HELP! Debt Collection Agency Writing to My Mum!

quirky31

Good morning All

I wonder if you can provide some advice please?

I no longer live at my Mum's - in fact haven't for 7 years, in between got married, now divorced, now live on my own in rented accommodation.

I have a bank loan debt that is collected monthly via a standing order to a debt collection agency as they froze the debt without interest over 5 years ago. It was agreed that I could repay at £25 a month and I've never missed a payment in the years that this has been running. Out of the blue they've written to me via my Mum's address informing me that without an uplift to £60 a month they are going to take steps to recover the debt from her address! What can I do? I certainly don't want them to know where I live now but I don't want them to hassle my Mum as she's nothing to do with the debt but I cannot increase my payment by 140% on the income I have currently. I have finally got myself to a place where I can exist and not be chasing myself all the time so although I could increase by a tenner, I don't see why I should. I realise they're using this tactic to reduce the length of time to receive their money.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Many thanks.

Quirky31 :-)

abby1234519

Firstly they cannot force you to pay more than you can afford. So I would write a letter confirming this, perhaps send an income and expenditure (you don't have to do this but I think sometimes backing your letter puts you in a better position)

And reiterate that you do not live at your mothers address.

They will eventually find out where you live, its not hard for a DCA to do this

vax2002

they are going to take steps to recover the debt from her address! What can I do? I

Tell them where you are living and give your poor mum a break. Then face up to it.

quirky31

Thank you for your helpful reply, Abby - much appreciated.

As for Vax2002 comments - firstly I didn't know they were going to write to me at my Mum's, seeing that I've not actually lived there since 2004 and as far as I was concerned I had faced up to it and I was repaying the debt at the amount they'd requested. They've not contacted me at all in over 5 years! So next time you lecture someone make sure you actually know the facts before you disparage someone when they're genuinely concerned about a situation they didn't know was going to happen.

abby1234519

quirky31 wrote: »

Thank you for your helpful reply, Abby - much appreciated.

As for Vax2002 comments - firstly I didn't know they were going to write to me at my Mum's, seeing that I've not actually lived there since 2004 and as far as I was concerned I had faced up to it and I was repaying the debt at the amount they'd requested. They've not contacted me at all in over 5 years! So next time you lecture someone make sure you actually know the facts before you disparage someone when they're genuinely concerned about a situation they didn't know was going to happen.

Within reason, Vax does have a point, unless they know any different they will continue to write to your mums address. How much is the debt and how long do you have left to pay on it? If you can increase it by a tenner (only if it doesn't put you in financial difficulty) then its worth it because it decreases how long you'll have to pay it.

I pay off a basic amount per month say £5 on my orange debt, but whenever i have a couple of quid left in the bank account I know won't be spent, I send it straight to them and update my accounts on whatsthecost so I know where I am.

Your other option could be to save that £10 (really depends on how much of the loan is left) to a point where you can offer F+F of say 30%

But really, it does depends on the balance of the loan, who its with etc. And also whats the default date? It will come off your credit file in the next year or so I'd have though and they can't default you again so you could just keep paying the £25. If you aren't missing the £25 its not going to matter much if the default is going to disappear

Reidy1982

Quirky i had a similar situation about 2 years ago a. A family member who had gotten themself into debt was paying there's up slowly over years and never missed payment with there bank debt through a solution company then out of blew last year the company contacted me to try the same because we were related. I sent them letter explaining the person was a relation but they did not live at my address and never had and had no property of assets at this address and to stop all correspondence. I received another letter and then the company somehow got a hold of my phone number. I had a rather heated discussion with the man on the phone and told them this was not my problem it was not my debt and my relation had never lived with me that if they kept it up i would seek legal advice from my solicitor and also report them for harassment as i wanted to know how they got my information to begin with and if they wanted to contact my relation they knew of the debt solution they were taking and they could get in contact with them through the relevant company. I also wrote the same in a formal letter and sent it to the address at the top of the letter. i never heard from them again after that and my relation continued to make his payments to them as it was.
Its scare tactics to try and get you to pay more than you can and legally they can not do this (According to my solicitor whom i seeked advice from after i sent the 2nd letter incase i needed to take action). You should email them yourself and do the same if there is any kind of email address on the letter they sent your mum and send a copy of your financial commitments and a budget showing all this and that an upping of 60 pounds is something you can not afford.

olivia84

my advice to your mum would be to advise them that you do not live at that address anymore, the debt has nothing to do with her and any further correspondance will be considered harrassment and she will seek help from the OFT and financial ombudsman. personally - i'd get in touch with them in writing and let them know your new address as it saves your mum getting any grief. give them an income and expenditure breakdown and let them know that you know if they were to take you to court a judge would do that anyway. I contacted a DCA last week regarding a similar situation and gave my income and expenditure and told the guy that's all i could afford and a judge would look at the figures and say the same and lo and behold they accepted my offer - they know if they take you to court they'll either get the same or less or you'll be declared bankrupt and they'll get nothing. at the end of the day they cannot take steps to recover anything from your mum's address without a court order and i would be 99.9% sure they would never get that against your mum's address.

oh and try to ignore unhelpful comments like the one above - most people on here try to give advice without judgment (which is asked of all posters on the MSE homepage) as you say, you're not running away from the debt, you are paying it back, it's just a shame your mum is getting grief from them.

olivia84 x

quirky31

Thank you to all but VAX2002 for your informative and very helpful advice - it is very much appreciated.

It is a very long time since I've had any involvement with DCA's and therefore it came as a huge shock for this letter to arrive at my Mum's because that's originally where I lived when the bank account was active. In that time I've been married, divorced, moved back and now moved out. It has always been my intention to contact MCS in writing once I'd collected the letter from Mum's and will provide information to them so as far as "manning up", I don't feel the need of a lecture just some friendly advice from others who had been been in similar situations.

Thank you again to those who were most helpful.