Next ...threatening

craftingqueen_2

Me can anyone give me any advice.Had a phone call at 8.30am from NEXT to say they are not accepting the DMP and will be passing me on to DCA on the 22nd August.

We can only afford to pay £1 but they have told me they don't accept anything under £5.

She also asked if someone else can pay it for me? No there's noone.She has also informed me they will be adding £85 to the debt too.Then she went on to say that i will be getting a visit from the DCA, (which scares me to death).

As reading some of the threads on here i hear NEXT'S DCA not very approachable.Can anyone give me advice on how to handle the DCA?

many thanks

cq

Zulu_Dawn

Why don't you agree to £5?

Surely there is £4 you can cut somewhere from your outgoings.

benbenandme

Is this every month they want it increased to £5 or just this month? What is the £85 for?????:eek:

craftingqueen_2

Been in touch with Payplan over this.But they have advice us not to,as it would'nt be fair on our other creditors ,we would have to pay them more.

cq

craftingqueen_2

They want it increased to £5 .The £85 is a charge as it's being sent to the DCA?????

cq

Crown

Morning CQ,

Dont panic about this, this seems to be normal procedure. Any creditor after a debt hasnt been paid for a while will be passed onto some type of collection team. If NEXT havent got a team then they will instruct there Debt Collection Agency to deal with it.

Dont worry about dealing with the Debt Collectors as in my experience they are much easier to negiote with than the original creditor. In my case the Halifax wanted me to be paying around £150 PM and I could not afford this. I now pay just £1 token payments why I sort out my mortgage problems.

I would say that when you do speak to them they will try and bully you with all types of things. If you can only afford £5 a month then so be it. Even if the DCA did come to your door you do not have to let them in or even speak to them. They do not have the same authority as a Bailiff although they like to threaten that they do.

As to the charge I honestly dont think there is a way around this. The charges are admin fees and a charge for the debt collector. Once it has been passed then all interest should then stop.

It may be possible to reclaim this if it can be proofed to be unfair but I havent bothered as yet as I have saved more now the interest is frozen.

Good luck with it

rayday2

Like I have said before DCA are much better at accepting payments.

To me it sounds like a last ditched attempt from Next to get the money as when they sell the debt on they take a loss.

Don't worry send the £1 to Next until they pass it on then send the payment offer to the DCA and take it from there.

rog2

craftingqueen wrote: »

Been in touch with Payplan over this.But they have advice us not to,as it would'nt be fair on our other creditors ,we would have to pay them more.

The advice, from Payplan, is absolutely correct - you would, in effect, be giving Next 'preferential status' over your other creditors.
With regard to the £85 charge, I think that this is both unnecessary and excessive and you should talk to Payplan about a possible dispute.
As far as a 'visit from a debt collector' is concerned - don't worry. A debt collector has NO right of entry into your house and you are under NO OBLIGATION to discuss the debt with them, if they visit without a pre-arranged appointment. Equally they MUST leave immediately if and when you ask them to.
The OFT guidelines clearly define that a creditor is guilty of bad practice if they:

Section 2.8c; 'refuse to deal with appointed or authorised third parties, such as Citizen's Advice Bureaux, independent advice centres or money advisers.'

Section 2.8 d; 'contact debtors directly, bypassing their appointed representatives.'

The whole document, which also contains details of how DCAs should behave in reference to home visits, can be found here:

http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/consumer_credit/oft664.pdf

I agree with Crown - this does seem to be par for the course with many creditors - as soon as a debtor asks for help they tend to pass the debt to the 'heavies' in the hope that you will be frightened into finding the money.
Don't worry, though, the Debt Collection Agency MUST deal with Payplan if Payplan are your appointed representatives.