Debt sold to 1st credit finance- how to deal with this?

devonsdreamer

tiredteacher wrote: »

:rolleyes: I have today received a letter from 1st credit re an outstanding debt that has been passed to them by Citicards. I phoned them and was met with similar bullying tactics which included being threatened with court action, bancruptcy etc. I have been given 7 days to raise funds and plan to write to them with an offer, sending an income and expenditure form. Any advise on what to do next? I am concerned that they will take me to court. Help!

The first thing I suggest is to write to them asking for all communication to be in writing. Please do not feel too intimidated by these bullies. Get in touch with CCCS or Nationaldebtline and they will be able to help you.

Best of luck

tiredteacher

Plan to write to them today. Will take the advice you are giving and ask for all communications to be made in writing and, at the same time, make an offer for monthly repayments. Does anyone know if they ever actually agree to such repayments or do they always persue claims through the courts? I don't really want to get to this stage but can't afford to repay them the full debt. Also, after the 7 day period, do I just ignore their phone calls and wait for a reply to my letter. I'm not frightened by their bullying tactics but don't want to agree to something I know I can't commit to. Your advice would be welcomed. Thanks for your help so far.

No_Money_6

I would recomend CCCS I am currently with them they can advise wheather you need a DMP or AVI. I received a notetification from CCCS asking for details regarding 1st Credit but todate I have not received any correspondence from 1st Credit, on the trading standards agency web site 1st Credit are under investigation for malpractice basicaly for being to heavy handed.
My advice is "being in a similar situation to yourselves" is to go to CCCS & let them advise & take on your creditors it is working for me it was a little stressful at first but now 6 months on it is so much better & less trouble some:j

devonsdreamer wrote: »

Hi all- Me again!

Posted this yesterday on DFW board and was adviced to post here:)

I went bankrupt on 10th Dec 2007. I had two joint accounts with Hubby which were overdrawn. My husband has tried to speak with both barclays and abbey to sort this out BUT
Barclays closed the account and have passed the debt to 1st credit finance.
Abbey as yet have just withdrawn the facility and are charging £50ish a month in charges.

I know husband is liable for the debt now BUT what is the best way forward to sort this out. We have not heard from 1st credit as yet but I did have a scilent call from 08701642049 which when I googled was the number for them. Had a letter today asking him to get in touch to arrange payment for the full balance!! :eek: We do not have the money to pay in full and also our budget is very tight

Please could anyone tell me which is the best way to approach all this to get things settled as quickly and as painfree as possible. It has been suggested on DFW that he sets up a dmp with CCCS but at this point he is resisting doing this he still has a bit of an issue with the fact I have gone bankrut and NOONE in his family have any idea how diificult our situation has been( and still is). It may be possible for him to borrow some money from a family member to offer Full and Final payment (if he swallows his pride and asks very nicely) but it would be less than half we owe to each do you think they may accept this? We wouldn't be able to afford to pay back the family member and make monthly payments on the debt if they wanted us to pay a lump sum and the rest.

Many thanks for reading

laurachu1982

For the past few months I have been harassed by 1st Credit Limited about a debt they allege I owe on a credit card from some 4/5 years ago.

I have read some pretty nasty stuff on the Internet about this company so have never rung them, only ever written to them.

I started off by writing to them explaining that I did have debts on a couple of credit cards but I was lucky enough that my parents where in a situation where they could bail me out, which is what they did. I received no official reply to my letter, other than receiving more calls, texts and letters from them chasing me for money and introducing me to their debt help team. After a lot of reading on the Internet about their antics I wrote them a letter asking for a copy of the original credit agreement and statement of account, for which I sent a cheque for £1 and was under the impression they had 12 days to supply me with these documents. I wrote the letter on 30th September 2009 and I received a copy of a credit agreement on 19th November 2009. I would like to point out that the copy of the agreement I received could have been typed up by anyone, it didn’t have my signature on, just my name and old address which had been typed. I was sent no statement of account. They cashed my cheque for £1 but didn’t supply me with the paperwork within the 12 days.

So my question is can they legally still chase me for this alleged debt and what are my options now; do I keep writing to them or do I seek professional advice from a solicitor, CAB etc?

Any help would be most appreciated!

Mrs_Malaprop

This would be better off on the Debt Free Wanabe board as they have a lot of experiance on there with regards to CCA's etc.

Have posted tthe question over there for you

The forum won't let me post links as a new poster. The title is First Credit CCA help.

Chunkster

I used to have the dubious pleasure of working for 1st Credit and only stayed for 6 months because of the practices that they employed. Their sole aim is to intimidate people and they have a culture where the managers and supervisors tell the collectors to "smash em up", which is their slang for bullying the debtors.
If people show any weakness on the phone the collectors are told to seize on it regardless of circumstance and the team leaders are quite happy to add the extra pressure.
Very very rarely do they have information to back up the debt that they are chasing and they cannot get further information from the original creditor as the debt is sold as a block bundle. Stay firm and ask for proof of debt (they'll try and say that they will do you a deal) this generally means they can't prove the debt to you.
If you are in a position to settle they will try and say that they can give you 10-15% off maximum, whereas in reality the collectors can give up to 30% off but don't like to as it affects their commission.
If they offer to give you a debt helpline no or information for a debt company that can help - DON'T FALL FOR IT!!! It is actually the same staff, just given a different name to obtain a settlement and advise you that 1st Credit are a company that will take action (very rarely they will) We used to have to do 5 hours a week on the 'debt helpline' pretending to work for a completely different company.
A horrid company to work for and I would help anyone in any way possible to turn them over!

confused76

hey chunkster
interesting reading thanks for this! i'm glad you have left and those dark days are over!!:j

kerrypn

Shocking stuff chunkster.

I wonder if one of the very experienced ones on here knows if this is in contravention to the law????

confused76

'smash em up'? charming company!

Chunkster

Oh yes that is their phrase of choice..As I say they don't give a damn about anyone that they speak to.
When we had people who killed themselves (3 to my knowledge) they would look to see if the debt was in anyway able to be collected from another family member.
Obviously they towed the line whenever visited but the whole ethos of the company was to get the money at whatever cost, they thought that everyone was scum!