Aqua Card can't pay

Bosie

I am a carer to a gentlemen who suffers with schizophrenia, a few month's ago his wife left him.
Because he now has a lot less money to live on, he cannot afford to make the full payments to Aqua card.
He owes them £2300 and the interest alone is £58 a month.

Does anyone know what Aqua are like to deal with?
He's in a relapse at the moment, so any mithering from them could be worrying.

charliemonkeyface

hi i owe aqua about £1200, i lost my job so couldnt afford to pay, i sent them a copy of my bank statement going back 3months and proof of which benifets i recieve and offered £20 a month only on the condition they stop all interest and late charges.
they accepted with out any argument BUT it took a couple of months for them to get back to me, and while they were decieding they phoned non-stop.

i hope this helps.

Bosie

charliemonkeyface wrote: »

hi i owe aqua about £1200, i lost my job so couldnt afford to pay, i sent them a copy of my bank statement going back 3months and proof of which benifets i recieve and offered £20 a month only on the condition they stop all interest and late charges.
they accepted with out any argument BUT it took a couple of months for them to get back to me, and while they were decieding they phoned non-stop.

i hope this helps.

Thanks for your post, I am worried about them ringing him, as with the mental illness, many years ago he told me he tried to commit suicide. I could write to them on behalf of him, and tell them he has a CPN they could also contact.

toffe

you can send a letter requesting that all correspondance is made in writing but creditors and DCA'a tend to ignore these, another good way to stall them and stave off phone calls while you negotiate the lower repayments is to submit a cca request, once submited and received the creditor has to deal with the cca request before masking further payment demands.

from experience, this usually shuts them up.

BorassicLint

Hi Bosie,

My DD had an Aqua card she fell into arrears with because of late charges and that the late charges make you go over your limit so you get charges for that as well, so this took her minimum payment to one she couldn't afford and it snowballed from there.

They have been a nightmare for her to deal with, extremely rude on occassions and constantly demanding an amount she can't afford. On one occassion she came off the phone in floods of tears because of the way she was spoken to and they actually laughed at her. I rang and complained and was told they do not accept payments of less than £20 pm, she can't afford this as she's currently on benefits. Eventually she made an offer to pay £5 pm and they said this was not acceptable and would refer it to court etc. this has been going on for months now, she has sent numerous expenditure forms and they still constantly harrass her on the phone. I have told her not to deal with them on the phone and to put everything in writing. At the end of the day they can't have what she hasn't got but from her experience they are not nice to deal with.

I hope that your friend has a better experience than she has had with them.

Bosie

BorassicLint wrote: »

Hi Bosie,

My DD had an Aqua card she fell into arrears with because of late charges and that the late charges make you go over your limit so you get charges for that as well, so this took her minimum payment to one she couldn't afford and it snowballed from there.

They have been a nightmare for her to deal with, extremely rude on occassions and constantly demanding an amount she can't afford. On one occassion she came off the phone in floods of tears because of the way she was spoken to and they actually laughed at her. I rang and complained and was told they do not accept payments of less than £20 pm, she can't afford this as she's currently on benefits. Eventually she made an offer to pay £5 pm and they said this was not acceptable and would refer it to court etc. this has been going on for months now, she has sent numerous expenditure forms and they still constantly harrass her on the phone. I have told her not to deal with them on the phone and to put everything in writing. At the end of the day they can't have what she hasn't got but from her experience they are not nice to deal with.

I hope that your friend has a better experience than she has had with them.

I would get his number changed if they were to start harrassing him, it would be better if it went to court, explain his circumstances.
As you say, they can't have what you haven't got.
Do you think if I asked National Debtline or Citizens Bureau to write, rather than myself? I see him once a week and he also has a CPN, who manages his depot injections.

DarkConvict

Since you are assisting as a carer i would advise you contact mind for advice, not just on debts but how to best help your friend with debts. http://www.mind.org.uk/

Mind can probably suggest what is best way to handle the problems debts bring, i.e. the phonecalls and bullying tactics.

Do note this - http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/consumer_credit/oft664.pdf

b. visiting a debtor when it is known they are vulnerable, for example, when
a doctor's certificate has been provided stating that the debtor is ill

They should not take advantage of his condition.

Bosie

DarkConvict wrote: »

Since you are assisting as a carer i would advise you contact mind for advice, not just on debts but how to best help your friend with debts. http://www.mind.org.uk/

Mind can probably suggest what is best way to handle the problems debts bring, i.e. the phonecalls and bullying tactics.

Do note this - http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/consumer_credit/oft664.pdf



They should not take advantage of his condition.

Thanks Darkconvict, I think his psychiatrist could do a letter?
Also, thanks for the Mind link.

DarkConvict

The only problem with letters as much as we recommend them and they are by far the best route still don't get me wrong, is debt collectors care so much about getting paid they kinda have a habit of just ignoring stuff. It can be a nightmare but sometimes it can go quite well.

Bosie

Darkconvict, I've just looked also at the link for the OFT and it does mention about mental illness. Now this guide means debt collectors have to take heed of these guidlines? For instance you could report debt collectors if they did start pestering etc?

DarkConvict

Yes, you can report them. Whether the OFT do anything and whether the DCA act on the guidelines is a different matter.

As you pointed out, they are guidelines not law. Breaching guidelines give you strong grounds to goto the OFT, but such guidelines affect DCAs profit so there is no advantage to them to follow them. The guidelines are basically stating all the tactics they are known to use but are unethical/unmoral or even illegal. People in debt are worried/stressed and they can be pressed and broken easily. Further to this it means they make rash decision so are easy targets and generally less likely to seek advice. Simply put these tactics work, they make profit and hell to the consequences they cause.

You've heard the saying i'm not a number im a person when computers came out, well to a DCA a debtor is just something in the way of them making a profit. Agents are on commission so what more do you expect, the industry seems to re-enforce the use of bad tactics in order to make money. They simply do not care how they affect people.

DCAs can make errors and send letters to the wrong house, buts DCAs have gone as far as sending letters to neighbours, and even calling a neighbours phone number (which they obviously had to look up), applying pressure on a neighbour to tell the debtor about it, causing even further pressure that a neighbour may or may not know about the debt.

This maybe of some interest about a person who was harassed but owed no money - https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2670865