Clarification about companies writing off a debt

alb10n

Hi,

I am hoping someone will be able to help me with my current situation.

Firstly a little background, As a young man I made the mistake of taking out a Welcome Finance Loan. I was making payments on time until I went to uni and the debt was put to the back of my mind. I made contact with the local Welcome office after they contacted me a couple of years in to my degree and arranged to start making payments again. Due to financial constraints (and bad prioritising on my part) my payments ceased.

After finishing uni I made contact and started make payments (at a reduced rate) I received a statement from Welcome and as expected my owed total had increased (no one to blame for this other than myself) however I noticed a few charges that had been added for attempted visits, phone calls and letters that did not take place. I queried this with my local branch and they said they would look in to it, I made my monthly payment and left only to receive a phone call the next day asking for payment. I explained that I had made the payment and asked them to remove the late payment charge from the record. They acknowledged that this was put on in error and would remove it, I requested a statement and this charge was still there. Being still relatively ignorant financially I decided to stop making payments.

I had not heard from Welcome since that incident, until I received a letter from a debt collector working on their behalf. Now I am in a much better situation financially (having learnt from my mistakes) I agreed to start making payments but I first requested a breakdown of the debt due to my concern surrounding false charges. I received the statement and it seemed to be in order until I got to the most recent entries. The debt stays at the same total for around 10 months and then when it is written off the debt increases by £137.66 I have asked the debt collection agency about this and they have sent me an identical copy of the statement with no explanation.

My questions to the wise and wonderful inhabitants of the money saving expert forum are, in your experience if a debt is written off does it usually increase in value? Could this be an administration fee? Should I reiterate my need for clarification surrounding this with the debt collection agency or just take my medicine and start paying up?

Sorry about the long first post (and the first few paragraphs of waffle). Any help would be greatly appreciate.

Alb10n

McKneff

What makes you think a debt is written off.
If you mean when does it drop off your credit file, it drops off after 6 years from the date of the default or from the last time yu made a payment or acknowledged the debt.

Written off just doesn't happen per se.

alb10n

The statement I received states that the debt was written off. It has 5 fields, the most recent update on the statement states:

Date Description Type Amount Balance
03/04/13 DEBT WRITTEN OFF Credit £2655.88 £0.00

Sorry if the formatting is a bit off on that I hope it makes sense.

Thanks,
Alb10n

fermi

alb10n wrote: »

They acknowledged that this was put on in error and would remove it, I requested a statement and this charge was still there. Being still relatively ignorant financially I decided to stop making payments.

I had not heard from Welcome since that incident, until I received a letter from a debt collector working on their behalf.

How long was that gap? Is this still on your credit files?

You could perhaps SAR or CCA them for details

http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/factsheet.php?page=39_getting_information_about_your_credit_agreement

alb10n

It was at least a 3 year gap. The debt is still on my credit file, it was defaulted in 2011 and shows a status of satisfied.

They have sent me a copy of the loan agreement that I signed with the statement that was sent to me. From what I understand is this what I would receive if I carried out a CCA?

If I was to carry out a SAR what information should I request? The statement they have sent me still shows the charge they applied in error which was not removed.

Stewart_78

I maybe missing something here but the statement seems to imply that the debt has been written off, there is a credit to the account and the balance now stands at 0. Is that not the case?

sourcrates

Err totally confused now, why would you "pay up" if the debt has been written off ?, and why is the DCA asking you to pay if it been written off ?, if its been written off, then who cares how much it increased/decreased by, its gone, forgotten, you don't need to worry about it, thank the money gods and think yourself very lucky !!!! :T

rizla_king

Written off by Welcome and sold to the collector by the sound of it.

alb10n

rizla_king wrote: »

Written off by Welcome and sold to the collector by the sound of it.

I am thinking this is probably the case, it has been written off of Welcomes books and has been sold to a DCA.