PPI claim company threatening to damage credit rating, help!

FUrake

hello, 
one of my family members used hidenda for a PPI check thinking there was no chance he was due any money from anyone, it infact turned out he was due a PPI refund which has subsequently been paid to him, hidenda have been chasing him for their "fee" for the last 5 or 6 months, it went quiet for a while but today he received an email from hidenda stating the following below, they are threatening him with sending this debt to a debt collection agency + putting a mark of some kind on his credit file, the part about the credit file just sounds like a bluff to me, does anyone know if this is the case? I didn't think a company like this could do anything to someones credit rating as they haven't loaned them any money in the form of a loan, credit card, overdraft, mortgage etc, any advice is appreciated, cheers

"We are writing to advise we have attempted to contact you regarding your outstanding invoice. Despite numerous reminders you have failed to make payment or contact us to discuss payment options.

You have a legally binding contract with Hidenda who ran your PPI claims(s) and were successful in getting your mis-sold PPI refunded. As such, and as per the terms of the contract you have with Hidenda, a fee was due for payment by you to Hidenda for this service. You have not paid this fee so your invoice is outstanding meaning you have a legal debt owing to Hidenda.

Therefore, you must pay £237.36 immediately.

Despite several attempts to contact you in respect of payment, you have failed to discuss these matters with us. Therefore, unless such payment is received within 14 days, we unfortunately will have to consider how best to recover the money you owe. If you would like to discuss options to repay what you owe, please contact us within 14 days of receiving this letter.

You may wish to seek independent debt advice to help you deal with your debts. Below, we have listed some organisations that provide free and confidential advice on dealing with your debts.

Once the 14 days have elapsed and you have not contacted us to discuss payment, we have the right to pass your debt to an external debt collection agency. Please note that this could incur additional charges as detailed in the contract you have signed, and this can also adversely affect your credit rating and stay on your file for up to 6 years."

D3xt3r5L4b

Why has he not paid them their fee is the real question?

FUrake

he lost his job due to covid way back in april, hasnt found new employment yet and is trying to survive on universal credit

Dr_Crypto

Has he contacted them to agree a repayment plan? They can certainly apply for a CCJ which, if registered, would trash his credit. 

[Deleted User]

They'll pursue it all the way to a CCJ, which is what they mean by impacting his credit file. 

An offer of even a token payment may be enough to delay that.

PRAISETHESUN

It's no bluff. He agreed to pay a fee which he hasn't, so Hidenda is pursuing him for the money owed. They are more than allowed to report the non-payment and place a default on his credit files if he doesn't pay. I'd suggest he get in touch ASAP to get this sorted.

Dr_Crypto

He agreed to pay a fee which he hasn't, so Hidenda is pursuing him for the money owed. They are more than allowed to report the non-payment and place a default on his credit files if he doesn't pay. I'd suggest he get in touch ASAP to get this sorted.

Only if they are registered with a CRA and this is part of a credit agreement. You can't record a simple non-payment of an invoice as a default. 

FUrake

Dr_Crypto said:

Has he contacted them to agree a repayment plan? They can certainly apply for a CCJ which, if registered, would trash his credit. 

yeh, he tells me he contacted them and asked if they would be willing to accept £20 a month until hes back in FT employment and apparently they werent happy with this offer

FUrake

thanks for the replies

bradders1983

FUrake said:

Dr_Crypto said:

Has he contacted them to agree a repayment plan? They can certainly apply for a CCJ which, if registered, would trash his credit. 

yeh, he tells me he contacted them and asked if they would be willing to accept £20 a month until hes back in FT employment and apparently they werent happy with this offer

Let them crack on then. I suspect no sensible judge is going to issue a CCJ when he is paying £20 a month towards a £240 debt. In any case he will probably have paid it off before a judge even sees it.

Thrugelmir

FUrake said:

Dr_Crypto said:

Has he contacted them to agree a repayment plan? They can certainly apply for a CCJ which, if registered, would trash his credit. 

yeh, he tells me he contacted them and asked if they would be willing to accept £20 a month until hes back in FT employment and apparently they werent happy with this offer

Tell him to start sending £20 payments.