Original creditor vs DCA

egnt

I've searched high and low to find the answers to this post but to no avail.

Last year I was briefly self employed as a sole trader on a part time basis. During this time I had a fuel card and towards the end of the year I was unable to pay the fuel card (circa £400). The fuel card company requested payment within the first month or so of which I couldn't make and then I heard nothing from them since and thus I stupidly forgot about it.

Fast forward to earlier in the week where I have been contacted by a debt collection agency on behalf of the fuel card company requesting that I pay the balance owed to the fuel card company + around £100 worth of debt collection fees and "compensation". However, if I log in to the fuel card company's website I still have the option to pay the original balance. I have had no notification at all that the debt has been purchased by the DCA and therefore I assume they are acting as collection agents only - they also say that I can write a cheque made payable to the creditor rather than the DCA should I wish to pay by cheque.

I'm not exactly in a position to pay the balance in full personally however a family member is able to make payment of this for me as a last resort. If I was to pay this would I be better off paying the fuel card company the original balance directly? Would the extra fees added by the debt collection agency still be payable?  

Thank you.

sourcrates

Yes the DCA is acting as collection agent only here.

They have been assigned the debt on an equitable basis, which means they can collect the balance, but can`t take legal action to force you to pay, as they are not the debts owners.

If they have added any fees to the balance, that kind of translates to issuing you with an invoice, which you can either choose to pay, or choose to ignore, either way the fee`s are mostly unenforceable unless the agreement you had with the original company allows 3rd party fee`s to be charged.

You would need to check any original agreement to clarify this, but essentially the collector can be ignored.

egnt

Thank you for your reply . Another couple of questions if I may.

I emailed the original creditor to ask if a payment plan could be set up, they declined. At the same time I advised them of a change of address (as I have recently moved) but they advised they cannot change this but it may be possible in a future version of their app.. - should I advise the DCA of the new address in case of CCJs etc.? They have sent letters to my old address and I have got them due to a Royal Mail redirection that I have set up.

Also, the fuel card was set up via Deliveroo, does the fact that this is therefore seen as a business to business debt (me being self employed) rather than a business to consumer debt change anything legally?

sourcrates

egnt said:

Thank you for your reply . Another couple of questions if I may.

I emailed the original creditor to ask if a payment plan could be set up, they declined. At the same time I advised them of a change of address (as I have recently moved) but they advised they cannot change this but it may be possible in a future version of their app.. - should I advise the DCA of the new address in case of CCJs etc.? They have sent letters to my old address and I have got them due to a Royal Mail redirection that I have set up.

Also, the fuel card was set up via Deliveroo, does the fact that this is therefore seen as a business to business debt (me being self employed) rather than a business to consumer debt change anything legally?

Yes to the address change notification, if you want them to know.

No, it changes nothing, debt is debt is debt, recovery and enforcement options are exactly the same regardless.