Being chased by debt collectors

nodosh2011

Hi there, I am new here and a little confused, wonder if anyone can offer any advice?

I have debts.....lots of debts. They were all manageable until hubby got made redundant 18 months ago and been out of full time work since. We set up a DMP with CCCS and that has helped a lot, however, we have 2 debts not covered with them. At the time I set up the DMP, I had forgotten about one of them as hadn't heard from them for ages and thought the matter was resolved and the other has arrived since:

First one: Had an account with Littlewoods which did fall into arrears because we stopped payments to them after they caused damage to my property after a delivery. Long story but they back a van into our garden wall and drove off!!!! We reported it to them and to the police but it was all kinda farcical and we didn't get anyway. Eventually, we stopped paying LW's in order to get theirt attention. This backfired, clearly and we ended up having the debt passed to Nationwide Debt who were AWFUL!!! We paid for the item we bought in the end up but refused to pay the late charges/missed payment charges incurred whilst we were discussing this with them. This all happened in 2006 and the amount at the time was approx £100. I am now being chased for this by Lowell Group, Red and another company called Cattle or something similar as of yesterday, the amount is now £365!!!!

Second one: Missed a payment with Diamond Car Insurance for £59 due to changing banks for DMP set up. My fault! I rang them up and presumed they would just set up the DD again but they refused as we also had a missed DD the year before that and they only allow that once. They only thing they said we could do was pay the full years premium in the next 7 days or cancel our policy. I couldn't afford the full years premium so we cancelled the policy and bought a new one elsewhere. Never heard anything else from Diamond (this was last June) otehr than one letter telling me the policy was cancelled. Now being chased by a company called DRS for a balance of almost £200 telling me it is pre-legal and being escalated. Getting text messages, phone calls, emails and letters now and am too pancicked to respond.

Really worried now that CCCS are going to cancel my DMP becuase they have a clause about going into more debt - I think I have really screwed up now, but unintentionally - I haven't bought anything on credit or taken out any more finance or payday loans or anything. In teh short time the DMP has been in place, I have seen my whopping debts of £60k decreasing slowly but surely and have finally fely able to breath again. Now I am back to sleepless nights, worrying about court action and losing my home and I just cannot face this.

The second one with DRS/Diamond, I guess I probably do owe but I promise you I never ever EVER received anything friom them for this before it was passed to DRS. The first one from Littlewoods is so frustrating, the balance was ALL MADE UP OF CHARGES, some charges were incurred whilst I was on a reduced payment plan with LW's for being 1 day late making a payment with them. But their statements never specified what date to pay so I just paid them the day I got paid. But they charged me anyway even though I paid every month. Then we wrote to them and challenged the charges and then never heard anything for months, then suddenylu, wham, seems to be a different debt collector every week chasing for this and I am too scared/pathetic to talk to them.

Don't suppose anyone can really help but it feels good to get it all off my chest!

snookey

Hi Im not going to be of much help but another wiser poster Im sure will be along to give you good advice. One thing I will say though is not to panic. Look at the amount of debt you were in and how far you have come .
If the debts were before your DMP then they are not new debts so really you have kept to your agreement.

mandi

Hi nodosh

Please contact http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/ Or http://www.communitylegaladvice.org.uk/ Both will give you free & confidential advice

Jesthar

Hey, nodosh, and welcome to the forums

Need to head to bed, but didn't want to read and run!

1) How old is the Littlewoods account - as in when you first took it out? As it's definitely older than 2006, you may find a CCA (Consumer Credit Agreement) request to to whoever are chasing you for it results in them being unable to provide the correct paperwork to let them legally collect it, and therefore you won't have to pay them anything Although - who exactly IS chasing that one? Only ONE of the DCAs you mentioned can legally be pursuing it at any one time.

Oh, and it's been a while since I've commented in this vein, but claiming charges back from catalogue accounts used to be heavily recommended around here, unless the rules have changed. You'd have to be quick, though, as I think you can only go back six years - someone will correct me if I'm talking rubbish!

2) DRS are applying the scare tactics - check the letters for phrases like 'we MAY do this or that' and 'this COULD result in' kind of phrasing. Anyway, next time they call thell them you will only deal with them in writing and hang up, if they call again, lather, rinse, repeat, and post here asking for the 'Stop harassing me with phonecalls' template letter, plus info on reporting them to the OFT for harassment Either which way, you'e a long way from court action, as it would cost them a lot more than you owe to bring that kind of action, and for no guaranteed return, so don't worry about that.

Although it will be interesting to know exactly what the £200 was supposedly for - have they said? You shouldn't be paying them any money until you are sure that a) this is your debt, and b) what it consists of - did Diamond mention any cancellation fees? Even if there were, £200 seems very excessive! Others will be able to comment more throughly, but sending them a 'prove it' letter (there is a template around here somewhere) might be wothwhile.

And remember - YOU are not pathetic, THEY are for seeming enjoying earning a living from bullying and scaring people into paying them money under dubious circumstances *hugs*

I can't speak with any authority on this, but I don't *think* CCCS would throw you out for these incidents. It might not even be worth mentioning the Littlewoods one to them, as if you CCA request the Debt Collection Agency and they can't produce it, that one goes away anyway until they can provide one. And the Diamond one - IF it is real - was a genuine mistake caused by the change in banks.

Oh, and if you do have cause to write to a DCA, always send your letters by recorded delivery (so they can't deny receiving them) and NEVER sign your name (as sone DCAs have been known to use a sample signature to 'generate' 'oroginal' documents proving debt, if you get what I mean).

*hugs*

~Jes