Starting to miss payments

Kakiste

When I stopped making payments and started my DMP in 2019 I got loads of mail from 6 different companies- from the outside of the envelopes you wouldn't have guessed what the letters were about. 

lillypoo

Kakiste said:

When I stopped making payments and started my DMP in 2019 I got loads of mail from 6 different companies- from the outside of the envelopes you wouldn't have guessed what the letters were about. 

Thank you very much x

sourcrates

TheAble said:

sourcrates said:

lillypoo said:

So it's beginning

Missed my first payment to m&s bank Cc. It was due on first of the month. Today, 11th, just ten days late, and I've had two phone calls and a text. I haven't answered or responded. 

I'm suprised how quickly they've started to chase me.

I guess now is the time I wrote to them and ask them to only contact my by post. Is there a template letter or does it not matter how its worded?

Thank you

Dear Creditor,

Under General Data Protection Regulations, I am able to choose how I am contacted by my creditors.

From the date of this letter, please contact me in writing only.

regards

lillypoo

Out of interest, do you have to send that in the post or would an email suffice? Just wondering if the cost of postage could be saved....

Anything of a business or legal nature, to be acceptable in law, must be done in writing.

Now you can use email, some companies are very good at due diligence and check and answer email regularly, but there are others that do not, sending a letter not only complies with legalities, but is also much more professional, and the creditor is much more likely to receive, and respond to it.

sourcrates

lillypoo said:

Just one more quick question ...I live in a tiny village with a postman who seems to know everyone's business ... if creditors write to me about missed payments are the envelopes marked in big red letters FINAL DEMAND or is that a thing of the past?

Plain, white standard envelopes, honestly, so much mis-information out there about collection activity.

10 years ago, debt collectors would quite literally hound you for the money, if you got into arrears, companies such as 1st Credit, Motormile Finance, and there like (I can name them as they no longer exist under those names) they would ring you several times a day, threatening everything under the sun, they were horrible enteritis to deal with, letters would arrive in big bold red ink, as you described, they quite literally got away with murder.

Then around 2014, after a long list of complaints were noted against these two companies in particular, both were severely reprimanded by the FCA, heavily fined, and ordered to undertake a root and branch reorganisation of there debt collection activities, this meant a change of management, staff re-training, and adhering to the (CONC) FCA code of conduct in all there interactions with their clients.

They were also rebranded, with new company names to boot, and given interim FCA permission to operate, both have since drawn the line, and these actions also made the rest of the industry clean up its act also, so that nowadays, the majority of debt collection companies will treat you with professional courtesy and respect in all of your dealings with them, so you really have nothing to worry about here.

lillypoo

sourcrates said:

lillypoo said:

Just one more quick question ...I live in a tiny village with a postman who seems to know everyone's business ... if creditors write to me about missed payments are the envelopes marked in big red letters FINAL DEMAND or is that a thing of the past?

Plain, white standard envelopes, honestly, so much mis-information out there about collection activity.

10 years ago, debt collectors would quite literally hound you for the money, if you got into arrears, companies such as 1st Credit, Motormile Finance, and there like (I can name them as they no longer exist under those names) they would ring you several times a day, threatening everything under the sun, they were horrible enteritis to deal with, letters would arrive in big bold red ink, as you described, they quite literally got away with murder.

Then around 2014, after a long list of complaints were noted against these two companies in particular, both were severely reprimanded by the FCA, heavily fined, and ordered to undertake a root and branch reorganisation of there debt collection activities, this meant a change of management, staff re-training, and adhering to the (CONC) FCA code of conduct in all there interactions with their clients.

They were also rebranded, with new company names to boot, and given interim FCA permission to operate, both have since drawn the line, and these actions also made the rest of the industry clean up its act also, so that nowadays, the majority of debt collection companies will treat you with professional courtesy and respect in all of your dealings with them, so you really have nothing to worry about here.

Thanks so much.