Link Financial Letter

kusunagi

Hi all, I'm new here so forgive me if I've posted in the wrong forum.
I have a question about a letter I received from link financial outsourcing. A little history first may help. I have a loan with Lloyd's and a had MBNA credit card, I never missed a payment on either and had an excellent credit score. My wife was made redundant about a year and half ago and received no money, also job centre didn't want to pay job seekers. This left us with only my wages to pay for everything, overdraft began being used to help pay bills etc. We got some advice from CAB and we sent letters for token pments of £1. Both accepted. Lloyd's are still happy, MBNA sold my debt to link financial who wrote to me and said carry on with £1 payment but pay to them not MBNA. Today they sent me a letter with a statement of what I've paid and it ends with full amount(£4108) now due. I can't pay this. Its says to ring them but thought I'd get some advice here first as reading about this company on the web it seems they are not very helpful.
Thanks for reading, any help greatly appreciated.

happy_bunny_2

1. Never ring them. they will try to get you to pay more than you can afford and say things that they would never put in writing.

2. DCAs usually say pay up when they first get the account. Best to write to them, explaining that you were paying MBNA as as things haven't changed, they will be getting the same amount. They will likely ask you to fill out an income and expenditure form, which you are not obliged to do but might want to if you don't have any spare money.

3. When was the account taken out? If before April 2007, worth a CCA request as without it any court threats are pointless.

MisterBaxter

I had dealings with link when I was having issues before my IVA. As happy_bunny says don't whatever you do call them! they will lie to you and deny that they have made agreements with you. Only deal with them in writing and insist that they must put everything in writing to you.

As they will have bought the debt cheap they are likely to be willing to eventually accept payments that are affordable to you but they were very difficult to negotiate with, even my IP had problems with them, they even tried to change terms with the IP after initially agreeing them.

If the MBNA card pre-dates 2007 ask them to prove that the debt is enforceable, it won't get you off the hook but it will mean they are less likely to go to court.

Only ever agree what you can sensibly afford to pay, even if they go to court they aren't likely to get any more than that. Before my IVA I always refused to tell them anything about my income/expenditure stating that if they wanted that information they would have to take me to court but my card was issued well before 2007 and they never were able to supply me with any documentation. I get the feeling that even if you do try to prove that you can't pay them more they will still harass you and demand more.

Be prepared for a rough ride with them but don't let them wear you down, always be polite on the phone when you tell them that you will only deal in writing and don't let them force you into over stretching.

Finally have a chat with one of the many organisations that assist with debt issues, they will have dealt with the likes of link so will know how best to handle them.

Good luck

kusunagi

Hi.
Thanks for the replies. I got the card in 2011 because it was an 18 month 0% balance transfer as it was my plan to pay off my debts and not get anymore. Its so frustrating as I was slowly getting debt free till my wife's redundancy. I suppose its true what they say that you never know what's around the corner!

I will write to Link and also ask they only do the same. I find it odd that they are asking for the full amount since my debt was sold to them 7 months ago and I have been paying them £1 ever since. I'm guessing they are requesting the full amount to see if I can offer more. As the situation stands at the moment I have after a bit of money saving lifestyle changes made it possible to pay both Link and Lloyd's £10 a month. Now I just need to tell them. I'm guessing both will ask for a income and expenditure report. Since I'm willing to pay more I hope the process is an easy one.