advice please

Storm0112

back in 2006 i was charged by lloyds tsb £90 for 3 failed direct debits, so when my benfits went in the bank it was taken anyway but just not enough to cover the full £90 so next month i was charged again for them making me overdrawn and again they taken my benfits when it went in so i decided to have my money paid in elsewhere as i living on nothing, anyway as lloyds had made me go overdrawn again they also charged me again which in total amounted up to £1300 because of the recurring charges they added each month, i did try and sort it but they wanted me to pay £1300 over 3 months, something which is impossible for me as i am on benefits, i did offer to pay £20 a month but they refused so i told them to stick it (stupid i know) now i had a text today from bryan carter solicitors asking me to contact them which i did and i explained on the phone my circumstances and i would pay them £20 a month and he said they cant accept such a small amount the minimum would have to be £60, which i cant afford. I was just wondering what i should do now, i am not refusing to pay i just cant afford the amount they want me to pay each month, any advice would be a big help thanks

Tixy

Have you actually had a letter from bryan carter or just the text. To be honest I would not have repsonded to a text but waited for them to write to you. Do you still live at the same address? did you give them your address on the phone?

When they write to you you'll first need to send the prove it letter, so that they write to you with proof of the balance and proof they have a right to collect the debt. Prove it letter - http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=11570893&postcount=2

Then once they have done that I would write again with a monthly repayment offer you can afford. If it is only £20 then so be it. Its probably worth you writing out a statement of affairs to see that you could prove that £20 is all you can afford should it ever go to court, you don't need to send that to the debt collectors but it ensures that you have back-up for why you offered £20 if you should need to (and prove that you weren't spending money on luxuries that could have gone to paying off your debts etc).

Never deal with debt collectors by phone as they will pressurise you into paying more than you can afford and you have no record of what has been said. Always best to keep everything in writing.

If the whole of the £1300 is interest and charges and nothing else then a possible alternative might be to look to see if you would qualify as being in financial hardship based on the financial hardship rules and if so you might be able to reclaim these bank charges. There is some advice on this on the reclaim board.

Storm0112

thanks for your reply, i have not received a letter i only had a text and i am still at the same address but they didnt ask me to confirm it on the phone just my name and d.o.b and all the of the £1300 is what lloyds had charged me in total as after the 2nd charge was taken i had my money paid elsewhere, as they was taking my benefits. I will have a look on the reclaim board to see what i can do about it, thanks for your help x