General Recoveries Limited in Administration...advice and guidance needed

Hubbabubla

Is anyone out there had their DMP through these? It was also known as one debt solution prior to august 2013. having been told my plan was to end in September of this year it appears that I have been completely ripped off and misinformed in relation to "unenforceable" debts (I now know that these are basically a myth). Some of these debts are over 10 years old and I thought the end was in sight. It appears that my creditors had not been paid on a regular basis, even though I was paying £100 a month to them for the past 3 years. I don't even know to whom or what I owe anymore.
The administrators have sold the "book" to another Debt management company and are looking into what has happened to our money. I don't know what to do next. Advice and guidance needed.

fermi

Not good.

http://www.harrisons.uk.com/news/general-recoveries-limited-%E2%80%93-administration

The guys at legalbeagles.info have been looking into several cases such as this, so may be worth posting there.

Main thing is to get away from any commercial company and seek some proper impartial debt advice.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/debt-help-plan#help

Hubbabubla

Thanks for the reply.
I'm so angry with myself for being so stupid but when someone says they can help you out of a hole you grab their hand!
Do I just sit and wait for the threatening letters and phone calls to start or do I dig out what little correspondence I had from GR and contact creditors myself?

sourcrates

Hubbabubla wrote: »

Thanks for the reply.
I'm so angry with myself for being so stupid but when someone says they can help you out of a hole you grab their hand!
Do I just sit and wait for the threatening letters and phone calls to start or do I dig out what little correspondence I had from GR and contact creditors myself?

I would wait and see who writes to you.
Then a good response would be a letter explaining the woes you have suffered with this DMP company, and that you will be in touch in due course.
Give yourself time to step back and see where you are financially, and follow Fermi`s advice, seek help from one of the free debt charity's, if you feel you need it, don't fall into the trap of paying a limited company for this service, as you have already found out, they charge you a fee and can fail at any time.

fermi

Update; http://www.harrisons.uk.com/news/general-recoveries-limited-administration-3rd-update

sourcrates

fermi wrote: »

Update; http://www.harrisons.uk.com/news/general-recoveries-limited-administration-3rd-update

Wow, this is not what you want to hear at all is it ! :mad:


Please, anyone affected by this, or even thinking of starting there own DMP, seek advice from a FREE provider, not a company you have to pay fees to, you do not have to pay for this service.

dancingfairy

If you haven't paid a a company for 6 years or written to them regarding the debt then the debt becomes statute barred (asssuming they haven't got a CCJ). If they haven't got a CCJ against you then you don't have to pay the debt and if they did take it to court then you could argue that it was staute barred.
It is not clear from what you have said whether there was a period of 6 years where you did not pay towards any of these debts. I am unsure whether contact from the debt management company would count. You may find that if you have been paying this debt management company and they have not been passing the money on that some of the debts are statute barred.
I would possibly get copies of all 3 credit reports as a starting point. This will show you where debts are likely to exist and will possibly get any creditors out of the woodwork.
When they write to you you can firstly ask for proof of any alleged debt and wait for them to provide proof of what debt they are chasing and proof they are the leigitmate owners, they may not reply, they may just give up or they may get back to you. You can then claim the debt is stuatute barred if appropriate.
I would not use the services of whatever company the debt managent companies books have been sold to.
When I had a better idea of what debts I owed then I would get in touch with one of the free debt charities such as Stepchange or National Debtline or your local CAB.
Your options:
1) ignore and wait for creditors to contact you
2) get your credit rating and deal with creditors as they contact you
3) contact a new dmp provider (one of the approved charities such as National Debtline,StepChange).
4) Write to the companies yourself and offer full and final settlements.

Personally I would go for the ignoring /waiting for people to contact you and then claiming they are statute barred or possibly going for full and final settlements. It really depends if any of your money has been going to your creditors.
df

Hubbabubla

Thanks for replying dancingfairy, this is the situation in a nutshell
GR took over from another company One Debt Solution in August 2013. I originally signed up with ODS in 2011. I had been paying a company called Churchwood Financial since around 2006. It was in 2004 that I started getting in to a mess. In total I had debts of around 12k, loans from HSBC, Egg Credit card, and a couple of store cards. I was sort of ok paying Churchwood financial but out of the blue in 2011 whilst I was on maternity leave I received a call from ODS claiming to "write off" a large part of my debt. Sleep deprived, gulable and not with a very level head (hindsight is a wonderful thing) I agreed for them to pursue the case. I got a few calls and letters from my creditors ( none from the original creditors I'd taken loans out with may I add, Robinson Way, Moorcroft, Marlin to name but a few) over a period of a couple of months but things settled down. I was paying them £100 per month. They used to send "updates" every now and again telling me that some creditors didnt have the original credit agreements so things were looking good. I now know that this doesn't mean anything. I used to have contact with "dean" who informed me in march this year that my plan would be over by September...hooray I thought, the end is in sight. Then last week I came home to a letter from Harrison's explaining what had happened and it suddenly dawned on me that I've been duped!
It says on Harrison's website that clients monies was sat in one big pot, very rarely reconciled, therefore I'm assuming it's all gone and only token payments were ever given to creditors (my amounts on statements were different every time). I am sure though that these token payments were made within the last 6 years.
I've spoken to the company that have bought the client book from the Administrators (or however it works). They have told me that I have two creditors ( I thought I had four) but couldn't tell me how much the balances are unless I complete an authority to act form. I'm worrying now that some of the debts have been sold on without my knowledge and I'll be getting letters and calls from random companies demanding money. surely if it's information about me I should be able to request it without signing up to anything (they want £35 pm to help me sort this out)
GR Had informed me that my biggest debt of £8k from Robinson Way (relating to HSBC 12k loan from 2004) was "unenforceable" I know that this means absolutely nothing and that it's still hanging about somewhere waiting to pounce!.
I've also signed up to Experian to see if that could shed any light on my current situation, that left me more perplexed as my score is excellent and is only showing one creditor that I've ever defaulted on.....????? The rest of the info on there is current stuff like my mortgage and current bank account and next directory etc. what a mess, in all good faith I thought I was paying my debts off but looks like I'll be doing the same for the next 10 years....

dancingfairy

There was a period where credit cards and loan companies were slack and their paperwork was not in order. You used to be able to challenge the debts on the basis of this paperwork being incorrect but I believe the loophole was closed/got around by the companies so I assume that's what the companies were referring to when you signed up.
The reason the debts are not on your credit file is because after 6 years defaults fall off so that's good news for a start.
O.k so the debts are probably not statute barred but it sounds like your creditors will have got token payments at best (if anything). It sounds like none of the debts are with the original creditors and been sold on (and possibly on and on and on). The debt collectors would have bought your debts for peanuts (A very low pence in the pound).
I would probably ignore the situation for now. If anyone does chase you can ask for proof of any alleged debt and then claim statute barred (And it would be up to them to prove it wasn't). If any debts are still 'live' and aren't statute barred then given everything I would be looking at making low full and final settlements. There's a really useful factsheet on National Debtline's website for this but I would probably let the creditors do all the running.
On the other hand if you really do want to get it all sorted once and for all now you will have to do a similar process and find out who owes all your debts and again make full and final settlement offers to them.
It sounds like maybe the debt management company were paying token payments with a view to making a full and final settlement offer on your behalf at the end of the 'plan'? Whatever they were up to they really should have informed you what you were signing up to
df

dancingfairy

I really would not be paying this new debt management company anything at all ,especially after being burnt by one already
df

Hubbabubla

Yes that was my response to them! Do one! Thanks for the peace of mind...I'll keep you posted, wish me luck ��