Please help with Littlewoods/Very - Can't afford to pay required monthly amount!

[Max71]

Hope you are all well. Ok,

 

- dx - I followed your advice and typed a letter to Littlewoods telling them straight that I would be paying £5 per month until my situation improved..

 

.requested my CCA etc and worded it professionally and to the point also mentioning that I had taken legal advice and spoken to natinal debt line etc.

 

I got a polite letter back today reminding me that I had taken out the agreement in 2010 and how much I owed on the account (ive never missed a payment)

and this was the first month i had paid them £5 instead of £175!

 

they then state the enclosed is

1. A re-constituted copy of your credit agreement sent to you at the time of opening your account. (I never was sent any such thing and certainly signed nothing).

 

2. A copy of your current credit agreement (which is identical to the first one)

- neither signed physcially but stating underneath the signature box that it was signed by so and so on behalf of Shop Direct Finance.

 

Then they just mention that If I do not meet the payment requirements I am liable to the £12 charges and will be referred to a debt recovery agencyL,

and that I should contact them to discuss a 'reasonable' payment plan.

They seem to have ignored the contents in my letter and just sent an unsigned credit agreement - how is this enforceable?

 

I don't know what my next step should be now as im not sure where I stand re the contract

- which surely can't be a contract unless it is signed by me - even if the account was opened online in 2010??

 

Any advice on my next move would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks a million!!

 

Max

[dx100uk]

just ignore them

 

stay on course

 

time to now get reclaiming..

 

dx

[Max71]

just ignore them

 

stay on course

 

time to now get reclaiming..

 

dx

 

 

Hi dx

 

Thank you for your time, but as I'm a bit alien to all of this, Im really not sure where I stand and need someone to spell it out for me (please).. What am I reclaiming for and how do I go about that?

Do I reply to this letter? do I carry on paying £5 per month? What about the 'contract' they have sent me re the account I opened online in 2010? I read accounts opened after 2007 were now enforceable.

 

Im sorry to be such a pain. Your help is greatly appreciated, thank you.

 

Max

[dx100uk]

no-one is saying the debt is unenforceable, even if it were prior 2007

thats not how cat debts work

your 1st order is your acceptance of a contract and their T&C's.

 

as for reclaiming.

 

if you've not got all the statements

 

you'll need to SAR them.

 

 

and yes keep the £5 going.

 

dx

[Max71]

Dear All

 

Your advice would be greatly appreciated. This is my first experience in this situation so to hear from more than one person would be great: here goes:

 

I am now unemployed. I wrote to Littlewoods n 10th Feb 2012 telling them I would be paying £5 a month instead of £175 for an amount of £1100 owed on my account. I also requested my CCA, though there is a tick box where a signature would be as I opened the account online in 2008 (before the credit act changed and became enforcable without a signature - apparantly?). I have never defaulted or missed a payment before. This month was my first payment of £5 along with a professional letter stating my unemployment and TELLING them what I would be paying each month. I also threw in a couple of paragraphs taken from all of you good people on this website, so I sounded like I knew what I was talking about.

 

Yesterday I received a letter from them with an enclosed re-constituted copy of a credit agreement which Ive never seen before - definately no signatures as it has a tick box and just someones name printed on behalf of home shopping group etc.

 

The letter was polite in that it just stated when i opened the account and what my oustanding balance is and reminded me that charges of £12 would be applied if i failed to meet the required repayments and that a default notice would be sent to the credit agencies and remain on my file for 6 years if i fail to comply.

 

(Sorry this is long). I don't know how to respond to this letter, because I am not refusing to pay them, I am simply telling them I can only pay £5 a month and under their consumer credit licence they are not (apparantly) allowed to enforce charges while I am making any kind of payment and they cannot enforce me to pay what I cannot afford to give - is this correct? (I have begun to outline a letter with this wording but your help here would be gratefully received)...

 

Please can you tell me how to proceed further? Am I liable for a bombardment of charges foevermore which will mean I will never be out of their debt? Can they enforce higher payment requirements or Bailiffs or a court order? (This is what frightens me the most - going to court).

 

My husband likes to bury his head in the sand but I can't sleep with worrying.

 

Thanks for reading and I look forward to hearing from you,

 

All the best,

Max

[dx100uk]

please refrain from start NEW THREADS

on the same debt

 

keep to ONE THREAD.

 

dx

[dx100uk]

as post 29

 

await the sar return

 

and get reclaiming.

 

dx

[Max71]

as post 29

 

await the sar return

 

and get reclaiming.

 

dx

 

Apologies dx, as I say - this is all new to me and I have to rush on here as its not my laptop.

I dont understand what all the abreviations mean so I am sorry I have upset you with my ignorance. I just dont know how to word a response to the letter I have recevied and I thought my old first thread would be lost in the system as nobody has responded further there, so I thought I should open a new one.

 

Have a nice day.

Max

[Happy402]

As a little woods (SDG) ex employee I think that the advice on this thread is awful, please never ignore letters they send requesting payment (not if you value your credit rating anyway). If you have never missed a payment before and you need reduced payments then you should call them first of all, they will offer you something, it may not be exactly what you want but will be reasonable, if you honestly cannot afford the reduced payments then you could WI (Sandringham House) is the correct address if you send it elsewhere then it will be forwarded to Sandringham House. They will only ever take off one LPC but you may get more removed if you write to the CMT (they will only do what is reasonable tho). My advice is to work with them and not against them. Little woods don't normally charge Interest but they may offer you an IBC scheme if u are unable to pay, Very charge Interest if you choose not to pay over the Take 3 scheme.

[Max71]

As a little woods (SDG) ex employee I think that the advice on this thread is awful, please never ignore letters they send requesting payment (not if you value your credit rating anyway). If you have never missed a payment before and you need reduced payments then you should call them first of all, they will offer you something, it may not be exactly what you want but will be reasonable, if you honestly cannot afford the reduced payments then you could WI (Sandringham House) is the correct address if you send it elsewhere then it will be forwarded to Sandringham House. They will only ever take off one LPC but you may get more removed if you write to the CMT (they will only do what is reasonable tho). My advice is to work with them and not against them. Little woods don't normally charge Interest but they may offer you an IBC scheme if u are unable to pay, Very charge Interest if you choose not to pay over the Take 3 scheme.

 

 

Thanks, - I wouldn't ignore anyone, but I do have to state what I am able to pay - I wrote to them first and politely nut firmly told them what I could afford until my circumstances change.

They politely replied saying I should not default (which I am not).

I don't have a landline at home so therrfore cannot hpone them from my mobile.

I am paying£25 a month to Very which is the minimum they require anyway so there is no problem with them now (even though they are part of the same grouping).

Littlewoods will jsut have to acept my terms whihc are at least regular monthly payments and I will never pay any additional charges. For those I shall re claim.

[dx100uk]

As a little woods (SDG) ex employee I think that the advice on this thread is awful, please never ignore letters they send requesting payment (not if you value your credit rating anyway). If you have never missed a payment before and you need reduced payments then you should call them first of all, they will offer you something, it may not be exactly what you want but will be reasonable, if you honestly cannot afford the reduced payments then you could WI (Sandringham House) is the correct address if you send it elsewhere then it will be forwarded to Sandringham House. They will only ever take off one LPC but you may get more removed if you write to the CMT (they will only do what is reasonable tho). My advice is to work with them and not against them. Little woods don't normally charge Interest but they may offer you an IBC scheme if u are unable to pay, Very charge Interest if you choose not to pay over the Take 3 scheme.

 

ex eployee or not

the chaarges are a PENALTY and under OFT regs can be reclaimed

 

as for the rest

 

therest of the advise is crass too.

 

dx

[dx100uk]

no phoning people either

they'll threaten the world

 

but will never state these things in WRITING

 

you need a paper trail

 

dx

[Max71]

no phoning people either

they'll threaten the world

 

but will never state these things in WRITING

 

you need a paper trail

 

dx

 

 

Thank you dx - yes, spot on! I will keep my paper trail and send all correspondance recorded delivery. I don't have a landline at home so will not be calling anyone from my mobile. Luckily they don't have my mobile number so I at least won't get a headache that way.

I will continue paying them £5 a month until my circumstances change and if they bombard me with charges, I will use clever wording to remind them of the OFT regulations etc.

What else can I do? If I don't have it I can't give it, but at the same time, I don't want anyone taking me to court - that was my main concern. I didn't know how to respond to the letter they have sent back with the CCA that's all. Just don't know if I should ignore it or respond??

I need to take a leaf out of your book. You're been a great help - thank you.

[Max71]

...also you go on about reclaiming charges, in the 19yrs I worked for them I saw a handful of cases were all charges were remover. So I don't know we're u get this info from but it's definately not common and do u really think that SDG would have been allowed to apply these charges (for yrs on end) if they were illegal? As far as I'm aware they are seen as fair because they reflect the extra costs incurred to the business on defaulting accts. Also I have no loyalty to SDG whatsoever (I was made redundant) I just feel that you have been given bad advice

 

 

I get where you're coming from as you worked for them for so long, but in reality, I am jobless, soon to be hoomeless and they are a mere drop in the ocean as far as my troubles are conderned. They will get £5 a month and can refer my account to anyone they like - they wont get what I dont have - this is life.

£5 a month until im employed again is better than nothing at all and I was polite but firm in my letter.

I am not shirking responsibility or I would be turning the other cheek completely - Im not doin gthat - and this is the reason I will certainly not be calling them - I dont need to be told off. I am 40 years old and everybody's personal circumstances are different.

[citizenB]

Happy402, I would suggest you read other threads/posts in respect of this company. Charges have been reclaimed and in our experience, Littlewoods appear not to have read the OFT Guidelines or the BBA Lending Code on the procedures of dealing with people in financial difficulty.

 

I would also point out that if you are posting as a representative of the company then you must contact admin and request rep status.