Full settlement demanded on cc - where do I stand?

thriftykatie

I had a Tesco visa card which I had problems paying. The debt is now dealt with by Triton Credit Services and for around 9 months I have been paying £145 monthly (amount now outstanding £6677). Before Christmas I was asked to submit a revised financial statement with a view to increasing payments. In theory my position has not changed and I explained this in a letter with my statement.

Today I have received a letter asking me to pay £182 monthly for a period of 6 months 'in the expectation that you will be in a position by that time to settle your outstanding debt in full'.

Whatever course I take, I will not be able to settle the amount outstanding so what is the best thing to do? I intend to write to them saying that I will meet the new payment but as my financial situation is unliklely to change I will not be in a position to settle in 6 months.

Having had my LBM in December, I have now tightened my reins financially and having done a snowball calculation am hoping to pay at least £170 overpayment monthly on my egg card (highest balance at around £8000).

I am wondering whether I should save that £170 rather than pay it off my egg card so that I can offer a payment of around £1000 in 6 months time to Triton. I am really reluctant to do that as I really want to see my egg debt start to decrease, but I am worried what will happen if Triton demand payment of the full balance in 6 months time.

What is the likeliehood of them pushing for full payment? Since coming to the agreement last spring I have paid by DD and not missed a payment, so hoping that will go in my favour.

I also have an egg loan, M&S card (currently just paying slightly over minimum monthly) and a reduced interest Visa card with an agreed fixed payment of £80 monthly.

Sorry for the long ramblings - hope someone can advise.

mophead

Hi Katie,

I would'nt worry too much they can't take from you what you've not got and the reason they send out such letters is to get the kind of fear reaction your having now in a hope you'll panic cave in and pay them as a priority.

Persoanlly I would pay each creditor equally in relation to their balance, I would write to them like you intend to explaining your full SOA including your payments to other creditors. I don't think you can justify overpaying your EGG and M&S card though if your not even reaching your minimum on your tesco visa, this does'nt make sense because while you not making minimum payments to tesco your account is in default/delinquent so your credit rating is damaged anyway.

Could you possibly post a SOA with you balance, IR, minimums and what you are actually paying .

Claire.x.

sgx.saint

Completely agree with the advice from mophead.

It's a scare tactic through and through. They cannot demand what you do not have, and even a Court would agree with that.

inmypocketnottheirs

sgx.saint wrote:

Completely agree with the advice from mophead.

It's a scare tactic through and through. They cannot demand what you do not have, and even a Court would agree with that.

Exactly. And do not be intimidated to increase your payment if you can not afford it. These debt collection agencies have either purchased your debt for pennies in the pound, or alternatively get a heavy commission for what they collect, and are simply acting in their best interests.

My advice is to never pay anyone like this by direct debit, as they are in charge of the payments that leave your account. Much better to pay them by standing order or via internet banking, you are in charge and they can not alter the amount.

Also remember, by the time your debt has been transferred to a DCA, your account will have been defaulted and this will stay on your credit file for 6 years from the date of the default, making IMHO it less of a priority to increase payments unless you get an agreement from them in writing to say that when the account is cleared that they will remove the 'default' from your credit file. Additionally, your account will also have the interest frozen, meaning that you should prioritise any increase in payments towards debts that are still accruing interest.

HTH

thriftykatie

Thanks all for your comments. Will try and post SOA later. Realised it is a SO not DD so ok on that point. I had not realised that interest rate was frozen but looking at balance think that is probably the case.

Appreciate your help and hopefully my SOA will give clearer picture.

raq

I also had a debt from Tesco p.f. Went over to Triton and they are a huge PAIN. They where nasty a few times on the phone and although I sent a statement to them of all our incoming/outgoings they still wasn't happy. The debt is for £2,400.00 and they wanted £150.00 a month from us. I was only paying £75.00 when I was first with Tesco.

As everyone has stated theycannot take from you what you haven't got. I now send them £50.00 a month and last month I missed it and I had a really horrible letter from them. I have done so much crying over the last 2 month s my other half made sure I wasn't gonna start all over again.