Hoping for advice on which debt plan is right for me?

oatsinthewater21

Thank you @sourcrates!
2 out of 3 of the above creditors have sent me physical letters saying they’ve defaulted aswell as an email, but no letter regarding the debt collection agency. 

How do I go about this? Would a simple email to the above creditors who have sent letters purely asking them to prove liability be the best way? 

RAS

By law, the creditor has to send you a letter demanding that you repay the whole debt within 14 days before they are allowed to put a default on your credit record, once the deadline passes. Do you have those letters for all three debts?

And have you checked that the defaults are registered on your credit records?

Even then, if the creditor passes on the debt to a debt collection company, or sells the debt, they need to write to you, and the debt collector or new owner needs to write to you with the their account details. Have they done so?

MEM62

oatsinthewater21 said:

Up until the informal holds I was completely paid up to date each month with my debts, as I have watched my family go through the stress of bailiffs and court letters in the past due to money struggles so this is something I wanted to avoid at all costs. In doing so, I was keeping up with all my monthly debt payments but was leaving myself short for food and rent etc so ended up borrowing money from a friend to survive until it all go too much to deal with anymore.

Your family would have had to have ignored a lot of communication before they had bailiffs knocking on the door. You are a long way from that and should not be neglecting your priority debts (rent etc.) and borrowing from friends just to service unsecured debts. 

oatsinthewater21 said:

I currently rent privately with an unrelated housemate, my tenancy finishes in April 2025 

oatsinthewater21 said:

Storage Container Rent - £150 - (I only have a double bedroom at my property and the rest is communally shared, so my container has my original household items like a sofa, fridge etc that I will need when my tenancy runs out and I can move again but I have no where else to store it)

Unless it will cost you more than £1,350 to replace the items you have in storage you would be better off junking these and saving on the storage costs. 

A DMP would put you in control.  And perhaps a spell back at home would assist you in getting ahead of things. 

Hope you manage to work it out.    

 
 

oatsinthewater21

@RAS I have those letters for 2 of the 3 that have defaulted. I can't see any defaults on ClearScore, is there a more sure-fire way to see these?

No I haven't had any letters from the debt collection agency, just an email! Thank you

oatsinthewater21

@MEM62 Yes they were in disputes over the debt for years before the bailiffs came. I am up to date with all of my priority debts, luckily the debts I have are purely non-priority and borrowing from friends in order to pay for things like food and petrol etc. I put so much of my wages into paying off my on-priority debts I left myself without money to live (silly I know) but this is where the loans from family and friends came in...

A lot of them are sentimental and I can't throw them, things like furniture etc though 100%!
My parents have offered to go halves on the container rent with me as they have a lot of things they need putting ins storage too, which will maximise the space in there and cut costs for me also. 

Thank you! By the end of this month I will have £650 saved in my emergency fund since I started this thread, I am looking into moving back home but will have to wait until my tenancy finishes in 6 months time. Hopefully that will make things easier

RAS

oatsinthewater21 said:

@RAS I have those letters for 2 of the 3 that have defaulted. I can't see any defaults on ClearScore, is there a more sure-fire way to see these?

No I haven't had any letters from the debt collection agency, just an email! Thank you

There are three credit reference agencies. Clearscore report a credit score which no CRA ever sees. They will use it themselves to assess your eligibility for products they sell.

I believe they only use Equifax.

Have you checked Experian and TransUnion?

oatsinthewater21

sourcrates said:

your response to their first letter should be to ask for evidence of your liability, you don`t just go giving someone money just because they ask for it.

Get them to prove the debt is owed by you, then start talking turkey.

Would I need to write a physical letter in return to them? Or can this be done via email referencing their letter? 

RAS

There is a prove- it letter at the top of this forum, last of the stickies.

It's better to post it with free proof of posting. That means you can complain, with evidence if they ignore you.

oatsinthewater21

@RAS thank you so much! 😁

oatsinthewater21

Another of my debts has now been bought by a debt collection agency, just off to post the prove it letter to them but thought I’d double check:

I’ve been sending the letters to the registered head office address for the debt collection agencies via recorded delivery, is this right? Just want to check the letters aren’t supposed to be going to a different address instead of the head office haha