Final demand letter from debt recovery...no previous demands?!

SpagBol

Yesterday I received a letter from Daniel Silverman stating we need to send payment within 7 days for a nursery fee debt of just over £1k, the problem is my child left this nursery over 2 years ago, I have never received any correspondence or telephone calls from them asking for fees and I can't remember paying or anything as it was over 2 years ago!!

I called the nursery yesterday to ask for details, final bill etc. they said they would call back but didn't, now I'm getting worried about what I should do...

a) I'm not convinced we owe this money but there is a possibility that we do. I'm pretty sure they would have sent a bill if we did so it seems odd.

b) IF the nursery don't communicate with me, what will happen? I can't pay this money anyway as it is a lot in one go and I am due to go on maternity next week, to make a really crap week worse DH lost his job last week too. What would happen if we don't pay it and we have to go to court? Would they then have to provide evidence that we owe the money and would they take installments? If we do owe it I am happy to pay but would have to be in installments...would that be arranged in the court and would that count as a CCJ? I have never had this before despite mucho debt we've always paid what we owe

Thanks in advance :A

SpagBol

Also should I contact the debt recovery company and explain? I've assumed they won't be very reasonable and will just want their money so haven't contacted them as yet.

matttye

You're entitled to see what the debt consists of, so missed payments, when they were due, added charges etc.

Write to the DCA saying that you're not aware of the alleged debt and ask for a full breakdown of the account before you do anything.

IF you get taken to court, which is certainly not a guarantee, then if you owe the money you would get a CCJ, yes. A county court judge would make an order that you pay instalments you can afford, taking your income and expenditure into account. If that's £1 per month then so be it...

That said, the debt collection agency is likely to come to some form of agreement before it reaches court. But first things first, you need to be certain you actually owe the money. Just remember you have a right to ask for a breakdown of the debt.

SpagBol

Thank you Mattye, that is good to hear. The letter has a website address so I will see if I can email to ask for a breakdown. If not I will write and send recorded, is that the best thing to do?

matttye

Forgot to say - keep all correspondence to writing and always send by recorded delivery. Request that they keep correspondence to writing too.

The Office of Fair Trading's guidance on debt collection says that creditors must respect debtors' reasonable requests of when, where and how to contact them.

Dealing only in writing makes sure there's a record of what is said, and you will also feel less pressured into coming to an agreement you can't really afford, if it turns out you actually do owe the money.

E-mail is usually good too, but not as good as recorded delivery. They can claim not to have received e-mails (unless they have an automated 'thank you for your e-mail' type response), whereas they can't claim not to have received a recorded letter.

spacey2012

FAO : Daniel Silverman : Your recent demand/ claim for payment.
Please provide proof of claim for your speculative demand in writing within 14 days or I shall close the matter .
Examples of proof of claim accepted :
Signed Credit agreement.
Signed Service agreement.
Certified and fully taxed (broken down) payment accounts.
These must be forwarded within 14 days by postal service or I shall close the enquiry due to lack of proof of claim .
Yours PRINTED NOT SIGNED.

SpagBol

Thanks so much spacey I will use that form.

By the way...I love your picture, we used to have a Ruby Cavalier when I was younger! Beautiful dogs.

harveybobbles

I'd just send them the "proove it" letter and wait til they bother to write back

happy_bunny_2

If it did go to court, you would get 28 days to pay to avoid having the CCJ put on your file.

If they can not supply proof to you or refuse to do so, then unlikely they have enough evidence to convince a judge in court.

Sometimes the statements DCAs send will not show details, in which case just tell them its not enough evidence.

SpagBol

Thanks for the advice everyone, I will send the letter above and give you an update when I have one!

SpagBol

I have sent an email, if I don't hear anything I will send the same by recorded post.