loan debt with coop bank

housespark

Hi all I hope ive wrote this in the correct place.
I had a bank loan with coop bank which fell into default about three years ago, interest was frozen and eventully a guy from Moorcroft knocked on the door, I didn't let him in but agreed to pay £25pm.

unfortunately a couple of months later I found myself out of work so one of the first things I stopped paying was this £25. a few letter came in the weeks to follow all of which just went straight in the bin as I couldn't pay and just knew that any conversation with them would just en in an argument and me hanging up on them.

Since then I have moved address and now a couple of years later ive had a letter from coop bank stating that my debt has been sold to Lowell financial are they just another debt collector like Moorcroft? in their letter they say they are getting red debt collections to assess my credit file and possible further actions or statutory demand
what does that mean and what should I do now. I am now working part time so could afford to pay something towards this debt be probabily not a lot. do debt firms still have to provide copies of credit agreement to prove the debt?

Trajal

Yep Lowell are another debt collection company. Red Debt Collections are an inhouse part of their company - presumably named purely to try to sound intimidating.

They quite often deal with mobile phone debts etc, but it's just the same company.

Have they written to you requesting a payment or anything like that?

Yes debt collection companies still need to prove their debt, but it sounds like you owe them money legitimately. Might be worth writing them a prove it letter and then doing an SOA to try to work out how much you could afford each month. Offer them half of that in the first instance (assuming that they prove the debt) and see where it gets you.

Good luck and whatever you do, don't get into more debt!

housespark

yes ive had letters requesting I get in touch to arrange repayment, had one letter stating they would reduce the debt by 40% if I paid it as a lump sum, no idea where they expect me to get over 4000 from.

what do I write in a proof it letter or is there a blank template I can use anywhere?

the only form of credit I use at all now is a mobile contract which I intend to keep as it has unlimited minutes, it cheeper than pay as you go and I know it is for roughly the same amount each month

Trajal

Oh ok, that makes more sense.

If you're happy to agree that the debt is yours and that the amounts seem about right, I would do an SOA to work out how you can pay it off. Make sure to set aside money for everything you'll need including a contingency fund.

Once you've worked out your income/expenditure you'll have a better idea as to how much you can comfortably pay off each month. Send them a letter offering that arrangement and wait for their response.

chanz4

A word of warning lowell love stat demands

fatbelly

Lowell are a debt collector/debt buyer. In this case they've bought the debt.

To answer your question, for a bank loan, the creditor (in this case Lowell) does have to provide a copy of the signed agreement if you make a formal request.

Factsheet | Getting information about your credit agreement

The debt is unenforceable until they comply, but they can comply with a reconstituted agreement. If this is a post-April 2007 account, it cannot be 'irredemably unenforceable'

The fact that they've already made an offer to settle at 60% sounds promising. If you can get even 25% together, it may be worth going down that route.

Factsheet | Full & Final Settlement offers

housespark

yes it was taken out after 2007. what do irredemably unenforceable and statutory demand mean?

fatbelly

A statutory demand is a forced bankruptcy. The debt has to be for at least £750 and this is an expensive process for the creditor so they would have to know that there was something in it for them if they were to see the process through.

The problem is that to start the process they just generate a standard letter, and that's cheap. They have been warned not to use a stat demand unless there is a genuine intent to see things through, and Lowell do do a few hundred of these each year. However, they deal with thens of thousands of debts and their offer to settle at a discount indicates that that is what they are looking at here.

Unenforceable means that court action cannot be taken. Or strictly speaking, if commenced, you have a defence.