To think that debt collectors are the SCUM of the earth!!!

[lucyellensmum]

What the hell makes someone want to take a job that capitalises on someone elses misfortune.

The majority of people in debt are in that situation through no fault of their own. There of course is an element of bad money management but most people avoid it - don't they??

I have had the unpleasant task of dealing with the debt collectors who took on my overdraft, which i must admit i stuck my head in the sand and should have sorted it out before, but i didn't due to PND and other reasons.

I have agreed to make what i feel is a reasonable monthly payment of £50 as this is all i can afford. I get monthly phone calls telling me this isnt enough etc etc - its a debt of just under 2K, so it will not take forever to clear. I am hoping to be in a position to clear it sooner.

So, they ring me last month - they say, "ooh, we can put you through to our sister company they might be able to help you" no mention of a further loan - but it turns out they are peddling a further loan. I refuse as this clearly makes no sense. They say, ok wait for the company to get back to you. This was ELEPHANT loans by the way, so they are a sister company to debt collectors loan sharks. Now because i refused the loan they say im not making the effort to clear my debt I missed last months payment because the man from elephant said wait for them to call.

Now i get a solicitors letter demanding all the money - yeah right, i can;t afford £50 so i am not going to be in a position to pay it all off am i!!

I phone them, they talk to me like im an idiot - im not, im just not in a good position financially at the moment, ive posted about this before, things are sorting themselves out but people like this making unreasonable demands dont help.

They refuse to put anything in writing but are not insisting on an income report form - so i said, ok, you send me one i'll fill it in - so he said, no, go away and make a spreadsheet on excel (assuming a lot there then!!) and send it in to us, i said, without a request in writing then you can go without - he said, they dont have to put anything in writing, my DD was screaming by this point, wanting her mummy, so i told him, right, i'll pay £100 tomorrow and £50 next month, etc, not a penny more - like it or lump it.

These people are bullies, and if i had been more mouse like as i have been in the past they would have bullied me into an agreement i couldnt possibly keep. Yes, i know the original debt was my own fault, but that is besides the point. People in debt arent just avoiding payment, they are in money difficulties and its shit and you (debt collectors) can all fuck right off!!

Sorry, rant over

That's not their job, though, DSM. That's the creditors job.

They're there to carry out hte creditors orders and if they don't they don't get paid.

And if it's gone to debt collector, you and the creditor obviously haven't reached a nice, polite agreement.

What's the debtor deems affordable and what actually is is not for the debtor to decide anymore.

That's why the creditor has exercised their legal right to turn to a debt collector to get the debtor to pay up.

Sorry, I've been there. I had a bankrupcy over 7 years ago in another country.

But at the end of the day, the debt was mine.

I couldn't pay it, and in my circumstances it was through no fault of my own, so that's why I went to a court so the judge could look through my financial records and make a decision that I was insolvent.

Unfortunately, circumstances don't exonerate a person from their debt unless a court can see that and decide and even then, it may not wipe out the debt totally.

I know that sucks, but that's life.

sorry, mean to say, that's not their job, Starlight.

Why don't you sell your computer?

i've sold a lot of stuff recently.

even a pounds is pound you didn't have before .

we had to pay a BIG gas bill and are still £400 in our overdraft. time to sell some more stuff for me and trump up some more work and tighten up the budget to the max for a few months.

'Only the debtor can decide what is affordable surely? If anyone else decides then it's just not going to work!'

Unfortunately not. A court can decide and then enforce that decision.

But it's not entirely up to a debtor to decide.

Because a huge percentage of debtors refuse to pay, Starlight.

Believe it or not, they do.

Or they consider paying for Sky or broadband more important than paying their debts.

So that's why things wind up in court.

And believe you me, judges and magistrates get sick of seeing teh same old song and dance every day.

Or they want to pay something that's unacceptable to the creditor, Starlight.

I don't know why the OP is being treated how she is

I'm not a debt collector or the company that has been assigned to collect her debt.

But I also don't see why they should be concilliatory as that is not why they were hired by the creditor - they were hired to extract the debt.

And that's why I suggested that if she has that much of a problem paying it in a way that is acceptable to the creditor, she needs to stop wasting time online and book in to see someone at CAB or the debt charities suggested and reach a legal agreement with the creditor.

Thats the whole point starlight. They have to treat everyone the same.

Well, some people don't see any excuse for late payments.

Trouble is, a lot of the time, if you don't make a debtor aware that there's going to be some real ramifications to not paying up or paying a decent amount, they continue to bury their heads in the sand.

I think that's where it always originates from.

I always tried to see it from the collector's point of view nad found it more effective.

Agree with expat.

the company offered her a loan to cover her a loan repayments to them - they are clearly not very scrupulous in their methods.

iwould question whether this is indeed in line with industry guidelines ( i don't know) and i trly believe the best people to help would be the CAB
they can do the financial summary for you
hey can write to the crditor and tel hem that as they arenot a priority debt ( council tax, rent, studentloan) that they will have to accept £xx per month.

once this company know you are seeking independant advice i would hazzard thatthey will leave you alone.

i think not paying is not in your best interest

but i also think thatcompanies such as this deal on human weakness and lack of information.

I agree they could be more constructive but it is an old debt and the credit crunch is biting so they need to recoup whatever they can. tbh even at £50 a month it will take a long time to pay off 2k so to say "I have agreed to make what i feel is a reasonable monthly payment of £50 as this is all i can afford. I get monthly phone calls telling me this isnt enough etc etc - its a debt of just under 2K, so it will not take forever to clear. I am hoping to be in a position to clear it sooner. " suggests you are somewhat naive still which is probably why they are pestering you.

Are you still accumulating interest on the od ? Can you go to CAB with your incomings and outgoings and ask them to negotiate on your behalf. That way it will at least demonstrate that you taking it seriously. If you do happen to be able to pay off a lump sum that is even better but for now manage what you have not what you hope for.

Custy - consolidation loans are common and frequent, and actually can help a lot of people.

oh yes i see the lovely adverts all the time for the consolodaion loans, and i would venture that they don'tactuall help in the long term overall.

however this sounds like a company offering a loan for a loan they already gave?

Bad debts tend to be sold on, so that by the time you get to the level of someone knocking on the door, they expect to have to bully, threaten etc. to get the money- the letters/phonecalls stage comes first. They can also try to intimidate people into paying because in some cases, if the person went to court, the debtor could be ordered to pay it off in tiny installments or be declared bankrupt, so the company wouldn't get its money

That's how a lot of those companies operate Custardo. The same parent company owns several loan companies, so if you take out a loan from one- e.g. a consolidation loan because you're having trouble with your payments- you'll be contacted a few weeks later by another offering a further loan. If you happen to own your own home they are very keen to lend!

Banks even offer consolidation loans.

We have enormous debts due to my DHs illness following losing a lot of money trying to get a world patented product into production. Long story. He didn't work for years (no benefits as freelance) but has now got a job taxi driving. Bit of a chanage but it is work! Anyway he found CCCS has been a huge help and they have agreed a set amount he pays every month and they "distribute" it between creditors. It is all credit card debt. At least it has stopped the endless phone calls. He was advised not to talk over the phone as always asked for personal details and he was told never to divulge these over the phone. The annoying thing was that even though the case was "sorted" back in England we were still getting many calls from call centres in India who seemed to have no communication with their UK base or each other. BTW I can't imagine he will ever be able to pay everything off but they seem "happy" with the monthly payment they are now getting. I guess so many people default without any chance of paying anything at all they are grateful for what they can get.

There are certainly LOTS of people who take out debts without intention of paying them back, one of my former colleagues managed to run up seceral thousands worth the day before she defaulted on her mortgage as she knew it was her alst chance

equally some loan agencies really do intentionally sell to people who have no chance of paying back the credit and are desperate, in know this as I accidentally accepted a job with one chap who did just this a decade ago. He was abysmal, a poor excuse for a human being. His theory was that you made the loan (at 60% interest soemtimes!), and because of teh interest if you got to repossess you could make a fortune on the repossesed item (almost always a car), if not the interest was a great benefit anyhow. I walked out as soona s I could, btw, after I found he was 'accidentally' posting detals of outstanding balances through neighbours doors to shame poeple into paying up who had no way whatsoever, bar going without food

So there are bad guys on both sides.

And good guys too- DH's amte is a bailiff, why does he do it? Um, to pay the bills. he specifically tenders for council contracts (becuase as he reasons, there is help for thsoe who cant afford council tax so the genuinely poor / sick etc aren't hassled) but some of the trewatment he recives. Death threats anyone?