Barclaycard debt interest freeze: advice plz!!

Buttonmoon12

Hi

I have £11,000 worth of barclaycard debt currently and due to only being able to make minimum payments (which I'm going to start struggling with due to ill health) I wrote to them with my financial status, asked them to freeze the interest on the debt and offered to pay £200 per month towards the total amount.

I have received a response from them which I will paste below but I need help understanding it. Does it mean I'm going to have bailiffs knocking on my door and they will sell the debt? I thought I was doing a good thing by warning them of my situation. I don't want this as they'll be knocking at my parents door!!

I have offered to pay £200 so what is the amounts less than £10 below. Also why is it an informal arrangement?

Any advice would be much appreciated.
Here is the response I got:

Dear Miss

Thanks for contacting us and for sending your financial statement. I am sorry for the delay in our reply, but I can see that we wrote to you on 12 August.

I confirm that your accounts have now been placed onto informal arrangements for £9.43 to account ending 7001 and £6.77 to account ending 6001. As long as you continue to make your monthly payments on time, you won't be charged interest or fees and this will also reduce further contact from our Collections department.

Your statements will continue to request payment of the arrears, however, while you are making your monthly payments on time these requests can be disregarded.

Please be aware that as a responsible lender, we will report any arrears to the credit reference agencies. This may affect your ability to obtain credit in the future.

As there is no formal agreement in place your account will continue to move through the Collections process. During this process we can issue a Default Notice at any time requesting the arrears are paid in full.

The accounts will eventually be closed, however, you should continue making your regular payments but be aware you won't be sent monthly statements. At that time, your accounts may then be passed for transfer of ownership, you will be advised of this in writing at the time.

The arrangement will be reviewed on a regular basis to allow us to access your situation and to ensure that we offer you all the help and support that you may need. Should you have any difficulty in maintaining these payments then please do not hesitate to contact us.

I hope this information is of assistance to you and we look forward to your continued co-operation.

sourcrates

Hi,

I don't understand where you get the idea bayliffs will be knocking on your door from ???

It looks to me like they have accepted your proposal to make reduced payments, they are just reminding you that your monthly statement will continue to ask for full payment, as though the arrangement was not in force, that's standard practice, and all good.

They are also reminding you that on completion or before, your accounts will be closed, and possibly sold on, again, standard practice.

One thing you need to understand, for a bailif to become involved, you would first need to have a county court judgement awarded against you, next, you would have to default on the courts payments, only then, would a bailif be concidered, and they are next to never used to collect consumer credit act debts.

On the face of it they have agreed to your request, I don't see anything wrong at all with this, you are just mis-interpreting the meaning somewhat.

An informal arrangement is just that, an agreement to repay what's owed at a lower rate, rather than choosing a more formal debt arrangement such as an IVA, DRO etc.
If you want the monthly payment amount clarifying, you will have to contact Barclaycard.