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Hello

I have two accounts with HSBC (both with overdrafts),a loan and a credit card. One of my accounts is £1539 overdrawn. I have received a letter from a collections company (metropolitan)asking for this balance. Does this mean; a) they have sold this debt b)they are likely to sell the other debts I have with them. c) they would accept a lower dividend in an IVA or lump sum settlement.

HSBC were reluctant to accept the DMP proposal, they did accept it for the credit card but not the loan. They were very aggressive callers until I mentioned the harrassemt laws ot them and recorded a few converstions, (silence) they only write now, are they giving up? Or is it wishful thinking?

LILY

I asked God for a solution and have to live with his reply.

Lily

Metropolitan are just a debt collection agency working for HSBC.

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

For further details contact me at http://www.melaniegiles.com and view my IVA blog at: http://melaniegiles.blogs.iva.co.uk

Hi Lily

I don't think your debt has been sold.

If it was you should have received a letter of assignment from the buyer, or the bank, or possibly both.

Putting the debt out to a collections company is just the bank's way of hassling you at arm's length.

They may well accept a reduced sum in settlement and the older the debt is the more likely this is. However if you fancy trying it I would put it in writing and NOT speak to them as they will just try and wheedle more out of you.

Policies seem to be softer for credit card debt than for loans. That means that they are more likely to accept a reduced sum for the credit card debt than the loan. They sre also more likely to sell the credit card debt (eventually).

Debts seem to be put out to collections agencies for a limited time and if they get no joy the debt is returned to the bank. It's very likely that another collection agency will appear for the same debt before long.

I think you need be a bit careful with overdrafts as the bank is more likley to (eventually) go for a CCJ.

What happens in an IVA would be determined by the terms of the IVA as a whole.

Best -

New to the forums - but not to debt !

Hi and thanks Melanie and GFB

This is the second company I have had, I am trying Go for Broke, they have rejected every offer I have made I am not sure why they would persue for just the overdraft, its confusing considering I have two. Would they really go for a ccj after receiving a detailed income and expenditure, knowing I am paying everything I can right now? This is a nightmare, so ronnie and reggie will be upon me soon after that then? I am not with the bank anymore. My debts with HSBC are divided into little crocs then and not one big one? I will have a lump sum shortly but its complicated. Is there an organisation online you would recommend that I might try to air a situation? You do seem knowledgable GFB.

LILY

I asked God for a solution and have to live with his reply.

Lily, have you offered to make a monthly payment or just reduced lump sums ?

New to the forums - but not to debt !

I have been making a monthly payment, (reduced) but will be offering a lump sum

LILY

I asked God for a solution and have to live with his reply.

Lily

I think if you are making a regular monthly payment and they are accepting it's unlikely that anything seriously bad will happen to you, in the short term at least.

However that doesn't stop them putting the debt 'out to collection' just to keep the pressure on, especially if the arrangement has been going on for some time.

There's a couple of things you could try, depending on how combative you are feeling.

I'm assuming you are making the payment direct to HSBC. I'd be tempted to write to them threatening to remove the monthly payment if they don't 'call the dogs off'. Even if you are not paying them much I think they would be reluctant to lose it.

Alternatively you can write to the collection agency simply stating that you have an arrangement direct with the bank and are therefore have no interest in dealing with them.

How long before you are able to make the lump sum payment ?

-Best

New to the forums - but not to debt !

I have a loan a credit card and my two accounts with them are overdrawn. I entered a temp DMP and they do all my work for me. All my creditors have accepted the DMP even HSBC for the credit card part but they rejected the monthly offer for the loan and I assume the overdrafts. I am about to sell a house, which I have a share in so will be able to offer a settlement figure. I has hoped that they had sold this debt on as HSBC are hard bargainers. I am not too bothered about this single company, temp harrassment as I hope to be sorting it soon. As long as they dont sent in baliffs or make home vists. (one of my total no no's). I just dont understand why they are breaking the debt up and involving different collection services and demanding payment of the overdraft on this one account.

LILY

I asked God for a solution and have to live with his reply.

Hi Lily

Even though it's all under HSBC they will have different policies for loans, overdrafts and credit cards. There's probably not a lot you can do about this annoying as it is. Even if you have 2 separate overdraft accounts on the same terms you may be stuck with that too, ands it quite possible they will be put out to different collection agencies. The last thing your creditors are going to do is make life easy for you!

A lot of creditors don't like DMP companies very much, HSBC may well be one of them and you can't force them to deal with the DMP company. You might get a better result making an offer to them directly, or even to the collection agency that's hassling you. It's important you are paying them something to prevent them from taking any further action.

If you don't want callers , just make the offer conditional on no-one calling.

There is NO WAY you are in danger of being bailiffed at this stage, for that to happen they would have to get a CCJ against you and you would have to have pretty much ignored it (happens unfortunately).

As long as you are getting some payment to them it is highly unlikely they will even think about CCJing you despite making loud noises to that effect.

-Best

New to the forums - but not to debt !

Thanks, your time and very reasuring answer regarding baliff action is most welcome.

It will all be over soon, I hope

LILY

I asked God for a solution and have to live with his reply.

Best of luck with sorting it Lily.

New to the forums - but not to debt !

Just an afterthought - Have you tried asking HBOS to merge the amounts ? I don't think you'll have any luck with the credit card, but it might be worth a go for the loans and overdrafts, especially if you are offering a better monthly payment against the package. You could then make a single monthly payment outside of your DMP. I know of an instance where Lloyds did this for someone (albeit reluctantly).

-Best

New to the forums - but not to debt !

thanks, i will see what i can offer

LILY

I asked God for a solution and have to live with his reply.