Advice re Moorcroft - How to handle this?

gizmo0205

Hello all, desperately seeking your advice and guidance if you would be so kind.

I have been paying off a debt to Moorcroft since January 2009 at a rate of £75 a month and in March they increased this to £82.50 when I called them to request a change of payment date as I was having difficulties making payment that month. The total amount owing was £4023.12. I was initially managing this amount well enough but in the early part of this year I have lost over £200 of my income and as a single parent of two children on benefits at the moment I have been finding myself really struggling financially as when they did the inital income and expenditure they would not allow me to include food and clothing at all in the budget, only bills so les money means less income to pay them with.

I have cancelled the DD with Moorcroft today as I cannot afford to pay that much a month so my question to you is how do I now let them know I have cancelled the DD and that I am willing to pay the debt but not at that amount and how do I ensure I am not bullied or threatened into doing what they say. They have been reasonable up until now but I have read the horror stories so am not expecting them to be happy.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Jinx

Hi OP

I would write to them and explain your change in circumstances and tell them that xxx is what you can afford each month and start paying this immediately by recurring online payment (monthly, weekly whatever). Send thie letter recorded delivery.

You WILL receive letters saying you are now xxx amount in arrears twice a month and they WILL ask/tell you periodically you need to increase this amount.

They cannot have what you do not have. Do not allow them into pressuring you into paying more. Work out a doable rate as you will must pay it on a regular basis. And only write - dont phone!!

Ive done my own DMP for 6 years and dont use DD as they can change it from their side, I pay them all monthly recurring online payment and send a letter at each change in circumstances - payments have gone up and down as per changes in jobs etc.... Actually I found Moorcroft (for an Egg debt) no bother to deal with once payments up and running. HTH

Edited to add: if you need the bank or address details let me know... I have used them a lot lol

nandj_2

Hi Gizmo,
You havent stated what the debt is, overdraft, credit card etc?
Well done for cancelling the DD, DCA's are well known for helping themselves so if you must pay, do so only by standing order so you are in control.
You said that they increased the payments, first, you pay what you can afford, if all you can afford is £1, so be it.
Moorcrap will tell all sorts of lies to you on the telephone to get a payment out of you, in future do not ring but write to them only so you have a complete history.
Remember, you are in control and they are nothing but a private company, you will receive threatograms in the future from the pre-school division (pre-court division), just ignore.
Best Wishes
NandJ

bottleofred

Hi,

Write to them and explain the change in your circumstances. It may also help to enclose payment for what you can afford afford paying for necessities. Don't let them bully you into paying more than you can afford and if they hassle you by telephone, send the letter below.

Dear Sirs,

Account No: XXXXXXXX

I am writing in relation to the quantity and frequency of telephone calls that I have received from your company, which I deem to be personally harassing. I have verbally requested that these stop, but I am still receiving calls and I now require all further correspondence from your company to be made in writing only. I am of the view that your continued harassment of me by telephone puts you in breach of Section 40 of the Administration of Justice Act 1970, and the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.

If you continue to harass me by telephone, you will also be in breach of the Communications Act (2003) s.127 and I will report you to OFCOM, Trading Standards and The Office of Fair Trading, meaning that you will be liable to a substantial fine. Be advised that any further telephone calls from your company may be recorded and used in evidence and I expect this harassment to cease immediately.

Yours faithfully




Sign digitally

gizmo0205

Thank you all very much for your advice. I will set up a standing order for £20 which I think is reasonable as my income has reduced by a quarter so it makes sense that they payment should reduce by that amount too (after my rent and food they are my biggest outgoing :eek:)

I will also write to them though I suspect I will hear from them first as DD was actually due to go out in 3 days but feeling confident and at the end of the day like you say I can't give them what I don't have.

Thanks again!

chuckley

do they have ur card details?! if so they will take it as a card payment. if u cancel the D/D and explain, they will set up the D/D again. u need to cancel ur card...

DCA's do whatever it takes to get money and once they have ur details you are toast.

gizmo0205

Yes they do have my card details as I had to make interim payments to them when setting up payment plans. Can they really just do that without my permission????

SwipernoSwiping

Yes they can take from your card without permission. Can do and will.
Stop the card at the bank - request a new one, this way you should get a new issue number.

Watch out for the DD recreation too - I fell foul of that, purely because I was stupid enough to not fill in all the details on the form. (not with moorcroft) I left the date blank silly-ly believing the sales rep "Don't worry about the rest we'll sort it" - they re set up the DD using a copy of my signiture on a newly dated mandate. Naughty but not illegal- acording to my bank.

david39

Incidentally, if you have cancelled the DD, then their bank will inform them of that automatically either next working day or the day after - so they will be aware that you have cancelled it even if you don't inform them directly.

Probably better to tell them quickly yourself rather then let it come anonymously via the banking system.

gizmo0205

Well after reading that I decided to ring them, I know it's a big no no but I cannot afford to have any nasty surprises. Firmly informed them of the position I was in, that I could only afford £20 a month and that I had cancelled the DD all on the advice of CAB and the lady I spoke to was ok. Did an income and expenditure on the phone which showed that I only had about £40 left after paying for everything else so asked me to make a payment today and then I can continue paying £20 a month from hereon in and by SO too so no worry of DD going up without my control in the future. Pleasantly surprised actually!

Thanks for the tip about the cards and DD recreation Chuckley and Shellie, fortunately this is the only DCA I have to deal with but I hope others are aware of these practices.

gizmo0205

david39 wrote: »

Incidentally, if you have cancelled the DD, then their bank will inform them of that automatically either next working day or the day after - so they will be aware that you have cancelled it even if you don't inform them directly.

Probably better to tell them quickly yourself rather then let it come anonymously via the banking system.

Thanks David, just phoned them as thought it better to get it over with rather than worrying and waiting for the phone to ring. Luckily it has gone my way and they have accepted the decreased payment amount.