Out of the blue a call came through on my phone a few weeks ago.
I used to hate unrecognised callers or withheld numbers; not knowing who was on the other end of the line. I used to dodge them, transfer the call to voice mail, keep my phone on silent so I wouldn’t even hear them come in.
Hiding from calls was the old me. Now I am sorting out bad debts and taking control of my finances and my life, I have nothing to hide.
So I answered the call. I knew it was a debt management company straight away and one that I’ve not spoken to before. They wanted me to confirm my details and due to data protection could not tell me anything.
SINKING
My heart sank. I thought we had contacted everyone we owed money to.
After trying to guess the address (we have moved a few times), I finally got the right answer and they told me that I owed £121.78 to lets call them Company A. Still in a slight dazed state after finding out the amount of total debt we owe was rising, not dropping, it then dawned on me that we’d already set up an agreement with Company A – months ago!
I told the debt management representative this but it didn’t go down well.
“Well, why would they pass the debt to us then? We only got it the other day. You must owe them money so how are you going to pay?”
“I can assure you that I had already set up a payment arrangement with Company A.”
“Fine! We’ll have to go and check with them.”
“Please can you give me a call back to confirm everything is…….” The call was disconnected. How rude!
Two weeks passed. I heard nothing and I thought it went away. I knew I had set the plan up. Until I then got a text message from them asking me to call them urgently. Followed by another phone call about half an hour later.
It was a man this time but just as rude. He asked me how I would pay the debt and I repeated that his colleague was checking with Company A. He checked the notes on file and said, “Oh, right. We’ll need to double check that then. If you could find the paperwork and tell us when you actually set it up with them”. Then he hung up.
STUNNED
I started to panic that the standing order I’d set up last year was transferring our cash somewhere else. I was stunned. I was literally losing money. Total dread set over me.
I had to sort this out. I opened the bill drawer and there is was, right on the top, and there on the front was the date, time and payment details for the plan that we arranged. Next was calling Company A who would hopefully be more helpful….after a 7 minute wait (to a free phone number).
At last, a nice person. I explained the issue. She looked in the records and could see I called, had made the arrangement and was making payments. Then she saw that the person I dealt with all those months back had not hit the button to actually set the payment plan up.
Their system had seen missing payments and, without someone just looking, automatically transferred the account to a debt management company.
FIXED
Anyway, she fixed it, profusely apologised and assured me that they wouldn’t call again.
I could feel the colour return to my skin. It was all fixed. So easily.
This little episode has proved that you should not be scared to answer the phone. Even if it seems bad at first, it must be fixed and it CAN be fixed.
I don’t know whether this will impact my credit rating (not that it’s that good in the first place). There is nothing showing at the moment (I check my report for free through Noddle www.noddle.co.uk).
It also worried me how many other people are told to just pay the bill when they don’t need to. People that feel threatened by the rude and sharp behaviour of companies like that. I know they are doing their job but it doesn’t hurt to have a little compassion does it?
Photo: Flickr
Ricky Willis is the original Skint Dad. A money-making enthusiast, father, and husband to Naomi. He is always looking for unique ways to earn a little extra.
I have had many difficult experiences with debt management companies too. Like you, Ricky I have found them largely to be unhelpful and unwilling to enter a reasonable dialogue.
On one occasion I had paid of a debt £1700+ to a well known high street bank and they still sent a debt collections company after me. They then demanded that I send them the letter that i had received confirming that it was all paid off. I had no idea where the letter was, poor on my part, I know. The lady got very stressed with me and said that I was in breach of code xxx in a high voice and then hung up on me. After some thinking I realised that xxx was the same as my house number and that she was literally just trying to scare me.
Two stressful weeks ensued until it was resolved. No apology, not even any acknowledgement from the company.
I salute your determination to pay off the debts and am with you in my own efforts too.
Jonathan
In a lot of cases DCA employees pressure you hard because they get commission if you pay some money… I’ve been told many many lies over the years. The best ones being: ‘we’ll put a note on your credit file saying you’re not being cooperative’ and ‘unless you give me your debit card details I’ll send a bailiff round’.
Both duly reported as neither are true and these days if I’m contacted for any reason I just tell them the situation as it is and if they carry on, then a swift ‘wind your neck in’ and I hang up the phone. I have no time to be polite to these people. (Unless they’re polite to me, which is very rare!!)
I am being hassled daily by Mercers for a Barclaycard debt. I contacted Barclaycard who told me I could ignore them as I have a payment arrangement already set up. I just write to them instead. whocallsme.com is a great site to try and work out who the call is from.
If you have debts that you just can’t afford to pay, please contact Christians against poverty. There are perfectly legal ways of having debt written off. Froogs xxx
Thanks for the tip on noodle I thought the only way was experian and I’ve already used my free trial!
That must be a horrible feeling, being called like that. I always wait for letters before agreeing to discuss anything. Somehow we trust letters more than phone calls. Of course you have to actually open letters, and not ignore them. The ‘head in the sand’ attitude is a complete no-no, and it’s great that you have moved forward. You have nothing to hide, and nothing, and NO-ONE to fear. Keep going Ricky!