The Money Shop debt

Shefflad83

Hi people, I've come here for some advice if anyone is available to assist.

In 2012 I had several payday loans taken out and my finances spun out of control. I had a sever change in fortune and managed to get most of these paid off (To my knowledge all of them) However one in particular seems to of reared it's ugly head. It was from the Moneyshop in 2012 - and from trawling through my bank statements I can see that a payment was made to the Moneyshop for £291.50. I'm hoping this may be to clear the balance?! I have received many letters from BW Legal - and have decided to ignore as I have read elsewhere that these guys are chancers and i tried kicking off the well known 3 letter process. However last week i received a County Court business centre claim form. I am now rather terrified of what will happen.

To summarise - i did definitely take a loan out with these guys, from the looks of my Bank statements I have paid it back in 2012 - also the amount has jumped to £1000 plus! Please can someone advise me on what to do next. i have 0 experience with these matters and i'm desperate to get it resolved before my wife (who has no idea about my previous debts) is made aware of the situation. Any advice would be muchly appreciated.

Many Thanks - Shefflad

Daveahare99

First thing I would say is that these pay day loans companies and the third party companies they use for debt recovery are in experience errrr...dodgy. I had a similar issue with one back in 2011 and I know that there record keeping was poor around that time. If they smell blood other lenders who you have borrowed from (even if you dont' owe) can jump on the debt collectors band wagon and try to claim.

Just my experience don't know if they have improved since all the laws changed.

I would say do some digging in your emails and see if you can find any trail from what exactly you borrowed from them in 2012.

The only reason I point out that these companies can be bandits is because the numbers you give do sound a bit out.

If you borrowed from them x sum of money and paid back £291.00 (presuming this didn't settle it in full). You would owe them far more in interest etc by now with there 1 million % APR? Especially is they have costs for passing it to the county court.

Get a figure from them and dates/terms etc. Don't let it go to the County Court, CCJ's are now joke and if you get one of them your wife will defintley be !!!!ed. : )

Hope it works out.

Shefflad83

Thanks Dave - would contacting BW Legal be admission - To get this resolved quickly would it be worth calling them? Or should it all be done in writing?

I also saw advice that once the court papers have come through you should contact them and not the claimant direct. Is this correct?

Thanks again

Herzlos

Definitely all in writing - these guys are the absolute bottom of the barrel.

Writing asking for evidence and statements isn't an admission, in fact it's required for you to be able to defend against the accusations.

When did you last acknowledge the debt? 2012? So this would become statute barred some time next year?

Fireflyaway

I had a Mooney shop loan probably around the same time as you. It too was passed to a third party but I refused to deal with them as I thought doing so might avoid a default on my file. I contacted the branch directly and paid them.
Did you also apply at a branch or did you do it online? If at a branch, ask them to check your file and see what it says. Then go from there. Make sure you ask for it in writing once its closed.

Clive_Woody

It might be worth contacting a free debt charity like StepChange for advice

https://www.stepchange.org/

National_Debtline

Hi Shefflad

Now court papers have been issued you are expected to either admit, defend or partially admit the debt. You have 14 days to respond to the court paperwork, although if you intend to defend the claim you can return the acknowledgement of service extending the time limit to 28 days.

Before you enter a defence make sure you have good grounds, and seek legal advice to confirm this. If a defence is unsuccessful you can incur costs, leaving you with a bigger debt.

If you want further information about the debt you need to contact the claimant, and given the time restrictions you may be best to call them. You can ask them to email you any information they are able to provide.

You can find information on responding to court papers here https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/factsheets/Pages/replyingtoacountycourtclaim/replyingtoaccj.aspx. It’s also a good idea to contact one of the free debt advice agencies for more detailed advice.

Susie
@natdebtline