Littlewoods Catalogue-help plz

jonnyboy35

Hi
I'm new to this forum,first post,and need some advice.
Had a littlewoods catalogue a few years ago and have stupidly run up a debt of roughly £3,000.
Due to various circumstances,we were unable to pay the monthly amounts asked for and have not paid a payment now for about 9 months.
By now,the full amount of £3,000 is due and am receiving phone calls from littlewoods demanding we pay £550 per month for the next 6 months otherwise its going over to their sister company,ibc i think they're called,where we'd be asked to sign a new loan agreement.They would then add extra interest on the £3,000 taking the new balance up to £5,000.If we do this they say our credit history will be protected (as long as we keep up the repayments obviously) otherwise they'll send the debt to a debt recovery agency.
We just wanted some advice on what to do as we don't want it to go to debt recovery,but then again don't want to sign a loan agreement and be charged a further £2,000 interest on what we already owe.

wilkster5

First things first i'd say before you sign any other agreement or it goes to a debt recovery agency, i'd work out your state of affairs and see what the maximum amount you can afford to repay them is. Contact them and explain that you can't afford the £550 a month but you can afford to pay little woods XXX amount per month. They might refuse but you never know..if you dont ask you dont get its worth a try. I've never heard of protected credit history?? but thats not to say they are not telling the truth, i've just never heard of it. Welocome to the board by the way ...but beware..be very aware it's addictive...anyone else agree??

Broken_hearted

Don't sign a loan agreement, they can't force you to.

jonnyboy35

Thanks very much for the reply.I did offer to pay them £100 per month,the max we could afford,but was told that they could only let the debt amount go over 6 monthly installments,any longer and it would be up to their sister company to arrange a new agreement with me for a longer period - between 6 months and 3 years.
Its not that we don't want to pay it back, we do as its been hanging over us for a while now,its just the rate their asking is rediculous.
We just don't like the idea of signing a new loan for another £2,000 interest just to pay over longer terms.

jonnyboy35

The problem is that if we don't sign a loan agreement for the £5,000 odd pounds,they'll send it to a debt recovery agency,which we really don't want to happen.
Just wondered if anyone else had been in a similar situation,and if so how they dealt with it and what to say to littlewoods to try and get them to see things from our point of view without adding on extra money which we can't afford to a debt which we're trying to pay off.

wilkster5

Caontact the CAB first before signing anything and explain your circumstances. Paying an extra £2000 is just wrong. If the CAB contact them they have a little more leverage and may be able to get interest frozen and come to some arrangement. I'm no expert at this but i found the CAB excellent, somebody else will be along to help aswell i'm sure.

wilkster5

The debt agency prob wouldnt even charge you £2000 extra. They are trying to bully you into this, dont fall for it, just refuse. they have no power or right to make you sign anything.

Gale_10

Welcome to MSE.

The thing is with Littlewoods, like it or not if you can't pay the money they ask of you then they are entitled to refer the debt on to a debt recovery agency.

By offering you the loan they will charge you a great deal of interest, I believe its around 29.9%, and they will add fees to that.

If you don't accept the loan then they will go to a debt recovery agency.

The best thing to do is post a statement of afffairs on here, and everyone will give you advice as to where you can save some money, if possible. With everyones help you may be able to pay what Littlewoods ask for.

If that doesn't work, you would be better off NOT signing a new loan, and the debt going over to the debt recovery agency because I believe the agency will give you longer to pay and I am pretty sure they freeze the interest.

Of course then you would have a default on your credit record; and although this would affect your credit rating negatively, it is by no means the end of the world as regards your credit.

Gale

jonnyboy35

Been in touch with littlewoods today.
They still won't accept any payments below £550 per month and have referred the account to IBC.(part of littlewoods).
IBC have said that they will put it over to a DCA (NDC i think) if i don't sign a new agreement with them with the next 2 weeks.
I really don't want to sign this agreement as i think it just isn't right to add on such a high amount.I just want the account frozen and pay off what they say i owe.
After reading alot of other posts on this forum,do you think i should ask littlewoods for a copy of my CCA which i know i didn't sign anything when i took the catalogue out?
I know that maybe i should just leave it go to a DCA and pay,but i'm really annoyed that littlewoods are putting me in this position when i want to pay them a realistic amount,but they'll only let me pay if i sign a new agreement.

(Land_of)_Maz

Chances are your credit rating has been affected already by 9 missed payments, so probably best let it go to DCA, agree terms with them at a monthly rate you can afford and take the knock to your credit rating. Plus interest will be frozen, and chances are charges will be limited.

Your credit rating will be fixable, and if you pay regularly to the DCA that'll count for you in the same way as 9 missed payments will have counted against you. maybe once it's paid off thru DCA, you can get Littlewoods to correct your rating and mark it as settled so it doesn't do any harm.

I don't know about the CCA request, as really you know you took it out, i think people are starting to abuse the fact that if they haven't signed for things they can "dodge" them by spouting about no signed CCA. The no signed CCA argument is supposed to be for debt which you contest as not yours or over 6 years old or something like that. Sorry to hijack your thread jonnyboy, rant over!

wazza24

Hi jonnyboy, i think you are right in asking them for a cca, i read a post on here once that said, most catalogues dont get customers to sign consumer credit agreements, only application forms which is not the same thing.

i think the company are doing what all companies do when their lending goes bad "put the frightners on" what you need to do is take control of the situation by requesting the cca, as far as i am aware (and i stand to be corrected) if they dont have one they cannot legally force you to pay. you my want to pay and find the idea of not paying back morally wrong (which is a whole other debate, especially considering that its credit made up out of thin air and not anyones money you have spent. google "MONEY AS DEBT") but at least then you could pay it back on your terms

they may then pass the debt on to a dca but they can do nothing either with out a cca. so research a little more about this and mybe even PM weller711 or rog2 who seem to know alot about this sort of thing.

i would deffinatly not borrow from peter to pay paul it only leads to worse situations in the futrue and trust me i am speaking from experience.


Hope this helps:beer: