LP1 Collections - Hassle??

gabby71

Hiya

Very long story but a 'friend' ran up a mobile phone debt in my name while I was living abroad.
Came back to this country and soon after found out that I owed £515 via CCJ.
Anyway she agreed to pay the amount of the debt and has been doing so since June.
She pays around twice a month - usually £30 per time and she does this at a bank with cash.
LP1 are hassling me weekly - sending me texts saying I need to call them urgently then when I call they try to push me into arranging a direct debit - even thoug I have told them umpteen times this will not be possible as I am not paying the debt.
They say that they 'do not support' paying cash into the bank as it can take time to trace and possibly get lost.
Surely if they are receiving regular payments then they should stop pestering me regardless of how it is being paid?
What is my legal position here as I feel they are being unfair and harrassing me - they are getting their money back!!!

thanks

Gab

fatbelly

If the court order is to pay £60 per month and this is being done, then they cannot quibble with the method of payment, nor take any further action. However, if the order was to pay forthwith, then you are in breach of the order and they would be within their rights to apply for enforcement by an appropriate method.

If the latter, you may want to consider varying the order using an N245 and just ticking 'reduce instalment' as the court views a forthwith judgement as one instalment of the entire sum.

However, there is a fee for this. Another option, if you can afford it is - you pay the debt and your friend pays you. That stops the harassment and the danger of added fees (on both sides) if they now apply for bailiffs or some other method of enforcement.

gabby71

Hiya

They originally offered a reduction of around £50 as the person paying was going to try to pay it all off in one go, however she is not able to do this so yes, they are saying that I have defaulted on the payment...
I do not want to pay the bill off as I think I would never get the money from her - the only reason she is paying it now is because I have mentioned 'fraud' etc and she does not want to get into trouble!!!!!
Could you explain what an N245 is and how I go about arranging this as I certainly don't want to end up with an attachement of earnings or bailiffs knocking the door...

thanks for the info

Gab

Tixy

N245 is a form to ask the court to allow you to pay in installments copy of the form here - http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/pdf/n245_form.pdf
You do have to put in your financial details so they court are only likely to agree to it if you actually cannot afford to pay the debt off in a lump sum.

If the debt is in your name then it is your finances they will assess not your friends, as obviously legally its your debt and you that is required to repay it.