Threatening debt collection when payment not overdue?

PinkUnicorn8

hi there, May I ask a question? just had letter today from insurance Co to my husband, After write off theyve cancelled policy and written to confirm this, but in the letter it says there is an amount owing and payment must be made within 7 days, however the letter is dated 25/6 and arrived today, 9 days later!! the letter says if the payment isnt received within 7 days it will be passed to debt collectors. Can this be right? it doesn't seem right that you can write advising of an amount due for the First time but in the same letter threaten with debt collectors when we've not had a chance to pay it, and how could it be considered overdue when this is the first time theyve told us an amount is due? never mind that the letter took ten days! we've done nothing wrong and yave an active direct debit, is this normal? anxious about debt collectors mentioned when we've only just been notified a payment is sue 

ThisnotThat

Any amount owed can be passed onto debt collectors (or sold to someone else) at any time so it doesn't really matter what they've done with the debt.  It's probably just a tactic to get you to pay attention to it instead of putting it to one side and forgetting about it, they're unlikely to sell a debt on or have someone else start trying to collect it 7 days after it is due.

If you agree you owe it then just pay it.

sourcrates

If you have ever watched any of the reality TV police programs, its likely you will have heard the police talking about insurance, and how people get an insurance policy, then stop paying it, its quite common apparently.

So the industry has responded in part, by using slightly more aggressive collection phrases in the bills they send out.

Its no reflection on you, just the industry in general, bad debt is very common with most insurance companies.

PinkUnicorn8

thank you very much for replies, my husband has called them, we didnt have any notification of an amount outstanding as they are still taking the monthly direct debit, we assumed they would do that until the end of the original policy, the dd is live and they took it this week as usual, so don't really understand why they don't just notify us and take the rest from the dd with appropriate notice! my husband spoke to them and they said they will send us a letter confirming the amount due, I was worried that whichever department was dealing with this wasn't aware they had continued taking the dd so the amount may be wrong if those payments werent reconciled. Waiting for letter but in meantime post just arrived that looks like it might be debt collection which has freaked me out. We are in touch with them and have at no point said we wouldnt pay, just that we need correct amount in view of the dd still being taken, it feels very heavy handed to write asking for payment for the first time and mentioning debt collection in the first instance?

sourcrates

It does seem heavy handed, I agree, I would be tempted to write a short letter of complaint !!


Dear Sir/Madam,

                                                COMPLAINT

I am writing with regards to the request for payment recently received from yourselves.

I note it is for an amount outstanding, and will be duly paid.

Much to my disappointment I found that the letter contained a reference to "Debt Collection" should the bill not be paid within 7 days.

As this is the first correspondence we have had regarding this matter, I find this wording a little heavy handed, and especially so given the fact the letter took 9 days to arrive in the post.


I would like an explanation as to why such a letter containing that wording was deemed to be necessary in the first place, given that we are customers in otherwise good standing.

I await your earliest response to this.

Yours Sincerely