UDC debt collectors started bullying me after a year

michelle_stt

Long story short.
At our previous house, in our tenancy agreement we HAD to stay with Utility Warehouse, we later found out our landlord was some form of member and got a percentage of the money we paid.

We got into a mess with gas & electric and owed £1348. To pay this off I had pre-payment meters installed and paid £3 a week on gas and electric so £6 a week in total. I had those installed in March 2009 and we moved in Feb 2010. Obviously I expected the amount to have lowered from the £1348. But our final bill was for the same amount. I queried it and they said it wasnt taken off the meters and the meters have now been reset for the tenants. (anyway thats another story)

As we couldn't pay in full it got passed to UDC (utility debt collectors). I agreed to pay £25 a fortnight via a recurring debit card payment. This commenced in June 2010.

Apart from around 3 times when I rang to ask them not to take a payment I paid every payment and got it down to around £700. (when myself and my partner were working I voluntarily upped the payments to £30 a fortnight.)

I then got made redundant but partner still worked so dropped them back down to £25.

His hours got cut in around June 2011 so we lowered the payments to £10 a week which is only £10 less a month than what we were paying anyway.

My partner was made redundant just before Christmas in around November. So during December we weren't able to make any payment.

I informed them of this (only ever dealt with 1 lady there). She said she would not be asking me to pay anymore and would take it directly to court.
I then started the payments again in jan 2012.

Our Natwest account changed our account from a current account to a current plus (said they did this to a few customers) they sent new cards but I totally forgot and carried on using the same one. Until It got declined at Asda which was very embarrassing. I then realized I needed to now start using the new card.

The said payments are due out every Tuesday and assumed it would go out, but I had a snotty answer message on my machine today saying it had been declined and the situation is now desperate and failure to pay will result in court action.

I just rang and left a message explaining about the new card details and would she ring me for them as I dont want to leave them on an answer machine.

Im just feeling really bullied and intimidated when I have paid over half back and missed around 10 payments since june 2010.

Can she get the court involved when I have been paying like I have been? She is just very rude, even my husband was shocked at how she spoke in the answer machine.

Tixy

If you owe a debt and cannot pay in full then yes legally they could take you to court regarding it.
Even if they did you could ask the court to allow you to pay in installments at a rate they determine you can afford.

But they may well not take you to court even if they threaten to. Generally its recommended not to speak to debt collectors by phone and to do everything in writing to prevent them from harrasing & bullyng you. Could you set up a standing order for an amount you can afford rather than relying on paying be debit card - this way you can control the amount you pay and reduce it if required.

There is a letter you can send to ask for all communication to be in writing - http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=11571485&postcount=4

jhp

Your only supposed to discuss Utility Warehouse on this thread here https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2473547

pauletruth

if your both on benifits then they would be very stupid to take you to court. as they will get less back.

DVardysShadow

jhp wrote: »

Your only supposed to discuss Utility Warehouse on this thread here https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2473547

This is not a discussion about Utility Warehouse. It is a discussion about michelle's debt, which happens to be with UW.

Of course, if the discussion strays into the merits of the UW business model, then feel free to report the posts.

jhp

DVardysShadow wrote: »

This is not a discussion about Utility Warehouse. It is a discussion about michelle's debt, which happens to be with UW.

Of course, if the discussion strays into the merits of the UW business model, then feel free to report the posts.

Point taken. Interesting thread about the debt collectors. http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?290426-Utility-Debt-Collectors-Ltd-please-help!