CRS and Scotcall

szam_

Just a quick one i need some advice on,

I've paid off a debt to Scotcall who were working on behalf of CRS. Never missed a payment and everything was paid off. However CRS called me this morning demanding £60 for the same debt.

I obviously said i understood this to be paid off and that i didn't owe anything.

I rang Scotcall to confirm, they said this was correct that i didn't owe anything and even said i was very good at paying back and never missing a payment. So i asked if they could call them as when i did they were very unhelpful, woman at Scotcall was very helpful and did call them.

Apparently CRS "has added a £60 service charge on". They complained that only 59p (my last payment, albeit a very small one) was paid on the 7th of August (it was at £30 a month) and made it out like it was my fault that i wasn't aware of this (but how could i have been? I can only pay back what i'm told i owe). When i called them back originally to query this, they said Scotcall should never have told me that it would all be paid off and that this amount is outstanding.

I've been away for two weeks and only just got back today so i've no idea how if they've been chasing me the past two weeks.

Anyone had any experience with these and their 'service charges'. Or any advice? As far as i'm concerned, this £60 seems very dubious (or even underhanded) and as far as i'm concerned it's paid off. Fact is i'm on a tight budget and can't pay them this 'service charge' until October, by which no doubt, they'll probably add another service charge on for making them wait.

Advice or guidance appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Trajal

Call, ask to speak with a manager, explain that any court in the land will regard £60 fee for a .59p debt as 'punitive' rather than 'administrative' and request that as an act of goodwill (insert joke about having given them all your money for x years here) they could waive this charge on this occassion. Don't talk to the cannon fodder as they have no authority, just have a nice friendly chat with a manager.

If all else fails I'd threaten to hold out until they take you to court as they will very clearly lose (and I'm sure even they would see that) as well as it being a complete waste of their own time and resources.

szam_

Thanks for the response.

The debt wasn't for this small amount, this was just the final payment (i honestly thought they'd just add it on to my last £30 payment). The debt was for around £350 overall.

As i've had to pay off quite a few debts due to losing a job a couple of years ago and aside from this, i have one remaining out of what was around 5 or 6 which totaled around £3000 and i've cleared 80% of that in around 12 months including the one i'm still paying off, this is the first time anyone has turned around and told me i need to pay a charge to them after what i was aware was a fully paid debt. Generally the entire debt has been laid out in full and i just paid off what i could and when it was cleared off, that was that.

What really gets me is that someone was rude and talked to me like i was stupid over something i never even knew about until today.

bargainbetty

So, you were paying £30 per month, and the debt happened to have a £0.59p on it, and you settled the debt in full?

Try the friendly chat with a manager option, but if you get nowhere, I would be very tempted to write to them, disputing the debt, and ask for a copy of the terms and conditions that allow them to apply additional administrative charges of this size and type to a person who is finalising their debt.

State that until such time as you receive a proper explanation and a copy of those terms you will consider the account to be in dispute, and you would welcome any legal opportunity to prove that the charge is both punitive and disproportionate.

Gordon_Hose

Write to them and tell them in no uncertain terms that unless they can supply the contractual evidence that they are entitled to add "charges" they can take a long run from a short pier.