In a pickle over small debt.

DaSilva

I hope this is the right forum, checked the charter and it seemed to most reasonable forum for this.

Anyway, I'll try explain the situation as best as possible.

First off, I accept that this problem is purely my own fault, and I am soley responsible. The solution I guess is pretty straight forward, I'm just afraid it might be worse than I think.

In the quote box is the story, you don't need to read that, just for peoples information if they want too.

September '04 I moved into a house with 5 other students. After the first week, we all decided we wanted cable TV, so we decided we would and later the second week a guy from the cable company arrived to the house, and we set up an account with them. Being niave, when the guy from the company said he needed somebodys name for the bill, but this person had to have ID proof, everyone else said they didnt have their ID on them, being niave as I was I was jokingly thinking "muppets how do they not have their ID with them", obviously looking back now it was simply that they didnt want to be on the bill. Anyway I said yeah I have ID put my name down.

First month of having Cable passed, and we got the bill, because my name was on the bill, responsability had now fallen in my lap and I was the one even though I hadn't came up with the plan, it was down to me to collect the money off everybody. No problems, got the cash, down to the post office, and it was all fine.

Second month comes, and the belts are a little tighter, some people dont have the cash, so we decide we will go overdue on this bill but pay it all on the third bill, as people will put away money for it now, so they can't spend it.

Third month comes, now we have two months worth of Cable TV to pay for. And were back to last months ordeal, some people have lost interest in the whole idea. We end up not paying this month again.

Fourth and Fifth months go by also and we get cut off, and a final bill for 120 Euro comes addressed to me. I ask my friend and he says ahh just forget about it, all they will do is cut off the Cable, and you wont ever hear from them again. I decide this sounds good to me, as A) I can't afford to pay the bill alone myself, and Nobody else want's to pay for it either (infact some of them seem to have forgotten about it alltogether).

Nothing happens after that until Febuary '06. Since I had lost my phone the in '04, the company no longer had phone contact with me. Also since the final bill they had stopped sending letters also, but apparently another company had started sending letters that was a debt collection group. However my name was spelt wrong, and I and others in the house simply thought it was spam mail, and it was getting dumped or being put in a pile and given to the landlord (as sometimes mail came for the landlord to our address).

I was back in town, and heard from a friend, who was jokingly telling me that the house I stayed in last year, apparently weren't able to get Cable TV anymore after its previous occupiers. I told him it was me who was on the bill. He said that letters from debt collection group were being sent to the house all the time threatening legal action etc.

Anyway, I'm in the situation now, where although of course I'd prefare to keep my 120 Euro, I do not want this sort of black mark on my record, so I would really like to pay it off. However I don't know much about any of this so I'm wondering, if I contact them now, and explain that I was unaware of the situation, but would like to give them what I owe them, since it has been so long will they automatically take legal action?

I'd like to just hand over the money and be done with it, but I do realise I have let myself into this situation, and I'm afraid it could be alot worse than I hope

jimmycrackcorm

Well unless you gave them some form of unique id such as your bank details or a PPS number how will they ever know if you are DaSilva from Dublin or DaSilva from BallyDeHob?

When you apply for various finance related things - there is always a question to state you previous address - so if you give your old address then that is how they will catch you out on the credit register. Otherwise how will you be found?

Savman

This doesnt sound good at all. If you ever had any important documents sent to this address (tax forms, bank statements etc) then your name at that address will be on record officially somewhere.

If you ignored ALL the letters even the bloody court summons then chances are either they chose not to pursue, or the company may have gotten a judgement against you in your absence in which case it gets passed onto the Sheriff (yes we do have a sheriff) for enforcement. I believe this is the fella with the power to locate you,.track you down and knock on your door to collect the debt.

I know this because once or twice I've had to chase people who owed me money and unless you have a valid "out" (i.e. being in a coma) then its not something to be taken lightly. The amount in question is not debatable but a strike on your credit record relating to a court judgement is not something that will help you in the future.

What to do? Maybe a call to the company, from a private number or public phonebox, tell them who you are, give them your account number and nothing else. Ask them what the status is on the account, if they say you still owe €xxx then say you'll post in a cheque with account number written on the back. Either way you may not want to give them any means of reaching you whatever happens, you'll not be a customer they will want to take on again!

jhegarty

They don't even have your correct name ... sounds like they would have problems taking you to court...

just don't use that address as a previous address on any credit/bank forms and you should be fine...

Savman

jhegarty wrote:

They don't even have your correct name

They have his name! A spelling error isn't something you want to rely on....

delly

Savman wrote:

What to do? Maybe a call to the company, from a private number or public phonebox, tell them who you are, give them your account number and nothing else. Ask them what the status is on the account, if they say you still owe €xxx then say you'll post in a cheque with account number written on the back. Either way you may not want to give them any means of reaching you whatever happens, you'll not be a customer they will want to take on again!

This sounds like the best idea. If they ask just say you went to Austraila for a while

jimmycrackcorm

Savman wrote:

This doesnt sound good at all. If you ever had any important documents sent to this address (tax forms, bank statements etc) then your name at that address will be on record officially somewhere.

If you ignored ALL the letters even the bloody court summons then chances are either they chose not to pursue, or the company may have gotten a judgement against you in your absence in which case it gets passed onto the Sheriff (yes we do have a sheriff) for enforcement. I believe this is the fella with the power to locate you,.track you down and knock on your door to collect the debt.

I know this because once or twice I've had to chase people who owed me money and unless you have a valid "out" (i.e. being in a coma) then its not something to be taken lightly. The amount in question is not debatable but a strike on your credit record relating to a court judgement is not something that will help you in the future.

What to do? Maybe a call to the company, from a private number or public phonebox, tell them who you are, give them your account number and nothing else. Ask them what the status is on the account, if they say you still owe €xxx then say you'll post in a cheque with account number written on the back. Either way you may not want to give them any means of reaching you whatever happens, you'll not be a customer they will want to take on again!

Having a name on record somewhere doesn't mean anything as there is no tie up and which is why the banks still insist on you having your previous address on any applications.

As for the sheriff - when is the last time you hard of him chasing people for such a pifling debt. The closest thing is where the bailifs strike at the same address. It is such a difficult thing to follow up somebody who has moved on without taking on a private detective and the cost does not justify it.

Companies take into account that they will have bad debt and allow for it. It it is easy to follow up then they will chase it - if not then they just move on as it is not worth the hassle and expense fro something so minor.

Savman might have chased people up over some debts but that might be an entirely different situation to a big company employing monkeys who really couldn't be arsed over it unless they are geeky zealots.

Savman

jimmycrackcorm wrote:

Having a name on record somewhere doesn't mean anything as there is no tie up and which is why the banks still insist on you having your previous address on any applications.

As for the sheriff - when is the last time you hard of him chasing people for such a pifling debt. The closest thing is where the bailifs strike at the same address. It is such a difficult thing to follow up somebody who has moved on without taking on a private detective and the cost does not justify it.

Companies take into account that they will have bad debt and allow for it. It it is easy to follow up then they will chase it - if not then they just move on as it is not worth the hassle and expense fro something so minor.

Savman might have chased people up over some debts but that might be an entirely different situation to a big company employing monkeys who really couldn't be arsed over it unless they are geeky zealots.

Fair enough but my own experiences with the Debt Collector kind has shown me they dont care about the amount, its all profit for them...

jor el

DaSilva wrote:

Anyway, I'm in the situation now, where although of course I'd prefare to keep my 120 Euro, I do not want this sort of black mark on my record, so I would really like to pay it off. However I don't know much about any of this so I'm wondering, if I contact them now, and explain that I was unaware of the situation, but would like to give them what I owe them, since it has been so long will they automatically take legal action?

I'd like to just hand over the money and be done with it, but I do realise I have let myself into this situation, and I'm afraid it could be alot worse than I hope

What ID did you show them when you signed up, and did they take a copy of it? If it was a student card of some sort then there's really feck all they can do. Unless they have your account linked to something official like PPS number ,passport or drivers licence then there's no way for them to accurately identify you. It's unlikely you'll be taken to court for €120. You don't live at that address any more, and they don't have the correct name anyway, so forget about it and move on.

When you apply for a loan a check is done with a credit agency and it goes on your record. However, when you get cable TV or a mobile phone, there is no check and no record held (outside the company you're dealing with). Not paying the NTL bill will not effect your credit history.

As for the new people at the house, they can't get cable because of the outstanding bill. All they need to do is prove they weren't in the house when the bill was generated (a letter from the landlord should do) and they'll be fine. This happened my brother and sister when they moved into a house. There was a £200 NTL bill at that address which NTL tried to pin on them. They got a letter from the landlord stating that they were not the residents at the time and also that he didn't have a forwarding address for the previous tenant. That was the end of it and the bill went away.

Ballyman

Don't worry about it.

I did all this in my student days also. Never paid a bill of any description. Speeding fines were thrown into the bin and never paid either. If anything ever came of any of it I would have told them that I didn't live there anymore and didn't get any of these bills or fines. Never had to anyway as nothing was ever followed up. You could wallpaper the walls with all the debt collection notices we used to get. Better things for students to be doing with our money than paying bills!

As you were renting there is no paper trail that says that Mr. X lived in this house from Sep 04 to whenever. So never use this address for banks etc.

As someone else said, how do you know if this is Mr X from Dublin or Japan. They don't. So don't worry about it. Keep your money.

I now have bought a house and have my name on all bills and there were no probs with mortgages or setting up accounts.

Buy something nice with the €120! Thats my advice.