need advice about debt collector

jane130

Hiya , I don't know if this is the right place to ask but I figure people here will know what to do next .

Myhusband and I have a large amount of debt which is under control everyone is happy and we can afford to eat which is great my problem is to do with a new debt which we can be in no way blamed for .

when my husband got a job in august we notified the housing benefit people straight away and started paying rent , we have found out in the last few months however that HB didn't stop paying straightaway and we now have a debt of £130 overpaid housing benefit. becasue we had arrears on our rent accoutn we could't ot pay rent in order to pay it back IYKWIM.

this debt is now with moorcroft , I ahve called them to try and arrange a repayment plan , Our budget is very finely balanced and we have about £17 spare each month so I offered them £10 a month . they asked if me or my husband was emplyeed so i said yes and then they point blank refused the offer , they wouldn't take my financial statement , threatened me with collectors comeing to my home and upping the debt to £250 and then hung up on me.

I have been on their website to see if i could find a way of compining but there are no contact details , I did however enter a very basic financial statement online , remade the offer of £10 and then made a payment of £10 .

now I am not sure if that was the right thing to do .

any advice would be great

Thanks
Jane

specs_3

If that was all you can afford, then carry on paying it.
Do not pay any of their fees without checking that they are lawful. I would go and see the C.A.B. and ask what you can do, they are dealing with this sort of thing everyday.

bonnie_2

did the hb go to you or the landlord, if it went to him could you not recover it back as in effect he has been paid twice.
If it went to you there is probably not much you can do, as you should have known it was going into your account.
Anyhow they can only take what you can afford so stick with the £10 a month.

Zingara

I work in rents for a Housing Association and we use Moorcrofts to collect rent arrears from former tenants. I am off work sick at the moment so can't check this, but I am certain that they are not allowed to increase the debt owed by our former tenants. Instead, they take a percentage of any money that they get out of the former tenants and thus it is in their interest to get as much out of them as possible.

If they do come round, don't let them in. Keep them on the doorstep and just pay what you can afford. I think they have to accept it. If they insist that you have to pay their charges I would seek advice either from a solicitor or CAB.

I am concerned however that this debt has been referred to a collection agency so quickly. By law, HB have to inform you that you have an overpayment and give you 28 days to appeal against it. When were you first aware that you had a debt with them? You say you informed HB as soon as your husband started work. Did you advise them that you no longer wished to claim HB from a given date or did you want them to reassess your claim? If you had stated that you no longer wished to claim from the date he started work and they continued to pay HB then you could argue that it was Local Authority error that they haven't stopped making payments and therefore cannot be claimed back from yourself.

It is possible that the overpayment could be recovered from your rent account but this will leave that further in arrears and your landlord would fight that. If the overpayment is not paid back then any future claim you have for HB will be reduced to claw back the debt.

It may be worth seeking further advice from CAB about this.

Karen

jane130

thanks for all your advice. My husband is great at burying his head in the sand thats how this has got as far as debt collectors, I was away when the first letters came and he didn't think to mention it.

I am in council housing so the rent went from council to council without me even seeing it thats how i didn't know it had happened.

I'll definatly stick to what i can afford I am not jepordising every other arrnangement we have in place because of this .