Hi, My partner and I are in debt with several DC's breathing down our necks. We admit we got into financial difficulties and chose to ignore and pray it would go away until we were earning more but of course it doesn't. We did get into a situation where we were paying small amounts of some and then problems spiralled and our then a/c's also got messed up. Situation on each debt right now is: Her Abbey a/c - £3,232.36 defaulted in 2004 with Lowell Portfolio and Hammptons chasing. All of this was charges and this was the amount I couldn't pay. Last letter standard sent 02.02.08 usual threatening letter pay up or else. Had a few phone calls but each time I ask to check they say yes, gives me a few weeks then calls start again. His Abbey a/c no idea how much we owe on this as it went into problems in 2003 which is why we used mine due to excesive charges from overdraft that Abbey refused to consider reducing. No correspondence received to date :idea: Morgan Stanley Credit Card £3,414.99 being chased by Fire last letter 4th Feb 08. We did have a payment plan setup which crashed in 2003 with his Abbey A/c. They refuse to send us details of charges etc but still phone demanding. HSBC loan and a/c defaulted 2003 £13,019.08 by far the nastier lot - calls constant - several a day from Red and then Lowells - wish theyd make mind up who is DC. Served with a Stat Demand on 15th Feb by RED although received this letter a few days ago. They phoned two days ago and they have agreed to put on hold as I am looking into all finances. Given me till next monday and then they will call again to see if can agree anything. Asked them for details of what it is for & charges. They have sent standard letter saying you owe £x.xx great, thanks a lot! Halifax Credit card £4,085.83 DC are Connaught Collections - usual cals and letters. about half is charges from defaulting on repayments Scottish Power £1,323.38 This one I really hate. It is from n actual reading after 8 years of estimates. We changed to another supplier for dual gas and electric and have reduced our payments greatly. Scotcall will not accept our monthly offer of £5 month just to start paying until we can sort finances out properly & hopefully earning more. Direct Auto Finance & DLC £1,246.07 This is actually not so bad as in huge dispute with DLC and DAF who cannot provide various requested documents requested. Loads of calls constantly but they are now starting to end call refusing to speak to me. Solicitors advising and things look potentially promising. Will keep updated Anyway so there it is, not a pretty site and I hate it. I am not looking to get out of my debts, but want to pay what I owe not plus addtional charges which I feel are unfair and extortionate. I will keep this updated as to progression in the hope that it shows that you are not the only one to get in this situation.

thanks tom, I will get that sent immediately and will let you know what reply I get so that you can continue to help others from responses received to letters like this. I really appreciate all the help you lot have given. Will also send that SAR as well. I had never heard of this prior to visiting this website!

yes I did, as it was an arranged vfirst visit to discuss new payment arrangement as we didn't have a pay in book so he collected the first cheque which does show as being paid of our debt. I've never seen a list of my possesions or signed anythign and that was never mentioned. Just the form/ letter agreeing to a monthly 65 payment

hi, I did reply saying I got a visit about 7 months ago and we came to agree a monthly payment we could afford and have been paying since. I don't know what a walking possesion is and I don't appear to have one. Is it a letter sent from the Council or Equite themselves?

The baliff was reasonable not like what I've read on here and he was an elderly chap and helped us work out an amount we could afford.

Hi, we once had a visit from a baliff over this but was about 7 months ago when Equita demanded we paid 150 a month which we couldn't afford. We've not signed anything like that I'm aware of, but had to sign something to say we agreed to the payments of 65. The payments were initially sent by cheque to the baliff until he arranged for a book to be sent to us. Since then we haven't missed any payments at all, but this letter has scared me.

Hi , I'm hoping someone can advise on this as I've today recieved a letter from Equita over my council tax debt that has got me panicking. My partner and I fell into arrears on council tax after advisng them I lived there which I hadn't realised they didn't know so gave them corect info to backdate it. Then after partner got made redundant - no pay by a small conpany we got into arrears. We have loads of debts that we are trying to sort out but don't have much hope of paying much being on mimimum wage and no other income from any benefits of any type. We got no help from housing or benefit for the three months he wasn't working as they said I was earning too much (£1100 a month). We arranged to pay £65 a month by payiing in book as had bank account but no credit/debit card. They would not allow us to set up a standing order or dd which is daft as we could have paid the extra bit the post office charge us for paying by book. We have been paying this for about 7 months with no missed payments Anyway on Jan 2nd I phoned them asking if I could miss January payment due to a major issue with our car needed fixing as my partner needs to get to work. We had an option of a welcome finance loan or provident loan but this was as a last resort if Equita said no. But Equita didn't say no, the lady was really nice and understanding and said it would be ok but to make sure that payments carried on as normal from Feb 4th. Today I have received a letter from Equita saying Removal Notice!!! I phoned them up immediately to which they said I have to pay the missed Jan payment immediately. I referred back to the call made on Jan 2nd to which the man, who sounded like he was 18, said that the notes said I would be making a double payment in feb. This is very untrue and I asked if they recorded conversations and kept a name of who I spoke to as this was unfair. If they said no I would have taken the loan offered despite the dreadful interest rates as I cannot allow my arrears to fall behind. So now I'm stuck. The guy said as long as I made a payment in feb then the arrangement will go back but to be honest I don't believe a word he says. And I'm terrified that someone is going to break into my home. I'm also dreading telling my partner about this when he gets home as he is already stressed about other debt collecting agencies calling and writing to us all the time demanding money we just don't have and we thought that at least this one was going ok. HELP!!!!!