PRA anybody?

Gaia2014

A company called PRA have just written to me saying I owe around £100 and I must contact them to arrange a re-payment plan or consider an early settlement of £95.

I have been paying this company by SO around £20/month since the end of May, as part of a self-administered DMP. However, I have no acknowledgement from them in regard to this.

Should I just keep paying the £20 odd pounds regardless? I've emailed them to highlight the above and that I'm not simply ignoring the debt as the letter infers. I have another debt with this company so I know I've got the right bank details etc. I wish I had the spare funds to take them up on their early settlement offer because I'm fed up with all this. Roll on being debt free! How naive was I in my 20's

fatbelly

This is the old Mackenzie Hall whose reputation was so bad they ... decided to change their name!

If this is definitely your debt and you are repaying it at £20 per month then there's little point in doing anything other than continuing.

However, are you treating all your creditors equally (i.e. pro-rata payments)? Your signature says you owe 6283.64. Are you going to clear all that in 5 months too?

If you wanted to be cheeky, stop the monthly payments, thank them for their suggestion to settle by way of full & final settlement but tell them you were thinking £50 was a more suitable figure, to be paid by the end of the year.

To be honest most Mackenzie Hall debts used to be so old they were statute barred or turned out to be someone's debt other than the person they were chasing

Gaia2014

fatbelly wrote: »

This is the old Mackenzie Hall whose reputation was so bad they ... decided to change their name!

If this is definitely your debt and you are repaying it at £20 per month then there's little point in doing anything other than continuing.

However, are you treating all your creditors equally (i.e. pro-rata payments)? Your signature says you owe 6283.64. Are you going to clear all that in 5 months too?

If you wanted to be cheeky, stop the monthly payments, thank them for their suggestion to settle by way of full & final settlement but tell them you were thinking £50 was a more suitable figure, to be paid by the end of the year.

To be honest most Mackenzie Hall debts used to be so old they were statute barred or turned out to be someone's debt other than the person they were chasing

Hi,
I'm certain the debt belongs to me although I've never heard of Mackenzie Hall. Yes, I'm paying them a pro rata payment and no my debts won't be gone in 5 months - I'm hoping to have paid the 6k off by the end of Summer 2016.

I've email them, so I'll see what there response is. In the mean time I'll carry on making payments. If they did offer an early settlement of £50 I'd probably pay it. But, then the other creditors may follow suit, so probably not worth the hassle.

sourcrates

fatbelly wrote: »

This is the old Mackenzie Hall whose reputation was so bad they ... decided to change their name!

Do I detect just the slightest hint of sarcasm in that quote lol ?

glentoran99

Gaia2014 wrote: »

Hi,
I'm certain the debt belongs to me although I've never heard of Mackenzie Hall. Yes, I'm paying them a pro rata payment and no my debts won't be gone in 5 months - I'm hoping to have paid the 6k off by the end of Summer 2016.

I've email them, so I'll see what there response is. In the mean time I'll carry on making payments. If they did offer an early settlement of £50 I'd probably pay it. But, then the other creditors may follow suit, so probably not worth the hassle.

If the other debts wont be cleared in 5 months then you cant be paying them the correct Pro rata payment surely,

Gaia2014

Hi,

Yes, I understand your point. I started paying that amount because I though I owed around £400 as that was the figure Step Change quoted in my closing statement with them.
Obviously this is something I need to take up with PRA and once I get an updated statement from them detailing that I in fact only owe around £100 I will probably have to adjust the repayment.

Gaia2014

This company are now threatening a home visit for £119! Despite numerous attempts to ask them to acknowledge my payments to them for the last 4 months. They keep sending me letters asking me to call them even though I am in communication with the company by email. They are threatening further action for £119!!.. I don't want to end up owing more than £119. Any advise would be appreciated. I thought I was used to all this, but that was when a debt management company were on board. I am now self administering my debts. What really annoys me is the fact that they have not acknowledged any of my payments.

sourcrates

Don't panic G,

Home visits are rare, and you don't have to see, or speak to them, they can send the pope if they wish, just wave at them through the window, what are they going to do ?
It's another scare tactic, I was threatened like this numerous times, no one ever turned up, I was quite disappointed really, ah well.

If you've been paying them, it's quite possible you are getting automated letters/messages, you need to write and complain about there behaviour, threaten the FOS if they don't get there act together, just putting in a complaint to the FOS will cost them there £500 referral fee, don't be put off by there scare tactics, it's all bollox my freind.

Gaia2014

sourcrates wrote: »

Don't panic G,

Home visits are rare, and you don't have to see, or speak to them, they can send the pope if they wish, just wave at them through the window, what are they going to do ?
It's another scare tactic, I was threatened like this numerous times, no one ever turned up, I was quite disappointed really, ah well.

If you've been paying them, it's quite possible you are getting automated letters/messages, you need to write and complain about there behaviour, threaten the FOS if they don't get there act together, just putting in a complaint to the FOS will cost them there £500 referral
fee, don't be put off by there scare tactics, it's all bollox my freind.

Thanks sourcrates

It's been a long day at work and then I open the letter... I'm just so close to the finishing line now and I don't want any further obstacles e.g. CCJ to add to the mix (although I know this is unlikely since it would cost them more than the debt is worth)... I dislike there tactics. I work in a field where a lot of my clients end up with letters like this (little do they know I'm in the same boat)... I'm mainly :mad: about the fact that they are taking my money without acknowledging it and claiming that I'm not paying them anything (I realise it's a computer generated letter though)...

Thank you for your reply. I feel calmer now

Gaia2014

They're offering an early settlement fee of £95 (which I could probably scrape together), but this wouldn't be fair to my other creditors and might also set up a chain of similar letters arriving on my door step. I can not wait to be debt free. Too many of my years wasted due to my own stupidity grrrrrrr!

Gaia2014

Another issue is PRA claim I owe £119 (which is less than I thought). Subsequently, I've based my pro rata payment on an amount of £400, which is why my closing statement with Step Change showed. It's possible there is an error somewhere. However, if I do only owe £119, then the pro rata payment would be less... I don't think i've got the energy to do anything about this other than clear this debt as quickly as possible...