advice needed

wattapain

Hi - I need a bit of advice re my niece's debt.
she is 22 years old, has been unemployed for about a year, and has just returned to college to do a Diploma course in childcare.
she was claiming JSA, but has now applied for ALG, which is less than JSA, but she is being fully funded, inc tuition fees, travel, and extra course 'enhancements' ie visits etc.
But she has some debts that we are trying to deal with - we have been in touch with the CCCS who have been great - very helpful.
and she has had a DMP set up, but unfortunately it cannot be set up until she receives confirmation of the awarding of the ALG.

She wrote to all her creditors on 4th September, explaining the situation and that she was dealing with CCCS, and would be making the payments as advised by them.

She is now living with me as her family is pretty dysfunctional, and have not been supportive of her efforts in resuming her education, and obviously we will have to support her financially as well as in other ways, but fortunately we are in a position to be able to do this.
And we thought it was going ok, until we went to her bank today (Halifax) as she has been waiting since 3rd Sept for a new debit card and PIN. They ordered another one as that one seems to have gone astray, but when we wanted to withdraw some cash for her, we discovered that one of the creditors (Lowell I think) had taken a direct debit of £50 on Mon 13th from her account!!!
When we spoke about it she said that they had called her about 3-4 weeks ago, and pressed her into agreeing to pay them £50 monthly.
She is a very quiet, shy young woman, and I fear she was harassed into making this decision.
Of course we cancelled the DD immediately, and called CCCS who advised changing her bank account so they cannot have access to it any more.
Any advice if we can do anything about this?
I am so mad - I don't really think she realised this would happen.
And I didn't know about it, or would certainly have advised her to stop it.

Sorry to ramble - hope someone can advise.

Also - another question - she has a mobile contract for £25 monthly, which she cannot now afford, she spoke to Vodafone, asking for a reduced tariff & they told her to speak to someone in carphone warehouse where she got it, if she got no joy to ring them (VF) again!! Again is this right?
advice appreciated

Jesthar

Can't be much help, but definitely change the bank account ASAP. Lowells are a very well know scumbag of a Debt Collection Agency (DCA) and it is highly likely they did indeed bully your neice into making payments - it's what they do for a living.

In the meantime, she is going to get nasty, threatening phone calls and letters from them because of cancelling the DD, probably making blustering threats of court action. To stop the phone calls she needs to tell them she will only deal with them in writing about them, and then refuse to talk to them any more - she is *legally* entitled to do this. If they keep calling (quite likely), there is a cease and desist letter you can send them.

Oh, and please try and persuade your niece to tell you about any letters and calls she gets so you can help her deal with things.

Hope that helps!

~Jes

wattapain

Hi - thanks for that.
She has applied for a basic bank account with the Co-op and is now awaiting the result of this. She is going to Carphone Warehouse later today after college, but I am concerned that if they won't play, she will be DD'd next month and as it's quite probable the ALG won't have been paid by then, there will be no money in the account so she will then have bank charges, making the situation worse.
Do you advise cancelling this DD also (it's the only one left!!) until the new account is up and running.
Should we phone them maybe, & tell them the account is being changed?
Also the debt company was Moorcroft who appear to be an even nastier outfit from what she tells me.
and I have told her re not speaking to anyone on the phone - this all happened before she came to stay.
Hope someone can advise.
Thanks

wattapain

Anybody out there who can help - pleeease??

ms_london

If you are in the process of negotiating payments with her creditors then I would suggest cancelling all direct debits that are currently set up as they will take the money if they can. It might only be a token payment of £1 a month that your niece can realistically afford, but help her compose a letter saying she has gone back to full time education and cannot afford to make the proposed repayments etc etc. Just get them to communicate in writing. xx

NorthernLas

She will have signed a contract for the phone at £25 a month. Has she got the original paperwork? When did she take it put and how long has it got to run?

If she stops paying, she will be liable for the cancellation fees. I would stop the DD to stop bank charges. This should cause Vodafone to contact her, but phoning and telling them she has changed bank accounts would be better. Then they will tell her what she needs to do to set the DD up again.

If she can't pay, then it would be worth talking to CCCS to see if any charges Vodafone would apply could be handled via the DMP.

I had a look on the mobile phone thread and found this one about downgrading https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2731379

wattapain

Hi - thanks for the replies.
another problem though - Co-op have turned down her applicationnfor the bank account.
what now - any suggestions re any recommended ones?
This really is a pain BIGTIME!!!

isy1011

I know Hannah 10 recommended a load of basic bank accounts to someone the other day. Im not sure how to find that thread though. Is it possible to find out why she was turned down or get credit report?

NorthernLas

She has to specifically ask for a basic bank account. With co-op it is called cashminder and you either apply in a branch or over the telephone. Basic accounts are specifically for people with poor credit rating. Have a look at the link - there are lots of accounts. She needs one with an organisation she does not have debts with.

http://www.moneymadeclear.org.uk/pdfs/bank_accounts.pdf