Hi, I am new to this forum and after reading some posts I realised that this could be the perfect place where I could seek help. I have just received a letter from Northampton County Court and I am really worried as in to what my next steps will be. I signed up for ASDA store card in 2007 offered by GE Money. This was recently taken over by Santander. Over the last three years I was on a debt management program as I was finding it difficult to keep up with the payments. My debt on that particular store card was £900 and I was paying around £20 towards it through Debt management every month. By december 2011, my debt management company stopped paying my creditors and I lost 3 months payments I had made to the debt management company. They had made a total payment of £362 to Santander on my behalf for the store card. Current situation: As of today, my debt still stands at over £706 due to charges and interests. Santander have employed Drydensfairfax solicitors to collect the debt in March 2012 and I kept receiving letters from them to pay the balance in full. I wrote a letter to Drydensfairfax 3 days ago stating that I am unemployed and planning to leave the country to seek jobs abroad soon. I offered them £200 as a full and final settlement of my debts. Today, I received a letter from County Court (Northampton) stating that the claimant is claiming £706 + court fee £55 + £70 solicitors cost = £831 I am really worried about my situation and I would very much appreciate if people with similar experience could suggest what my next steps should be. Are these arguments vaild? Throughout the time I have had the credit card, my surname was spelled wrong on statments and my card too. It was the last letter they had put a 'H' instead of 'M'. Does that give me a fair ground to say Santander did not follow the right procedures in my credit card agreement? My mistake appears on the County Court letter too. In 2008, my card provider phoned me and persuaded me to buy PPI £7 a month subscription which I cancelled after 4 months. Would that count in my favour? Does it make any difference that I had paid £362 through debt management agency to Santander and my balance still hasnt reduced significantly? Is it worth for me to write another letter to Drydensfairfax solicitors and offer them more money i.e. £400 as full and final settlement and they might cancel the County Court claim? I have only 14 days to respond to the court and would really prefer not to have a judgement against me. Also, I have not got a job at the moment and do not have enough money to pay all the court fees. Can citizens advice bureau help me in this matter much? I heard that it is very hard to get an appointment with a specialist. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks p.s. sorry if my post was too long, thank you for your patience.
Most members here are in the US Finfax, so we're not too savvy on UK rules when it comes to dealing with credit card debt. I would say you definitely want to respond to the court though. I can't see how ignoring that would be a positive thing, and if you can work out an agreement with the CA in the meantime, go for it.
