Debt collection agencies
 

With more an more folk finding everyday life getting harder and more expensive they can soon find thereself's in a battle with a D.C.A so i thought i'd start this thread to see if anyone has any personal experiences or/and idea's on dealing with them
apart from the ignorance or explicit verbal intercourse route ;)

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Have you any personal experiences?

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Wouldn't have thought so Mike, as he eschews material things according to previous posts he's made.

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Yep - I had a recent one from when I closed the studio. They'd bought a "debt" from BT which they tried to chase. Turns out BT had extended my contract by five years when I'd actually asked them to cancel it. The DCA were chasing five years worth of line rental.

As it was all done over the phone, there was no signature, so I asked BT to supply their recording of the call. Obviously, they couldn't (or they could, and it proved that they'd made a mistake).

Related all this to the DCA (a company called Leeds Consultancy Services) and they were perfectly reasonable and helpful.

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The easy, flip answer is not to get into debt in the first place, but that isn't very helpful advice to anyone finding themselves in debt.

The last thing you should do is bury your head in the sand and hope they will go away, because they won't. The debts will continue to grow and getting out of the mire is harder in the long run.

First tactic should be to try and work with them. Tell them the extent of your problems, and how much you can afford to pay them. If they are reasonable, they will accept an arrangement that you can live with. It will stop them hassling you, and gives you breathing space in the long term. You have to keep to any arrangement made, or they will be back knocking on your door.

If they aren't prepared to play ball, or if you are in it too deep to make individual arrangements with different creditors, you need further advice. Get some debt counselling (the Citizens Advice Bureau was always good for this). The law is surprisingly helpful to people deep in debt, and you can make a voluntary arrangement with the County Court that will render your creditors powerless to hassle you.

Good luck!

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What I find confusing about debt are the adverts on television, sign up with us first 30 days free, we'll show you how to improve your credit rating.

If I can't get credit it's because I've borrowed too much, I certainly wouldn't want to find a way to improve my chances of getting into further debt.

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It don't always work like that Less, i was asked in Burtons a few yrs ago if i wanted a store card n then when they checked was refused cos i never had a credit rating, I said thats cos i never owed any money, n was livid. Had used em fer years fer me trolleys n such, have never been in since.:(

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Its hardy surprising people get into debt when you see all these quick fix borrowing short term loads, the money will be in your account within 15 minutes, they are supposed to check out you ability to be able to pay the money back, by law, how they can do that in 15 minutes is beyond me, and with interest rates in some cases over 2000% apr, its tailor made to get you into debt

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Just a few things about your post glynn only my opinon of course

[1]"First tactic should be to try and work with them"...... NEVER MATE
[2]Tell them the extent of your problems, and how much you can afford to pay them.......... you probably cant afford to pay them anything since your in debt. but besides that you shouldnt pay them anything since you've no contract with them(3rd party).you could thank them since they paid your debt lol ;)
[3]Get some debt counselling (the Citizens Advice Bureau was always good for this). The law is surprisingly helpful to people deep in debt,,,, debt counselling??? that place you speak of is never open ive been a few times an its been open once lol as for the law being"surprisingly helpful to people deep in debt"
if by that you mean the fact they reg work in hand with the DCA to shaft every penny out of you then your correct ;)....peace

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like jaysay says its tailor made to get you in debt...these agencies have no right to bully property and demand any payments...jokers ;)

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goodman.....nice outcome ;)

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i've had a few run in's with them in my time i tend to find the obvious,lawful and blunt approach works best i.e you bought my debt... thanks..... now have fun with it lol ;)

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i just want a genuine thread mate..... no harshness....i'm not the enemy lol ;)

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None intended but here, http://www.accringtonweb.com/forum/f...y-61195-9.html

Post 166 & one of yours, was my reference point for the comment. ;)

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point taken ;)

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There was a program on last week or it was on the news it said Debt Collection at the moment is the biggest business earner in the UK!

I think it's 8 years is the limit for a debt so if you have any old debts beware of answering letters sent to you by a debt company who bought a debt. If it's over I think 8 years then they can't do anything about it, unless there is any correspondence from you about this!

What they do is send you letters to try and catch you out - don't reply, if you do they can make you pay it by law!

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:eek::eek::eek: "they can make you pay it by law" :eek::eek::eek: lol

not sure on that1 kes ;)
I agree debt Collection is 1 of if not the biggest business earner in the UK but by law the dirty bleeps have no rights to do 90% of the things they get away with lol ;)

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NOTICE: QUESTION TO EVERY MEMBER:

If someone is in ‘debt’, and someone else comes to the rescue - and pays off the debt[i.e the DCA] - what is the situation?

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They can't because it happened to me - I started getting letters for a debt from over 10 years. I phoned a debt advice agency and they said "Don't reply because over 10 years they can't make you pay if there has been no correspondence about the debt in that time. They said if you reply then the debt company who bought the debt have leverage to demand payment." I ignored it and the letters stopped.:alright:

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I had that problem too ... weird, eh ... they are turning away a customer who is about 100% likely to pay his bills, and then they offer credit to guys who are up to their asses in debt, making minimum payments on their credit cards just to keep their heads above the liquid manure they are in. I suppose I should go to my bank (I'm a good socialist; so, my bank is the Kingston Community Credit Union;)) and borrow a couple of thousand, pay it off, and then I'll have a credit rating .... nah, I don't think I'll go through that bs. My grandad said "never buy owt on t'never never" ... He used to walk around with a wad of those old five pound notes, and if he saw something he wanted, he bought it. If he was short a few quid, he didn't buy it.

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So have I got this right, Accychris?
You consciously run up debt knowing you can't(and don't intend)to pay it.
The firm you owe money to passes on that debt(at a loss) to a DCA who you refuse to pay. You get away with it! In fact you seem to be proud of it.
Isn't that theft? Not just from the firms you wouldn't pay but from the rest of us.
Because to cover the losses people like you cause the firms you owe money to they have to charge the rest of us more-so you're stealing from us!
You call this an 'obvious,lawful and blunt approach'?
What an interesting approach to money- no surprise you don't need banknotes.

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Oh ... and Susie ... you are allowed to point out the syntactical redundance in "I'm a good socialist";):D

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Gordon Booth i didnt run up a debt knowing i couldnt pay infact i could prob of paid it in banknotes there an then but i had a reason for not paying so eventually they sold it to a DCA and yes which i refuse to pay. you say " get away with it" like i'm trying to hide something or i've done something wrong yes im proud i found my balls an stood up against these jokers

Isn't that theft? NO

i had doubts about the amount the firm was trying to say i owed so i worte them a letter saying i'm willing to pay if they can prove there actual losses added up to the amount they said thus creating lawful excuse for not paying and not theft as you say

"Because to cover the losses people like you cause the firms you owe "
with all due respect i think there should be more folk like me and less folk who talk the sheepish DRIBBLE like you speak :rolleyes:

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"never buy owt on t'never never" ... He used to walk around with a wad of those old five pound notes, and if he saw something he wanted, he bought it. If he was short a few quid, he didn't buy it.

SHOULD BE MORE FOLK LIKE YOUR GRANDAD ERIC ;)

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had a debt company threaten me once for a debt that wasn't mine,took advice when the company asked me to pay a bill which was not mine,took months,then got a letter which said the matter had been settled,12 months later debt recovery company rang me,very threatening on the phone and told me they would be coming round to take items out of my house,told them to come and i would let them move it all out,then i would ring the police and make them put it all back,still had the letter from the company clearing me of owing the money:)started to talk to me nice as you like,before i cut him off:alright:

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:alright: GOODMAN

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That generation and that way of thinking are gone. Now it's greed and materialism ... cupiditas ... you know "Radix mallorum cupiditas est" .... And it's like a drug. A gram is too much; and an eight ball ain't enough.

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That way aint gone wi this kid, always been that way.;)

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What's the not so old saying? .. if you owe the bank £300 you worry.... if you owe the bank £3million they worry..;)

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If a DCA is prepared to buy your debt,but then expect you to pay it back to them,surely theres certain things that must happen due to the demands of good faith all round, and civilised behaviour i.e:

1. That they make sure that you actually owe the debt, in the first place. And they can only do this by discussing it with you.

2. That they make sure you agree to pay them back, and (again) they can only do this by discussing it (up front) with you.

3. You should only expect to pay them back what they, themselves, paid out … otherwise they are taking the ****.

Do you think those three are fair, honest, honourable, and reasonable?

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How true.;)

How to Borrow Money, by Stephen Leacock - Classic Essays - A Classic Comic Essay by Stephen Leacock

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Whilst I agree te lenders must share the blame for folks getting over their head in debt surely the person doing the borrowing must share the blame equally:confused: If you can't afford to pay back don't borrow is the best maxim to live by, it just seems that a lot of people want everything "yesterday" and hang every other consideration:mad:

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well said....nice maxim you live by ;)

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is it not the case that if your unfortunate enough to find yourself having to deal with these fools you can say something even they can understand (because it's simple ;)) i.e:

The Bills of Exchange Act, 1882 says that - once a debt is paid - said debt is extinguished

so when YOUR company paid JOE BLOGGS for MY so-called ‘debt’(without informing me 1st) … MY so-called ‘debt’ was extinguished???

I'VE no contract with YOUR company.... now goodbye ;)

p.s thanks for paying my debt to joe bloggs :)

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That was my point Bernie, I have never owed anybody anything in my life, except for a mortgage. If I have ever wanted anything I've saved for it, not gone out and got it on HP, or the never never as it was called when I was young, you should never spend money you haven't got, it nearly always leads to heartache

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People want nice new shinny things, it's called consumerism, some say it's keeping up with the Jones's. If you take debt on, then it is up to you to pay it.
Thats called responsibility.
There is a lot and I mean a lot of information out there to help you decide what works for you.
The Debt Collection Agency's are not nice people, but there is a very easy solution, don't borrow, or buy on HP

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Works for me BG

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there's a old saying that goes something like
the things you own end up owning you ;)
the obvious solution to debt as alot of folk seem to say is don't get into it in the 1st place but fact is some folk (sometimes through no fault of there own) find themselfs in face to face with a intimadating foe demanding goods and payments :)

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if only it was that easy lol

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is it not? ;)

i mean when you get a visit/letter from Bailiffs or DCA, what has happened is they have paid off your so-called ‘debt’ (very cheaply) and are demanding that you pay them back.

But did They check with you first to see whether you actually owed monies in the 1st place? did they agree with you beforehand that you would pay it back? do they demand repayment of their outlay?

No. They just muscled in.( Did you ask them to? No you didn’t)
and paid off your alleged ‘debt’. So that debt no longer exists.

And, if they had wanted to be paid back, they should have got your agreement BEFOREHAND … shouldn’t they?

NO CONTRACT NO PAYMENT sorry Mr DCA lol

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Debts become statute-barred after 6 years providing they have not been acknowledged within that time. They can be assigned to a 3rd party, but notice has to be given of the assignment.
"Neither a borrower nor a lender be, for loan oft loses both itself and friend, and borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry."

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Another way of dealing with a DCA knocking is to make them a notice for your door
i can post mine if it's allowed as i do love a good notice ;)

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thats the term i couldnt remember i used it myself when a friend of mine informed me of it.Vodafone wanted £500 off me despite me not ever using their servive.I think they bought or transfered a debt i disputed from BT CELLNET and added a load of costs on to it.

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:alright:

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I have always tried to live by the following which was written by that wise man, William Shakespeare:
"Neither a borrower nor a lender be,
For loan oft loses both itself and friend..."

Debt is obviously not just a modern dilemma. Moneylenders were among the most hated people in the past, now it's the banks...things don't really change:rolleyes:

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another way to try deal with them is by letter..... i love a good letter too ;)

DEAR Mr/s BULLY AT FRAUD DEBT COLLECTIONS

It is a basic rule of Common Sense that – if you pay someone else’s debt - then you make sure – BEFOREHAND – that they are prepared to pay you back. If you had done that, your demands would have the force of LAW behind them.

Since you never checked anything with me BEFOREHAND, then you & your Company are either:

1. Philanthropists, acting non-philanthropic
OR
2. A collection of mentally retarded bleeps, devoid of basic Common Sense/comprehension of LAW.

its very simple:

DON’T BUY DEBTS BEFORE ESTABLISHING FIRST OF ALL, THAT YOU’LL GET PAID BACK … OTHERWISE YOU ARE " A collection of mentally retarded bleeps"

or something like that ;)

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I cannot accept "sometimes through no fault of there own" Chris, Desperation can lead some to stupidity, If yeh go down that road, then yeh must accept some responsibility, Lifes all about choices.;)

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"sometimes through no fault of there own" folk do end up with DCA thinking they've got the right person/address and so on i agree "yeh must accept some responsibility" if you've made a contract (verbal or otherwise) ;)

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Although the old lady didn't know the saying was by Bill Shakespeare, she always used it, and I have always taken not of it, if you don't borrow you never owe out, simples

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The systems tailor made to get you in debt tho jaysay(your words) I think we've established the best solution is avoid debt full stop....take not of that ;)