Amex refer debt to NCO and now Brachers LPP

PanAction25

I have missed payments since January 2025 with the view to defaulting.

Amex referred the debt to NCO in April  and I ignored their calls and emails.

I had a random call from Brachers claiming to act on behalf of Amex. They asked me if I could make payment and I replied that no but they should send any correspondence to me via email or letters. Brachers then advised that they will send me the letter via email but if they dont reply they contact me again via phone. They also advised that if they are unable to set up a payment this would lead to default being registered on my account or legal against me.

They have now sent their letter via email and this is what it says: 

The above balance has been referred to this firm as Solicitors, in order to collect the outstanding

balance.

Please contact this office immediately on 01622 767659 to speak to The Collections Team. We

are open Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm.

The enclosed information sheet provides our contact details and explains how to make

payments. You will also find details of several advice organisations where you can obtain free

independent advice and assistance. You may also wish to seek independent legal advice.

Please note – you can correspond with us by email, over the telephone or via our customer

website at https://bcr.brachers.co.uk.

Any suggestion on how to proceed. Should I ignore until I get the notice of default. 

Many thanks in advance. 

MattMattMattUK

PanAction25 said:

I have missed payments since January 2025 with the view to defaulting.

Amex referred the debt to NCO in April  and I ignored their calls and emails.

I had a random call from Brachers claiming to act on behalf of Amex. They asked me if I could make payment and I replied that no but they should send any correspondence to me via email or letters. Brachers then advised that they will send me the letter via email but if they dont reply they contact me again via phone. They also advised that if they are unable to set up a payment this would lead to default being registered on my account or legal against me.

They have now sent their letter via email and this is what it says: 

The above balance has been referred to this firm as Solicitors, in order to collect the outstanding

balance.

Please contact this office immediately on 01622 767659 to speak to The Collections Team. We

are open Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm.

The enclosed information sheet provides our contact details and explains how to make

payments. You will also find details of several advice organisations where you can obtain free

independent advice and assistance. You may also wish to seek independent legal advice.

Please note – you can correspond with us by email, over the telephone or via our customer

website at https://bcr.brachers.co.uk.

Any suggestion on how to proceed. Should I ignore until I get the notice of default. 

Many thanks in advance. 

It depends what your aim is, Amex will default you after three missed payments, although sometimes it takes a while to process. They then take court action to obtain a CCJ and then take further enforcement action from there, ranging from a court approved payment plan, to charging orders against property etc. They do not sell debts off and they take quite an aggressive route to debt recovery. 

From having a quick glance at your previous posts I can see that you have debt problems, but nothing specific about a coherent plan to deal with them, where are you with your debts overall and what is your aim from your current position?

PanAction25

MattMattMattUK said:

PanAction25 said:

I have missed payments since January 2025 with the view to defaulting.

Amex referred the debt to NCO in April  and I ignored their calls and emails.

I had a random call from Brachers claiming to act on behalf of Amex. They asked me if I could make payment and I replied that no but they should send any correspondence to me via email or letters. Brachers then advised that they will send me the letter via email but if they dont reply they contact me again via phone. They also advised that if they are unable to set up a payment this would lead to default being registered on my account or legal against me.

They have now sent their letter via email and this is what it says: 

The above balance has been referred to this firm as Solicitors, in order to collect the outstanding

balance.

Please contact this office immediately on 01622 767659 to speak to The Collections Team. We

are open Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm.

The enclosed information sheet provides our contact details and explains how to make

payments. You will also find details of several advice organisations where you can obtain free

independent advice and assistance. You may also wish to seek independent legal advice.

Please note – you can correspond with us by email, over the telephone or via our customer

website at https://bcr.brachers.co.uk.

Any suggestion on how to proceed. Should I ignore until I get the notice of default. 

Many thanks in advance. 

It depends what your aim is, Amex will default you after three missed payments, although sometimes it takes a while to process. They then take court action to obtain a CCJ and then take further enforcement action from there, ranging from a court approved payment plan, to charging orders against property etc. They do not sell debts off and they take quite an aggressive route to debt recovery. 

From having a quick glance at your previous posts I can see that you have debt problems, but nothing specific about a coherent plan to deal with them, where are you with your debts overall and what is your aim from your current position?

The plan was to default while saving in emergency fund and engage DCA to agree a payment plan after the bank or credit card accounts have been defaulted. 

So far I have been building up the emergency fund over the last 5months. I’ve also missed all payments but only PayPal credit has defaulted my account per my credit report but I haven’t received any formal letter yet.


I have received letters from other creditors about defaulting my account next month if payments are not made. 

I’ve raised unaffordable lending complaint with the creditors. Amex refused the complaint but Ombudsman has asked them look at everything from account opening so Amex is currently investigating (7 weeks already) but Ombudsman said they have 8 weeks so I’m still waiting.

Last week I spoke to MBNA and emailed them the information they requested in order to make a decision on my complaint. 

fatbelly

Keep an eye on your credit reports. If you see a default then offer payment

I doubt that anything will escalate while the affordability complaint is ongoing

PanAction25

fatbelly said:

Keep an eye on your credit reports. If you see a default then offer payment

I doubt that anything will escalate while the affordability complaint is ongoing

Spoke to Brachers LLP and advised them that I will speak to Amex directly but I’ve raised a complaint with Amex/Financial Ombudsman  since March so I don’t want to discuss until I hear the outcome of the complaint.

Brachers said they didn’t know there was an ongoing complaint but they can send me their income and expenditure form to complete if that is Okay. I maintained that I would want to wait until the final outcome of the complaint.  Brachers said they will relay that to Amex but I should make sure to stay in touch with them. 

I obviously want the default to happen quickly although I understand it takes a while. But I also don’t want to enter into any agreed payment before being defaulted. I have been monitoring my account and So far Amex has reported 4 missed payments on my credit report. 

Should tell Brachers LLP that I would discuss with them once my account is  defaulted.  

OR I should leave things as they are (that’s wait for final outcome of the complaint which might take a while because of Amex reject the complaint then it would go back to the Financial Ombusdman). 

DankVielen

PanAction25 said:

fatbelly said:

Keep an eye on your credit reports. If you see a default then offer payment

I doubt that anything will escalate while the affordability complaint is ongoing

Spoke to Brachers LLP and advised them that I will speak to Amex directly but I’ve raised a complaint with Amex/Financial Ombudsman  since March so I don’t want to discuss until I hear the outcome of the complaint.

Brachers said they didn’t know there was an ongoing complaint but they can send me their income and expenditure form to complete if that is Okay. I maintained that I would want to wait until the final outcome of the complaint.  Brachers said they will relay that to Amex but I should make sure to stay in touch with them. 

I obviously want the default to happen quickly although I understand it takes a while. But I also don’t want to enter into any agreed payment before being defaulted. I have been monitoring my account and So far Amex has reported 4 missed payments on my credit report. 

Should tell Brachers LLP that I would discuss with them once my account is  defaulted.  

OR I should leave things as they are (that’s wait for final outcome of the complaint which might take a while because of Amex reject the complaint then it would go back to the Financial Ombusdman). 

Communication generally means you are acknowledging the debt and resets the 6 year statute bar so my personal approach is do not engage, I did not have a property but if I did I think Amex would struggle to get a charge on a property, see the Myth sticky post.

You can require that they only use Royal Mail under GDPR, blame it on anxiety, I would have advised to update your account to a new phone number and email before you started any of this.  Doing this via a portal or an email saying you are getting a lot of spam and scammers so changing your contact details, get a £1 sim and £15 non smart phone for this purpose.  Then leave it off once you pull the trigger.

An agreed payment plan is one option, many wait for the 60% discount, by the time they started mine I decided to wait it out for the 6 years.  I always kept creditors at my previous or previous previous address, one can do this on paper without moving if you have the self discipline to stay completely off radar.  That means no voters roll, no broadband, no mobile phone contracts, nada ni nada.

Looking at the posts you have made the power is not where it needs to be, Fforget their affordability report, Fforget talking to them.  DO NOT ENGAGE, take control of the relationship and they will make offers, if you are malleable or respond to threats they will do the things that you show you are scared of. Sending any of them information is deemed as weakness.

I found my creditors defaulted and sold the debt really quickly when I sent them a formal letter saying that due to a drastic change in circumstances that I could not envisage changing in the foreseeable future,  I would not be making any further payments to the account.  I did not give them detail and they never asked for any, they just sold the debt and the waiting game started.  It is probably too late for you now unless you have been engaging.

sourcrates

No further action can be taken until the debt defaults, that is set in stone.

Bracher`s or whatever they are called, underneath all that bravado, are just acting on behalf of the original creditor, so are unable to do anything, as yet.

Once defaulted, things change, to avoid it getting legal, that is the point to respond to their letters.

That is unless you have no assets or house they can put a charge on, and a CCJ won`t hurt you in your everyday life, you can just ignore them, it up to you at that point.

DullGreyGuy

DankVielen said:

You can require that they only use Royal Mail under GDPR, blame it on anxiety

Which clause of GDPR? 

Did you mean by post rather than literally only Royal Mail?

PanAction25

sourcrates said:

No further action can be taken until the debt defaults, that is set in stone.

Bracher`s or whatever they are called, underneath all that bravado, are just acting on behalf of the original creditor, so are unable to do anything, as yet.

Once defaulted, things change, to avoid it getting legal, that is the point to respond to their letters.

That is unless you have no assets or house they can put a charge on, and a CCJ won`t hurt you in your everyday life, you can just ignore them, it up to you at that point.

Thanks. I have a house so want to avoid things getting legal. I’ve been keenly monitoring my credit report for the default mark so I could start an agree  payment with creditors. 

iceandfire1

In my case, Amex endorsed to AIC Corp but then now that I tried to communicate with AIC, they told me to talk straight to Amex again because they are not handling my case anymore.

I haven't defaulted with Amex yet.

Don't want a CCJ.

But I think it is better for a default to appear on your credit report first before doing anything.

ManyWays

DankVielen said:

Communication generally means you are acknowledging the debt and resets the 6 year statute bar so my personal approach is do not engage, I did not have a property but if I did I think Amex would struggle to get a charge on a property, see the Myth sticky post.

You can require that they only use Royal Mail under GDPR, blame it on anxiety, I would have advised to update your account to a new phone number and email before you started any of this.  Doing this via a portal or an email saying you are getting a lot of spam and scammers so changing your contact details, get a £1 sim and £15 non smart phone for this purpose.  Then leave it off once you pull the trigger.

An agreed payment plan is one option, many wait for the 60% discount, by the time they started mine I decided to wait it out for the 6 years.  I always kept creditors at my previous or previous previous address, one can do this on paper without moving if you have the self discipline to stay completely off radar.  That means no voters roll, no broadband, no mobile phone contracts, nada ni nada.

Looking at the posts you have made the power is not where it needs to be, Fforget their affordability report, Fforget talking to them.  DO NOT ENGAGE, take control of the relationship and they will make offers, if you are malleable or respond to threats they will do the things that you show you are scared of. Sending any of them information is deemed as weakness.

I found my creditors defaulted and sold the debt really quickly when I sent them a formal letter saying that due to a drastic change in circumstances that I could not envisage changing in the foreseeable future,  I would not be making any further payments to the account.  I did not give them detail and they never asked for any, they just sold the debt and the waiting game started.  It is probably too late for you now unless you have been engaging.

It's great that you found a route that worked well for you and left you feeling in control of your situation.

But someone with a house with equity, a partner and children is in a really different situation. They cannot go "off the radar" as you advocate and they have far more at risk than you had. 

And perhaps your debt problems were before affordability complaints became a useful tool.

There are often different ways to skin the debt cat, I suggest not criticising someone in a different situation who is following a different route.