Insurance battle

[bulldozer]

Hi All,

Need some advice, here's the situation:

About a year a go i hit a car at a roundabout, i wasn't insured but he was. His insurance company calls me and demands that I pay immediately. At first it was approx. $5,000 but when they realized I could not afford that they reduced it to $3,700. A year later they suggest I go for $2,500 at least. I've asked if i can make payments of $50 per month and they said they said not a chance. For monthly payment plans they need at least $200.

This is my first time dealing with these things and I'm a bit scared/nervous. I had every intention of paying up but for that amount of money i just needed time (they want a lump sum with in a month). My question is; what will they do? will they bother taking me to court for $5000? Will they further reduce the amount payable?

Please don't lecture me about not being insured.... everyone else has already done that.

[Pete_perth]

Sorry to hear of your woes. You could try contacting the Citizens Advice Bureau in Victoria (they are all around Melbourne) for some advice and even some representation in helping you write letters or mediating on your behalf with the insurance company directly. There is also the Victorian Legal Aid service, but since you are not being threatened with legal action they may not help you. However depending on how old you are, they do have a legal youth service. You can try contacting them on VLA Legal Information Service on (03) 9269 0120. Otherwise just clearly state your position with the insurance company and tell them you need to negotiate a payment plan that does not put you into severe financial hardship.

Good luck, hope this helps.

[edals]

Hey Mate.
Yes They will chase you even if it was $50, My brother almost ended up in court for a unpaid $100 bill, They have lawyers and they will use them
Since they want a lump sum, have you thought maybe a personal loan to just pay them then pay the loan back ?
Or go to court, and that may end up you having to sell stuff to get the money together.

[ClairBear]

God I hate debt collectors with a passion. They use such tactics as saying they won't accept a certain amount blah blah because most people panic and rather than face legal action get themselves into a financial mess paying amounts they cannot afford.

If you have made a reasonable offer and they refused then stuff them. First you need to put your offer in writing along the lines of:

In regard to the accident involving [details] and my subsequent debt to you of [debt amount] I would like to offer to pay this off at a rate of $50 per month as this is all I can afford.

Then if they knock you back on the letter let them take you to court where you can tell the Judge you offered to pay and they knocked back your instalment plan. I hope you got the name of the person you spoke to so you can tell the Court who you spoke to. Ensure you take along documentation like your budget to support that you can only afford $50 a week otherwise it will put you under financial hardship and any correspondence they sent along with the letter you sent them.

The Judge will tell them to blow it out their butts and order the $50 per month, then you can thumb your nose at them on the way out of court.

This has always worked for my clients, often they don't get to the court stage as the clowns back down when their intimidation tactics fail.

[monkeys437]

The fact is if you were at fault you owe them the money. They've already halved their price so I would consider myself lucky and just pay it.

[Jesterarts]

I would be exploring the suggested option of talking to a bank about a personal loan for 2.5K.

Though the issue there may be that alot of banks have a minimum loan limit of 5K and repayments will be $100 a month.

[Brett_jjj]

God I hate debt collectors with a passion. They use such tactics as saying they won't accept a certain amount blah blah because most people panic and rather than face legal action get themselves into a financial mess paying amounts they cannot afford.

If you have made a reasonable offer and they refused then stuff them. First you need to put your offer in writing along the lines of:

In regard to the accident involving [details] and my subsequent debt to you of [debt amount] I would like to offer to pay this off at a rate of $50 per month as this is all I can afford.

Then if they knock you back on the letter let them take you to court where you can tell the Judge you offered to pay and they knocked back your instalment plan. I hope you got the name of the person you spoke to so you can tell the Court who you spoke to. Ensure you take along documentation like your budget to support that you can only afford $50 a week otherwise it will put you under financial hardship and any correspondence they sent along with the letter you sent them.

The Judge will tell them to blow it out their butts and order the $50 per month, then you can thumb your nose at them on the way out of court.

This has always worked for my clients, often they don't get to the court stage as the clowns back down when their intimidation tactics fail.

I agree 100% with the above,if you dont have the cash and are battling trying to make ends meet,then they cant get blood from a stone,so no matter what they do including taking you to court,theres not much they can do except accept your offer of $50 a month.

[ari666]

take it to court. the last i heard, minimum repayments are set at $2.50 per day. doesnt matter what amount. the problem is it will go on your financial record and you may not ever be able to get a homeloan later in life.

but also expect to get slugged with court costs, so 2.5 will become 3.5

[Reaper]

I agree 100% with the above,if you dont have the cash and are battling trying to make ends meet,then they cant get blood from a stone,so no matter what they do including taking you to court,theres not much they can do except accept your offer of $50 a month.

He can't come up with $2500 in a year??? FFS - he's had 12 months to try and save - An extra job working 1 Saturday a'noon a week would have paid it off 6 months ago. The fact is that he caused the damage and should pay what he owes. In his initial post he says he has every intention of paying yet a year on hasn't coughed up a cent. It has probably cost the insurance company significantly more than the original sum in chasing the debt and I'd count the initial poster lucky he didn't wind up in court months ago.

The fact is if you were at fault you owe them the money. They've already halved their price so I would consider myself lucky and just pay it.

Exactly. People who don't pay what they owe shit me to tiers. The default laws in Australia are way way too lenient towards the scumbag.

Reaper

[Reaper]

I would be exploring the suggested option of talking to a bank about a personal loan for 2.5K.

Though the issue there may be that alot of banks have a minimum loan limit of 5K and repayments will be $100 a month.

Meh - borrow $5k and plug $2500 straight back into it straight away. Other options might be a credit card. Either way he should be doing his utmost to pay his debt.

Reaper

[ClairBear]

Just for reference here with anyone who may be unfortunate enough to deal with debt collectors either now or in the future, be advised they have rules to follow and will often break them. These are from the NSW law society:

What a creditor/debt collector can’t do
If someone says that you owe them money, they cannot:

•Have you sent to gaol and cannot threaten to send you to gaol
•Threaten you with harm
•Threaten to tell your employer, neighbours or family about your indebtedness
•Take and sell (or threaten to take and sell) any of your property over which they do not have a mortgage or other form of security unless they have an order from the Court
•Threaten to garnishee (take) money from your wages without a court order
•Ring you very frequently (say four times per week or more without good reason) or ring you at unreasonable times such as very early in the morning (before 7am) and/or very late at night (after 8pm)
•Visit or ring you at your place of work if you have asked them not to and you have provided an alternate contact address and phone number
•Visit or ring you at work so that third parties become aware of the debt collection
•Send you letters that look like court documents (but are not court documents)
•Use abusive or threatening language.
•Keep written records and copies of documents.
•Every time debt collector contacts you write down the time, date, what was said and the name of the person you talked to.
•Get advice or assistance. You should contact either a financial counsellor or a community legal centre to see if they can assist you. A financial counsellor may be able to assist you work out ways to repay the debt. A legal centre may be able to assist you with writing to the creditor or making a complaint to a consumer protection agency or the police. (See Getting Help )
•Write to the debt collector. You should write to the debt collector and ask them to stop harassing you. Keep a dated copy of your letter and any reply.
•Lodge a dispute in an external dispute resolution scheme (if available)
•Make a complaint to a consumer protection agency

[ClairBear]

People who don't pay what they owe shit me to tiers.

The OP has stated he is happy to pay. He has made an offer to pay.

My former boss owed $20,000 in sales tax many years ago. They took her to court and her offer of $20 per week was accepted.

The OP offered $50 per month and this was refused. None of us know his personal circumstances, he may be on benefits or have other financial commitments. I agree if he was trying to wriggle out of it that would be wrong, but he is making an effort to pay this off.

Dealing with those on low incomes daily I see the results of these overbearing debt collectors pushing boundaries and adding stress to already stressed out people that is unwarranted and unlawful.

A favourite line of theirs is "I will contact your employer and have your wages garnished." Except they cannot do that without a court order, something they conveniently don't mention which panicks a person into complying with unreasonable requests rather than face the embarrasment of having their employer know they are in debt.

I have hundreds of such stories........ vultchers!

[Brett_jjj]

He can't come up with $2500 in a year??? FFS - he's had 12 months to try and save - An extra job working 1 Saturday a'noon a week would have paid it off 6 months ago. The fact is that he caused the damage and should pay what he owes. In his initial post he says he has every intention of paying yet a year on hasn't coughed up a cent. It has probably cost the insurance company significantly more than the original sum in chasing the debt and I'd count the initial poster lucky he didn't wind up in court months ago.




Reaper

This guy he might be handicapped in some way for all we know and cant work.Its bloody hard to when your doing it tough financially.Id make sure my kids were fed every time before Id pay some insurance company.Insurance companies are some of the biggest crooks anyway, so I dont loose any sleep over them not getting paid..Ive seen some absolute ripper insurance fraud schemes in my time,and these schemes were run mostly by the insurance brokers themselves.....

[Reaper]

The OP has stated he is happy to pay. He has made an offer to pay.

Yet hasn't handed over 1 red cent so far. Just because he made an offer to pay doesn't mean the person owed money need accept it if it is less than the full amount paid immediately. They are not banks and have no obligation to provide credit.

My former boss owed $20,000 in sales tax many years ago. They took her to court and her offer of $20 per week was accepted.

Lucky for your boss. People owing money to me and/or my company aren't quite so lucky (as a few have found out).

The OP offered $50 per month and this was refused. None of us know his personal circumstances, he may be on benefits or have other financial commitments.

So why should any of that become the problem of who he owed money too?

I agree if he was trying to wriggle out of it that would be wrong, but he is making an effort to pay this off.

As I mentioned - a Saturday afternoon job or similar would have had the whole debt paid off months ago. Hasn't happened. Talk is cheap.

Dealing with those on low incomes daily I see the results of these overbearing debt collectors pushing boundaries and adding stress to already stressed out people that is unwarranted and unlawful.

Being on the wrong end of ####ers who buy stuff without having their finance organized (or can't pay for whatever reason) adds to my stress. I have used several tactics in the past which do appear on your list and make no apology for it. Squeaky wheel as they say.....

A favourite line of theirs is "I will contact your employer and have your wages garnished." Except they cannot do that without a court order, something they conveniently don't mention which panicks a person into complying with unreasonable requests rather than face the embarrasment of having their employer know they are in debt.

I do not and never will consider it an unreasonable request to have moneys paid to me which are outstanding. That also includes and/all costs I incur chasing said debt. If embarrassing them into paying is what is needed then so be it.

I have hundreds of such stories........ vultchers!

So do I - ####s!

Reaper

[monkeys437]

Obviously it depends on his circumstances, but if I knew i was 12 months away from being hit with a credit rating destroying 5 grand insurance bill, there would be no beer drank, no eating out at restaurants, no footy membership, xbox games, weekends away with the missus etc. until Id saved up the money to satisfy my commitment. Obviously its different if you have financial troubles like kids to feed or a disability and cant work or something, but most people can did their way out of a 5 grand hole in 12 months if they are really committed to it

[footy]

how can u not afford 200$ a month? do a paper delivery round on ur weekends and bam problem solved

[EDGE3]

I was hit from behind by an uninsured driver,my insurance company chased him for 6 months and could not get a cent out of him,so they had to stop chasing him after 6 months which they said is the longest period of time they were allowed by there law/policy to do.My insurance paid for all the repairs no worries.So what my question is why did my insurer give up after 6mnths and OP is still getting hassled 1yr later? The point is OP should be insured and also you cant get blood out of a stone if that stone doesnt have blood to get.