To be annoyed that a creditor has contacted me when I'm going through insolvency?

[SharkiraSharkira]

Just had a phone call from a creditor asking for me to make payments for some outstanding debt. I am currently going through a DRO, one of the primary points of this is that your creditors are NOT supposed to contact you! So why am I getting phone calls again?!

When I challenged her about it she said it was because she worked for a debt collection company on behalf on the creditor (the council) so they are exempt from this rule. So what does that mean for me now? Can my creditors just pass the details on to debt collection agencies who will turn up at my door with baliffs and demand payment anyway? She also told me that apparently the creditors need to agree to the debt being added to the DRO, which as far as I am aware is bollocks but if it's true what happens now? What if they don't agree?

Aibu to be upset and confused now?

Speak to the company managing the DRO and refer all creditors back to them.

I was on a debt management plan which is a more informal version I think and creditors did have to agree to it but all of them did with no issues.

Well done for doing something about your debts

Seek advice immediately before it gets to the stage of bailiffs.
Once that happens you will find it hard to argue not because they are right but because the act of having two people standing in your house demanding payment will stress you out.

You will have someone (a professional) involved with the dro? Or call the debt line and have proper chat.

I don't know the rules so I can't add real advice except to say seek out proper advice from actual people who know as soon as you can. Don't rely on Google searches or asking on forums as some of us very well may know the answer but there will be a lot of people (like me for example) who are well meaning but don't actually know the answers you need.

I used to work in bankruptcy and have a qualification in insolvency. She is wrong. A DRO is a formal insolvency procedure and all debts incurred before the DRO apart from exempt ones like student loans and certain fines will be covered regardless of whether they've been taken over by debt collection companies. The reason they contacted you is probably due to a lapse in communication between them taking over the debt and the paperwork being sent to your creditors. Pass the info on to the person dealing with your DRO and they should deal with them for you and put them straight. Hope this helps.

Thanks ginger, I'm just starting to panic a bit now because I was really surprised to get a call from them since I was told they're not allowed to contact me.

It happens a lot when debts have been taken over around the time that the order is made because the official paperwork gets sent to the original creditors on the list that you provide. Often the paperwork isn't forwarded on by the original creditor to the people they have sold the debt to. If any other creditors that might have been missed from your list or those who have taken over debts come forward all you need to do is pass the info to the people dealing with your case and they can then make sure everyone has the correct paperwork. If you're unsure about anything though you can always speak to the person dealing with your case and double check that you're covered.

I am not sure if this is allowed but i would have a look on the money saving expert forum there is a debt section and it is full of amazing advice. Might be a bit more of a specific place to ask x

My DH had an IVA in place a number of years ago and would occasionally creditors would still send letters but this was normally when the debt had unwittingly sold on and the new debt company was not aware of the IVA. He just sent all comms straight to his insolvency practitioner to deal with and never engaged with the debt companies.
Well done for getting your finances sorted

Good you are sorting finances but you can hardly blame creditors for wanting to get their money back, in all honesty.

I went through bankruptcy a few years ago and I think it just takes a while for different companies to update their records. Once the bankruptcy was on my credit report all the contact dropped off as it was clear they weren't going to get any payments. Personally I didn't bother forwarding any letters or dealing with calls, it wasn't worth my time. I set up a call blocker app to reject them automatically and just filed the paperwork. I never had any bailiffs come and even if they did there is not much they can do anyway.

Can't blame them for wanting to crumbs but they aren't allowed to pursue you if the debt forms part of a bankruptcy, debt relief order or IVA. Obviously if they aren't aware of it then it's not their fault but once they are made aware of it they would be breaking the law to continue pursuing it. It's shit for the creditors but people who enter into a bankruptcy or debt relief order especially have nothing left to give and it's no picnic for them either.

Crumbs, well yes I understand that but I can't give it if I don't have it. I don't really want to be going through this insolvency but I don't really have a choice at the moment.

Give the creditor the telephone number of the Insolvency Practitioner and they will send them the paperwork.