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Hi, just looking for a little advice.
I had a credit card debt with MBNA who set me up on an IVA and then subsequently filed for default and then to cut a long story short, sold the debt to Arrow Global, who in turn about two years ago employed Reston's Solicitors to chase the debt. Needless to say I have had a repayment plan in place from day one, started with MBNA, and this has been renewed every six months or so.
However, just before Christmas I had the usual letter from Reston's asking me to complete an income and expenditure form, which I did and returned it to them as requested. At this point my repayment plan was previously agreed at £25 per month but as I had voluntarily increased the last two payments to £50 I returned the form suggesting a new repayment plan of £50 per month. I thought this would be accepted as I was offering double the repayments.
However, today I received a letter from Reston's stating that "Our client has been unable to agree a payment arrangement with you on the above account. Consequently they are now considering taking court action to recover the full balance owed, which could also result in you incurring additional legal fees and costs".
I picked up the phone and spoke to one of the Reston's employees who informed me that their client was considering a CCJ to apply for a charge to my mortgage account. This I have no issue with but when I pushed the reason why my offer to increase my repayment plan from £25 to £50 had been rejected, he admitted that the letter had been sent in error and that I should continue to pay the £50 repayment.
When I asked for clarification he became very defensive and almost implied they had acted unlawfully in sending me this letter, stating that as a repayment plan was already in place they shouldn't be threatening me with court action unless I defaulted at any time, which I have not.
I have now asked for this to be put in writing, but my question to you legal buffs is this:-
Technically this letter should not have been issued (his own words) and my offer of £50 per month should have been accepted. Can I now make a legal challenge to this debt given this irregular technicality or am I simply clutching at straws? I have never missed a repayment and when the original IVA was put in place I was only paying £1 per month, so I have already increased my repayments by 50 times. What is also interesting is that I was originally offered a 50% early settlement discount whereas now this has been reduced to only 10%, hardly worth accepting for a "partial settlement".
Any thoughts on how I might move on?
I had a credit card debt with MBNA who set me up on an IVA and then subsequently filed for default and then to cut a long story short, sold the debt to Arrow Global, who in turn about two years ago employed Reston's Solicitors to chase the debt. Needless to say I have had a repayment plan in place from day one, started with MBNA, and this has been renewed every six months or so.
However, just before Christmas I had the usual letter from Reston's asking me to complete an income and expenditure form, which I did and returned it to them as requested. At this point my repayment plan was previously agreed at £25 per month but as I had voluntarily increased the last two payments to £50 I returned the form suggesting a new repayment plan of £50 per month. I thought this would be accepted as I was offering double the repayments.
However, today I received a letter from Reston's stating that "Our client has been unable to agree a payment arrangement with you on the above account. Consequently they are now considering taking court action to recover the full balance owed, which could also result in you incurring additional legal fees and costs".
I picked up the phone and spoke to one of the Reston's employees who informed me that their client was considering a CCJ to apply for a charge to my mortgage account. This I have no issue with but when I pushed the reason why my offer to increase my repayment plan from £25 to £50 had been rejected, he admitted that the letter had been sent in error and that I should continue to pay the £50 repayment.
When I asked for clarification he became very defensive and almost implied they had acted unlawfully in sending me this letter, stating that as a repayment plan was already in place they shouldn't be threatening me with court action unless I defaulted at any time, which I have not.
I have now asked for this to be put in writing, but my question to you legal buffs is this:-
Technically this letter should not have been issued (his own words) and my offer of £50 per month should have been accepted. Can I now make a legal challenge to this debt given this irregular technicality or am I simply clutching at straws? I have never missed a repayment and when the original IVA was put in place I was only paying £1 per month, so I have already increased my repayments by 50 times. What is also interesting is that I was originally offered a 50% early settlement discount whereas now this has been reduced to only 10%, hardly worth accepting for a "partial settlement".
Any thoughts on how I might move on?
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