Debt Sold To Collectors - Furious

Chie

I owed £172 on one of my catalogue accounts. Last week, a debt collection agency bought the debt from the catalogue company because I missed ONE payment. I received a letter today saying that I had to call them, so I did. I asked if I could pay back £5 per month and they said no, it's got to be £17 per month.

We went all round the houses with this, I tripped them up several times and they couldn't dig themselves out of it fast enough (one rep claimed he could reduce my total balance to £102 if I paid in full because they bought it from the catalogue company at a special rate and could therefore pass the savings on to me, another rep claimed they don't buy debt at all).

The basic answer was 'Write to us with a balance sheet of your income and outgoings', etc etc. Frankly I don't want to. I just want to pay £5 per month because that's all I can afford, which according to the CAB and everyone else, I'm well within my rights to do and the agency can't say any different.

If I carry on giving them £5 per month and disregard their threats and demands of £17, what are they going to do? Nothing, I expect. Anyone had any experience of this? They've threatened door-step collection, legal action, blah blah bloody blah :rolleyes:

boredofbeingathome

stick to your plan and what the cab advise.

floss2

You may well get door-step colection & bailiffs calling round the next step could even be legal action ending in a CCJ, which will stay on your file for 6 years from the date they are awarded by the court.

You mentioned "catalogue accounts" - how much do you owe? Is this the first payment you have missed?

skylight

door stop collectors and "ballifs" can do nothing. They have no powers. Do not let them in, talk to them through the window and tell them to bog off - if indeed they ever do turn up. Its all threats to scare you into paying more than you can afford.

Only a baliff sent by the court after a CCJ has been issued AND you have defaulted on that has any power - and even this is very very limited.

The debt probably has not been sold at all to any DCA (Debt Collection Agency) at this stage, they are just acting on the catalogues behalf. I would suggest that you search for CCA (Consumer Credit Agreement) on the DFW board first. If you have NOT signed a consumer credit agreement then they can not take you to court as the debt cannot be proven (legally) to be yours and is not enforceable. Do a search and you will find the templates etc to do this and a better explaination of how it all works.


If you have signed a CCA then why are you not sending them your incomings and outgoings? You need to supply them with the same details that you would need to if you were ever taken to court for a CCJ. You do not have to supply wage slips or bills, just a list of income and outgoings and a list of creditors with a prorata payment to each. If you can only afford £5 a month, make sure your I&E reflects this.

fermi

National Debtlines factsheet on catalogue debts is worth a read through.

Link: Factsheet | Catalogue debts

The debt may have been sold on, or they may be acting for the creditor. Or, they may be the creditor.

NDR do the collections for the Litttlewoods group of catalogues. Rather than being a separate debt collector, they are just Littlewoods staff wearing a different hat and using different headed paper.:rolleyes:

Just offer to pay what you can genuinely afford.

mojo1303

You could formally write asking for a copy of the Consumer Credit Agreement you signed. Once they respond to that request you will know better where you stand. There is a standard letter on here somewhere you could use.