Debt Buyer - Next Steps?

cb85

I have received an email from a creditor to advise that it "has assigned all of its rights, title, interest and benefits in and to the Loan Agreement to Perch Capital Limited". I assume this means Perch have bought the debt. 

The original creditor doesn't have my current address, so I assume if Perch now try to contact me they will be sending letters to an old address. For context, I have been out of the UK for 2 years until a few weeks ago. 

I know I now need to face up to the debt, and I plan to do so. But I could really do without starting repayments until after January. 

I am wondering, is there a given length of time that collection agencies will try to contact before getting a CCJ? Do they tend to keep trying for months? Years? 

I am also wondering how much say I have in the matter regarding monthly repayment amounts - can I specify what I can afford monthly and they will accept that? Or will I be forced into whatever repayments that they think is affordable? 

Thanks in advance for any information 

RAS

When did you last pay towards that debt? Is it still on your credit record? If so, when was the default issued,

Brie

How old is the debt?  If it's really old then it will likely become statute barred so I would check on that first.  Certainly do that before you acknowledge the debt at all or start making payments to anyone.  

Perch will likely search your credit history so any information that is on there about current address will soon be available to them and they will write to you at your current address.  When they do any response should be in writing, not by phone, text or email as that just makes it easy for them to harass you.  I would suggest that your first response be to send them a "prove it" letter.  This will be for them to prove that you owe the money to them and that they have a copy of the credit agreement.  Without it they can't do much. 

There's no set time for a CCJ to be put in place.  Sometimes it's reasonably quickly, sometimes it's never.  

If you do go down the route of making payments then you should only pay what you can reasonably afford.  No creditor should expect better than that.  Generally they will ask for a financial statement showing all your income and expenditures which would also show how much excess income you have to pay a debt.  Getting an debt advice agency to help with this means that you would be thinking you can pay more than you actually can.  StepChange, NationalDebtline, Citizens Advice, Community Money Advice are all good free services that you might use.

fatbelly

Some advice by Brie also on this thread

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6568352/debt-collector-and-ccj#latest

cb85

RAS said:

When did you last pay towards that debt? Is it still on your credit record? If so, when was the default issued,

I took the loan out in 2021. I last made a payment in 2022.
What is a default?

RAS

I'd suggest you get all three credit records, for free. 

Then check what it says against each debt. Your creditor might have recorded delinquent. Unlikely to be arrangement to pay(AP) or late payment.

If you are lucky it will say default. That should mean that interest and fees are no longer being added. And that 6 years after the default, your credit record will recover.

cb85

I'm worried if they keep writing to my old address and getting no response, they will think I am ignoring them and go for a CCJ. But I won't know about any of it until it gets too late and I'm stuck with a CCJ ruining my life. 

So for that reason, I should contact them to give them my new address, to stop it going too far. But maybe I'm wrong? I guess the "prove it" letter wound be that first step there - I'd be giving them my address in that letter but not agreeing the debt is mine? 

When it comes to arranging repayments - if they ask for an income and expenditure outline - am I required to give that to them? Or can I decline to give them that information and choose my repayment amount myself? 

RAS

If you are sure the debt is yours, there's no point in sending a prove it letter. Just write to them. Not least as they have to send legal paperwork to the last known address. And having any court papers coming direct to you allows you to intervene. You might explain that you have been abroad and are still trying to pick up the threads. 

Hopefully you can then find out whether they've sold the debt, or just shifted management elsewhere. Then make a token payment for a bit.

Once you're more settled, do a Statement of Affairs for your own purposes and make an affordable payment. Unless the courts involved, they can ask for but not insist on a I&E. And quite how are they going to verify what you put?

sourcrates

If your plan is to deal with the debt, then you will need to be talking with the new owner, so an updated address will be required, otherwise all correspondence will be missed.

Any payment you propose is assessed by your available disposable income, the creditor has no say in this, they can ask you for your income/expenditure, you are not obliged to agree to that, but things will run smoother if you do, it doesn't have to be a genuine income/expenditure, just a generic one that shows what you want it to say.

I suggest you Google "Defaults" if you are unaware of how it affects your credit agreement.