Debt collection help

northbridge

I have received a couple of letters from Moorcroft with the following paragraph;

We have been trying to contact you to help you pay back your outstanding balance, but your account remains, to date, unpaid.

We can confirm that in order to prevent the registration of a default in relation to this account our client will accept a monthly payment equivalent to 1% of your account balance.

Now from the correspondence from whom I owe the debt is if I don’t pay arrears by 17th June a default will be registered and I’ve since had a letter stating my account has been closed.

None of my defaults are showing on CRA’s yet.

I’ve also had correspondence from OPOS re a debt. What are they like to deal with? They likely to come to my home?

How am I best contacting the companies to pay? Just set up a standing order and email them to inform? Even if it’s lower than what they want? Do I wait until the default shows up on a credit file?

Is it usual for companies to take so long to default? Not paid since end of January/beginning of February and NatWest still hasn’t defaulted any of my cards.

RAS

Debt collection works at a snail's pace, so this is normal.

The important letter demands that you repay the whole debt or they will issue a default. That's what is legally required, not them being nasty.

They might record the default within a couple of weeks, or take months. Sometimes they'll assign the debt to a collector and do nothing else for ages. Or they'll sell the debt. Your debt is one amongst a hundred thousand that's sitting in a back corner until someone decides what to do.

If a default is recorded on your credit file, make a token payments whilst the rest roll in.

And make sure you save everything you can into the emergency fund.

sourcrates

That`s a "pre default" "we have been trying to contact you" collection letter from Moorcroft, with standard, slightly ambiguous wording, truth is they were probably engaged yesterday, and this is the first time they have written to you.

Well what`s your plan, DMP after defaults I assume?, so just stick to that, don`t get side tracked, these things take time, nothing happens quickly, you are right at the start of the collection process here, get the defaults first, then see where you are.

northbridge

So it would appear two of my debts passed to moorcroft are not yet defaulted. Moorcroft keep writing to me advising me to get back on track and the creditor is yet to register a default. What’s confusing though is the creditor sent me a letter advising my account was closed over a month ago, yet today I received a sum of arrears letter from the creditor. I’m holding off offering token payments until these defaults are registered.

The other company is OPOS Ltd, I’m still trying to work out if it is a similar situation to Moorcroft. They used wording like ‘get back on track’. Again still waiting on the default showing on credit file.

So far letters I’ve had have been if you don’t make payment by this date we’ll register a default. Then received your account has been closed. Then debt collection letters.

I’m still waiting for other creditors to default me - they seem to be dragging their heels!

As for self managed dmp, is there anything I need to do BEFORE making payments? When do I request CCA? I’ll be making token payments initially then advise companies I will review again in 6-12 months.

And am I right in thinking, I have full control over a standing order? Do I just set this up then write to inform them of the payments, frequency and review date? Do I NEED to send them an SOA?

Rob5342

Just weep waiting until you have confirmation of the default, ideally by looking at your credit report. Collection companies often try and muddy the waters and mislead people to get payment out of them.

There's nothing you need to do until then. CCA requests tend to work best when the debt has been sold and has been with a purchaser for a while, however the government is planning to reduce consumer protection when it comes to asking for the CCA so it might be a good idea to do it sooner rather than later.

Yes you have full control with a standing order, just set one up and send them an email to say what you'll be paying. They will often grumble about you not sending an SOA as they like to be able to say "we've checked it's affordable", but you don't have to send them one. They don't really care, it's just so they can say they've done their tick box exercise if anyone starts digging. If they make too much fuss it can sometimes be easier to send them one to shut them up. It doesn't have to be accurate, just start and the figure you want to pay and then work backwards, making something up that looks plausible.so they can press "stop harassing" on their automated system.