When you’re in debt it is quite common to dread the phone ringing or a knock at the door but it comes to something when you dread the postman bringing letters that you don’t want to open. I’m not talking about the usual bills and bank statement type of letters.

I still remember picking up the letters from the door mat and flicking through them all. I had become an expert at spotting the regular bills and bak statements but what I noticed is that there were ‘regular’ looking envelopes in the mix. Obviously not knowing what these envelopes contained I opened them to find out (as you would eh).

You may already have some idea what these letters are…..

They are debt collection letters of various forms – some are downright stupid while others can seem quite threatening and no one likes to read a threatening letter, especially when the ‘threat’ is quite empty .

You see, these letters are from debt collection companies who have either bought the original debt or are trying to collect the debt on behalf of the lender. The problem is, companies who purchase debts do not want to tell you that they have purchased the debt and will try and tell you that they are collecting on behalf of the lender.

You may have, like me, received letters from a company you have never heard of trying to collect a debt from as long as TEN years ago. These types of companies are downright crooks, the pirates of the debt collection world and yes, I really do detest these companies.

They purchase your debt from the original lender, or maybe from another company who purchased your debt originally, and will try any tactic, will tell you anything they can think of, in a lame attempt to get some money out of you. I still get letters for a debt originally owed to Barclays Bank for around £600 – that debt has been owed for at least 15 years. Barclays will not even have a record of that debt on their system but over the past 15 years the debt was passed to a debt collection company who was collecting the money on behalf of Barclys – it was then sold to another company and it has been sold on to at least two more debt collection companies who are still trying to collect the money.

What THIS company hopes is that I am as thick as mud and do not know my legal rights and will pay up. Of course there is no way on this Earth that I am paying a debt that is 15 years old as the debt is now ’statute barred’ which means the debt is no longer enforcable.

However, these debt collection companies still send letters stating that the amount outstanding MUST be paid and if it is not paid within x number of days then they wil commence with legal action to recover the debt which will incurr more costs. They then state that “all of this can be avoided by calling their customer support team today” – yeah right

This same compan also sent letters to me in the past stating that they were no longer able to accept any form of repayment plan and the whole amout had to be paid in full within 48 hours. They also stated that they could not discuss any form of negotiation of the outstanding amount.

BUT then in the same letter, in the past paragraph, they stated that if I called them right now they could offer me a 30% reduction of the amoutn outstanding if Icalled them and paid via a debit or credit card – how stupid do they think people are?

If you are receiving letters from companies who you have never hear of before claiming that they are collecting a debt on behalf of another company please check out the Statute Barred section below.

Be very careful when responding to any letter which is trying to recover a debt that you ‘may’ owe. Do not call them right away as what you say on the phone may do you more harm than you think. Remember, you are probably dealing with company that is going to try evey trick in the book, even underhanded tactics, in an attempt to get you to pay money that you may not even have to repay.

Statute Barred

“A debt is considered Statute Barred if a creditor has not contacted a debtor for a period of 6 years and no action has been taken on the account.

Although the debt is still legally acknowledged as being owed, the creditor is not able to take any legal action against the debtor in order to recover the debt. It is considered unfair if a creditor or debt collector misleads the debtor into believing the debt is still legally recoverable. It is also considered an unfair practice if the creditor or debt collector press for payment after the debtor has stated they will not be paying the money owed. This could amount to harassment contrary to Section 40(1) of the Administration of Justice Act 1970.”

If you still getting debt collection letters it may be a sign that your credit rating has been damaged which could be stopping you from from getting accepted for credit. If you think your credit rating may be damaged by outstanding debts then visit our UK Credit Repair page for help.

Don’t forget to check out our Payday Loans section

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