Heather, I`m posting this here as it may come in useful for other members. I`m not sure what the nature of your debt is, so please don`t take offense if it`s too much!
Key points to remember;
NEVER let bailiffs in, or let them persuade you to sign their papers on the doorstep. These papers are a `walking possession` agreement, and once these are signed, they have all the power they need to come in and take possession of your things if you don`t keep up what they see fit as a payment plan. They WILL try to scare you into signing papers, but legally they do not have a foot to stand on. Treat them as vampires. If they cannot get the money out of you, the company they are representing will have to take the debt back. It`s advisable to contact the company and ask them to do this anyway.
DO concentrate on CTX and rent arrears, or any priority or secured debts. These can be upheld by the company by removing your home, security or in the case of CTX, prison. But before you panic, this is very unlikely to happen if you work with them. In fact courts take a very dim view of companies who play a heavy hand with people who are trying, in some cases allowing the client to pay less than they had previously offered!
In the case of Water arrears, as from a couple of years ago, it is now illegal for the water board to cut off your supply, thus taking it out of the priority debt class.
Non priority debts do not have much power at all. They can send bailiffs, but as they do not have much power, don`t panic! In the case of Mars and I, we have an unsecured loan we could not keep up with. We have requested that they accept the repayment amount offered, and freeze the interest. To give you an idea of what happens if they refuse the offer, here are a couple of letters that can be sent.

1 High Street,
Newtown,
Kent
R21 4RH
July 11, 2004
The Loan Company
Company House,
Church Street,
Newtown,
Kent,
R1 7HG
Dear Sir/Madam
Acc/Ref No 12
Thank you for your letter of 01−01−2002 concerning the above account.
We are are sorry that you feel unable to accept the offer which we have made. The majority of our other
creditors have accepted the offers made to them and we have commenced payments. We cannot offer you
more because we can only afford Â£775 per month between all our other creditors, and it would be wrong to
cease or reduce payments to our other creditors in favour of your company. The offer made to you is on a pro
rata basis, as used by the county court.
In the light of the other creditors agreeing to our repayment plan, please would you reconsider our offer. We
will be making the payments in line with the offer to your company, on a weekly basis, as a gesture of
goodwill.
We look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible.
Yours faithfully
Mr A N Other

1 High Street,
Newtown,
Kent
R21 4RH
July 11, 2004
The Loan Company
Company House,
Church Street,
Newtown,
Kent,
R1 7HG
Dear Sir/Madam
Acc/Ref No 12
Thank you for your letter of 01−01−2002. We are very disappointed that we seem unable to reach a
satisfactory compromise in this case. As we have already explained, we can only afford Â£71 per month at the
present time. This is the only realistic payment proposal bearing in mind the enclosed personal budget sheet.
You have stated in correspondence your intention to commence proceedings in the county court against us.
The commencement of legal proceedings under such circumstances could be counter to the â€˜Overriding
Objectivesâ€™ of the new Civil Procedure Rules. You will be aware that the Overriding Objectives underpin
everything the court does. Moreover, paragraph 4 of the Protocols Practice Direction states that in cases not
covered by an approved pre−action protocol, the court will expect the parties â€œto act reasonablyâ€¦â€¦.. in
trying to avoid the necessity for the start of proceedingsâ€.
We would suggest that your refusal to accept our offer could be viewed as unreasonable and we would ask the
court to consider this matter with reference to the Overriding Objectives.
The offer of Â£71 is of course still open to you to accept.
Yours faithfully
Mr A N Other

1 High Street,
Newtown,
Kent
R21 4RH
July 11, 2004
The Loan Company
Company House,
Church Street,
Newtown,
Kent,
R1 7HG
Dear Sir/Madam
Acc/Ref No 12
Thank you for your letter of 01−01−2002. We are very disappointed that we seem unable to reach a
satisfactory compromise in this case. As we have already explained, we can only afford Â£71 per month at the
present time, and we feel that it is pointless paying this amount to you only to see the debt increase. We invite
you therefore to sue us for the debt, when we shall have the opportunity of offering Â£84 per month through the
courts.
In addition, once judgment is granted we understand that further interest will be suspended in any event. It
seems that we can only achieve a reasonable outcome to this matter by allowing the courts to decide, although
this will involve us both in extra expense and time wasted with court proceedings.
The offer of Â£71 per month plus suspension of interest is of course still open to you to accept.
Yours faithfully
Mr A N Other

Sorry, that didn`t paste too well, but you get the idea. Of course, there are lots of routes to go down before it gets to this point, but seeing as you are so concerned, I thought I`d highlight just how much power you do have in those circumstances. Try reading up on this site for all the steps and advice, it`s very good.
Final key point. Being in debt is not an indication you are a criminal, so don`t feel like one, or let anybody else make you feel like one. Shit happens. 8-)
Venusxxx

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