I'm getting all my income, expenditure and debt figures together ready to call an IP this week.
However, I received a letter yesterday from a creditcard company demanding immediate payment of a sum I can't afford. If I don't pay they will send a debt collector.
I've written a reply asking them not to harrass me (including a legal reference saying they cannot harrass for unreasonable sums. Sorry don't have letter or pc in front of me so cannot give exact quote here)
It's highly unlikely, although not unknown, that a debt collector will call. This is just a bullying tactic and I had them all the time. No one ever came.
If they do, you don't have to answer the door to them and you certainly don't have to pay them anything.
As to the token payments, I'm with Payplan and they told me not to make any!
Not a lot else you can do though.
Sharing from experiences of dealing with debt
The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.
Bob Marley. http://kallis3.blogs.iva.co.uk
One of the first things a good IP will do once they have taken instructions to act for you, is contact your creditors to put them in the picture. If creditors are reassured that your intentions to propose an IVA are genuine, then they ought to leave you alone whilst the proposals are being prepared. A lot of my clients do still get calls from creditors, but it is very rare to have doorstep collectors actually turn up, even when this is threatened.
