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receiving debt collecting letters?

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hope someone can give me some advice on this
my friend had asked me to help him pay for his phone bill with 3 mobile , as his current ID was out of date, and needed the phone urgently.we made the agreements with 3 mobile, having the bills sent to my account, which my friend would give me money back until hes able to transfer the account to his account.
now the problem is that he had transferred the account so i shudnt be getting anymore letters about payement collecting,but i am,my friend then canceled his contract with 3 due to problems with them,but im still recieving these letters saying i owe them money.today i recieved a letter from moorcroft debt recovery limited explaining that 3 have contacted them saying im not paying the contract and that i owe £149.68.this is worrying as they said i could be taken to court if no payement is made.... what shall i do?.i do not have the money to pay and i also think the payment isnt due as its not in my name anymore...im not very knowledgable with this kind of thing. sorry for the bad grammar i just need some advice

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Kate Oxtoby (Employee) August 15, 2011 21:31

Hi Antony,

Whilst you may have never used the phone yourself and you advised 3 Mobile you were taking the phone contract out on behalf of someone else, it unfortunately doesn’t change that the credit agreement is in your name and therefore you are liable. You explained that you changed the payments details over to your friends but again, this doesn’t alter that the credit agreement is in your name. I am really sorry to tell you this because you obviously took the phone contact out to be a good friend and neither of you expected this to happen. Since your friend was not happy with the service did they make a complaint at the time? To be honest, even if they did, I think you may be on shaky ground for disputing the debt but there’s no harm in asking your friend and finding out all the facts.

Whilst Moorcroft are debt collectors, they do appreciate that people don’t often have a spare £150 readily available. Begin by working out what you can afford and make an offer to them based on this. You can work this out (I hope this doesn’t sound patronising, I just want to be clear) by taking your expenditure (bills, food, travel expenses, etc) away from your income and what you have left over can go towards clearing this debt. I know this isn’t always an easy thing to do but it will make sure that you don’t commit to making payments that you later find out you can’t keep to. You can then either call or write to Moorcroft making your offer of payment. I would suggest putting it in writing because it will be far less stressful, if you call you will speak to a collections agent who has been trained to try and negotiate the most amount of money you can afford. If you explain your circumstances and make an offer, whilst clearly requesting that no further charges or action is taken against you, then they should come back to you with a positive response.

Another option to consider is requesting a short settlement amount. Often collectors are prepared to accept a one off payment for a lower amount, especially when the end of the month is approaching and they have targets to meet. If you explain, how the situation has arisen and that you feel that you are not liable for the debt (albeit that you are) and that to bring the matter to a close you are prepared to pay £100, for example, they may accept this. What you need to be sure of, is that you receive written confirmation before making any payment, otherwise you might find yourself being chased for the remainder of the money.

Whichever option you do decide to go with, I hope your friend helps with the payments but I know things aren’t always that simple.

Please let me know if you have any further questions and I’ll do my best to help.

All the best and let me know how you get on.

Kate

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Hi Antony, Whilst you may have never used the phone yourself and you advised 3 Mobile you were taking the phone contract out on behalf of someone else, it unfortunately doesn’t change that the credit agreement is in your name and therefore you are liable. You explained that you changed the payments details over to your friends but again, this doesn’t alter that the credit agreement is in your name. I am really sorry to tell you this because you obviously took the phone contact out to be a good friend and neither of you expected this to happen. Since your friend was not happy with the service did they make a complaint at the time? To be honest, even if they did, I think you may be on shaky ground for disputing the debt but there’s no harm in asking your friend and finding out all the facts. Whilst Moorcroft are debt collectors, they do appreciate that people don’t often have a spare £150 readily available. Begin by working out what you can afford and make an offer to them based on this. You can work this out (I hope this doesn’t sound patronising, I just want to be clear) by taking your expenditure (bills, food, travel expenses, etc) away from your income and what you have left over can go towards clearing this debt. I know this isn’t always an easy thing to do but it will make sure that you don’t commit to making payments that you later find out you can’t keep to. You can then either call or write to Moorcroft making your offer of payment. I would suggest putting it in writing because it will be far less stressful, if you call you will speak to a collections agent who has been trained to try and negotiate the most amount of money you can afford. If you explain your circumstances and make an offer, whilst clearly requesting that no further charges or action is taken against you, then they should come back to you with a positive response. Another option to consider is requesting a short settlement amount. Often collectors are prepared to accept a one off payment for a lower amount, especially when the end of the month is approaching and they have targets to meet. If you explain, how the situation has arisen and that you feel that you are not liable for the debt (albeit that you are) and that to bring the matter to a close you are prepared to pay £100, for example, they may accept this. What you need to be sure of, is that you receive written confirmation before making any payment, otherwise you might find yourself being chased for the remainder of the money. Whichever option you do decide to go with, I hope your friend helps with the payments but I know things aren’t always that simple. Please let me know if you have any further questions and I’ll do my best to help. All the best and let me know how you get on. Kate

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Kimberlea Randall (Employee) August 16, 2011 15:24

Hi Antony,

I wanted to leave a reply because I have also had a personal dispute with 3 over a mobile phone bill.

Firstly, I agree completely with what Kate is advising you, and would strongly recommend you to contact Moorcroft to try and negotiate an offer of repayment or possibly a short settlement.

In my situation with 3, I had two accounts with them back in 2005 and was under the impression that my accounts had been cleared in full, until I received two letters from Lowell Financial who had purchased the debt from 3. The letters claimed that I owed them almost £900. When I called to query the amount and how this was possible, I was advised that this was due to an unpaid line rental charge.

As you can imagine, after getting over the initial cheek of Lowell contacting me five years after I thought my bills had been settled, I explained this to them and explained that after several weeks of dispute with 3 about the service I had received they had agreed to write off the remainder balance – or so I had thought!

I would advise you to query with Moorcroft and possibly 3 that the amount of £149.68 they are asking you to pay is to clear everything on the account including line rental and not just a one off bill. My dispute with 3 about the problems I have received is still ongoing and I wanted to make you aware in case the same situation occurs for you.

I would strongly recommend that if you have any paperwork from them at all, including any which your friend may have, that you store them safely so you have a record to go back to in case they decide to chase you for additional debts including the line rental. In my case I haven’t kept all of this paperwork and it’s now starting to go against me. 3 and Lowell are refusing to clear the £900 balance as I do not have the paperwork from when the bill was originally settled in 2005.

I’d be interested to know what you decide to do so please keep us updated and if you do pay the account to Moorcroft make sure you get written confirmation as proof, as Kate advised you, and keep hold of it!!

I want to wish you the best of luck and really hope that you do not get stung with the 3 line rental saga as well.

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good solution! good solution! (undo)
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Edit Your Reply (some HTML allowed)
Has the status changed?

Hi Antony, I wanted to leave a reply because I have also had a personal dispute with 3 over a mobile phone bill. Firstly, I agree completely with what Kate is advising you, and would strongly recommend you to contact Moorcroft to try and negotiate an offer of repayment or possibly a short settlement. In my situation with 3, I had two accounts with them back in 2005 and was under the impression that my accounts had been cleared in full, until I received two letters from Lowell Financial who had purchased the debt from 3. The letters claimed that I owed them almost £900. When I called to query the amount and how this was possible, I was advised that this was due to an unpaid line rental charge. As you can imagine, after getting over the initial cheek of Lowell contacting me five years after I thought my bills had been settled, I explained this to them and explained that after several weeks of dispute with 3 about the service I had received they had agreed to write off the remainder balance – or so I had thought! I would advise you to query with Moorcroft and possibly 3 that the amount of £149.68 they are asking you to pay is to clear everything on the account including line rental and not just a one off bill. My dispute with 3 about the problems I have received is still ongoing and I wanted to make you aware in case the same situation occurs for you. I would strongly recommend that if you have any paperwork from them at all, including any which your friend may have, that you store them safely so you have a record to go back to in case they decide to chase you for additional debts including the line rental. In my case I haven’t kept all of this paperwork and it’s now starting to go against me. 3 and Lowell are refusing to clear the £900 balance as I do not have the paperwork from when the bill was originally settled in 2005. I’d be interested to know what you decide to do so please keep us updated and if you do pay the account to Moorcroft make sure you get written confirmation as proof, as Kate advised you, and keep hold of it!! I want to wish you the best of luck and really hope that you do not get stung with the 3 line rental saga as well.

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