just a wee question :-)

blue_pixie

Hi everyone, hopefully someone can help.

I have two debts with british gas. ( I know how terrible this is, and I am trying to put it right. And I do feel awful about it. ) one is for £900 and one for £341. The are both listed on my call credit report as being with british gas (both with the wrong default dates, which have been changed in the last year, but thats another story :-)) They are not on my other two credit reports.
I used to pay a Dca called scotcall for the larger one, but defaulted on this before my Lbm, and lost track of it. I emailed British Gas in january to try and arrange to pay, and they told me that the debt was with a Dca called Ccs collect, who I phoned, and who had no record of it. But they said I would no doubt get a letter about it at some point. So I decided to wait until someone wrote about it and make an arrangement to pay then.
But tonight when clearing out under the bed, I found a (one of the last) hidden away Dca letter from a company called Past Due solutions, regarding the larger debt, it said that they may have to advise their client, to maybe take me to court, etc, etc. It was from two years ago, but I'm not really sure if there were any more letters after that, I don't think so, and I know there have been none for the last six months.
My question is should I phone this company and arrange to pay them, or wait till someone writes to me again? And how worried should I be about the court threat? Would it have happened by now? and Im assuming I would know if it had as it would be on my credit file?
Any advice greatly appreciated from the lovely dfw people!

Hope everyone is well!

hettiecarro

Hi
How old are the debts?

blue_pixie

Hello, the larger one is from 2009 but the default date listed is 2010 :mad: it was changed a couple of months ago, have been emailing British Gas about this to no avail! The other one is from 2010, but this default date was changed on my credit report also, to 2013!

pjfowkes

just a quick tip for those with utilities arrears, British gas especially, I work for shelter the homeless and housing charity and they offer a dedicated gas and energy arrears service , whereby those in financial hardship and still with the debt being chased by the actual supplier they offer a service as a part of the British gas trust fund that might help in these instances before going to the DCA as a way to get help and deal with the problem. may not be relevant to your case but there is a dedicated utilities service available through shelter for those in financial hardship and substantial utilities arrears. the service works with most utilities too and also offers grants for funeral costs etc. its always worthwhile asking at your local shelter if they may be able to help you with your gas arrears. best of luck.

blue_pixie

Hello and thank you pjfowkes, I agree I don't think this would be relevant for me, but I really hope that it helps someone reading who it applies to, sounds amazing.

pjfowkes

step change is the one we recommend from shelter at the drop In sessions and reading the reviews on here, those guys are amazing and should set you up with a manageable debt payment plan. they also tell the DCA's to stop harassing you so id give them a shout if it was me. Im sure theres a few threads about step change on here, but that's the route id go now.

pjfowkes

DCA's use every trick in the book to try and intimidate you into paying, if you have the details of the DCA in question speak to step change and they will deal with your debt on your behalf. all you do is keep up with the debt repayments. as for the threats of court action, its a non priority debt so nope it cant be enforced.

blue_pixie

Thanks again pjfowkes, I have actually taken the decision not to go down the DMP route and am making monthly payments on my debts, and managing quite well so far. This is the last debt to sort out, I'm sure I will figure it out! I just wondered if anyone had any advice on the particulars of it....
again I agree, Stepchange are excellent, understanding and practically helpful, I spoke to them whilst in a panic and before deciding how best to deal with my debts. I'm glad shelter recommend them to folk in need of them :-)

blue_pixie

Oh just saw your other message.. that's good to know! :-)

hettiecarro

Hi
I think the first thing you should do is post a statement of account (SOA) on here so we can see how your finances are looking with regard to paying the debt off.
In my opinion as the default is already registered on you credit file I would wait until you get another communication from the companies you owe the debt to.
As far as court proceeding are concerned, you will have to be given notice before any proceedings can begin, and depending on your finances you can then either make an offer direct to the creditor or seek advice from Stepchange.
Use this link to post that SoA and we will look at it to see where you can make possible savings towards these debts.
http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php


Well done for finally having your LBM. Let's get this sorted. It's not an horrendous amount - but no more stashing letters under the bed


Sorry - just saw your last post

blue_pixie

Ha! Yes indeed!
I just did the soa but I can't figure out how to post it on here, I'm on my phone. I'll figure that one out in the morning! It's looking good though! Thanks for the replies. :-)