Please Help i need advice urgently..........

[Debthelp]

I got out a loan when i was 18 & in full time work earning good money, i actually got the loan out for an ex, yes i know very stupid of me because when we split i am obviously left with his debt but hey such as life.

I now am a single mother of 2 children & on income support, i have been paying this debt at £20 per month due to my circumstances, this debt actually got paased to a debt collector & i was actually paying them the £20pm. I can no longer even afford the £20pm so i sent them a letter explaining my situation & sent in my proof of my income support etc.

I wrote down all my income & all my outgoings & it clearly showed i could not afford £20pm so i offered them £4.00 which was all i actually had left after everything was paid.

I phoned them today as i have heard nothing back from them, the man explained that everything was recieved & that they declined my offer, i suppose this is fair enough but i can not pay what i do not have, i have explained that if i had the money i would gladly pay them, its not a situation where i have the money & am just not paying it is actually i DO NOT have the money at this stage in my life.

He now says that it is passed to the legal department & thats all he could tell me now, i have to wait for a letter in the post.

Now my questions are as follows -

Will they send baliffs to my house?

I am still sending the payment of £4.00 regardless to what they say.

Will they take me to court first?

I really need to know what they will now do. I dont have alot they can take from my house, but if they did take things i really would not be able to replace them so i really need to hang on to my belongings of what little i have.

If you have been through this process or know anything that can help please let me know, i am really upset & really dont know what to do next.

Ok here goes.

normal tactics is for them to decline it. After all they want their money. If it has gone to a debt clooector what happen was they bid for your debt and won. they probably paid say £1 per £7 you owed for example. You now need to send them a letter saying you have clearly shown you can only afford £4 a month and they can either accept it or not. In answer to your questions

1. Tey cannot send a baliff around without a court order. FACT. They cannot take you to court as your agreement was not with the debt collector. All they can do is pass it back to the original company who will probably sell the debt again to another company.

Even if it goes to court with the original company, you have shown willingness to pay (it's a good idea to send the £4 with your next letter if they cash it, they have accepted your offer if they like it or not)

They will try bully tactics. If they phone tell them that you wish all correspondence to be in writing. If they continue to phone tell quote the harrassment act to them and tell them to sod off.

Thank you horseshoe that helps.

I sent a cheque for £4.00 with my last letter of my proof of income etc & yes they cashed it because i checked my bank.

I will wait for there letter about handing it to the "legal" people as they stated & then i will write back saying i have proved this is all i can afford & i will also add another cheque for £4.00, because when i phone they will not take my £4.00 they say it is unacceptable.

couple more questions if you can help me,

1( You said they can not send a baliff round without a court order what happens if they get a court order what do i then need to do?

2. If they sell the debt again to another debt collector what happens then do i have to go through the whole process again?

Oh i am so scared i have cried down the phone a few weeks ago because they just wont listen, i just dont have the money & have no one to turn too.

Thank you again for your help i am a regular on mn but have changed my name for obvious reason (I am ashamed)

By the way i also must add the loan was for £2900 original i then paid £90pm for 2 years i thenwas paying £20pm for a further hoe ever many years & they say i still owe them £3460, i wrote all this in my letter i explained that actually over this time i have paid them back about £700 over the original debt & i STILL owe £3460

Also - tell them that the only alternative would be for you to go bankrupt and then gtey'd get nothing at all as you have no tangible assets.
This worked for BIL and his creditors have accepted his much reduced payments, stopped all interest etc. Also ask WHY they have declined your fair offer.

And ask for a FULL statement of your acount showing a comlete breakdoen of payments & interest/charges. You are entitled to one by law

Thanks i will do.

I asked today on the phone why my offer was not accepted the man said to me because if you work it out at paying £4.00 per month for the outstanding balance they it would take 72 years to pay is this a good enough reason?

Who do i need to ask for the complete breakdown the debt collectors or bank?

If they cashed the £4.00 there is nothing they can do. By cashing that check they have legally accepted your offer.

They have no power to take you to court as you never signed an agreement with them. How these agencies work is they buy the debt for a fee. Say £1 for every £10 you owe. So for every £100 you pay them, they have made £90 profit. These comapnies only get a 25% call back. Mainly because of their bullying tactics. Most of their debt gets passed back to the original lender but it doesn't matter as they make a hell of a profit off the people that do pay.

If it then gets passed back to the original lender, chances are the lender, rather than take you to court, will sell it on again (they make more money this way) And then yes you will have to go through it all.

Some Debt comapnies are more reputable than others and will do their best to help you and will be happy to accept £4. Others just try bully tactics. You might be better off allowing it to be passed back and then making an agreement with your original lender. That is always an option

Also just wanted to add that now you have made the offer...stick by it as you have shown a statement of means stating this is all you can afford. If you now said you could up it would make the SOM void and that does not look good.

How much did you put down as food shopping etc??? Government have issued guidelines and the amount they expect people to live on and it is quite high. Any reputable company would have gone through your SOM with you and tried to help you rather then pressure you for more.

Iklboo is right, if they start just threaten bankruptsy, your debt will get passed straight back to the original lender and you can maje arrangments with them

get yourself to Citizen's Advice asap. I am not convinced that by cashing £4 they have accepted your offer - as far as they're concerned you owe them £20 a month. But I don't know for sure. You sound like a very responsible person who has done everything you can. I am sure CAB will be able to advise you and answer your questions.

go through the CAB - usually offers get accepted when it comes via them.

have a look here for starters

Thanks for that information i am starting to feel a bit stronger, i am being bullied yes, they are being quite aggressive & not letting me speak, there just not listening to me.

I put my whole income (all my benefits) which totals too, £560.08 per month

I then put all my outgoings as follows -

Gas- £35
Electric - £35
Water - £25
Rent £75 ( i do get housing benefit but the council pay 13 payments in a year so it leaves me to pay £75 a month of my rent due to this)
Tv license -£10.99
Argos - £15 (a debt)
car insurance £30
food - £280 per month
NTL phone - £50

which totals £555.99 so leaves me £4.01

I offered them £4.00

I have written to the CAB at the moment because i can not get there due to having my 2 kids & no one to have them, my son has adhd so it is not a good idea to take him into the CAB offices as there is ALWAYS a long wait.

I am however going to try to get there next week on monday.

you haven't allowed yourself for nearly enough. You can go to the CAB but they will use government guidelines to assess your food allowance. They will then give a recomendation that you apply for bankruptsy. this recently happened to my sister. As she did not want to file for bankruptsy, CAB could not do anything as their receomendtion was bankruptsy and they would not help her negotiate as they could see she could not afford it.

What do you mean i have not allowed myself for nearly enough? do you know what the guidelines are? what are we allowed for food?

Oh well either way they can well see i just can not afford it at all. I mean just from what i have showed them i only have £4.01 so if i added anymore i would be totally over my income anyway.

I dont know the exact amount, it's quite high.

All debt collectors should be able to offer debt advice and they will have guidelines of what deem reasonable.

My sisters went like this:

CLOTHING AND FOOTWEAR - £53pm
SPORTS,HOBBIES and ENTERTAINMENT - £40
EMERGENCIES - £25
FOOD TOILETRIES AND CLEANING - £354minimum

All of the above they have to allow you according to the government as apparantly it would be unreasonable for them not to expect you to live without the above.

Also just wanted to clarify about the chq cashing. When I say they have legally accepted it, I mean they have taken your money. Therefore you cant go to court for none payment as you HAVE paid.

The best thing to do is contact CAB they have loads of good advice and even if they do receomend bankruptsy you can still go ahead and make your own agreements. At least if anyone tried to take you to court you could show complete willingness that you tried to help yourself out of debt by going to CAB and sending letters etc. That is all the courts are interested in at the end of the day.

Thanks horseshoe, great advice you have given me & i now actually feel i have more to go on than i did before as i did not have a clue about what they could/couldnt do.

I will visit CAB & await there letter that they say they have sent me, which declines my offer & explains what steps they will take next.

Thank you again probably be back on here tomorrow crying because of there next letter

Glad I could help.

Dont worry about the letter it will probably be mean but it's all tactics.

it's really only people that shy away and ignore letters from everyone and dont pay a thing that end up wth ccj's when it comes to unsecured debt. your taking all the right steps so try not to worry so much.