lowells/hampton/red ccj bailiffs

jolly_jane

my daughter has had letters from red telling her she has a £356.78 debt with orange. orange say they cant give us the details once the debt has been passed to someone else. Now she has a letter from hamptons/lowells saying unless payment is made in 10 days/direct debit or full payment they will take her to court etc ccjs, bailiffs etc. she is a student in london and skint the letter is addressed to our house in bristol what do we do?

Tixy

Does she agree she owes the money?
Has she previously had letters from orange to state this amount is owed? do orange normally write to her in london or at your address?

If she agrees she owes the debt I would suggests she writes to them setting out how much she can afford to repay a month and asking for their standing order details so she can set up a standing order. If she can enclose the first payment with her letter. (there are some templates that might be useful on the national debtline website for this).

If she doesn't agree the debt at all, or disagrees with the amount claimed then she could write to them with the prove it letter - see template here http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=11570893&postcount=2

Any letters sent should be sent recorded delivery.
If they agree to her proposed repayment plan great, if they decide its not enough and send court papers she must complete and return them and suggest that she offers an amount she can afford. Even if a CCJ is granted it should be at a level of repayment she can afford.

jolly_jane

thank you for such a swift reply. The debt is from about 4/5 years ago when she lived a mad life in bristol although she says that there was no debt she could easily be wrong! Any orange letters would have gone to her bristol addresses at the time. She changes her address regularly being a student. I really do not want her to get a ccj - not a great start! I have advised her to contact uni to for advice and the national debt line.I really do not want her to get a ccj - not a great start! Should I pay it all off? will the problem be over then?
Again thank you.

Tixy

What might well be the case is that she stopped using the phone (or they cut her off) and this debt is the full price for the remainder of the contract period - this does happen quite a lot with phone companies. That said orange are often pretty quick to get a CCJ for a debt, so it would almost seem odd that they'd let it go so many years without obtaining a CCJ.

Might be worth her getting a copy of her credit files to see if this debt is on there, and picking up the details of the account (eg when the account was taken out when it defaulted etc) to see if that jogs her memory.

Other than that a good idea to contact national debtline. Is there any chance the debt could be from 6years ago? or very nearly 6years? if so then it could be statute barred, or soon statute barred - might be worth reading up on that as well, certainly before she offers to pay.

If the debt is hers they may accept a repayment arrangement, but if they do gp for a CCJ as long as its paid in full within a month it won't be recorded on her credit file or the registery trust list of ccjs. So if it does go that far and if you are in a position to do so you might want to consider paying it in full within a month of the court order to stop her credit file being wrecked for 6years.

jolly_jane

Im wondering if I should contact hamptons and tell them she is not at this address and that 'I don't know where she is'.
I am concerned that our address is vulnerable to bailiffs. . Would that make us safe? Would it buy her more time as they will have to find her?(The letter is addressed to a Mr rather than a miss too)

Thanks again

RAS

Bailiffs are way off.

Firstly they have to get a ccj

Secondly, she has to not pay the ccJ

Thirdly, they have to go back to court to get permission to use bailiffs.

And the cost of the debt versus the cost of the bailiffs might not make that too attractive an option if they know she does not live at your address; they cannot remove anything unless you let them in and they can only remove your daughter's belongings any way. So unless she has a few masterpices tuck up at yours, bailiffs are a waste of time.

Your daughter needs to take ownership of this mess. There are several weeks, possibly several months in which to start saving money to pay off the debt.

And if it is actually 6 years since she last paid or made WRITTEN acknowledgement of the debt, it is statute barred anyway. if it is red/Lowell, it is quite possible that it is very close to 6 years.

Which is why your daughter needs to take action, not you.

She can send a prove it letter from your address.

You can keep opening letter to watch for court proceeding and she then needs to take the proper action (come here for help)

And if the CCJ is issued, then she has a month to pay it off before it affects her credit records.

jolly_jane

thankyou again you are a star for your help and advice.
xxxxxxxxxxxxx

RAS

You are welcome. These muppets rely on people being ignorant of the law. You need to learn to spot the word "may" - this could possibly lead to all sorts of outcomes, but certainly not all of them, as is often implied. And it may already be statute barred, in which case she does not even have to pay.