Help with where to start with this mess

sourcrates

Legal action must be preceded by a letter before action, that`s a letter, not a text message, a text has no legal basis in law, nor does a phone call or an email, it must be a good old fashioned letter to be legit.

Actual legal action also arrives in the form of the written word, a claim form pack, again, not a text message.

Tracker90

Do any of these debt collectors add interest or fees if you continue to ignore them until you need to actually deal with them?

RAS

They might add interest until they default the debt, which is why you need to go cold turkey. Any explanations, plea for reduced payments will delay defaults.

Although one OP reports successfully explaining that they'd start repaying when the default was registered.

sourcrates

Until the terms and conditions of your account have irretrievably broken down, by the lender issuing a default, then interest will continue to accrue.

Non payment hastens this process, during this time you save an emergency/settlement fund.

Also gives you a clear 6 year window till defaults are removed from your credit file.

Most DMP`s end in settlements which negates the amount of interest added at the start.

Tracker90

Hi everyone, I have an update from the above AJJB Law where they have eventually sent this letter before claim. They text me to say they sent one but the letter arrived about a week later..

what should I do now? 

Thanks.

fatbelly

So have you actually received the formal letter?

It has to be in a prescribed format, with a reply form and 30-day limit.

There's a link to what it looks like, with guidance on how to reply, in this article

https://debtcamel.co.uk/letter-before-claim-ccj/

Which is to tick box C and ask for everything you can think of in Box I

Post again if you get a claim form

Tracker90

fatbelly said:

So have you actually received the formal letter?

It has to be in a prescribed format, with a reply form and 30-day limit.

There's a link to what it looks like, with guidance on how to reply, in this article

https://debtcamel.co.uk/letter-before-claim-ccj/

Which is to tick box C and ask for everything you can think of in Box I

Post again if you get a claim form

Thanks for your reply, fatbelly.

yes, I received the letter through the post about a a week after that first text came through. I’ll take a photo of it and post it here when I get back home after work. I’ll have a look at the link and compare just to make sure it is what it is.

fatbelly

If it's the real thing, that's fine. You can fill it in and return it towards the end of the 30 days. No need to see it.

You shouldn't fill in the income/expenditure bit, nor admit anything. Treat it as an exercise where they give you information, rather than the other way around.

sourcrates

Do make sure you return it though, otherwise it opens the door to a claim form.

Tracker90

Hello all,

So I returned the reply form and requested the documents as detailed in the link above, they just replied via a short email to me. Is this all they need to give me? And if so, what should my next steps be?

many thanks