Letter from J D Williams

john_mc1964

Has anyone received a letter from J D Williams asking to pay more than your minimum payment or risk the account suspended . This was sent to my mother-in-law, this is the second time apparently she upped her payments by nearly £20 a month then ordered something else but still pays the extra a month. Now she gets this letter, she has never missed a payment, but J D Williams say the law has changed and this is now classed as a long term debt. 

Cornucopia

Moved to Loans.

JReacher1

It’s a FCA regulation. Your mother in law will be classed as in persistent debt which means she is paying more in interest and charges than she is against the capital. 

This has been enforced on all credit providers e.g credit cards, catalogue companies etc by the FCA. 

Your mother in law upped her payments but then bought something else so her balance increased. She needs to work out how much to pay a month to ensure she does not stay in persistent debt.  If she doesn’t at some point JD Williams will have no choice but to freeze her account otherwise the FCA will fine them. 

https://www.stepchange.org/persistent-debt.aspx

If you read the link above then it sets out the timeline. If this is the second letter she has received then she is in month 27. In 9 months when she hits month 36 then that is when potentially her account may be suspended. 

jonesMUFCforever

Tell your mum to clear the account in full before purchasing any more goods from them. Could you help her with internet shopping to get the best prices for her somewhere else? JD Williams and other catalogues charge an arm and a leg in interest.

Mrs_Ryan

jonesMUFCforever said:

Tell your mum to clear the account in full before purchasing any more goods from them. Could you help her with internet shopping to get the best prices for her somewhere else? JD Williams and other catalogues charge an arm and a leg in interest.

Yes they do but the problem is, particularly if you’re plus size, there’s not a lot of choice out there. Although there’s some places such as Yours who have a decent share of the market and are non-catalogue, catalogues have the lions share of the market. 

Particularly now the likes of Bon Marche have gone under there’s less choice than ever for certain sections of the market. It’s all well and good saying shop elsewhere but it’s not always possible. I also get the feeling that OP’s MIL can’t afford to pay in full so just saying ‘tell her to pay in full’ probably isn’t very helpful. That said, if there is something she needs it is possible to pay for it at the time of purchase. 

jonesMUFCforever

Sorry that you feel I was not being helpful.
Basically it seems that your mum has been in debt with JD Williams for years - hence the letter.
Until such time that 'debt' is cleared even for one month this will not go away and eventually they will block her from new spending.
As for the plus size clothing - I googled 'UK plus size clothing' - it bought up 367,000 hits!

frizzz1

Disgusting hounding people for money she probably doesnt owe much and been a customer for years 

jonesMUFCforever

frizzz1 said:

Disgusting hounding people for money she probably doesnt owe much and been a customer for years 

You are obviously not aware of legislation making them do it.
It is the same with all credit such as credit cards - if you have not cleared the debt off in full over 36 months you will be made to overpay or get the credit facility frozen for new spending. Blame the legislators!

Mrs_Ryan

jonesMUFCforever said:

Sorry that you feel I was not being helpful.
Basically it seems that your mum has been in debt with JD Williams for years - hence the letter.
Until such time that 'debt' is cleared even for one month this will not go away and eventually they will block her from new spending.
As for the plus size clothing - I googled 'UK plus size clothing' - it bought up 367,000 hits!

Being youngish and plus size myself, theres plenty of choice out there granted. But if OP’s MIL is a little older and doesn’t want skirts up her behind or slogan t-shirts, (not saying she is or she doesn’t, just saying that the more trustworthy plus size clothing sites tend to be very much geared towards younger ladies) then the market share is cut dramatically. And some of those massive amount of hits are the same companies or some very dodgy ones. 

My point was if she has been in debt with them for years and not paid any more than the minimum it seems unlikely that she is suddenly going to be able to find the money to pay in full. 

Xbigman

The only thing the regulators should be blamed for is not doing this a long time ago. 
The OP's MIL has been in persistent debt at a high rate of interest for years and hasn't even realised it. It always seems harsh when this is first dropped on someone but it could well be one of the best financially events they could experience. Its time to stop buying unaffordable stuff and start paying the debt down. Actually making payments that reduce the balance, AND KEEP DOING IT UNTIL IT'S CLEARED is the thing to do. Complaining that the regulators are stopping you running up more expensive debt is just nonsense.


Darren

jonesMUFCforever

Mrs_Ryan said:

jonesMUFCforever said:

Sorry that you feel I was not being helpful.
Basically it seems that your mum has been in debt with JD Williams for years - hence the letter.
Until such time that 'debt' is cleared even for one month this will not go away and eventually they will block her from new spending.
As for the plus size clothing - I googled 'UK plus size clothing' - it bought up 367,000 hits!

Being youngish and plus size myself, theres plenty of choice out there granted. But if OP’s MIL is a little older and doesn’t want skirts up her behind or slogan t-shirts, (not saying she is or she doesn’t, just saying that the more trustworthy plus size clothing sites tend to be very much geared towards younger ladies) then the market share is cut dramatically. And some of those massive amount of hits are the same companies or some very dodgy ones. 

My point was if she has been in debt with them for years and not paid any more than the minimum it seems unlikely that she is suddenly going to be able to find the money to pay in full. 

May I respectfully advise then that you help her with her budget - this is not a clothes issue but a budgeting one.