Dealing with response from creditor

ohnotagain

Hi,

I received a pre-action protocol letter from a creditor (well, through FieldFisher LLP). I was a guarantor from a business loan, of £11k - the business has since dissolved. I replied saying that I acknowledged the debt, but I would need time to pay off. I sent a letter outlining all my other debts and expenses, and an offer of what I could afford to pay off, which was £40 per month, and a review after three months to see if I could pay more. They have rejected the offer, and asked me to pay £2k before 31 December, and £200 per month there after.

How do I proceed with this? as I don't have that sort of money to hand

Many thanks

Exodi

Typically people would make a CCA/SAR/ProveIt request to try their luck as to whether the debt is enforceable, it may be difficult to do this now as you've formally acknowledged it but it sounds like you have no intention of trying to dodge the debt anyway.

Naturally they can accept payment plans at their discretion. £40 a month would clear the debt in just under 23 years so they probably feel this isn't the best you can do. Is it? On the flip side, 'you can't get blood out of a stone' and if you can convince them that taking you to court for a CCJ etc wouldn't make financial sense they'll perhaps be more reasonable.

I would probably write a follow up letter with either a final revised sum (or the same if you really only have £40 a month spare) and advise that you don't have any other money you can give them.

Worse comes to worse, you do get taken to court for a CCJ but are still only able to pay the above figures as you've advised.

poppasmurf_bewdley

Depends whether you are a home owner or not. If not, then a mention that bankruptcy or a Debt Relief Order are available to you can have a salutary effect.

fatbelly

ohnotagain wrote: »

Hi,

I received a pre-action protocol letter from a creditor (well, through FieldFisher LLP). I was a guarantor from a business loan, of £11k - the business has since dissolved. I replied saying that I acknowledged the debt, but I would need time to pay off. I sent a letter outlining all my other debts and expenses, and an offer of what I could afford to pay off, which was £40 per month, and a review after three months to see if I could pay more. They have rejected the offer, and asked me to pay £2k before 31 December, and £200 per month there after.

How do I proceed with this? as I don't have that sort of money to hand

Many thanks

That's a 23-year repayment plan that you were proposing so it seems you do need a strategy for all your debts. Maybe National Debtline (or Business Debtine if these are all business related) would be the best placed to help you devise a strategy.

For future reference the pre-action letter is best used to check if the other side has the paperwork to back up a claim.

The next thing you will get is probably an actual claim form on which you have to either accept the debt and offer payment or put in a defence. There's a middle ground option which is to offer payment against a smaller sum and argue the rest.

ohnotagain

Thanks for the responses. The £40 figure is what I can actually afford. Currently have £55k worth of debt, and I derived that £40 from an proportional percentage split on the total amount of excess income I have, so the higher the debt, the higher amount a creditor gets. I am due inheritance of circa 17-20k in about two to three months, and was thinking of doing a one off IVA to clear all debts? I believe I don't want to mention this to creditors?

Also, they sent through all the signed paperwork with the pre action protocol, so they have me bang to rights, so to speak, and I admit that it was my fault for the debt, I just can't afford what they're asking.

Exodi

ohnotagain wrote: »

I replied saying that I acknowledged the debt

ohnotagain wrote: »

I admit that it was my fault for the debt

A poster in the DFW forums that acknowledges his debts and accepts responsibility for them?! :eek::eek::eek:

What cruel trickery is this?! What have you done with the normal DFW posters???? :mad::mad::mad:

fatbelly

ohnotagain wrote: »

Thanks for the responses. The £40 figure is what I can actually afford. Currently have £55k worth of debt, and I derived that £40 from an proportional percentage split on the total amount of excess income I have, so the higher the debt, the higher amount a creditor gets. I am due inheritance of circa 17-20k in about two to three months, and was thinking of doing a one off IVA to clear all debts? I believe I don't want to mention this to creditors?

Also, they sent through all the signed paperwork with the pre action protocol, so they have me bang to rights, so to speak, and I admit that it was my fault for the debt, I just can't afford what they're asking.

You'll need to find an insolvency practitioner who understands lump sum IVAs. Is the 11k part of your 55k debt total?

ohnotagain

That is the total including the 11k.

ohnotagain

Ok,

Here's an update. I replied to the creditor stating that I could only afford what I can. I got quick response to say that we'll proceed with legal action immediately.

This is nearly 4 months later and I have yet to hear anything from them.

Do I poke the bear or just keep waiting?

WhenIam64

Do I poke the bear or just keep waiting?

It is up to the creditor to take action. Perhaps the creditor does not want the expense of paying FieldFisher for not much in return. But FB has given two lots of excellent advice. You could use the time to sort the whole of your debt issue - taking back control so to speak - rather than being at the whim of others.