Cabot financial services

Tonto86

My girlfriend is getting debt collection letter for 4200 for a old AIB loan of these folks.

Whats the chances these folks will bring her to court for that amount? Is there any chance will they drop it.... i.e. is there a minimum amount they'll bring you to court for.

She's outa work now so she aint got any chance of paying it!

dotsman

Tonto86 wrote: »

My girlfriend is getting debt collection letter for 4200 for a old AIB loan of these folks.

Whats the chances these folks will bring her to court for that amount? Is there any chance will they drop it.... i.e. is there a minimum amount they'll bring you to court for.

She's outa work now so she aint got any chance of paying it!

There's no minimum amount per se, merely the higher the amount, the more likely they are to initiate proceedings.

Has she been out of work long? Is there a realistic chance she will be back to work soon? If so, can you (or perhaps a parent etc) help her out in the interim? How long is it since she last made a payment on the loan? The fact that this has been outsourced to Cabot indicates that it's been a while since she attempted to make any payments (as AIB typically only outsource the loan once there own internal collectors have gotten nowhere with the customer).

The best advice to try to make some payment (even 20 a week) and to contact MABS (for both advice on her personal finances as well as possibly negotiating a deal on the loan). As long as the banks/collections agencies accept that the debtor is at least trying to repay the loan, the courts are typically avoided.

Rebel1977

Best bet also would be to contact cabot and work something out with them, be good to be seeing to be paying even 10-20 euro a month than making no effort

Rabidlamb

Wife got hounded by the same company for €440 owing to Woodchester Finance.
She didn't pay it cause she had proof it was not owed.
Luckily they didn't have our address as we had moved since the original loan was taken out.
They only had her phone number which they rang 3 times a day through some automated system that only responds if you take the call.
You can stall them by asking for the copies of the original signed documents & proof of the missing payments.
We asked for this & they fobbed us off saying none of that is necessary, which it very much is, they'd have no case without it.
About a week later we got a call saying they'd settle for half the amount.
Just laughed them off & got an Ap to block their number.

Best of luck OP.

Tonto86

funny thing is the original lender screwed her. They re consolidated her loan and then doubled the interest after the first month without telling her, meaning that her payments were not even covering the interest. This loan would be well paid off otherwise.

She has offered them 1000 as a settlement but they refused. What ye think is the best option?

dotsman

Tonto86 wrote: »

funny thing is the original lender screwed her. They re consolidated her loan and then doubled the interest after the first month without telling her, meaning that her payments were not even covering the interest. This loan would be well paid off otherwise.

She has offered them 1000 as a settlement but they refused. What ye think is the best option?

I don't understand how they would have doubled the interest. Was she originally on some special discounted rate and it expired? The bank's don't "double" the interest rates, or set the rates any higher just because they are consolidating the loan. What does the credit agreement state with regards the interest rate?

How long ago was this?

With regard the 1000 offer, ultimately, that's only a quarter of the outstanding debt. My advice is offer to make small payments for the next few months, maybe a year or 2. After that, if her financial situation hasn't improved (hopefully it will:)), then I imagine they would be more open to settling the debt.

Tonto86

dotsman wrote: »

I don't understand how they would have doubled the interest. Was she originally on some special discounted rate and it expired? The bank's don't "double" the interest rates, or set the rates any higher just because they are consolidating the loan. What does the credit agreement state with regards the interest rate?

How long ago was this?

With regard the 1000 offer, ultimately, that's only a quarter of the outstanding debt. My advice is offer to make small payments for the next few months, maybe a year or 2. After that, if her financial situation hasn't improved (hopefully it will:)), then I imagine they would be more open to settling the debt.

When she originally lost her job she went to the bank and said she could no longer make her payments. They set her up with a new loan (used to clear her original loan)

This one had payments of €30 per week. The first months interest was 4%, the next month it was 8%.... and it was slowly raised over the course of 2 years 11%. It basically ment nearly all of repayments went to cover the interest, and she was unable to pay any more

She then lost her new job and now isnt entitled to any benefits. This was 3 months ago, the loan was at €3000... now the debt collector is demanding €4300

Im thinking maybe ask the debt collector to stop all correspondence as I now consider it harassment under section 10 of the non fatal offences against the person act and go back to dealing directly with the bank.

Then offer the bank 1000, this time in writing (last time was to the call centre, to be honest I dont think they really give a crap)

She wants to clear this but she genuinely can only raise the 1000.

What are the chances of them going to court for €4000? Especially if they know there is no way she can repay. Would maybe contacting them through a solicitor help? (she can get this done free of charge)

Cheers for the help lads, boards is a great place to bounce ideas :pac:

chris85

Tonto86 wrote: »

When she originally lost her job she went to the bank and said she could no longer make her payments. They set her up with a new loan (used to clear her original loan)

This one had payments of €30 per week. The first months interest was 4%, the next month it was 8%.... and it was slowly raised over the course of 2 years 11%. It basically ment nearly all of repayments went to cover the interest, and she was unable to pay any more

She then lost her new job and now isnt entitled to any benefits. This was 3 months ago, the loan was at €3000... now the debt collector is demanding €4300

Im thinking maybe ask the debt collector to stop all correspondence as I now consider it harassment under section 10 of the non fatal offences against the person act and go back to dealing directly with the bank.

Then offer the bank 1000, this time in writing (last time was to the call centre, to be honest I dont think they really give a crap)

She wants to clear this but she genuinely can only raise the 1000.

What are the chances of them going to court for €4000? Especially if they know there is no way she can repay. Would maybe contacting them through a solicitor help? (she can get this done free of charge)

Cheers for the help lads, boards is a great place to bounce ideas :pac:

It depends what the bank want to do. Courts records show judgment being obtained by main banks here for less than €4k.

The bank may take the view that it is not just your current ability to repay but that the judgment remains valid for 12 years so more secure for the creditor in the long term.

Offer a repayment plan you can afford. Show them a budget to show where you got to this figure and you should be ok.

Evonatron

I have had dealings with them in relation to an old student credit card that I had for about e3k, I was paying of 170 per month and once I had about 6 months done they gave me an opportunity to pay it all off in one payment at a reduced cost.

I found them really good to deal with and extremely helpful (obviously I was lucky with the staff that answered the phone at the time). As long as you are upfront with them I think they are fine to deal with.