co.uk/debt_factsheets/water_rates_new_rules.php#4

WATER COMPANIES OPERATING RESTART SCHEMES
(Trust fund matches your payments on your arrears)

South West Water www.southwestwater.co.uk
Telephone: 0800 169 1133 (customer services)
"Special Assistance Scheme" helps with water charges only. Application forms from CAB's and Age Concern. You have to provide evidence that you are trying to pay or stick to a repayment programme.

I was wrong they don't have a trust, they match your payments, but that's still worth £750 potentially. As I say, it's not exactly shouted from the roof tops and even my local CAB didn't know about it. Worth a go though.

flossieflipflop

Thank you all for the support and advice.

hannah, I didn't know that but will have a look at it more detail this evening. They might help out as I'm currently 5 months pregnant? Would that make a difference do you think?
We are 2 people (soon to be 3!) in a 3 bedroomed house but it is band A which I think categorises the water payments too? I did look into a metre a while ago but when they came to look at house they said we couldn't have one (something to do with the land/house/structure or something can't remember now)

northernlass - The arrears go back to June 2008 (although some payments were made and have been made up to now). I think the amount also includes the 2010-2011 bill but am waiting for SWW to send me the full breakdown which they are doing in 7 days.

I am already in a dmp and have been for 3 years but thank you for that advise.

Also just been on Lewis Group website and am now quite scared about what they might do - this is copied and pasted from their website (they actually boast about how they operate!!)


"Letter and telephone collection

Utilises a portfolio of collection strategies designed to get results quickly and efficiently. We champion challenge various collection techniques and activities to ensure optimum results. All collectors are highly trained in negotiation skills and in adopting the most effective collection approach for each debt type. We house a large library of letters, tested for their effectiveness and collection managers have the ability to swiftly introduce new letters, as required.
Pro-active telephone calls are generally made with the use of our power dialler for optimum contact efficiency. Should no contact be made, the account will be returned to the next stage of the automated process, either a further letter or onto the next phase of collection, namely litigation or doorstep recovery.
Litigation and enforcement

Active members of the Civil Court Users Association, we have a team of experienced litigation clerks responsible for all aspects of legal proceedings. Utilising a highly selective process supported by flexible enforcement options and continued pro-active collection activities, we obtain optimum results from minimum outlay.
We are believed to be the largest litigators within the debt recovery sector, issuing in excess of 100,000 claims per annum, and have automated bulk issue arrangements with the CCBC in Northampton. This ensures issue of claim within 48 hours for all England and Wales cases. We also have well established arrangements to litigate in Scotland.
Doorstep collections

Our nationwide Doorstep Collection operation is a growth area within the organisation, consisting of circa 1,500 part-time, self-employed collectors.
Where our in-house letter and telephone collection activities have failed, and legal action is not permitted or not deemed effective, we believe that cases should be transferred for doorstep collection, which will ensure they are given every opportunity to repay their debt. Lack of telephone data for debtors would make this option appear very attractive and impact favourably upon collection performance. "

Hannah_10

DCA's thrive on scare Hon, ignore all of that it's rhetoric. Their actual powers and rights are miniscule so scare is all they have left and so they have learned how to utilise it effectively, seems you just fell for the DCA equivalent of puffing your chest up and saying "outside mate" in a pub. Send the letter and cheques is all you have to do.

Regarding being 5 months pregnant, I'm 6- see you in Treliske LOL! The way you said it sounds like you didn't feel you were deserving enough just for being on a low income... You are deserving enough, no need to plead. They'll probably want a SOA and to know if you have other debt, in which case they'll see you can't afford to pay this any quicker. No need to make them feel sorry for you, it's not decided on wretchedness and dispair it's decided on genuine need and the numbers will speak for themselves there. Hold your head up, you've nothing to have to grovel for, it's just debt.