Spiralling Debts

[melupnorth]

I have buried my head in the sand for far too long regarding my debts and would now like to take steps to get them sorted. The most urgent ones I have are outlined below and any nudge in the right direction would be a huge help.

 

1. The most confusing one and the one for which I receive the most final demands is Shop Direct I am contacted by them a few times a week by 4 different companies at the moment.

Lowell

Hamptons Legal

Red

Shop Direct Finance Company

I don't know how I tell the status of this debt or if it has PPI but the initial debt was approx £185 now they are asking for £670.04, the last contact I received was from Hamptons asking me to enter into a monthly payment plan to avoid litigation.

 

2. Is a debt that was with Santander that I did not even know I had, basically this debt occurred solely from bank charges, I was getting large bank charges on my account so moved to a different bank, I had a balance of zero as far as I was aware but obviously did not close my account properly and now bank charges have turned into more bank charges which have turned into a large debt for which I am contacted by the following companies.

Wescot

Nelson Guest and Partners

ScotCall

The most recent contact being Scotcall for £819.90 they wrote to me asking me to pay immediately or it would be passed onto a field representative for doorstep collection.

 

3. Natwest now this is one of my largest debts that snowballed from a student account I had with a £500 overdraft that I never cleared. Fir this debt I am contacted by

RED

Lowell

The most recent being RED asking me to clear it at 70% of the debt or set up a payment plan they are now asking for £1812.76

 

4. Provident with who I took out a £300 loan because I had bailiff action from another debt I am contacted by one company only on behalf of them and that is Wiseman who wrote to me asking me to clear it in full or it will be passed on to a solicitor for court action.

 

5. LLoyds TSB with who I again had an unpaid overdraft of £200 as a student, I am only contacted by Robinson Way until recently when I received a latter from Horwich Farrelly threatening court action unless I made a payment in full or a monthly payment plan.

 

6. Is a debt that just popped up out of the blue when I received a letter from SRJ threatening to take me to court for my BSKYB debt having not received any prior knowledge of a debt, however that could be because I moved but I did leave a forwarding address. They are now asking for £322.59 of they will take me to court.

 

7. Another one that also popped up out of the blue us Inter-Credit-Internationale who have written to me on behalf of the water board demanding full payment within 72 hours or court action will be taken.

 

These are the 7 that I have managed to put correspondences in chronological order and the ones that I receive that most frequent correspondence from. I also recently received letters from a company called Civil Investigations and one called SRJ asking me to contact them and confirm who I am but not stating what it is regarding.

At the moment feel like I am borrowing from Peter to pay Paul and it is never getting any better, it’s getting to the point that when someone knocks on the door I actually fear answering it.

[rebel11]

Hi mel

 

Welcome to CAG

 

Have you been mis-sold PPI on any of your accounts? Have you got any Penalty Charges on your Credit Card accounts? Have you made any 'hardship' claims on Bank Charges? Have a read of 1,2 and 3 in my signature.

Also read 7 and 8 in my signature.

 

Please let us know how your problem has been resolved, it could help fellow Caggers.

 

Thread has been moved to the correct forum.

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Red, Lowell Hamptons are all the same company, just a different desk.

[melupnorth]

If I was to make a full and final offer to one of my creditors each month how can I stop the others from taking legal action in the meantime? Would I need to make a token payment or do I just refuse to acknowledge the debt until I have the funds to make a full and final offer?

 

Also regarding bank charged can you still claim then back if the account has gone to a debt collection company as one of my debts is solely from bank charges (Santander).

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

I think you have the answer pay min payments.

As to a F&F you need to take care start low on the

offer so you have room to negotiate.

 

Don't send any payment until you have the creditor'DCAs

agreement in writting and insist that the remaining balance

must not be sold on to any 3rd party.

The Bank charges ''thing'' has lost it's impact as the OFT lost

their court case.

 

If a default sum on a debt is made up solely of charges without

said charges the account would not have been defaulted the no

default should be placed. So you could get the default removed.

[ims21]

Before thinking of a full and final on accounts that are not current account/overdrafts you ought to be looking to reclaim any charges and or PPI that were on the accounts.

 

Then you will be able to work out what you owe and make a F&F based on the correct amount.

 

As regards the current accounts/overdrafts, when did these charges start going on?

 

Have you sent SAR requests to the original creditors.....if not I would do so.

[Halibutt]

Brigadier is right about reclaim of bank charges losing its impetus after the High Court ruling.

 

However, if you can prove that you have in the past, and still are suffering hardship due to unfair/excessive charges, you may be able to make a successful reclaim. I managed to get £370 refunded by Barclays as I could prove hardship - on Job Seekers Allowance at the time. It would appear that hardship cases are slightly different to a general claim for refund of charges.

A carefully worded letter may have the desired effect and in this case, the worst that can happen is that they refuse.

 

Good luck!

 

H. x

[melupnorth]

Thank you for te advice. At the moment I'm panicking slightly as I received a final notice from scot call on behalf of Santander. I am at present only in a position to offer token monthly payments. To make this offer do I write to the collection company, phone them or write to te company with which I had the original debt which was Santander.

[PGH7447]

Thank you for te advice. At the moment I'm panicking slightly as I received a final notice from scot call on behalf of Santander. I am at present only in a position to offer token monthly payments. To make this offer do I write to the collection company, phone them or write to te company with which I had the original debt which was Santander.

 

In post one, you said that you did not know about this debt so why are you contemplating making a payment until the debt is proved? send a sar to santander asking for all details of this alledge account, and dont worry about "final demands" from snotcall, final demand for what?? until the alledged debt is proved

[melupnorth]

If I send an SAR will they be able to escalate things further? As the letter said they would seek legal action. I think the problem at the moment is I'm panicking after seeing the big red final notice heading.

[Halibutt]

A SAR is simply a request for the information the company holds on you and the alleged account, accompanied by a postal order for £10. Sending the request shouldn't matter as it's your right to know which information is held. On the request letter, print your name, don't sign.

 

They have 40 days from the date of your request and shouldn't continue collection activity until they've complied with your request.

 

H. x

[PGH7447]

A SAR is a legal request to the OC asking for everything about this alledged debt, ie statements, agreements if relevant etc, in the meantime if you want to stop snotcall, simply write and state that due to not recognising this alledged debt you have since contacted the Oc and asked for all details pertaining to this alledged debt, stop pandering to their feeble letters, if I threw a panic everytimne I got a red headed letter I would be in a phyciatric ward by now, 10 - 1 the letters says may and could and not will and would