Welsh Water and Scotcall - strange letter

[RedVixen]

Hi

 

I am in debt to Welsh water but paying an amount off each week. I don't have a formal agreement.

 

I temp so just pay what I can, it is about to go up as I have just cleared my mortgage arrears

 

As more stuff gets cleared I will roll extra onto it

 

I have a Welsh Water payment card and that is what I use.

 

Today I get a letter off Scotcall telling me that their client welsh water has requested that they stop collecting payments form me

- and gives an incorrect balance I know damn well its at least £100 less than the letter states.

 

Apparently I have to stop making payments to them (which I am not) and wait for welsh water to make alternative arrangements.

 

I have looked on Welsh Waters website and there is no reference to Scot call at all

- I thought maybe they managed the payment cards on Welsh Waters behalf,

there is nothing on the card to say that and the card was definitely issued via Welsh Waters customer service organisation.

 

I have never had any previous correspondence from Scotcall about welsh water so do not have any payment agreement with them

and if I had I would have ignored it just like I do Westcott when they write and keep paying what I can

- the balance is going down

 

I am not going to contact Scotcall I intend to carry on paying on the payment card and make sure all the receipts are safe

 

Anyone got any ideas?? Seems a lot fishy

[silverfox1961]

Hi

Snotcall are a DCA. Wonder if WW have asked them to chase you?

 

I agree with you. Ignore them.

 

I wonder if WW have added an admin fee bumping this up? the only way to find out is to ask what the hell is going on.

[RedVixen]

One thing I will say about WW - they tell you which bunch or crooks they are sending your account to. Scotcall has never been mentioned is usually their in house (but pretending to be separate) team or Westcott

 

My position is stronger if I keep paying

 

I was wondering if anyone else had had something similar - definately a bit odd but then DCAs are very odd and twisted

[renegadeimp]

If scotcall are involved then the debts bad. Guaranteed. Scotcall never chase valid debts.

[fkofilee]

Imp is right, Scotcall chase bad debts.

[RedVixen]

No the debt is valid I know I owe the money.

 

Years of crappy temping means i hadn't made much leeway on it but I have a decent contract at the moment so everything is slowly getting better.

 

I have kept enough of a tab on in to believe that there is no admin fee

 

the balance stated by Scotcall are the arrears quoted in the annual letter/bill from Welsh water

where they told me the arrears should be paid to Wescott - still carried on using the card

 

Its just an odd tactic is someone trying to persuade me to stop paying for a sneakier reason? i will keep paying

 

There are a couple of others that can go swivel but not Welsh Water I will just end up taking longer than they would prefer to clear it

which is why i haven't negotiated a payment plan as yet.

 

Contracting isn't exactly stable.

[renegadeimp]

The debt may be valid to you. Maybe the water co simply want to pester you for more money but dont want to use their own DCA or letterheads. But if scotcall are involved then theres something up.

[RedVixen]

I know the water company likes to get debt cleared in the first place I originally had an agreement but for that reason it was unsustainable - so i am going to carry on as I am and pretend Scotcall didn't write - its just weird Scotcall are claiming I am paying them for something that I am not

[RedVixen]

in 12 months the water company will only set up agreements that clear debts within 12 months

[renegadeimp]

Best thing to do is ignore scotcall. They cant do anything. And if you are paying the debt off according to your means, neither can the water company.

[RedVixen]

Yep - being a suspicious bugger I am thinking that if they persuade me to stop paying court action becomes easier for them

[RedVixen]

Or is that too sneaky even for DCAs

[dx100uk]

the basic rule with your water bill is clear the year - within that year.

 

water companies are always expressing their need for it to be paid in two early lump sums

 

you are quite within you rights

to divide the amount by say 10 and pay that sum over the first 10mts.

 

but

 

1. always tell them what you are going to do, take the high road.

 

2. don't fail it and don't go over the 10mts plan

 

they are very quick to go with CCJ's if you miss the within year clearance

 

dx

[RedVixen]

I have clearly been lucky so far then this had been going on for years.

 

There was an 18 month gap in payments partly my bad I just didn't think about it when I moved from rented

(water rates covered) to this property where I am responsible for a mortgage.

 

Partly my brothers because he spent about 4K of estate funds on himself in 6 weeks

- it was easily enough to maintain the mortgage and water for a year

- both have caused me problems as I am the only one who has tried to sort things out.

 

I know the estate funds were gone when I moved down here

the extent of how much idiot had spent inappropriately took a while longer to uncover when I finally found all the bank statements.

 

This years will be covered and the arrears provided I remain in a contract although I should find it easier to get a new contract should the current one end