What should I do?

[scraggyanna]

Hello,

I was given this website address after posting a question on MSE.

I found out that my husband owed £400 odd to Cabot for an Argos card (2003, defaulted 2007), and have spent the last 6 months trying to get details about how I can pay...

They have been phoning my husband and very reluctant to send any letters, only wanting payment over the phone (alarm bells are ringing!) I have refused to pay them over the phone, and received a letter today stating that they require payment by post by tomorrow?!

The background is that my husband is rubbish with money, and we have paid off about £20000 in the last year of a variety of debts. Only this debt and a CCJ are outstanding, and we are trying to apply for the CCJ to be set aside as the debt was run up (as much of it was) by an ex girlfriend of his.

Sorry...lots of babble, but the reason we have just paid everything off is because the whole situation makes me very stressed. If we go down the 'prove it' and unenforcability route:
1. Can they add interest to the amount owed?
2. If we discover it is unenforcible, and agree to only pay a small amount, will it be removed from the credit report?
3. Can they start the CCJ process whilst we are going down the UE route?

They are rather aggressive on the phone, and their reluctance to send anything in writing makes me think that they know that something does not add up/don't know that I spend much of my time on websites like this finding out what my rights are!! ;LOL

Do I just pay it and get it out the way? Or try and go down the UE route?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

[Never-In-Doubt]

Re: What should I do?

due to the amount, i'd pay it - make an offer of around £150, then work up til they accept.....

Not worth the hassle really, not for £400...

[scraggyanna]

Re: What should I do?

Thanks so much, they were saying on the phone that they would accept £40 less than the amount, but said if I didn't pay immediately it would revert to the original amount so if I write to them offering much less do you think we could possibly enter negotiation or do you think they might just refuse to accept a lower offer?

Also, just to be really cheeky while I'm here - do you know about getting CCJs set aside? We applied on the basis that hubby never received any paperwork despite having had his post redirected. And also, that the debt was run up by an ex (as most of his debt was, but it's been easier to pay it than enter any legal processes). So far we've heard that the case has been passed on to be heard again at our local court but not received any dates etc yet.

By the way - sterling job you're doing. I couldn't have got through all of this without help from people like you....

[Never-In-Doubt]

Re: What should I do?

Hiya

forget doing it on phone, use this template - its self explanitory: ---> viewtopic.php?p=130#p130

Start at £150. then come back and let me know what they say to that! Just edit the template to reflect the value as opposed to the percentage shown....