Debt collectors

[lyssie29]

What happens if I ignore debt collector? I get phone calls off them that I ignore but can they actually do anything? It's for a credit card totalling £1300 and I'm struggling financially at the moment. Can they take me to court? Do they only have so long to contact me? I'm not working and I'm a single mother after my fiance died.

Don’t ignore it, please don’t. It won’t go away and will only get worse.
Please speak to acharity like step change. They will help you talk to them and work this out.

I’ve been there it’s horrible, I still get the fear and panic. But it’s all sortable, but you need to talk to them.

I am sorry for your loss

Sorry youre having a hard time of it.

You can't ignore debt collectors, the debt will not go away.

They can take you to court where you'll get a CCJ. The best thing would be to contact step change or another free service, can't quite remember the name but something like Christians against debt who will give you free advice and help you come to an agreement with the collection agency.

What country of the U.K. are you in? If you are in the U.K.!

You need to go the Citizens advice bureau. I work in rent arrears and we go to court get money judgements/CCJS that stay on your credit file. You just need to contact them and make a small affordable agreement! If you ignore it it will get worse.

Things will escalate and your small debt will end up about two grand. You will get black marks on your credit so you won’t be able to get a mortgage or mobile phone or anything on credit etc and eventually bailiffs will come to your house with no warning, break in if you are at work, and take anything they want to sell to repay the debt.

Never ignore.

Get down to citizens advice and they will help you with the next steps, which are usually freezing interest and setting up a new payment plan.

You’ll feel sooo much better once it’s all sorted and you don’t need to worry. If you have other debts they could help with those too.

Bailiffs will not break in.

However scary this seems right now they will be happy you have contacted them to resolve. They would rather get £5 a week then continue to chase this. It is not as bad as it seems unless you ignore it.

Actually bailiffs will break in. If you ignore it long enough it’ll go to the high court. They will then break into your house/clamp your car etc and remove assets

And it’s down to the debtor how much they will accept. You can’t just choose to give them five pounds a week. If they reject your offer and you can’t agree on an amount, they will remove assets

If you leave it til the bailiffs arrive then the debt will have increased as their charges will now become your debt.

You will already have been charged more money as debt collectors have been appointed. Your debt will be more than it was already.

And as Raphael says they can break in (there are procedures they have to go through first but you won’t be involved in that and won’t know it’s happening)

Defo worth sorting just now. Perhaps it would be worth taking one if the many calls the debt collection company are making to you and speak to them about what they can do to help? They may set up a payment plan for you? However realistically I think CAB would be better. Do you have lots of debts? Is there stuff you can cancel to try and get back on your feet? Stuff you can sell to buy time?

Don’t ignore it, costs will be added for admin fees and court costs. They are not going to go away, contact the lender and see if you can make a payment plan and contact cab

Don't ignore it, it'll just get bigger.

I know people bang on saying bailiffs can't break in and all that stuff but you don't want the stress of them knocking.

Make an appointment with the CA or similar for advice if you can't face dealing with it yourself.

DONT IGNORE IT.

Actually bailiffs will break in. If you ignore it long enough it’ll go to the high court.

They absolutely will not!
If it is your home they can only enter through an open door etc, they cannot break into a house.

Bailiffs can’t force entry in to a locked home to chase a debt...only when they have a warrant of possession of the property eg for rent arrears. They can enter through open windows and doors etc. don’t let them enter at any point if they visit you chasing a debt as then they have rights.

Besides you won’t be letting it get to that point. Contact the debt collection company and see what agreement you can make (£5 a week was just an example)

If you're in the UK- Talk to step change- I'm a single mum and my exh left me in 20k debt.
Step change have helped me work out an affordable monthly payment.
Step change deal with the creditors and while you're paying them back the debt collectors cannot do anything.
You can pay as little as £1 per week. They'll do an income and expenditure with you so that you can manage the payment.
Step change seriously helped me!

Good luck. It does get easier xxx

Are you living in social housing? If so your housing provider will have a welfare team/tenancy support team that can also offer you support

@Bluelightdistrict they can!! You’re istaorn normal bailiff with high court enforcement officer. A bailiff with normal powers cannot, a high court enforcement officer however has more power than the police. They have tools to remove your front door lock and usually get in that way. If not they can literally smash your door in. They do have to secure the house again afterward, but they send the bill for this to you. Please get u you our facts straight before giving people the wrong legal advice

*your confusing normal bailiffs

@Raphael34 Get your facts right before you go scademonging.

High Court enforcement officers. What can they do?
If you live in England or Wales and your creditor has a County Court judgment (CCJ) against you, in some cases they can use a High Court enforcement officer (HCEO) to collect the debt.^
If you live elsewhere in the UK, see our pages on Scottish court actionon or Northern Irish court actionon for what creditors can do in your country.
The HCEO is a type of enforcement agent or bailiffff^. They’ll visit your property and if you don’t make an agreement to pay the debt they can remove goods to sell at auction.
A creditor can use HCEOs if:^
▪ You have a CCJCJ and you’ve not made the payments the court told you to in the judgment^
▪ Your debt is over £600
▪ Your debt is not regulated by the Consumer Credit Act
This means HCEOs can’t enforce debts like credit cards, overdrafts, payday loans or personal loans. But they can deal with non-regulated debts such as utility arrears, business debts, tribunal awards or old rent arrears.

So first off, a high Court enforcement agent cannot be used for a credit card.

Can a High Court enforcement officer break into my home?
^HCEOs will try to enter your home to look for goods but they can’t force their way in on the first visit. This means they can’t push past you, put a foot in the door to stop you closing it, or climb through a window or skylight.
However if they’ve previously been in your home, and listed goods in a controlled goods agreement, they can use force to come in again if you don’t pay them.
The rules are different at commercial premises. If you run your own business the HCEO can use force to break in to the business premises if you don’t let them in.^

Secondly, a high Court enforcement officer cannot force entry into your home if they have not been before as in the OP'S case.

Why do people try to advise without having the full facts? It baffles me.

This is from
www.stepchange.org/debt-info/debt-collection/high-court-enforcement-officers.aspx

But really, a quick watch of Can't Pay We'll Take It Away will tell you.

Get
Your
Facts
Right

FYI @Raphael34 They don't have more powers than the police. That's bat shit.

I've ignored in the past, now I'm kicking myself that the debt has grown so much for the cost of court letters etc. Try to get in touch

@Bluelightdistrict so exactly as I said then, the can enter your home when commanded by the high courts. The op never asked if the can enter her home on the first visit. She asked what could happen if she ignored them. The ultimate answer is they can enter her home. And yes the high enforcement agency has WAY more powers than the police. They can do anything instructed by the high enforcement, the police don’t have anywhere near as many powers. Believe me you’re preaching to the wrong choir. My close family members just forcibly removed a family over a smallish debt that escalated because they refused to pay. They phoned the police as they got evicted without warning ( as happened after a high court order they didn’t know about as they don’t have to be notified), the police took look at their high court ID and left

Don’t ignore them. Contact someone like Step Change or Christians Against Poverty. Tell them about your loss, I’m sorry for that, as well as the dealt and financial issues.

They will advise you and they have more clout when dealing with the creditors.

debt not dealt.

@Raphael34
Are you not reading properly?

OP has a credit card debt
High Court enforcement cannot be issued for a credit card debt
^
^▪ Your debt is not regulated by the Consumer Credit Act
This means HCEOs can’t enforce debts like credit cards, overdrafts, payday loans or personal loans.

The op never asked if the can enter her home on the first visit. She asked what could happen if she ignored them.

If she ignored them they would not be able to enter her house as they wouldn't have been in before.
^
HCEOs will try to enter your home to look for goods but they can’t force their way in on the first visit.^

They phoned the police as they got evicted without warning

Getting evicted from a property that you rent or has been repossessed means the hceo are not entering your home, it's no longer your home so they have permission.

Call step change them come back and advise. You're scaremonging people.

@Raphael34 what is your problem 🙄