DCS contact via telephone - Anything to look out for ?

waveydave

HI

Just recieved a letter from a DCA who refused my offer of a payment plan asking me to call them urgently .

Im about to call them but wont budge on my offered amount as its in line with what others have been offered and is fair in relation to my budget.

Can i insist that from now on they only contact me by letter ?

Any underhand tricks i need to watch out for on the phone ?

think thats it at the mo lol

WD

waveydave

oh as an additional bit of info the payment ive offered them is LOW but i have every intention of upping it after xmas when smaller debts will be cleared.

The amount i owe them is £2400

The only slight thing that worries me is that ive read on here that if the debt is over £750 they can push for bankrupcy - I own my own house etc so i dont want that to happen and obviously i have every intention of payin it back and i have contacted them in writing to say that etc

Is it something that happens a lot ?

rog2

Of course you can insist that they deal with you in writing only - I would NOT reccomend that you phone them, and if they phone you TELL them that you will only deal in writing and REFUSE ABSOLUTELY to allow them to 'draw' you into a conversation about the offer.
There is a thread, recently, where MCBIRNIE posted an excellent letter template that you may send to the DCA. He also specifies the actual legislation.
If I find it, I will post link.
Cheers
Rog2

waveydave

rog2 wrote:

Of course you can insist that they deal with you in writing only - I would NOT reccomend that you phone them, and if they phone you TELL them that you will only deal in writing and REFUSE ABSOLUTELY to allow them to 'draw' you into a conversation about the offer.
There is a thread, recently, where MCBIRNIE posted an excellent letter template that you may send to the DCA. He also specifies the actual legislation.
If I find it, I will post link.
Cheers
Rog2

ahh yes i remember that thread - Cheers , shall have a hunt round for it

waveydave

oh and as an aside why would you reccomend not calling them ?

rog2

waveydave wrote:

The amount i owe them is £2400

The only slight thing that worries me is that ive read on here that if the debt is over £750 they can push for bankrupcy - I own my own house etc so i dont want that to happen and obviously i have every intention of payin it back and i have contacted them in writing to say that etc

In the UNLIKELY event that they would petition for your Bankruptcy (Their costs would be in excess of normal BR fees, with NO guarantee that they would get these back) this does not happen overnight.
They MUST serve a Statutory Notice, which gives you time (18 days) to either settle the debt or come to an arrangement. At the end of this period they WOULD be allowed to petition for your bankruptcy, but they must serve their petition a minimum of 10 days before a BR hearing. You would have the right to dispute and the judge would probably be most interested to hear that you have made offers of payment, which appear to have ben disregarded out of hand. He would also be very interested to hear of any 'harrassment' you have received over this 'debt'
If you look at the National Debtline (Link above) there is a template letter which states that you can not increase your offer - I suggest you use this.

rog2

waveydave wrote:

oh and as an aside why would you reccomend not calling them ?

I always suggest that, if there is the possibility of this ending up in court, it is better to have a written record of all communication, which can be used as evidence if required.
Also, these 'people' appear to be better trained in being able to twist your words into a commitment, than they are trained in the OFT guidelines to which they should be adhereing.:beer:

waveydave

Sorry - I called them

Reason being if it did go to court i personally thought that it was showing willingness to enter into discussion and sort the debt out to the Judge.

You are absolutely spot on Rog with your quote

these 'people' appear to be better trained in being able to twist your words into a commitment, than they are trained in the OFT guidelines to which they should be adhereing.

The woman on the phone tried everyway she could to get me to agree to what their set minimum was and what she thought was fair but i stood strong and refused to agree to anything and just said " you may think its fair and if i was in a position to afford that much then it would be fair but at this point in time i can only offer you X amount per month which i will review in 3 months time"

She then went on to threaten me with:

CCJ's, which she kindly explained would affect my credit rating and any future attempts at debt (Hmmm think i know that allready lol)

Attachment to property - Could someone explain what this is as i only have a very loose understanding of it.

Passing it on to solicitors meaning more charges and it ending up in court - To which i replied i was quite happy for that to happen as i believe a judge will take one look at my statement of accounts; and look favourably on me as i am attempting to arrange something with 1st Credit - she replied that no he wont and the judge will order you to pay it all back ( lol )

Anyway - i finished the phone call asking her " are you saying that despite me offering you X amount per month you would rather get nothing than accept it" To which she replied " yes as our monthly figure is fair and yours isnt"

Think thats it - im not worried about the attachment to property but could do with some more info to arm myself with if anyone has any advice or links ?

Just gonna type up a letter to send back to them now

rog2

Hi Dave,

I can understand why you phoned them - they have, obviously, very clever letter templates that are a micro-millimetre on the right side of legal. Now you have experienced first hand how these 'people' operate - I would suggest that you keep all future correspondence in writing.
They can apply for a debt to be attached to your property - thereby turning an un-secured debt into a secure debt, but even this is not an automatic procedure and you WILL have the right to question it. I think you probably need some advice from File_Wizard on this.
Remember - you are demonstrating, by your offer, that you are serious about tackling your debts, and are not trying to avoid them. Do NOT offer, or be co-erced into offering any more than you can afford.

sportbeth

1st Credit? I have first hand experience of these morons and they told me every single lie in the book to try and get me to pay on an old bank debt that was made up of illegal bank charges.

They told me they would send a bailiff to my house whilst I was out to take my posessions. I told them that firstly I lived in a flat (duh!) and that they could try but I would straight away call the police as you cannot send a bailiff in without a court order which would take a month minimum.

They then told me that they would send round a collection agent who would broadcast my business to the entire street. Fine I said, as long as you are happy with me complaining to the Information Commissioner about a breach of the Data Protection act.

They're nothing but muppets who have try and frighten people who dont understand the law entirely

waveydave

sportbeth wrote:

1st Credit? I have first hand experience of these morons and they told me every single lie in the book to try and get me to pay on an old bank debt that was made up of illegal bank charges.

They told me they would send a bailiff to my house whilst I was out to take my posessions. I told them that firstly I lived in a flat (duh!) and that they could try but I would straight away call the police as you cannot send a bailiff in without a court order which would take a month minimum.

They then told me that they would send round a collection agent who would broadcast my business to the entire street. Fine I said, as long as you are happy with me complaining to the Information Commissioner about a breach of the Data Protection act.

They're nothing but muppets who have try and frighten people who dont understand the law entirely

sounds exactly the same as my circumstances to be honest