Cosmic's Debt

[cosmic]

Hi everyone,

I have posted before but kind of lost my way a bit. I have about £60k of debt with my partner and since about 2008 I have tried everything from a DMP via a company to UE and at the moment I am kind of doing my own DMP in albeit in a totally half arsed way. We have various creditors but the main one is LloydsTSB. Its strange but my mrs has a whopping loan with them but only pays them a token payment through a lloyds subsidiary called BCS and they don't hassle her at all. On the other hand we have a large lloyds overdraft which they are giving us a real hard time over. They have continually heaped on charges and interest and now they have passed the debt onto Apex who I am sure you have heard of. They have been ringing me loads until I asked them to stop. They have now sent us a letter stating that they have used various methods to check us out and we could pay more and are avoiding paying them more and also threatening legal action.

Firstly can Apex do this? Do theyhave any power to enforce the debt? Also how do you suggest I deal with the overarching debt problem? I would be happy to pay a full and final amount as long as it was over a few months as long as the amount is a relatively modest percentage of the full debt and it is final. But I dont really have a clue as to how to go about it.

I am quite proud of avoiding paying these bloodsucking banks but I can't carry on like this. I want it all to just be over.

We have a pretty reasonable income but £60k is not to be sniffed. We can't do an IVA and paying the contracted amounts would mean huge monthly fees.

Help!!

By the way, I haven't posted to speak of but I have always check out your website for bits and pieces of advice before plucking up the courage/energy to write this. I just wanted to say how much it means to be able to have this resource to call upon when you're in trouble. The forums and advice therein and the anti-bank stance is a fantastic shot in the arm.

Cheers

[5corpio]

Re: Cosmic's Debt

Hi Cosmic:

Below is the Link to your UE diary, that Niddy set up for you (May 2011), and asked a little bit more of info:

COSMIC UE DIARY LINKY:

You can also view it from your Profile Page, found at the top right corner of the forum pages: COSMIC PROFILE

if we can kindly ask you to check through the following links to get used to the surroundings first:-

• Forum Rules and Guidelines
• User Help Guides
• To all the Newbies

[garlok]

Re: Cosmic's Debt

Welcome back cosmic. If you take a look at 5corpio'.s comments above I am sure we can muster some suggesttions and support for you. The first thing is don't be panicked into making a bad decision. unless Apex actually own the debt which has been assigned in Absolute and you have a formal Notice of Assignment from either party yhen they are just posturing and bullying you. They have no powers whatsoever and could only take you to court in cinjunction with the original creditor. As regards the phone calls, sadly part of the scenario, but don't discuss anything with them, tell them in writing via Her Majesty's Mail only and put the phone down. It is most important that you do not agree anything with them on the telphone or be trapped into saying things you do not intend.

Help will be along shortly I am sure.

regards
Garlok

[cosmic]

Re: Cosmic's Debt

Thanks Garlok - and everyone else.

I have looked into assignment a bit and I am much happier. I have emailed Apex back to reiterate my willingness to pay something - they said in a letter that I was avoiding paying(if only). I haven't received any correspondance referring to any assignment so I am assuming they are merely acting as an agent for Lloyds, ie bully for some kind of fee or % arrangement. The question is, are they better to deal with than Lloyds? Ultimately I want this over and done with realistically I know I will have to pay for it. Tactically I want to pay as little as possible but maybe Apex are a better bet than Lloyds themselves?

By the way I have re-read my recent post and I certainly dont want to give anyone the impression that we have a huge surplus income - we dont - but it is better than a few years ago when every month was a real nail biter when it came to every single expense. Of course the main reason things are better is that we pay the creditors very little compared to the contractual payments.

Welcome back cosmic. If you take a look at 5corpio'.s comments above I am sure we can muster some suggesttions and support for you. The first thing is don't be panicked into making a bad decision. unless Apex actually own the debt which has been assigned in Absolute and you have a formal Notice of Assignment from either party yhen they are just posturing and bullying you. They have no powers whatsoever and could only take you to court in cinjunction with the original creditor. As regards the phone calls, sadly part of the scenario, but don't discuss anything with them, tell them in writing via Her Majesty's Mail only and put the phone down. It is most important that you do not agree anything with them on the telphone or be trapped into saying things you do not intend.

Help will be along shortly I am sure.

regards
Garlok

[cosmic]

Re: Cosmic's Debt

Help!

I have a joint overdraft with LloydsTsb and there is over £9k owing. Thus far I have been making £10 payments.

I have just received a letter from a law firm acting on behalf of Apex, who are acting as an 'agent' of Lloyds. They haven't sent me a letter of assignment by the way. Apex recently included this in an email:

"I can also confirm Apex are dealing on behalf of clients and therefore require payment to come direct to Apex."

What should I do next? Can Apex really take me to court? Should I CCA them? Or just try to negotiate a new payment?

Thanks in advance for any help

C

[garlok]

Re: Cosmic's Debt

Unless they are the new owners which according to what you have said they are not then they have no legal authority at all. They cannot take you to court without the collaboration of and in conjunction with the original creditor. Its an OD so will not be covered by CCA legislation.

See what others say but i would write back and tell what you are paying is what you are going to pay end of. I would not consider at all giving them any further information like I & E at this stage as only a court can order such disclosure.

regards
Garlok

[Wishfull]

Re: Cosmic's Debt

i have apex acting on behaif of santander i am 12 months into a self administered dmp touch wood upto now apex have been one of the best dca to deal with accepted my offer of payment from the off set up a standing order and never heard out untill last month when they wanted to review it wrote and told them nowt had changed and thats it

[cosmic]

Re: Cosmic's Debt

Thanks for the replies everyone.

wishful thinking - I was wondering how you worked out an acceptable amount to pay them? Would it be fair to assume that Apex have bought the debt for a lesser amount? Or are dealing with it for a fee? either way what agreement did you come to? I was considering offering say about 60%/70% of the debt and dividing it by 60 payments so it all ends in 5 years...

[Wishfull]

Re: Cosmic's Debt

Thanks for the replies everyone.

wishful thinking - I was wondering how you worked out an acceptable amount to pay them? Would it be fair to assume that Apex have bought the debt for a lesser amount? Or are dealing with it for a fee? either way what agreement did you come to? I was considering offering say about 60%/70% of the debt and dividing it by 60 payments so it all ends in 5 years...

i didnt work it like that what i did was lump all my debts together ie 52k then i decided how much i was willing to pay then pro ratered it between my 10 crediters all have now accepted it,i decided i could pay 270 pm leaving me 500 after my expensis were taken out so i still have a life i evan included my unenforceable ones 20k into the ecquation but obviously i dont pay it,extra dosh for guiness now its easy to play about with the i& e to get it to what i want to pay rather than what you can afford over the 12 months i have upped my offer by 100 pound ie six months in uped it by 50 quid then just upped it by another 50 quid ,the reason behind my thinking is i could quite easyly of offered the £1 a month but i own my house so i thought if i act reasonably if it went to court the judge might not give a co against me,also i did my income sheet on the cccs website and it allows you to mess with the figures i dont smoke but if it goes to court i will start again knocking another £140 off my available income 4 years from now and all of them will get a £1 a month for eternaty i changed the deeds on the house so i only own 1 percent about 1 year ago but if any go for bankrupcy they can go back 5 years so 4 years from now things change [my accountant says 18 months is normally accepted ]
as for apex i think they are acting for santander they say they have bought the rights but when you ask they havent hope this helps

[MrsD]

Re: Cosmic's Debt

Cosmic, you just need to change your mindset a bit here, they are the scum and you are doing them a favour paying this cash back, because, lets face it, you've probably paid it three times over the life of the debt due to charges and interest.
Wishful has a good system going there, and giving thea couple of months without any payments helps concentrate their mind so that when you do make an offer (however small) they will bite your hand off. Just remember you and yours come first, no one suffers hardship trying to pay unsecured debt. Apex are numpties, YOU tell them what is happening, not the other way around, and take Garlok's advice, don't send them any personal info, they have NO right to it and will ultimately use it to pressure you into paying more, so don't give them the ammunition. Chin up, it will be fine eventually.