Email addresses for debt respite scheme letters especially MBNA

cmgurney

I'm trying to help my son with debts he has run up during a three month period of deep depression. He has entered a breathing space moratorium under the debt respite scheme and needs to send DRS letters to his creditors asap, as he is still being bombarded with texts and calls, which are making his depression worse. He needs to send the letters as email attachments, as next-day postal services cost a fortune, but most of the creditors don't provide email addresses on their websites. Unfortunately, he has panic attacks at the thought of talking to the debt teams on the phone to get their email addresses, and they won't talk to me because I'm not the debtor. Is there a list anywhere of email addresses for debt teams? The one that is most urgent is MBNA. I've trawled through their website but can't find any email address.

Brie

Get your son to do a simple letter giving you authority to talk on his behalf.  A simple "I, CMGjr, give CMGsr the authority to talk on my behalf in all financial dealings."  Signed, dated, including address.  You can then provide this to any creditor by email - which they would need to provide to you and then you can also include any other info that's needed.  Frankly there's no reason any creditor shouldn't accept an email itself instead of a letter, unless of course they are insisting that correspondence is signed.  But frankly I've never known one that needed things signed after they have the letter of authority.  

If you don't want to handle things on his behalf or he doesn't want you to there is no reason why MBNA or anyone else shouldn't provide an email address to use.  They are not divulging state secrets by giving this out - so you could do this part of the chat and then leave him to do the rest remotely.  Some companies are reluctant to give out email addresses so it's just a case of being insistent and stating that you are noting their name as well as the date and time of the call so that this can be added to a complaint about how they are NOT helping vulnerable customers.  Creditors hate that kind of publicity.

sourcrates

OK, try and relax, non of them are urgent, consumer credit debt is all non priority, please don`t fall for their "urgent attention" letters, take a step back and I`ll try to give you a little understanding on how the debt recovery process actually works.

Ok, creditors will bleat, sometimes a lot, but its all hot air, they will go through their internal collection process, then all that will happen is the accounts will be passed over or assigned to debt collection companies to chase up.

They may even sell the debts on to another company, who may then appoint a collector, but don`t panic, its all perfectly normal.

What are your sons intentions here, is he able to set up payment plans, or can he not afford anything ?

When debt collectors contact you, they have bang up to date websites where you can access your account, make payments, set up payment plans, send messages whatever you need to do, all without speaking to anyone.

It would be much better to let it progress to the collection stage, then he or you can do everything you need to do online.

If the intention is to get the debts written off, then wait till the debt collectors get involved.

cmgurney

Thank you sourcrates. This is really helpful advice. I have never been in debt myself, so this is a completely new world to me. I thought debt collection agencies were to be avoided at all costs.

cmgurney

Brie said:

Get your son to do a simple letter giving you authority to talk on his behalf.  A simple "I, CMGjr, give CMGsr the authority to talk on my behalf in all financial dealings."  Signed, dated, including address.  You can then provide this to any creditor by email - which they would need to provide to you and then you can also include any other info that's needed.  

Thank you, Brie! This is such a helpful idea. My son has been refusing to discuss money with me since my last post but he is feeling a little better today and I'm hoping to see him. I will take a letter for him to sign.