Mercers Phoning me!!

[Acable12]

Hi,

Just found this site and hoping for some good advice. Been getting phone calls from a company called Mercers who from what I can gather on here are part of Barclaycard. that would make sense as I am over my limit by £156 hardly the crime of the century but still. My total owed to Barclaycard is about £425. I have tried on 2 seperate occasions to call them and sort this out but everytime I am told by someone in an Indian call centre that I must make an immediate payment. I have tried and tried to set up a monthly figure with them so that I can start paying some money next month but they flatly rfused on both occasions. Now I have had a couple of phone calls from Mercers but have not spoken to them yet. Any advice on how I should lead the conversation. I have also written to Barclycard in the UK and aksed them if someone can please contact me in writing to sort out a payment plan, 5 days later still no response.

Please Help.

Aaran

[Happyolddog]

Re: Merry Christmas. Some advice on Mercers Please

Hi Aaran,

Mercers were a debt collection agency who are not registered and have ceased trading and are dormant. Ignore them and don't reply to their calls.

[Acable12]

Re: Merry Christmas. Some advice on Mercers Please

Wow that was a quick reply. I tried to post this in the debt section but couldnt put a new post in their for some reason, If anyone knows how please feel free. I read on here that they are part of Barclaycard. I've worked rally hard to build up a good credit rating after getting a CCJ many years ago. I really don't want them to destroy it. Not sure what to do at the moment.

[Curlyben]

Re: Merry Christmas. Some advice on Mercers Please

Mercers are B'cards in house monkeys.
They blow alot of hot air, but are otherwise toothless.

Seems you are doing the sensible thing and trying to set up a plan with them.
Might be worth talking to Payplan or CCCS and getting their help with B'card contact.

[Paule]

Re: Mercers Phoning me!!

Threads merged

PKea

[Acable12]

Re: Mercers Phoning me!!

Thanks for the replies. I will contact Paypal as I have an account with them and see if they can give me some UK contact details. I basically had a direct debit arranged with them taking out the minimum payment every month. the limit on the card was only £250 and I haven't used the card in over a year. It was fooilsh on my part but when the statments came through I never bothered to open them as I thought with the minimum payment coming out and me not using the card the money owed would be slowely coming down. It was only recently that I opened a letter saying I was £156 over my limit due to charges and interest and over limit charges etc. Absolutely gutted.

[Curlyben]

Re: Mercers Phoning me!!

That's PayPLAN, not payPAL

Here's a link: Debt Management Plans, Free Debt Management Company and IVAs | Debt Advice | Payplan

Might also be worth pursueing the charges on this account as there are bound to be a number of them.

[Acable12]

Re: Mercers Phoning me!!

lol thankyou very much. Did wonder what Paypal had to do with it.

[Curlyben]

Is this the only debt you have or are there others ?
Seriously it's worth the £10 for the SAR to B'card and as I mentioned ignore Mercers as they are all wind.

IF they call simply demand everything to be in writing and that you are disputing the value with B'card.

The needed letters can be found here: Letters

[Acable12]

Re: Mercers Phoning me!!

I'm sorry what is a SAR ?

[Tools]

Re: Mercers Phoning me!!

Subject Access Request Data Protection Act - How to get your information.

[Happyolddog]

Re: Mercers Phoning me!!

Subject Access Request Data Protection Act - How to get your information.

Aaran click on the above link that Tools gave, it will take you to the letter you require.

[Acable12]

Re: Mercers Phoning me!!

Thanks for all your help so far. I have today received a letter from mercers saying the following.

Default Notice served under section 87 (i) of the consumer credit act 1974

Account Number xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Balance : £438.46
Amount Due : £188.46

We act as agents for Barclays Bank PLC trading as Barclaycard.

Despite a recent letter from Barclaycard, you are still behind with the payments on your account.

Under the terms of your Barclaycard Agreement , you must pay at least the minimum payment by the date shown on your monthly statement. As your payments are overdue, you have broken the agreement.

To correct this, you must make a payment of £188.46 to reach Barclaycard before: 31 Decmeber 2008. Below are some of the ways you can pay. You can find more ways to pay on the back of your statement.

Over the counter of any UK branch
By post
Via the internet.

If you are unable to pay, you must call Mercers immediately for help on 0844 822 2003 and cut in two all cards that you have on this account.

With this letter in mind do I phone them, write to them or what? What should be my first move to by myself some time without getting any more charges.

Cheers

Aaran

[Curlyben]

Re: Mercers Phoning me!!

Well that was bound to happen I'm afraid.

Nowt to worry about mind.
File it with the other Mercers stuff for later use.

[WendyB]

Re: Mercers Phoning me!!

You need to send S.A.R. asap. This will get you all your info and statements etc, then you can start reclaiming the charges. If you already have your statments or can get them online then even better. Once you have sent the Prleiminary letter to start reclaiming the charges, you will be able to tell Mercers to go away and play nicley, because your account will be in dispute so they should cease any collection activity. They will probably ignore this completely but never mind. There's not much you can do about the default notice, it was bound to happen. However if you find that the default is largely made up of charges you might be able to get it removed with your charges reclaim. If this is the case you need to state this in the Prelim letter when you start the charges reclaim.