Hassle from Littlewoods

yay-me

Hello everyone, I was wondering if anyone has had much trouble with littlewoods catalogue pestering by phone?

I am the first to admit that I have been very reckless with money. Over a period of four years my husband and I have managed to run up approximately £29000 of debt. Well when I say my husband and I, I actually mean me. I see things I want and generally tell hubby we can afford it and he says ok then!

We were coping well with payments until recently when a mix up with the bank meant a missed payment on something, whilst we were abroad, we didnt realise the payment had been missed for about a month then started the spiral of charges etc.

Again we could still make the payments every month and had sorted out payment arrangements with those with which we had arrears. However by the day after payday we had no money spare. with four children aged between 10mths and 12 yrs we were basically living on a shopping/general living budget of £40-£50 per week. Obviously this was not sustainable.

So I took the plunge three weeks ago and contact payplan who have put us on a debt management plan. It is going to take 8 years to be debt free but at last there is light at the end of the tunnel, and an added bonus is I have learnt my lesson when it comes to spending. We get paid this week and can actually afford to take the children for a day out for the first time in about five months.

Well there is the history now for the problem. Littlewoods have not replied to payplan and are phoning my house about four times a day. The account is in my husbands name. He has been working 8am to 10pm to try and help our financial situation so has not been here to take the calls. I really think they think I am lying when I say he is not here. I told them today to speak to payplan but they just said they need to speak to hubby and will continue to phone untill they do. I said that he will just tell them to speak to payplan as I have and again they insisted on speaking to him.

At the end of the day they can phone all they want, if they keep on much longer I will block their number of change mine (now there is an idea) but the reason for my post is does anyone have any experience of them not accepting a dmp and going onto to threaten court action. All our other creditors have accepted it and we have not had any trouble with them.

any advice greatly welcomed

thank you:money:

barbiedoll

To stop the telephone calls send them this letter....

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=33792321&postcount=39

(Type your husband's name, or sign it for him)
They then have (I think) 30 days to stop calling him.

Despite their calls, they will eventually agree to the Payplan DMP, after all, what choice do they have? If you don't have the money, they can't have it! The only reason they want to speak to your husband is to hassle him for larger payments. Don't, on any account, let him speak to them unless he is fully aware of his rights and is confident about speaking to these people. In any case, it is always advisable to have all dealings with creditors in writing, then you have proof of any payment plans they agree to. Don't despair, it's always like this at the start of a DMP, it will settle down sooner or later. Many of us on here still tremble when the phone rings! You have done the right thing by facing up to your spending and your debts, you won't regret it. Good luck

saltnvinegar

Hi

The good news is...... you're not alone!

Shop Direct (Littlewoods) are also refusing my DMP.

I am keeping plugging away at them though. One of a couple of things will happen:

1) They will hand the account to a DCA, who will then get exactly the same offer

2) They will take me to court, which considering the small amount of the debt in context with my other creditors, and the fact they are refusing to accept my DMP, it is likely they will only be awarded what I am offering in the first place

I agree with the posts made so far, which is they are trying to put pressure on your hubby to get him to pay them in preference to your other creditors.

Don't let them. Send the letter already advised and this will only be more leverage you have over them if they ignore this.

As already stated they will either eventually accept your DMP or one of the above actions will happen (and it will be more likely handed to a DCA than go to court).

Well done on getting things so sorted and hopefully things will settle down for you soon.

SnV

elfen

If you're sending them any letters, type the signature in otherwise some have been known to copy the sig and put it on documents....bit sneaky but we know what they're like when they want their money. Also send them recorded, yes you pay 74p more a letter but then you have a record of it being sent (and keep a copy of the letter)