DCS contact via telephone - Anything to look out for ?

waveydave

BY 'eck its a long time since ive been on here and updated this - suppose thats a good sign though as a good percentage of my debts have been paid off , well all except FIRST ( Insert Expletive Here) CREDIT !!!!

to cut 6 months worth short i sent them cheques and offer letters, they refused the offers even when i increased them. it culminated in me sending a very forthright letter ststaing i believed they were harrasiing me due to andgry phone calls from there staff etc etc. I asked for a reply but never got one, in fact i didnt hear from them for approx 3 months untill this morning when a letter arrived from their legal dept ( LCS) with a statutory Demand attached.

So, what to do next ?

my personal circumstances are as follows - I run a cafe and am self employed i have been doing this for two months now and do not take a wage as at the moment we do not make a profit. I do NOT own the building or anything in the cafe other than £500 worth of food stock as i rent it on a weekly basis. My wife is full time employed as a nurse and what she brings in covers other debts , mortgage etc - we have no savings and we have a 5 yr old child. Between us we have several other debts ranging from 1k through to £50 - all of these have agreed monthly plans and all are being paid up and starting to fall nicely to the point where at the end of this year i should be left with 3 main debts being paid and then this first credit one.

We are currently in the process of selling our house and expect it to be gone in the next few weeks, we have no equity so we will not have any extra cash then and we will be moving into rented accomodation asap. On top of that we are emigrating to Australia in a years time once visas have come etc.

SO ther ya go - What would you guys and gals suggest my next move with this godawfull DCA is ?

Apologies for the essay just thought i should be thorough.

rog2

Hi Waveydave - long time no see.

Seriously, NOW is the time to talk to someone like CAB, or CCCS. IF the statutory demand is genuine (a lot of DCAs use forms that look like the real thing, in direct contravention of OFT guidelines) then you have only 18 days in which to either come to an agreement with these thugs, or to contest the debt.
I appreciate that, in dealing directly with these 'people', yourself, you feel that you have more control, but you are going to have to put this in the hands of a professional organisation.
There are, now, two CCCS posters on this forum - CCCS_Matthew and CCCS_Emily, as well as at least one CAB adviser. May I suggest that you contact one of these, by pm, and see what they advise.
If you can, take the Statutory Demand to CAB, to check its authenticity.
There is something that does not ring true - to the best of my knowledge a Statutory Demand has to be served in person, not through the post, but I could be wrong.

waveydave

rog2 wrote: »

Hi Waveydave - long time no see.

Seriously, NOW is the time to talk to someone like CAB, or CCCS. IF the statutory demand is genuine (a lot of DCAs use forms that look like the real thing, in direct contravention of OFT guidelines) then you have only 18 days in which to either come to an agreement with these thugs, or to contest the debt.
I appreciate that, in dealing directly with these 'people', yourself, you feel that you have more control, but you are going to have to put this in the hands of a professional organisation.
There are, now, two CCCS posters on this forum - CCCS_Matthew and CCCS_Emily, as well as at least one CAB adviser. May I suggest that you contact one of these, by pm, and see what they advise.
If you can, take the Statutory Demand to CAB, to check its authenticity.
There is something that does not ring true - to the best of my knowledge a Statutory Demand has to be served in person, not through the post, but I could be wrong.

Thanks Rog - I have every intention of giving CCC a call tommorrow to see what they suggest - the more i look at the letter the more i think its a scare tactic and its not genuine. It certainly doesnt look like any court papers i have recieved before, it was sent in normal post with a covering letter which states severa times that i should contact the DCA to sort it out. I would imagine that should they petition for bancrupcy they would not come out with that much as i have no equity in the house so when it sells in a couple of weeks time i will be left with nothing but a 160k mile BMW and a bit of furniture, clothes etc.

Whlst ido see teh serious side of it ( if it is genuine) i'm remarkably calm about the whole thing - one thing i have learned from dealing with debt is not to be intimidated

Bashy

Hi all after reading this thread i though i just better check what i should do.

Got letters from 1st Direct and now a letter today from LCS Solicitors this is an old Dept about 5 years from HFC bank Ltd for £616.

I not responded to any letters i have had over the last 5 years and no longer own a house was passed to X wife in devorse, I have nothing i own to give them and i sure i have a couple of CCJ`s from about 5 years ago too.

All this from a bad devorse

Should i just carry on doing nothing because to be honest if they file for an other CCJ i dont care less (they all had the full £30,000 shared between them all from the devorse sellement from 5/6 years ago)

Or do i make an offer

Many thanks

NorthernLas

Bashy - You will get a much better response if you start your own thread.

Also you need to give people an idea of what the letters from 1st credit and the solicitors actually said. The letter could say 'may take you to court' which is a scare tactic or 'will' take you to court which is more of a problem.

When did you get these letters

[Use the new thread button on the top left]

Hannah_10

waveydave wrote: »

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

I tend to take the view that as long as they're not speaking, they're not lying. It's only the rest of the time you need be concerned. :rotfl: