Jacamo

[yasminora]

Hi,

 

I have an account with Jacamo.

 

My circumstances are now that I am on benefits and cannot pay my monthly jacamo of nearly £70.

 

I owed 1300 but in the last two months this has gone up to over £1400 as they are applying nearly £50 credit charge a month.

 

As my payments were only £65 i was actually only paying off around £15 of what i owed.

I would never have paid off the debt.

 

Now i'm on benefits the most i can pay is £10 a month.

 

I have emailed them asking them to accept that and to stop all credit charges.

 

I explained my situation and they have emailed back saying they will not accept the £10 a month and that they want a DD set up for the £65 a month payment.

 

They have also refused to stop all credit charges a month so the amount owed is going up by around £50 a month.

 

I wanted to take out an administration order but i have no county court judgements.

 

I don't know what to do.

 

All other creditors are being very helpful.

 

Jacamo isn't and I don't know what to do.

 

I wouldn't even be worried if they took me to county court because I think or hope the court would accept my offer of payment.

Someone told me though that nowadays debt companies don't go through county court and simply take out their own court bailiff without having to accept any payment or taking out a ccj.

 

Can anyone advise me on what to do please?

 

I'm very very worried. I'm on highest care disability now and have nobody to help me deal with them.

 

many thanks

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Hi Welcome to CAG,

 

I suggest you make yourself a personal income and expenditure report, so you can see what you can reasonably afford to pay, even if it is £1 pcm by standing order, they are obliged to take note of this!!

 

I will happly draft a letter for you later if you wish!

[yasminora]

Hi, thank you for the fast response. I've gone through all my creditors and most are accepting £5 a month which added together is most of my income. Jacamo is the largest amount and I've worked out that £10 a month is all i have left after food and utilities. They sent back the following email:

 

 

Thank you for your recent letter.

 

We note your comments, however, we cannot accept your offer of £10.00 every

28 days and request you make payments as requested on your statement.

 

To help you to maintain your payments and for your own peace of mind, we

would advise that you contact us to set up a direct debit on your account.

Payments will be taken directly from your bank every 28 days, which will

ensure that your account remains up to date, avoiding reminder calls,

letters and administration charges.

 

It's like they've just totally ignored what I said in the email.

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Ok, Try this letter, Address it to The Collections Manager, preferably by RM recorded delivery rather than e-mail.

 

Ref: Account number.

 

Sir/ Madam,

 

I refer you to recent e-mails regarding account number xxxxxxxxxxxxx, the attitude of those that I have communicated with at Jacomo have either ignored the statement I have made regarding my financial situation or turned down my offers of reduced payments until mu circumstances have improved.

 

I have checked my income and expenditure with great care and have concluded that the absolute maximum I can reasonably afford to pay at present to this non priority debt is £xx.xx per calendar month.

 

Please therefore send me your company bank details so that I can set up a standing order for the payment, Direct Debits are not acceptable to me.

 

Perhaps at this point I should remind you of the OFTs Guidance on Debt Collection 2003/2012, and the section 3.7 (i) (Physical/ Psychological Harassment):

 

'' Pressuring debtors to pay more than the can reasonably afford, with out experiencing undue difficulty, or to pay over an unreasonably short period.''

 

Section 3.7 (j) States: Failing to allow for alternative, affordable repayment amounts when a reasonable proposal is made by a debtor or a 3rd party advisor''.

 

Section 3.7 (k): States:''Not having appropriate regard to the principles of the Common Financial Statements or equivalent''.

 

My offer is based on the guidance shown above, and I request tha Jacomo now freezes interest and charges so that I might more quickly repay the debt.

 

Please ensure a reply is made within 7 working days.

[dx100uk]

stuff 'em!!

 

its a cat debt

very low priority

 

you are affording them far to much control

 

do this:

 

TELL [dont ask] them they are only going to get £xxPCM for xx mts

as a goodwill gesture

and as a reciprocal GOGW they must freeze int & refrain from levying PENALTY charges.

if they wont

drop them to £1PCM for life.

.

as an example>

.

I am currently in financial difficulties and not able to meet my normal monthly repayments.

to show my goodwill, i am going to pay £5 for 6 mts.

 

i will update you in 6mts time or before, should my situation change.

.

could you please as a reciprocal goodwill guesture,

.

refrain from levying any penalty charges & freeze the interest on my account.?

.

Should you fail to assist me during a period of financial difficulty, contrary to all the guidelines and codes

issued by the relevent bodies and authorities that govern you and the way you conduct yourselves.

.

i shall have no alternative but to reduce my offer to £1PCM for the rest of the life of the account,

.

.

as your actions would do nothing to help me.

.

i thank you for your time.

..

.

dx

.

then pay by your internet banking site

.

and get reclaiming

.

TAKE CONTROL

.

or

if you have sent the above and they refuse

then write back........

.

.

i'm sorry, but you have failed to assist me during a period of financial difficulty, against all the guidelines and codes

issued by the relevent bodies and authorities that govern you and the way you conduct yourselves.

i repeat again, the contents of my letter dated dd/mm/yyyy, for want of clarification:

to show my goodwill, i am going to pay £XX for XX mts

could you please as a reciprocal goodwill guesture, refraining from levying any penalty charges & freeze the interest on my account.

i will update you in 6mts time or before, should my situation chance.

should you fail to help by refraining from levying unlawful PENALTY charges & freeze my interest,

i shall have no alternative but to reduce my offer to £1PCM for the rest of the life of the account,

as your actions are doing nothing to help me.

This is contrary to the rules you should operate under.

disgruntled account holder

dx

[dx100uk]

get an SAR off to them

 

you'll have £100's of PENALTY charges to reclaim

 

they CANNOT send any bailiffs at all.

 

a DCA is NOT a bailiff

dx

[yasminora]

Thankyou for the replies I'd heard Jacamo can get pretty nasty. I'll send the first letter given and let you know what happens. Thank you again

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Good, these companies and their stroppy clerks need bringing downa peg ot two imo.

[dx100uk]

and stay off that PHONE!!

 

dx

[yasminora]

I got an email back today saying:

 

Thank you for your recent payment proposal.

 

Unfortunately we do not consider the proposal to be acceptable, given the

current outstanding balance.

 

The minimum payment arrangement we are prepared to accept is £29.00, due

every 28 days.

 

If you are not in a position to enter into this arrangement, we will have

no alternative but to pass your account to a debt collection agency.

 

Non payment of your outstanding debt will be recorded on your credit file

and may affect your ability to obtain credit in the future.

 

 

 

I can't afford £29 a month. I just don't have it spare. Also they make no mention yet again of freezing credit charges. Paying £29 a month with almost £50 a month credit charges added means I will never ever pay it off. Also if they are refusing my payment a month (Which in reality is twice what i can afford), then surely the debt company will be instructed to refuse it.

 

Thanks for any help

[dx100uk]

then second part of post 5

end off

 

just do it

 

now got that sar off yet?

 

dx

[yasminora]

Have sent part 2 of post 5 Will post any response.

 

Thank you

[yasminora]

They're not responding at all to me anymore. I did get email saying that my latest statement is available online. It is showing yet more credit charges. Now a total of £179 added in the last 12 weeks in credit charges. So they're obviously not going to stop adding them.

[dx100uk]

tough for them

 

you can reclaim them all

 

just pay what you said by your internet banking site

 

did you get that sar off?

 

dx

[yasminora]

Not sure what an SAR is. After all my correspondence asking them to help and to accept my offer I received the following letter from Reliable Collections Ltd who are basically saying i haven't contacted jacamo at all.

 

Our client has informed us that despite their best efforts to come to an acceptable arrangement you have continued to ignore their offer to help you with your difficulties. This situation has left us with no other alternative but to consider our next steps which might extend to making an application to court for an order in respect of your agreement. We would also reserve the righ to seek costs and interest. However, may I remind you before we take any action, we are prepared to accept reduced payments, but in order for us to do this, you need to contact us to agree and amount that you can afford. Please call us within the next 48 hours to prevent any further escalation.

 

Do not ignore the seriousness of this letter

[yasminora]

I've also just spoken to this debt company and again offered ten pounds a month and asked for the 50 odd pounds credit charges to be stopped. They have refused both. I've told them what i've been told here and they said i'm being given advice by people who obviously have no idea what they're talking about lol. Have said will take out an admin order but just thought that I can't because i have no CCJ against me. They said they don't take people to CC anymore and escalate it in different ways. Does anyone know what that means? Now am really worried if they can send bailiffs in without getting a CCJ first.

[yasminora]

sorry but forgot to say that he said if i paid the 29 asked for a month they would possibly then look at revising credit charges. All i know is i want to avoid bailiffs coming to my home and taking what little i have. I'm on my own with my son and so am really worried. Does anyone know why nowadays companies can get their own bailiffs without having to involve the courts? At least courts used to accept payments offered.

[dx100uk]

PLEASE stay off the phone!!

 

RC are jacamo,

 

they are NOT BAILIFFS and have NO SUCH LEGAL POWERS..

 

you are veing SPOOFED.

 

a DCA will say ANYTHING to get you to pay

 

i hope you have NOT given them any card numbers?

 

hold on the black underlined SAR and click it

 

get a £10 PO and send it off.

 

till then sit tight.

 

dx

[yasminora]

Ok thank you and will do. It is the only time i've phoned and i did put 141 in front to withhold my number. They have no cards on site of mine. I get my benefits next Friday so will pay the £10 for SAR then.

 

Thank you again

[dx100uk]

great.

 

just dont fall for the threat-o-grams.....

 

you've told them what you are going to do.

 

i'e part 2 of that letter above.

 

pay them the £1 as promised

but only pay that to the OC never ever the DCA.

 

dx

[yasminora]

ok will do

[ericsbrother]

just to reiterate, ignore the debt collection agency and continue with the principal. The DCA has no rights whatsoever, they are just unruly employess of the company who make their money from the debtors bylies and obfuscation.

[yasminora]

ok ty. i'm worried though that it is going up by around 62 pounds now every 4 weeks. i'm guessing in their terms and conditions it says they can.

[dx100uk]

they'll learn.

 

they can say what they like i theirT&C's

 

they are still an unlawful penalty that does not reflect their true admin cost.

 

dx

[yasminora]

Just found out that the large amount a month of around £50 plus

is credit charges for money owed not for payments missed.

Like interest i guess.

 

On top of that i think is £12 a month for each payment missed.

 

So i'm guessing they can charge the £50 credit interest as its in their terms.