Debt Collection Agencies(DCA) and
the CSA
In addition to the bailiff companies that are listed above, in
early 2006 the CSA introduced The Operational
Improvement Plan to tackle the arrears situation. Under
this, contracts were entered into with private Debt
Collection Agencies. The companies are as follows:
• Eversheds Solicitors
• Legal & Trade Collections.
Unlike bailiffs, these two companies will
not be charging you a fee. In our experience, in most cases,
it is much easier to deal with debt
collection companies as, unlike bailiffs, they can
agree simple repayment arrangements and also, they will
not be charging you a fee. Their fees will be paid instead by
the Child Support Agency.
If you are unable to repay the entire amount due, you can instead
offer an affordable sum by way of monthly
repayments. In order to do this, it is vital that you provide
to them a financial statement, commonly called an Income &
Expenditure Calculation together with an offer of repayment. By
visiting our Letters section of our
secure Downloads area you will see
that we have provided you with an example of an Income
& Expenditure that can be adapted to suit your own
particular needs.
If you ignore correspondence from these companies, they can enforce
the debt by way of charging orders, attachment of earnings etc,
for this reason try not to ignore correspondence from the Debt
Collection Agencies (DCA)
If the debt is agreed, our advice
would be to complete an Income & Expenditure together with
an offer of repayment at a rate that is affordable to you. There
is nothing worse than agreeing a higher figure than you can safely
afford as you will very quickly fall into arrears, either with
this payment, or other essential household bills, such as rent
etc.
If the debt is not agreed, please
see under the section entitled: IF YOU HAVE
BEEN THREATENED WITH BAILIFFS. Here you will see details
of how to apply for a copy of your personal data file from the
CSA, which you will find under our Subject
Access Request section in our
Downloads area. You must also write
immediately to the Debt Collection Agency (DCA) to let them know
that you do not agree with the amount being claimed. In the letters
section of our Downloads area you will be able to also access
a letter that can be adapted by you, that should be sent to the
company informing them that you dispute the debt and requesting
that the case is put on hold until such time as an adequate response
has been received from your request for a copy of your personal
data file.
NOTE:
We have a Help Line available on: 0906 802 0273
Please ensure that before telephoning us you read the Contact Us page
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