Intrum Justitia & Browne Legal

320330

Hi guys,
Looking for some advice here please

Basically I had a bill phone from 2012- summer 2013. I was 18 and the phone broke and sim wouldn't work in another phone so I just didn't pay the bill (stupid I know). I didn't care as I was young and I got a few letters from the provider asking to pay which I ignored. The debt is about €650.

Fast forward a few months and I got letters from "solicitors" (I researched them and it turns out they weren't proper solicitors) with some harshly worded letters saying they'll bring me to court etc etc anyways it never happened, this was approx end of 2013.

My parents got calls from debt collectors over the years as they don't have my mobile number and then that stopped too.

In 2016 Intrum Justitia got involved and sent harshly worded letters to my parents address (I don't live in the same county anymore) and they rang them some more and eventually they seemed to give up.

Now we're on to my real question. I got a letter from Browne Legal stating they will proceed with legal action if I don't cough up. Has anyone had any experience with this crowd? I do want to pay but my finances won't allow me to pay the €650 in one go. Basically I have 3 questions.
1) Has anyone had experience with these people?
2) Is it possible to make a payment plan that suits you? I've ignored any correspondence over the last 4 years so now I'm scared if I engage they'll ask me to pay all at once. So the only way I want to engage is if I can sort out a realistic payment plan.
3) Is the legal proceedings threat a real or empty threat? If I were to continue ignoring would they go away?

Let me reiterate I DO want to pay but I'm struggling a lot financially at the minute and I do know I am the one in the wrong. Any replies to the above 3 questions would be very appreciated.

L1011

Nearly all collectors/solicitors working for them in this manner will take stage payments or an offer of an amount below the full value as a final settlement. It is unlikely, but not impossible that they would go to court for €650 due to the costs involved.

r65

Two letters arrived at my mother's old house from Intrum Justitia, and today a letter from Browne Legal. There was seemingly a bill of about 700 euro at the time of her death (2012) .House was empty afterwards and landline disconnected.
Do I contact Browne Legal with these facts or ignore?

my3cents

My understanding here is that both the above debts are doing the rounds. Intrum Justitia have had a go and failed to collect now looks like Browne Legal are taking a shot.

Really what that all says is forget it they are probably just running through old lists of debts to try and wring the last few euro out of them.

I suspect this is the last ditch attempt to get money because if you haven't admitted you owe the debt then after I think 5 years they can't take legal action to collect on it anyway. The point is with a debt of this age if you haven't admitted you owe it before don't admit to it now.

Xterminator

HI OP

Let me reiterate I DO want to pay but I'm struggling a lot financially at the minute and I do know I am the one in the wrong. Any replies to the above 3 questions would be very appreciated.

okay, why dont you give them a ring from a blocked number.

Dublin Office: 1st Floor, Block C, Ashtown Gate, Navan Road, Dublin 15.

Carlow Office: 6 Old Dublin road, Carlow, Co Carlow

Tel: 01 901 5579 | 059 9139725
Fax: 059 9139764
e-mail: info@brownelegal.ie

here is a link detailing your rights

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/money_and_tax/personal_finance/debt/debt_collection.html

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

320330

Thank you everyone so much for all the answers and suggestions, I really appreciate that you took the time to reply.

I've noticed IJ and Browne Legal have the same Dublin address so it definitely makes sense about trying to scare with different letterheads.

Thank you everybody again

Joey99

my3cents wrote: »

I suspect this is the last ditch attempt to get money because if you haven't admitted you owe the debt then after I think 5 years they can't take legal action to collect on it anyway. The point is with a debt of this age if you haven't admitted you owe it before don't admit to it now.

I know this is an old thread but I thought it would be useful to clarify that for contract debts (like mobile phone bills, credit card bills etc.) they have six (6) and not five (5) years in which to start legal proceedings.

Therefore at the time of asking the question the OP was definitely within the time for them to issue proceedings if they wanted to.

The correct approach in my view was definitely to approach them (the blocked number suggestion was clever) and see if you can work out a payment plan. Even €25/month for three years is better for them than nothing.

I know someone paying €20/month off a €16,500 credit card debt that they were simply unable to address after they suffered an injury and were out of work long term.

GreenGrass2019

Hi

I have an outstanding credit card debt from 10 years ago, the debt was passed to interum justitica a number of years ago, for 4 years I made payments each week clearing approximately 2000/eur

it was setup as a debit off of my visa debit card each week, after my card expired I didn't contact IJ to change card due to personal circumstances ...

today a debt collector called to my house acting on behalf of IJ, I have pulled out all the documentation dating right back to when the debt went overdue from the originator MBNA, there is a difference of around 3000/eur that IJ are stating versus the original amount they pursued when they took over the debt in 2010 ...

looking at the figures there is absolutely no record of the approximately 2000/eur I have cleared from the debt, knowing the statute is 6 years and the last contact I had with them is over 6 years now and the fact they're not reflecting my payments, is it a case they're trying to restart the statute again?

I'm very frustrated firstly that they have added approximately 3k to original debt and fact there is no reflection of my payments (I have checked my bank statements and can clearly see them debiting every week for nearly 4 years until my card expired referencing interum Justitia.

I was going to call and explain and reset up payment after getting them to correct their figures, but reading the information I have read and the statute, would I be shooting myself in the foot?

Please help?
Thanks!

Under His Eye

The statute of limitations runs from the date of last payment or written acknowledgement.

If more than 6 years has passed then they can whistle for it. If they are dumb enough to issue a claim, you have a statutory defence.

brightspark

Wouldn't it be great if companies such as Intrum Justita went out of business because people actually paid the money they owed.

Whatever about the actions of IJ and similar, not paying your debts is barely better than theft.

GreenGrass2019

Under His Eye wrote: »

The statute of limitations runs from the date of last payment or written acknowledgement.

If more than 6 years has passed then they can whistle for it. If they are dumb enough to issue a claim, you have a statutory defence.

Cheers!

What I'm wondering though is the fact they do not reflect the payments I have made for 4 years (2k), the last which was just over 2 years ago and they were electronic transfer as I can prove these through my bank statements ... however the fact they're showing a 3k higher balance than the original balance I originally started paying out at in 2012 says to me they're not linking the two?
Is there any way of clarifying this as if they have no linkage made then it's over 6 years since I have made any acknowledgement of the debt!

brightspark

Interest? late payment fees?

my3cents

brightspark wrote: »

Interest? late payment fees?

I would have thought someone as obviously knowledgeable as you about paying what you owe would have known that you can't add interest of late payment fees to bad debts?

brightspark

my3cents wrote: »

I would have thought someone as obviously knowledgeable as you about paying what you owe would have known that you can't add interest of late payment fees to bad debts?

Nope, always paid my bills on time.

my3cents

brightspark wrote: »

Nope, always paid my bills on time.

Then what are you doing giving advice here?

brightspark

my3cents wrote: »

Then what are you doing giving advice here?

Sorry my mistake, the only advice people seem to want here is how to cheat others (perhaps legally okay but certainly not morally right)

my3cents

GreenGrass2019 wrote: »

Cheers!

What I'm wondering though is the fact they do not reflect the payments I have made for 4 years (2k), the last which was just over 2 years ago and they were electronic transfer as I can prove these through my bank statements ... however the fact they're showing a 3k higher balance than the original balance I originally started paying out at in 2012 says to me they're not linking the two?
Is there any way of clarifying this as if they have no linkage made then it's over 6 years since I have made any acknowledgement of the debt!

So technically they could take you to court but probably don't realise that?

There's a good chance that the door knocking call was a last ditch call to see if they could get any money out of an account they know they can't take to court. The caller will probably have noted what chance they think there is of getting anything out of you and if you said you had paid something might pass on that info. So at this stage its probably a waiting game

What info did you give the caller?

It could be that they were dealing with the original debt and then just gave up on it and might have even wrote it off because you had paid back far more than they'd bought the debt for in the first place. From there own publicity it seems they pay an average of one euro for every ten euros worth of debt. You may have paid back enough to put them into profit.

Its also possible that the CC debt has been sold a second time possibly by mistake so IJ have no idea its linked to its previous incarnation with them. These debts sometimes do the rounds sometimes the initial recovery is done with IJ acting a agents and later on they buy outstanding debts at knock down prices so another way they have of not connecting your previous payments to the current demands. There own accounting after 2 years could also be at fault.

If you really want to push it then you could ask IJ for all the information they hold on you which they have to provide and that would officially show one way or another how things stand https://www.dataprotection.ie/en/individuals/eight-principles-data-protection . It might even show that IJ don't have enough info to take legal action, but it might make them join the dots and realise that they still have a hold over you?

Under His Eye

Best to let sleeping dogs lie.

GreenGrass2019

Cheers again

Fortunately I didn't answer the door and my Mam said I was out, the collection guy handed her a letter to give to me and said to tell me he had called stating his name.

I have made no acknowledgement of debt apart from the payments ... this is mind blowing how they operate, and if it's true 1/eur for every 10/eur, I have given them a well healthy profit!

With regards to that collection agent, I take it legally he has no right to enter the premises?

As you say by contacting them for all the information they hold on me, it may cause them to join the dots, however it would be great to know what the lay of the land was for sure!
One thing I know is they're still quoting the original reference number they have from the start, which makes me think they have not got their information straight!
I think the collection guy is the last ditch attempt to get that admission / acknowledgement!

Interestingly I have just found a note I made when I contacted them in 2015 about clearing the debt, the balance I was given was approximately the amount I would have paid to that date added to the original outstanding balance?! That makes no sense whatsoever!
They really don't work above board whatsoever!