I'm Under Terrible Financial Strain over a debt

Hello to you all,

I lost my job eight months ago.
I am currently unemployed and receivinng 204 euro per week.
I have never received state assistance before and have worked full time for 14 years. The bill is for €1400

I owe a phone company money - after I lost my job I ran up a huge phonebill trying to find a new one and phoneing psychic lines.

I then got very sick and had to enter a psychiatric hospital. My Doctor told me not too worry about the phone bill and concentrate on getting well. My sister was at the Doctors meeting and she proceeded the next day to phone the phone company and tell them that I was not well, they informed that they would await till I returned home beofre making any decision.

I am now well and when I came out of hospital I was informed by the phone company that they had passed my account over to a debt collection agency.

The agency are wicked wicked people, they send me threats about publishing my details so everyone can see my debt.
I ignored them in truth because they are not an Irish company -they are a foreign company.

My sister tells me not to pay them anything because of how demanding are being.

Now, today I received a letter from an Irish solictors saying that in 7 days if the bill is not paid, they may take me to court, however the letter stipulates that if I need to discuss anything I should contact the debt agency and not the solicitors.

What will happen to me If i go to court? I was happy and am happy to pay the money back, my sister says she will pay half and i pay half - €40 each totalling €80 until debt is paid, however she says she will not and advises me not to engage with an english debt company.
Will I write a letter to the solicitors explaining this. - will i go to court with the threatning letters and explain to a judge.

I do not care about getting black listed or such things.

Thank you for any advice you may have.

Your health is more important than money. Try not to panic. You are out of hospital now, and therefore must be feeling somewhat better.

It is good that you have a sister who cares, maybe she doesn't realise that you are so stressed because of the english debt collection agency, if she did, she might encourage you to pay back a smaller amount regularly, if that's what you want to do.

Make an appointment with MABS and they will help you deal with the agency. Please follow up with your GP, the organisation AWARE would help you cope with depression.


Take care.

First of all, do not stress yourself out over this.

Regarding the solicitor’s letter – the chances are that it a standard template that is sent more as a scare tactic, rather than one of intent.

I suggest that you write to the debt collection company & inform them that you are currently unemployed & are in recovery from an illness that required inpatient hospital treatment, & that the strong wording of both their & their solicitor’s letters are causing you undue stress & are not aiding your recovery.

I would advise them that your sole income is social welfare payment & that you will pay €4 a week until such a time that your financial situation improves.

I would inform them that you will make these payments directly to the phone company, & request that they refrain from contacting you again. Keep a copy of all correspondence.

The chances are that that the debt collection agency will just close the account & inform the phone company that they have exhausted their efforts, unless your debt is one that has been sold on to them. If they reply saying that they have bought over the debt, then just pay them €4 a week instead of the phone company.

Once you do pay €4 a week, you will have acknowledged your debt & made the effort to repay, so, even in the unlikely event that you were brought to court, a judge could see that you are making the effort, so he would probably just issue a judgement requiring you to do exactly what you were already doing.

You could make an appointment to see MABS money advisor. MABS is an excellent service, but there is a long waiting list for their services at the moment, so I would see what develops from the above first. You could always apply for an appointment anyway & inform the debt collection agency that you have done this & that you will make payments of €4 a week until such a time as MABS can assess your situation & contact them on your behalf in the future.

Hello Susanna and Papercut,

Thank you very much for responding to my financial dilemma. It is very kind of you both.

I really value the effort and advice that has been offered by you both and hearing from someone else that I should not worry about things so much is comforting.

I have took your advice Papercut - I am going to write a letter about this situation, I am going to CC the letter to the following people,CEO of the mobile phone company - The English Debt Collection Firm - The Solicitors Firm - The Psychic company I phoned when I was unwell -My local political representative and my Consultant Psychiatrist.

As I previously mentioned , when I was in hospital my sister had phoned the phone company and they said they would stall procedures till I came out of hospital, they did not stall, they merely handed the debt over to the English Debt Collection company.

I think it is difficult to phone a company you had never had dealings with, and I just did not have the confidence to phone the debt collection company.

So I will send my letter detailing all the aspects of this case and tell them I will pay €40 per week, as I would like to get it paid, however Papercut your suggesstion of €4 really has helped as now I feel independent in this, and will not have my sister pay €40 every week.

Thanks for suggessting aware Susanna, if only I had of phoned them at the begining I would not have phoned flaming psychic lines, and probably could have avoided hospital admission.

Well thanks again to you both.

I wish you both well.

Hi Policymaker,

Sorry to hear about your situation. I think it's absolutely outrageous that these frauds can prey on vulnerable people like you in such a way and get away with it. If it's the particular line I think it is, I cannot understand how they can advertise "accurate psychic readings", not deliver but still sue you for owed money. I hope everything works out, the above advice sounds good.

www.mabs.ie can help you!

Susanna said:

Your health is more important than money. Try not to panic. You are out of hospital now, and therefore must be feeling somewhat better.

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+1 people are forgetting this its only money when they are being frightened by the sensationalist media in this country every debt can be sorted out somehow in the end dont worry about it. All everyone has to do is cut back their spending a bit for a while.

Sorry to hear of your troubles, and you've got some good advice already on this thread.

I wonder if it would be worth trying to push the psychic hotline people to do something to help you. I know they don't have any legal obligation to help out, but there is a moral question here. They are designed to squeeze money out of people who should have more sense. You were obviously at a vulnerable time in your life, and they took advantage of this.

If much of the money went to one particular company, perhaps you would write to the boss, outlining your claiming, and suggesting that they do something to help you out. When they refuse or ignore, take it to the highest court in the land - Joe Duffy.

Complainer said:

When they refuse or ignore, take it to the highest court in the land - Joe Duffy.

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Haha! But did he not recently change his name by deed poll to God??? Sorry for going off thread slightly hope it can give the OP a bit of a laugh though... A good cure for everything.

Complainer said:

Sorry to hear of your troubles, and you've got some good advice already on this thread.

I wonder if it would be worth trying to push the psychic hotline people to do something to help you. I know they don't have any legal obligation to help out, but there is a moral question here. They are designed to squeeze money out of people who should have more sense. You were obviously at a vulnerable time in your life, and they took advantage of this.

If much of the money went to one particular company, perhaps you would write to the boss, outlining your claiming, and suggesting that they do something to help you out. When they refuse or ignore, take it to the highest court in the land - Joe Duffy.

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Why dont you claim that the psychic line was a fake and therefore you are not paying for the service. Why did they stay on the phone when they should have known you would not be paying

Seriously though. Ignore all letters and start paying just €1 a week.
They have no power over you.

Thank You all, the advice is much appreciated, I have enough advice now, I am leaving the thread their incase someone will beneift from reading it.
thank you

i dont have any advise above what has been offered but wanted to wish the OP the very best of luck, its great to hear you are feeling better and you are well enough to be out of hospital, take care of yourself and try to forget about this matter once the letter is sent and the4euros is set to come out of your bank account

i recently received a similar letter in relation to a debt of 75euros and it put the fear of God into me

i can understand how you can get such a fright from these letters

the best of luck and mind yourself