warrant of execution -please help

nat232

hi this is my first post, so hello everyone

im currently with Scottish power for my gas and elec, and have been unable to keep up with the payments so have a debt of £915 with them(wont bore u with the details). They have now passed me on to the debt collectors scotscall

i contacted scotcall, and expalined to them that i have severe financial difficulties but would be able to make a payment towards the debt in January,

i contacted them at the beginning of the month and made asked how to make a payment, a payment offer of £500 with an additional payments of £50 untill April, this would be in addition to my monthly payment of £147.

they were not interested in the part payment but informed me that they had applied for a warrant of execution and would action it on feb 8th to disconnect the supply and install a payment meter

i dont know what to do for the best

should i apply to the courts to suspend the warrant and continue to my payment offer

or should i let them install the prepayment meter and pay the debt offf in smaller amounts

Or should I make a payment to Scottish power directly, I am not to keen on speaking to them thought as the last time they were “off” with me.

i hold my hands up and say that i did deal with the whole situation badly by burying my head in the sand, is been a very hard, upsetting few months- but is it too late for me to try and sort it out

i would be grateful for any advice you can give me

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.

I would contact energywatch http://www.energywatch.org.uk/ and ask their advice(phone number on the link)

The call centre staff will play 'hard ball' initially as it is their job to get the debt paid off - but energywatch might be able to negotiate some time for you to pay off the debt.

Avoid getting pre-payment meters at all costs.

Incidentally it is refreshing that we have a post that admits that the debt is their fault and doesn't try to blame everyone else.

SwanJon

If you can honestly afford to do what you are offering, start doing it.
It shows that you are making an effort to get things right, and will bring down the balance if any does have to be put on a meter, meaning you can get off it sooner.
If it looks like the PP meter is the only option, arrange an appointment rather than let the full warrant procedure go ahead, as they will then add on more charges.

Calvin_2k

My advice would be don't contact the debt collectors, speak directly to your energy company.

Unless you can pay the balance off quickly, I would call your supplier and ask for a prepay meter to be installed. If you wait for the warrant your only going to incur more charges.

Terrylw1

Agree with previous posters.

I've always found PP meters in these scenarios a bit of a joke. They force them on the people who they know cannot afford and at the same time add higher unit charges which just guarantee you to get into more debt!

If they have a warrant, they have the right to enter your property with or without you there as it is served against the property.

I would suggest you need some help with this as Cardew said so contact Energywatch who will give you a fair opinion. Your Supplier sees you as a problem so they may be resistant to stopping this, Energywatch will be able to help you if you have a case to make an arrangement with the current meter.

muso_3

Hi Nat.
My first post also. I assume you have ignored paperwork from court and they have obtained a county court judgement in your absence. You will have been sent paperwork confirming this from the court, as you say they are not applying for warrant until 6th Feb so i strongly advise responding to the court with your offer.
The court will have sent you a form which explains what you owe and the opportunity to come up with a repayment scheme if unable to pay it in one go. They will then put this to Scottish Power, judges are normally quite reasonable and I would think they will recommend accepting you offer. (but ingnoring court paperwork will not endear them to you!). Bear in mind that if you subsequently default on any agreement you make, they will apply for a warrant - and each action will add to your debt. Good luck with this.

stimpo

Contact the supplier, not the court they wont be interested, and offer them the 500.

Alias_Omega

nat232 wrote: »

hi this is my first post, so hello everyone

im currently with Scottish power for my gas and elec, and have been unable to keep up with the payments so have a debt of £915 with them(wont bore u with the details). They have now passed me on to the debt collectors scotscall

i contacted scotcall, and expalined to them that i have severe financial difficulties but would be able to make a payment towards the debt in January,

i contacted them at the beginning of the month and made asked how to make a payment, a payment offer of £500 with an additional payments of £50 untill April, this would be in addition to my monthly payment of £147.

they were not interested in the part payment but informed me that they had applied for a warrant of execution and would action it on feb 8th to disconnect the supply and install a payment meter

i dont know what to do for the best

should i apply to the courts to suspend the warrant and continue to my payment offer

or should i let them install the prepayment meter and pay the debt offf in smaller amounts

Or should I make a payment to Scottish power directly, I am not to keen on speaking to them thought as the last time they were “off” with me.

i hold my hands up and say that i did deal with the whole situation badly by burying my head in the sand, is been a very hard, upsetting few months- but is it too late for me to try and sort it out

i would be grateful for any advice you can give me

Google 'scotcall' too see what they are all about.

If they want to come put a pre-payment meter into the house, then let them. Over a period of X-amount of years you will pay this back through putting the cards in.

As you did not have the cash to pay the bills, i would like to think that once you have paid the bill, they will remove the meters anyway for pre-payment items.

muso_3

Contrary to previous poster, if judgement has already been entered then the court will be interested and have a form /procedure to follow. If there is time before warrant is requested, by all means put offer to claimant, but if they don't accept it or do not respond, follow procedure.
The judgement you recieved will have told you how much you owe and when to pay it, you have said you cannot afford to pay it all immediately.
Get form N245 (from court or download from web), and fill in details of your income, expenditure and what you propose to pay/when. Keep copy and take copy to court (£35 fee to pay!), they will send a copy to claimant who will decide whether to accept or not.
If they don't accept the court will look at the info given on the form and the court will decide how much you will pay and when. This is called a varied order and can be useful if the claimant is being unreasonable in allowing time to pay when people sometimes clearly cannot.

Cardew

Alias_Omega wrote: »

Google 'scotcall' too see what they are all about.

If they want to come put a pre-payment meter into the house, then let them. Over a period of X-amount of years you will pay this back through putting the cards in.

As you did not have the cash to pay the bills, i would like to think that once you have paid the bill, they will remove the meters anyway for pre-payment items.

Apart from the sheer inconvienience of using pre-payment meters, they charge you a higher tariff when using them.

Also they will not willingly remove the meters when you have paid back your debt - plenty of people have posted to that effect - and it costs money to replace these meters.

Once you have moved from a credit meter and had pre-pay meters installed, the Utility companies have you 'marked' as a credit risk. That limits your options for changing companies and getting back onto a credit meter.

Pre-payment meters are bad news! Avoid if possible.

Plushchris

Yeah, the last thing you want in your situation is to go on a pre-payment meter.

If you thought you had trouble paying your gas and electric in the past that'll be nothing compared to how much you'll spend via prepayment. You will get on first name terms with the shopkeeper in your nearest top-up outlet!

Definately try energywatch and make that payment of £500 if you have it to show you are willing to pay.

As the others have said, its bang out of order that the companies think fitting a prepayment meter is the best solution to people with debts, just make things more expensive!