Legal and Receivables collection agency

Elsie2_2

Hello everyone.
Just hoping for some help.
I have had a debt for several years now which was originally with First Direct. When i got into difficulty, it was outsourced to one of their debt collection agencies who were fine and we came to an arrangement about a payment which has never been missed. My payments go by Standing Order each month.
I recieved a letter last week from a new company saying they had been SOLD the debt and were now asking for the balance in full (£13,400.) Inside was also a letter confirming this from First Direct.
I rang the new company straight away and they advised me to send in an up to date I&E, wage slips to prove income and most recent mortgage statement. The also asked how much equity was in the property.
My question is this, can they ask about my property as it is an unsecured debt as i don't want to send in my mortgage details as its jointly owned and the credit card was nothing to do with the other person. I wonder if they are going to attempt to force me into a charging order like a previous company did.
Thanks all.

Elsie2_2

Bump......

inmypocketnottheirs

My advice would be to do nothing. I would continue to pay the amount as agreed. I am not sure from your post if the original creditor did get a charging order? If they did, then as far as I know, as long as you are adhering to the agreement then nothing more can be done.

Personally, I would not, and never have given IE information to these type of sharks.

Voyager2002

Give these people as little information as possible.

They probably do not know whether you are a home owner or tenant, so it is better not to let them know: as you are aware, once they know you are a home owner they can try to obtain a charging order or even threaten to take your house away.

I would suggest a brief letter stating that your circumstances have not changed since the monthly payment was agreed, and that therefore there is no reason to change the arrangement. Oh: and do not give them your telephone number: state that you will only discuss your debt with them by letter (if you want to give a reason you could perhaps say that you are hard of hearing, find telephone calls confusing, or are simply made nervous by discussing complicated matters over the 'phone).

Voyager2002

inmypocketnottheirs wrote: »

My advice would be to do nothing. I would continue to pay the amount as agreed. I am not sure from your post if the original creditor did get a charging order? If they did, then as far as I know, as long as you are adhering to the agreement then nothing more can be done.

Personally, I would not, and never have given IE information to these type of sharks.

Since the OP owes money, the amount repaid each month depends on income and expenditure. So it is reasonable for a creditor to ask for this information: if the matter were to go to court, the court would use these details to set the amount of the monthly payment.

In this situation, since there is already an arrangement that seems to be working well, the best thing is to give the creditor as little information as possible so that they decide that efforts to increase the monthly payment are just not worth the trouble. And so long as the OP continues to make that payment, it is unlikely to go back to court.

inmypocketnottheirs

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Since the OP owes money, the amount repaid each month depends on income and expenditure. So it is reasonable for a creditor to ask for this information: if the matter were to go to court, the court would use these details to set the amount of the monthly payment.

In this situation, since there is already an arrangement that seems to be working well, the best thing is to give the creditor as little information as possible so that they decide that efforts to increase the monthly payment are just not worth the trouble. And so long as the OP continues to make that payment, it is unlikely to go back to court.

Exactly my point!

inmypocketnottheirs

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Oh: and do not give them your telephone number: state that you will only discuss your debt with them by letter (if you want to give a reason you could perhaps say that you are hard of hearing, find telephone calls confusing, or are simply made nervous by discussing complicated matters over the 'phone).

Or just simply inform them that you do not talk on the telephone to mindless morons with the IQ of a mentally !!!!!! bog rat. That usually does the trick!

Elsie2_2

"I am not sure from your post if the original creditor did get a charging order?"
There was never a charging orer, no. I have never had any of my credittors do anything other than accept my I&E and set monthly paymens accordingly. When another debt was transferred to LINK FINANCIAL, they threatened a charging order, but after advice from people here and a few letters from me, they backed down and settled on a monthly payment.

"They probably do not know whether you are a home owner or tenant"

When i spoke to them, they advised me they were aware the property was owed and asked how much it is worth. I was a bit taken aback by this and simply said i wasn't sure as i felt uncomfortable giving this info over the phone. I thought after the conversation, why would this be of interest to them as its an unsecured debt. Thats when i started to get concerned.

inmypocketnottheirs

Elsie2 wrote: »

"I am not sure from your post if the original creditor did get a charging order?"
There was never a charging orer, no. I have never had any of my credittors do anything other than accept my I&E and set monthly paymens accordingly. When another debt was transferred to LINK FINANCIAL, they threatened a charging order, but after advice from people here and a few letters from me, they backed down and settled on a monthly payment.

"They probably do not know whether you are a home owner or tenant"

When i spoke to them, they advised me they were aware the property was owed and asked how much it is worth. I was a bit taken aback by this and simply said i wasn't sure as i felt uncomfortable giving this info over the phone. I thought after the conversation, why would this be of interest to them as its an unsecured debt. Thats when i started to get concerned.

Link Financial..... now what was it I said about the IQ of a mentally !!!!!! bog rat?

Do not play ball with them. Just write and tell them politely that you have an agreement in place and that your finances have not changed and that you will be continuing to make the agreed payments.

They can bluff and bluster, posture and threat as much as they like. As long as you maintain the payments as agreed, if they took you to court (unlikely as they would have to pay the costs) all that is likely to happen is a judge would award them the amount of the payments already agreed.

What in fact happened to my wife with LLoyds UDT is that she made an offer of a reduced payment (£60 per month on an agreement of £120). They refused, took her to court and the judge awarded £50! We then got the balance reduced by appealing against thier unlawful penalty charges and eventually settled a £2500 debt with a £500 full and final payment.

Who are the current collection agency?

Elsie2_2

The current ones are called "Largo legal and receivables". I'd never heard of them before.

inmypocketnottheirs

Hi and welcome. You are having a tough time with this pond life. The whole point is that they know that if it goes to court, a judge will look at your circumstances and very likely award them the £20 per month you are offering. I would simply now refuse to deal with this scum on the telephone and only write to them.

I throughly recommend you start your own thread on Debt Free Wannabe section, and start by posting a statement of affairs to see how the good folk around here can try and help you free up some cash to help you along a bit.

Also I think it would be worth your while contacting either of the debt charities CCCS or Payplan to see how they can help you through this difficult period.

In the meantime, you are not alone. There are countless others who have been through similar experiences, and one of the benefits is that we can share the wisdom gained.

Good luck!