Hi and PRA Group Help

[Chluma]

Hi! I'm new to the group and would really appreciate some help with regards to PRA Group. Myself and my husband defaulted with three MBNA cards in 2012 but have made reduced payments monthly every month since. The debts have been passed on several times and are now handled by PRA Group. We have never disputed what we owe and made regular payments. I received a call to say my payment wAs not reviewed in August and my bank confirmed that no direct debit was paid but also was not requested. Can anyone advise as to where I stand as the money was there for the payment but PRA did not request the direct debit. Is this dodgy or a genuine mistake from a dca??Any advice greatly received as would love to just clear all three accts once and for all with these people but do not have funds to clear in full.

Thanks in advance.

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Hi and PRA Group Help

Hi and welcome

Sometimes glitches happen with direct debits, on either side.

Debt purchasers like PRA pay very little for the accounts, often less than 10%, so it may be possible to get them to accept a full and final settlement, however, this is easier if you are making very small or token payments than if they are substantial. You have to be very careful if you decide to go down that route, to avoid them chasing you for the balance or selling it on, particularly with PRA who used to be Aktiv Kapital. I once settled a small debt with them only to be chased for the balance for years.

Would be useful if you could tell us a bit more about these cards, how old are they? How much do you owe on them? Were they always MBNA or something else?

[Chluma]

Re: Hi and PRA Group Help

Thanks for your response. The cards have always been Mbna but they sold them on once we'd defaulted. We defaulted back in 2012. We'd had the cards since 2006. We have never missed a payment, before or after we defaulted. The direct debits for the other two accounts were taken as usual but for some reason PRA did not request the direct debit in August just for this one account and this has been confirmed by my bank. They are now chasing payment but it seems it's an error on their part, it just made me a bit suspicious. The outstanding balance for all three accounts is approx £5000. Would your advice be to just sort this payment out and then continue paying as we were?

Many thanks.

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Hi and PRA Group Help

Thanks for your response. The cards have always been Mbna but they sold them on once we'd defaulted. We defaulted back in 2012. We'd had the cards since 2006. We have never missed a payment, before or after we defaulted. The direct debits for the other two accounts were taken as usual but for some reason PRA did not request the direct debit in August just for this one account and this has been confirmed by my bank. They are now chasing payment but it seems it's an error on their part, it just made me a bit suspicious. The outstanding balance for all three accounts is approx £5000. Would your advice be to just sort this payment out and then continue paying as we were?

Many thanks.

For now, if you can afford the current payments, then that's probably your safest bet, however, you may want to consider sending out CCA requests to see what sort of paperwork there is for these cards. At the very least it could help you negotiate a full and final settlement at some point if you are able to do so. Normally you'd send the requests to the current owner of the debt (PRA Group) who would have to go back to the original lender to obtain the documents, however, if you do not with to upset the applecart at this point, you could send the requests directly to MBNA and see what they come back with. It will cost you £1 + recorded postage, you'll need a separate letter/request/£1 fee for each account but there's no reason why you couldn't put all three letters in one envelope to save on postage. :thumb:

You'll find the letter here: http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...=7670#post7670 Ignore the 2007 date, it's been updated. :typing:

[Chluma]

Re: Hi and PRA Group Help

Thank you so much for your help.

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Hi and PRA Group Help

Good luck and keep up posted. :typing: