Nationwide Debt recovery-help please.

[nuttyblond65]

Don't know if anyone can help, but I made the mistake of ringing a dca today. I had an account with empire stores, couldn't pay due to being out of work and it went into the hands of a dca. contacted them and made arrangement to repay at £20 per month which they accepted. 3 months ago found out debt had been passed to another dca so contacted again explained situation and they accepted the £20 per month. Now received letter on 29th october saying they want £163 per month and to contact if cant pay, so I did. sent letter on 29th october offering £20 per month, budget sheet and proof of income. heard nothing. today received statement of account with £12 default charge on. so rang them explained situation said I'd wrote and heard nothing, was told they would not accept reduced payment unless I went to citizens advice bureau and entered into a debt management programme, which I don't want to do, as i have sorted all my other creditors out, so where do I go now. Help would be much appreciated.

[MARTIN3030]

Welcome to the site.

Any chance you can say who the DCA is ?

[nuttyblond65]

Hi Martin3030

 

Yes the dca is a company called Nationwide Debt Recovery, who act on behalf of Littlewoods. My original debt was with Empire stores catalogue who passed it onto a company called droynes and boyde, i think. then apparently empire was bought out by home shopping direct so the debt was passed to nationwide. any advice you can give would be much appreciated as i dont know what to do next.

[MARTIN3030]

Ok thank you.

There was a requirement for you to have been informed when the debt was moved/assigned to another collector.

Is any of the arrangements that you made in writing ?

What was original debt and how much charges have been applied?

I think everything now should be kept in writing-do not deal by telephone.

Looks like there are some breaches here of OFT guidelines.

[nuttyblond65]

Hi Martin3030

 

The original debt was with Empire Stores, don't know what charges they applied as I was stupid and stuck my head in the sand for a while. It was finally passed to Droyds Debt & Collection services who said the balance was £2830.15, that was in 2005. I contacted them and an agreed payment plan was put in place, I have this in writing, this was paid by d/d every month. The final payment they took was 2nd July 2008, Aug payment was not taken so I rang to find out why and was told Empire had been bought by Home Shopping Direct. I was given a number to ring which I did and spoke to someone at Nationwide Debt Recovery. They agreed to accept my previous payment plan but nothing was put in writing. I also paid £40 over the phone by debit card to bring the payment plan up to date and then set up a standing order with my bank to pay £20 per month. On 22nd October I received a letter saying contact us to discuss further repayments, as they wanted £163.09 per month which I cannot pay. So I wrote a letter to this effect and sent proof of income and expenses sheet. To date they have not replied. So I rang and they said they would not accept £20 per month, I would have to go to citizens advice and enter a debt management plan, which I dont want to do as I dont want to rock the boat with my other creditors who have accepted reduced payment. I know this a bit long winded but I just dont know what to do next. Help please.

 

nutty

[MARTIN3030]

Ok its a bit clearer now.

Will move your thread into the debt forum and retitle.

 

You are rightly concerned about being told you HAVE TO enter up a DMP.They have no remit to make you do this.

[MARTIN3030]

Also have a look here.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/debt-collection-industry/160530-nationwide-debt-recovery-ltd.html?highlight=Nationwide+debt+recovery

[dpick]

Hi Nationwide Debt Recovery are in house collections for Littlewoods so they have not passed the debt on. I would send them a s78 CCA request to see if they are legally entitled to collect the debt. (With my wife they had no agreement at all and agreed to clear the debt.) If you get a letter along the lines of this is a copy of the agreement you should have signed and returned then they have no agreement you can then do as you wish, if they have treated you with respect then you could negociate a settlement plan or if they have treated you like **** tell them where to get off. No agreement = No enforceable debt.

 

dpick:)

[nuttyblond65]

Thanks martin3030 and dpick that information is very helpful, i will try both solutions and see what happens, will keep you informed how i get on

 

nutty

[ScabHunter]

Another case of brainless idiots who think blood comes out of stones.

 

They have no right to demand that anybody visits Citizens Advice Bureaux or sets up debt management plans.

 

They say they want £163 a month. OK, I want £163,000 a month. Are you going to pay me?

 

Where do they dream up these figures from? In the end, the only thing they have the power to do is take you to court and get judgment. If they did, the court would order reasonable payments which, unless you were rich, would be nowhere near £163 a month.

 

That is IF they got judgment. Which they should not be able to do unless they have an enforceable agreement.

 

Littlewoods are known for being extremely unreasonable. They are also known for being extremely inefficient at keeping valid, enforceable agreements. A true case of empty vessels making the most noise.

 

Getting a CCA request off is the first priority here.

 

Don't worry about the ridiculous charges. They are just numbers printed on paper, in the same way that Hans Christian Andersen wrote stories on paper. All they do is provide you with another route to put the account in dispute should an enforceable agreement ever surface.

 

Be warned that Littlewoods are the ultimate in persistence. If someone discovers the elixir of life and you live to be 300 you will still be receiving their friendly threatagrams, long after any amount involved would have been so eroded by inflation it would be less than the price of a postage stamp.

 

Have a look at alfwithhair's thread on Littlewoods if you want to know what to expect.

 

SH

[nuttyblond65]

thanks for your advice, you are so true just because they've demanded doesn't mean i've got to give them that amount, as you said it would be getting blood out of stone i don't even have that much left over when i've paid all other creditors. feel much better knowing that they can't force me into DMP or to go to CBA. Will certainly try your suggestion.

[ScabHunter]

I hope you don't mind this post, but I feel I must speak up as I see you making some mistakes which could prove very costly in the future.

 

I notice you say you've got other creditors. If you are in debt it is vital to get an overall plan together, and then tackle each individual debt in context. Get a filing system where you can keep all of the paperwork relating to each individual account together.

 

The very first essential in trying to get out of financial trouble is to make sure the income you have now is secure. I see that in the past you have had Direct Debits set up with creditors, and that you have given out debit card details over the telephone.

 

Both of these are security risks I would not ever want to take.

 

Last month I read a tragic case on these forums of someone who had a Direct Debit set up with a creditor. His entire two week benefit payment was removed from his account without his knowledge or consent. Only tonight I have read of someone's wages being removed to pay other accounts at the same bank.

 

My strong advice would be to get a brand new basic account with a bank totally unrelated to any group you have had problems with in the past. Get your income paid into there. It is the first step to building your new life.

 

I also believe in only communicating with creditors in writing. Telephone threat monkeys are trained to get results, and unless you are trained to the same degree to resist, you can find yourself being persuaded to do things you will seriously regret later. Keeping everything in writing also gives a trail of evidence. Debt collectors make threats and give out abuse on the telephone that they would never dare put down on paper.

 

Getting out of debt when you have multiple creditors is a very long haul, but the absolute worst thing you can do is bury your head. I was trying to help a lady with a court case last night, only to find that she had left it too late to file a defence and that judgment had already been awarded against her. What is most annoying is that it was almost certainly a case that could have been won with the right preparation.

 

You are under no obligation to tell us any more than you want to, of course, but you will find the people on the CAG the most non-judgemental and helpful you will find anywhere. This place is like my second home now, even though it only exists in cyberspace.

 

SH

[nuttyblond65]

you're absolutely right burying my head in the sand got me into the mess I'm in now. I deal with everything as it comes up now, and luckily my other creditors have been helpful (don't lol). I also learnt the hard way about setting up direct debits with two of my creditors they were taking what they wanted when they wanted. so i quickly cancelled d/d wrote to the creditors telling them I could only pay what was originally agreed, told them I'd cancelled d/d and would pay monthly by postal order. to date they have not complained or took any other action. i will never ring another creditor again as they take no notice of what you say in future i will do as you suggested. thanks for all your help, will let you know the outcome of my battle with nationwide debt recovery.