Is it financially viable for a debt collection agency to instigate court action-disputed amount of ВЈ76-re:?

a energy supplier?
your answer is based on what?
thank you!
Additional Details
from april 6th the law states: that baillifs can only enter your property `if` the door is unlocked or by your invite.
this was briught in because of threats etc made by debt collectors.

If you are certain you do not owe this money and you have proof that the supplier has admitted they made an error..you should not be worried about this. The debt collection (blood suckers) will try any method to bleed you.
If they are harassing you, have a read around these sites.
These Will let you know your rights and also give you sample letters to write to these leaches. ASK in these places, they are all there to help YOU the consumer..
http://boards.fool.co.uk/Message.asp?mid=9708407
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1997/ukpga_19970040_en_1 http://www.debthelpuk.co.uk/administration-of-justice-act-1970.html.

Hello!

If a debt company is instructed to gain payment on behalf of a cleint (i.e an energy provider) they will generally have to go through with the entire procedure. Energy companies are very large so to them really to get a small amount is no different to a larger amount. It may be different with smaller companies as it obviously costs money to instruct debt collectors (a CCJ alone is about ВЈ40) and usually for amount under ВЈ100 it is not worth the hassle. However if large companies let everyone off with any amounts under ВЈ100 and 1000 customers tried it they woud be giving alot of money away!

General way is the company refers your debt to a debt collection company following several payment reminders who will contact you on their behalf regarding the debt. you will then receive a reminder (usually one or two). If they do not receive payment or any communication from you (i.e to arrange installments to pay) then they will send bailiffs round to you at a time they will notify you of (usually by letter). If you are not there when they say they will visit you have three days to contact them. If they do not hear from you within that time then they have the right to enter your property (with police accompaniment) to take items to the value of your debt (plus interest if necessary) and then as far as they are concerned the debt is cleared.

Many people do not realise it but with large companies, such as energy companies, even a first reminder letter affects your credit score so if you go as far as being referred to the debt collector you will already have about 20 points added to your credit rating which will make it difficult to get loand. mortgages etc. these generally go after 6 months as long as your credit status improves.

In some situations where they cannot gain access to the rpoperty then they will take you to court and this is where costs can start to mount as court and legal costs get involved and you will find that the bill escalates to thousands of pounds. This IS a worst case scenario but you would be then liable to pay the debt off in full (plus interest and any associated costs)

Hopefully this will help. I would advise ringing the debt agency to arrange installments or to pay off the debt ASAP as it will affect you for a long time otherwise. Plus it can proceed pretty quicly. the whole process can be within a few months (or weeks if the debt agency is efficient). this is often why debts spiral out of control as people do not realise how quicly they get put through the system.

******* ADDED: If it is due to a dispute with the energy company ring the debt collection company and advise them. They will then refer the case back to the enrgy supplier and usually the whole process will have to start again while the enrgy company look into it so it can buy you a bit of time. Energy companies are awful at dealing with disputes and customer complaints etc but if they have admitted they are wrong you need this in writing from the energy company. If they are at fault it is messing up your credit score and putting untrue debts against your name so you need to sort ot asap for your own sake *****************************

You may be lucky and find that it gets overlooked as it is a small amount but thsi would be quite a hope on your behalf!

yes
because what ever it costs them to recover the debt they can charge you for. if they hand the debt over toi someone else the bills can quickly start to mount. I've head, and also seen on TV, stories of ВЈ30 parking fiens becoming ВЈ4.500 bills

eventually you've got to pay the bill, and after that they will probably insist yu are put on a prepayment meter which is mor eexpensive and more intrusive to operate

No, not if they lose the case.

Say to them that they are wrong and they know it and you will see them in court. If you are correct in that it is their error and you do not owe them money then they will most likely back down and not take you to court. If they are stubborn and do take you to court, you will probably win the case.

Such a case is not therefore financially viable.

Yes. Because they recover the money plus costs. They will probably send the baillifs in to collect goods to the value of the overall debt. Job done.

if you did owe this money it would be viable because you would have to pay any court costs.so they would not be out of pocket

It certainly is. You can`t fight the big boys, you will always lose. It`s not the loss of ВЈ76 that bothers them, it`s your cheek that you don`t want to pay it!
ВЈ76 is less than peanuts to them.
Sorry, there is no way out.

No, 5 ways to collect over a 3/4 years

1st letters
2nd phone calls
3rd threatening phone calls
4th letter & calls say we are taking you to court etc
5th they drop it for ВЈ76 not worth the hassle cost much more than the ВЈ100.+ they would put on.but you will still get letters to keep the claim alive..

Bailiffs tell them to sod of you own nothing it all belongs to the wife/partner..ITS NOT YOURS

I would have thought unlikely-but they would cut you off.
Just go to court, and say you will pay x whatever you can afford per month to pay off debt,

Or go to some one like daniel chandler of altringham debt management tell them what you earn etc and they will pay supplier per month with no hassles from supplier.

But probably best to pay supplier a little monthly then they cant do a thing about it. so long as your paying.
And when debts paid they should restore your power.

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