Difference between sold and managed by

Gewakefie

So I’m in the process of defaulting, I have 11 creditors quite a bleak situation with 9 of them defaulted. Also just want to thank everyone it’s been a tough old time of anxiety, regret, shame and quite scary so thank you for everyone who’s helped in any of my previous threads.

basically PRA have 3 of my debts and WESCOT have 1. The rest are still with original creditors. 

What I’ve been doing is as soon as defaulting I’m setting up small plans to start paying something towards them as I don’t want to get a ccj.

my question is PRA and WESCOT as far as I understand from the emails are acting on behalf of the creditor to collect the money rather than the debt has been sold to them? I understand the difference but what does this mean for me? 

Are they more likely to go for ccj as I’m paying quite small amounts to each? Also does this mean full and final settlements (which are way away) are less likely - and also can these be made with original creditors or only if the debt has been sold on rather than just managed by an agency?

my long term plan is probably back end of this year to go with step change and pay £300 towards the debt which currently stand at just under 30k who I worked out would take me about 8 years to pay off 😭

sourcrates

The world of debt collection is quite a complex one, there are so many variables that can apply, so for example there are companies that just buy debts and collect them themselves, others buy them, and appoint another collection agency to collect on their behalf, and then there are those who act as collection agents only.

PRA group are a debt purchasing company, who tend to farm out the debts they buy to a 3rd party collection company, but not in every case, sometimes they collect their own debts too.

Now Wescott simply act as a collection agency, they don`t buy debt, they just manage them for their client companies, now you ask, "what does this mean for you?"

Well as the debtor, it depends what strategy you intend to use, for instance, only a debts owner can take enforcement action through the courts, so you can ignore Wescott all day long, and nothing will happen, but they will then return the account to PRA, who would more than likely just rinse and repeat with another collection agency, but they could also take you to court instead.

If your intention is to pay, and hopefully settle for less than is owed at some future point, then who owns the debt is largely irrelevant really, granted some companies are more settlement friendly than others, but any offers can be made via the collection company, who will have been granted certain discretion by the creditor, if the offer falls outside of the parameters they have been given, they will just refer it back to the creditor for a decision.

Likewise this can also work in reverse, with them making offers to you.

So in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't make much difference to you at all who does what.

ManyWays

which two debts havent defaulted? If you want a stepchange DMP, you could just go for one now and make a complaint to these two debts that they should default them.

PRA normally buy debts, Westcot usually manage them for someone else.

You can tell what is happening from the letters you get - phrases like "bought from" or "assigned" mean the debt has been bought. Phrases like "collecting on behalf of" "for our client xxxx" mean that debt collector hasn't bought the debt.

Or from your credit report (although these are slow to update sometimes). If the creditor shows as PRA, they have bought the debt. 

An original creditor is less likely to accept a low settlement offer than a debt collector who has bought the debt. This is not in your control.