please help...Letter from Mercers Debt Collection

debtman2007

Hi,

today i have recieved a letter from Mercers Devt Collections of behalf of Barclaycard. i am £313.00 in arrears. They wouldn't take a payment of £20( all i have left in my account) they said i need to pay at least £50 or they will arrange a doorstep collection. Now, i only recived this letter today and phoned them immediatley, but im actually now more worried and wish i hadn't.

What is a doorstep collection like?? am i likiely to encounter some heavy burly men Also how quickly is this likely to happen??

Hope somebody can help...please!!!!!

debtman2007

any ideas anyone??

Leixlip1

Mercers are Barclaycard - they are their in-house collections agency. They will not visit you, they are trying to scare you. Even if anyone did visit you do not have to speak to them just ask them to leave.
You can only pay what you can afford - make the offer and explain your circumstances in writing and send it registered post. Mercers/Barclaycard, from my experience, will not respond but you must make the payments offered and keep to future payments.

wot_a_life

Don't worry op, I have an outstanding debt with Barclaycard/Mercers, mine is for £3,008.75

Send them a letter explaining what you can afford, expenditure sheet and details of your other debts and what you are paying them.

I've been paying them £5.00 per month for 12 months now, it's coming down all be it very slowly but when you write to them INCLUDE A CHEQUE for your first months instalment. I find it highly unlikely they will send a door step collector, they didn't send one to me and I owe them more than you!!

natters_2

wot_a_life wrote: »

Don't worry op, I have an outstanding debt with Barclaycard/Mercers, mine is for £3,008.75

Send them a letter explaining what you can afford, expenditure sheet and details of your other debts and what you are paying them.

I've been paying them £5.00 per month for 12 months now, it's coming down all be it very slowly but when you write to them INCLUDE A CHEQUE for your first months instalment. I find it highly unlikely they will send a door step collector, they didn't send one to me and I owe them more than you!!

Me too - wot a life is absolutley right

they will occasionally try and badger you into paying more - but so long as you keep making payments there isn't alot they can do - I have also been told they are sending the heavies round - never seen anyone yet and doubt I ever will

debtman2007

thanks all. I have been paying £20-30 a month. I just found it odd she said it was £50 or nothing. I would have thought they would have taken the £20 i had to offer.

natters_2

The tactic is to bully you into paying as much as they can get out of you - they shot themselves in the foot with us - hubby is paid 4 weekly, so I paid the payment 4 weekly - then they started ringing up saying the payments were late and charges etc were going to be added - so changed the payment date to monthly instead, so they lose one payment a year - they are a buch of bullying idiots

inagony

Hi there,

About 3 years ago I signed up with Red Driving School here in Northern Ireland and took out a loan set up by Red D.S. Through Barclays Partner Finance, which was interest free for the first year. This loan was for £3,645.00 The way it was explained to me by the RED Sales- Rep was :- That you have a full year to train and get qualified then either pay the total amount back or set up monthly instalments and pay it back that way. As I had loads of problems with Red Driving School in the first and second year of training, due to lack of Instructors here in Northern Ireland and being unable to get lessons when it suited me and not when the Instructor College, which they are also known - decided that I could. They initially told me that I could book lessons to work around my day job. It soon became apparent that this was untrue and I wrote a letter of complaint to Red D.S. Regarding this matter I was asked to give them 28 days to investigate my complaint but I never received a reply from the lady in question. To become a Driving Instructor you initially have 2 years from the time you pass your Theory and Hazard Perception tests. After that time, you must start the whole process again. This was a huge disappointment to me as I ran out of time due to the problems I had with Red D.S. Now I am paying off a Debt of £6,747.48 to Barclays Partner Finance which started after the first year of training - £3,645.00 @ 27% interest became £6,747.48 and I have never qualified even though Red D.S. stated initially under their " Pass Assurance Scheme ." Which states, we undertake to provide the training you require to fully prepare you to take the Government Examinations. If you fail an exam we will provide further remedial training at no extra cost subject to the DSAs current regulations. I have become a victim of part-time employment and then onto unemployment. Eventually I got a job which earned me around £220.00 P W and since starting back to work in April last year I have accumulated a debt of nearly £700.00 on my repayments due to being unemployed. To add insult to injury, Barclays Partners Finance have sold on - passed on my debt to a Debt Collection Agency called Mercers. They have been threatening all sorts and are at present going to take me to court for the total amount of the loan still outstanding which amounts to around £4,600.00. Since October last year I had 2 minor TIA's or mini stokes because of the stress imposed on me by these two Companies. I have been off work with no pay and only receiving £65.00 per week benefits. Finally, each time these agencies send me a letter they charge me a fee of £22.50 which is added onto the outstanding amount of debt already owed which means that it is rising week by week.

Is there any way of having this debt cancelled or having Red Driving School brought to book regarding the way inwhich I have been unfairly treated by them. I really am in AGONY over the state of my finances at present - CAN YOU PLEASE GIVE ME SOME ADVICE ON THIS MATTER.



Thanking you in anticipation InAgony!