Direct Legal & Collections

ianbradley

Hi all, I've managed to make arrangements with all my credit card debtors, apart from one where my account was sold on to DLC, they're asking for monthly payments I can't afford and refuse to freeze the interest etc, until my account has gone through their six stage default process which takes quite a few months.

It seems like they are keeping me at arms length from making monthly reduced payments, whilst they keep adding interest and late charges.

Should I continue making token monthly payments which do nothing to reduce the debt until I can finally make some sort of arrangement with them? Any advice on where I stand or how to proceed with these people would be much appreciated

Ian

diablodood

DLC are a bloody nightmare, I had 3 bad debts both the others settled for payments I offered , they didn't, then I rang and said please stop charges , a I was making a token payment of £10 they wouldn't. I wrote they said they would have to wait until it defaulted to make ANY arrangements, I explained I couldn't afford to pay much more, so they should default so we could make a repayment arrangement, they refused, then after adding on hundreds of pounds of charges etc said I either pay £73 a month or they would put a attachment on my house, as this was a credit card, ie unsecured debt I didn't think they could BUT apparently they can via courts, so today I ageed to pay , this is leaving me so short of money it's not true BUT I have no choice. They are horrible,threatening and unhelpful..... not impressed

furndire

You will find several people in same boat here
http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/debt-bailiffs-advice/

Xbigman

diablodood wrote:

DLC are a bloody nightmare, I had 3 bad debts both the others settled for payments I offered , they didn't, then I rang and said please stop charges , a I was making a token payment of £10 they wouldn't. I wrote they said they would have to wait until it defaulted to make ANY arrangements, I explained I couldn't afford to pay much more, so they should default so we could make a repayment arrangement, they refused, then after adding on hundreds of pounds of charges etc said I either pay £73 a month or they would put a attachment on my house, as this was a credit card, ie unsecured debt I didn't think they could BUT apparently they can via courts, so today I ageed to pay , this is leaving me so short of money it's not true BUT I have no choice. They are horrible,threatening and unhelpful..... not impressed

You should not have paid them more than you can afford.

What anyone should do in these circumstances is to work out how much you can afford to pay and then keep sending it each month regardless of whether they accept or not. If they threaten a charging order then tell them to bring it on. Before they can do that they must go to court to get a CCJ and in court you can request the interest be frozen. Especially if they muck you about by not accepting anything you offer. You can also challenge any charges they add on at the CCJ hearing on the grounds they have acted unreasonably in not accepting your reasonble offer. As for the CCJ threat, you should realise they will put it on eventually anyway but in the meantime it is a stick to beat you with.

Be aware that nothing is guaranteed in court and although it is usual to get charges reduced and interest frozen it does not always happen. It is also a case that larger debts (5000+) can have the court rate of interest applied of 8%.

Ultimately you just might have to accept paying extra interest. Remember that these companies are under no real obligation to freeze interest and some will not freeze it at all outside of a court ruling.
Regards



X

dexters_mum_2

My husband has just received a letter from them yesterday about an alleged £73 debt to which they have added over £220 of charges but if he pays them within 10 days, it will be reeduced back to £73!
He knows nothing of the debt they allege and he's just sent a letter this morning for a copy of the CCA.

nickyhutch

They've been onto me for around £250 that I owe to Ford, but they've added that much and more again. I've written twice asking for an explaiation of the amount, and they've just written back both times saying please ring this number to discuss your account. No I bloody wont! I've asked for a copy of the original agreement and, again, a breakdown of the figure, and then Aplins, a solicitor wrote, asking for the money again, so I sent another copy of the CCA request. Heard nothing yet. If it wasn't for the massive addition of charges, I'd very likely have rung and made an arrangement, but no way am I paying that much extra.

THE_LONE_RANGER_4

yes dont pay what you cant afford, if they wish to take you to court then let them, when i was in debt i paid all what was owed up to when i started making reduced payments never ever paid the extra charges when i paid my debt i stopped paying .dca wrote asking for so much which were charges i said no take me to court it went quiet 12 months later wrote to all crdditors to mark my credt file as settled they all did this with out quistion always argue over charges but clear your original debt first

nickyhutch

Speak of the devil (I should have kept quiet!). Letter from Ford this morning enclosing the original agreement, and saying that I have £236 outstanding for unpaid unstallments. I don't blimmin think so! I feel a trawl through my bank statements coming on (again!).