Do you owe money to Wescot?

Who are Wescot Credit Services?

Wescot Credit Services Limited are debt collectors in the UK. They work with a variety of organisations including:

• Energy providers
• Banks
• Telecoms companies
• Credit card providers

Wescot Credit Services is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). They are also members of the Lending Standards Board.

We know how frightening it can be to be chased by debt collection agencies. We understand the tactics they use, your rights and the options you have to get your life back on track after financial difficulties. Reach out to us for free debt advice on freephone number 0330 122 8447 or by clicking ‘Get Started For Free’.

Are Wescot Credit Services a genuine company?

Yes. Wescot Credit Services Limited are a legitimate company. The company is registered in Scotland with the following details:

• Company Registration Number: SC084131
• Registered Office Address: Kyleshill House, Glencairn Street, Saltcoats, Ayrshire KA21 5JT

Why are Wescot calling me?

Wescot Credit Services Limited contact people who owe money to companies they are collecting debt on behalf of. If you’ve heard from Wescot debt collection, you may have defaulted on a credit agreement with a credit card company, or you could have an unpaid utility bill.

If you need help to deal with Wescot Credit Services Limited, click ‘Get Started For Free’ to see if we can deal with the debt collectors on your behalf.

Do Wescot Credit Services Limited buy debt accounts?

No, the company only provides credit collection services for other businesses, rather than buying debt portfolios themselves.

If you’ve received threats from Wescot Credit Services Limited and you’re not sure how you can afford your debt payment, make a phone call to our team at IVA Online at 0330 122 8447. We’ll be happy to share the information that you need to get your debt situation under control.

Who do Wescot Credit Services collect for?

Wescot Credit Services Limited act as debt collectors for numerous companies such as banks, utility companies and phone providers. If you have broken the terms of a credit agreement or have an unpaid bill with a business on their list, you may receive a call or a letter from Wescot Credit Services.

Wescot Credit Services are chasing me for someone else’s debt

Sadly the approach that debt collectors use means they often sent letters and make visits to addresses that their debtors no longer reside at. Under the debt collectors’ guidelines, they must remove your details from their collection process if you can provide ID to prove your identity. Do not wait to contact them if you receive a collections notice in the name of someone who does not live at your address.

What happens if you ignore Wescot?

If you ignore contact from debt collection agencies such as Wescot Credit Services Limited, then the debt collection process will likely escalate.

If you fail to agree to a payment method for your debt, then Wescot debt collection may take you to court to seek a County Court Judgement (CCJ).

What is a County Court Judgement (CCJ)?

A court issues a County Court Judgement to force you to take the legal responsibility for your debt. Courts may decide that you have to repay the debt in full, or through instalments.

How will a County Court Judgement (CCJ) impact me?

Unless you pay a County Court Judgement in full within the 30-day deadline, it will stay on your credit file for six years. It will negatively impact any applications that you make for further credit in this period, by lowering your credit rating.

How can I stop Wescot Credit Services from calling me?

Wescot Credit Services Limited use a range of collection tactics, such as frequent phone calls, to encourage debtors to repay as much as possible, as fast as possible. If you’d like to stop Wescot debt collectors from calling you, you have the following options:

• You can ask the company only to send letters about your account
• You can repay your debt in full
• You can agree debt repayments that Wescot debt collection are happy with
• You can convince them to take a settlement agreement that sees you repaying only part of the debt
• You can work with a debt solutions company who will deal with Wescot Credit Services Limited on your behalf.

If you would value free debt advice to understand your options, you can contact our team of experts on 0330 122 8447. We are happy to answer your questions and give you the information you need to decide how to solve your debt problem.

Do Wescot Credit Services Limited add interest and charges to my debt?

According to Wescot Credit Services’ website, they do not add interest or charges to the debt accounts that their debt collectors service. This policy is unusual. Debt collectors often add charges as soon as they take on your case and at each stage in the collection process.

Should I pay Wescot Credit Services Limited?

If you’d like Wescot Credit Services Limited to stop chasing you, then paying down your debt is one way to get them off of your back. The first step is to make sure that you recognise the source of the debt they are chasing you for and the amount.

If you do recognise the debt, then you have the following options:

• Repay the debt collectors in full with a lump sum if you have the funds to afford the entire payment
• Ask Wescot to consider a settlement arrangement
• Agree a repayment plan for your debt
• Work with a debt solutions company who can deal with the debt collectors on your behalf.

If you’d value support to deal with Wescot Credit Services Limited, contact us by clicking ‘Get Started For Free’.

How can I pay Wescot Credit Services?

You can make payments to Wescot Credit Services through the following payment methods:

• Debit card
• Standing order
• Direct debit
• Cheque
• Postal order
• Paypoint

You may be able to negotiate a payment plan based on what you can afford to repay, or a settlement agreement for a proportion of what you owe if Wescot Credit Services Limited believe it’s their best chance of recovering your money.

Can I overpay my debt repayment plan with Wescot Credit Services?

Wescot Credit Services Limited, like all debt collection agencies, are keen to get the maximum debt payment from you at any point in time. Their debt collectors will be happy to accept higher payments from you at any stage of the repayment process.

How can I contact Wescot Credit Services Limited?

You can reach the company through the following contact details:

• Phone calls: 01482 484673
• Email: contactus@wescot.co.uk
• Post: Wescot Credit Services Limited, PO Box 137, Hull HU2 8HF

Are Westcot Credit Services regulated?

Yes. Wescot are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Do Wescot send bailiffs?

Yes. As a last resort if Wescot Credit Services Limited do not receive a response to their letters, phone calls and debt collectors visits, then they may decide to take your case to court to increase their chances of recovering your money.

They may apply to the court for a County Court Judgement to force you to take the legal responsibility for your debt. Following this they may send a bailiff to organise the sale of your possessions at public auction to repay the money that you owe.

Can Wescot Credit Services enforcement agents break down my door?

In most circumstances, the debt collection agencies will send you a letter to let you know that they are sending bailiffs to your home, who will take an inventory of your property and then arrange for items to the value of your debt to be sold at auction.

Typically bailiffs do not force entry unless they are collecting for specific types of debt such as criminal fines, stamp duty and income tax, or if they have already been into your property and signed a controlled goods order with you. In any case, forcing entry usually involves the services of a locksmith rather than breaking down the door.

Where can I get free advice about debt collection agencies?

At IVA Online, we pride ourselves on the number of clients that we support to overcome their debt problems. We take the time to understand the unique circumstances of every individual who contacts us, and we support them in a respectful and professional manner.

We work with a variety of debt solutions providers, meaning we can look across the whole market to ensure that you get the best possible solution to repay your debts, and to pay the minimum amount possible.

We love receiving messages of thanks from the customers that we have helped to turn their lives around.

What rights do I have if Wescot Credit Services Limited contact me?

It’s a sad fact that a lot of the people who come to us for support have very negative experiences with debt collectors.

You have the following rights when dealing with debt collectors:

• By law, you should not experience bullying or be afraid for your physical safety during the debt recovery process.
• The debt collectors can not give you false information such as making a claim to have powers that they do not have.
• The debt collection business can not forge documents so they appear to be official court papers.
• The debt collectors can not visit you between 9 pm and 6 am, and they can’t push past you if they come to your home.
• The debt collectors can’t talk to your family member, neighbour or another person about your debt without your permission.

You also have the right to work with a specialist debt management company to help you to get your power back. Call us on 0330 122 8447. We’ll talk you through the steps available to you and will be happy to answer any question you have about your debt action plan.

Do Wescot Credit Services collect for HMRC?

No. Wescot Credit Services Limited are not one of the debt collection agencies that currently work for HMRC.

How do Wescot Credit Services make money?

Many debt collection businesses make money by buying debts for pence on the pound and then making a profit by collecting more money than they paid. However, Wescot Credit Services Limited no longer purchase debts as part of their business model. Now they make their money through the fees their clients pay them for the money they collect. Wescot may pay their staff members a bonus based upon the amount that they recover for the creditor, in order to keep them incentivised.

How can I make a complaint about Wescott Credit Services Limited?

In the first instance, you should complain directly to Wescot Credit Services Limited through one of the following channels:

• Phone: 01482 590500
• Email: customer.relations@wescot.co.uk
• Post: Customer Relations Team, Wescot Credit Services Ltd, The Mash, Jarratt Street, Hull HU1 3HB

We recommend that you keep a copy of everything that you send to Westcott debt in writing, including a copy of any complaint form that they ask you to complaint, in case your need to refer your case to other bodies.

I’m not happy with how Wescot Credit Services Limited have responded to my complaint.

If you are not happy with the final response that you receive from Wescot Credit Services Limited, then you have six months to escalate complaints to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). You can reach them through the following contact details:

• Website: www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk
• Post: Financial Ombudsman Service, Exchange Tower, Harbour Exchange Square, London. E14 9SR.

The OFT is no longer involved in this process.

If your complaint is related to a debt or a process that does not come under the remit of the FOS, then you can share it with the Credit Services Association (CSA) at www.csa-uk.com.

Will Wescot Credit Services Limited write off my debt if I can’t afford to pay?

Wescot Credit Services Limited may accept a settlement agreement if they believe it is their best opportunity to recover the money that you owe. However, debt collection companies can be tricky to deal with because their tactic tends to be to push you as far as possible to repay your debt in full.

Another solution is to join a debt repayment scheme with a business that acts for you. For example, we work with people who owe five thousand pounds or more to two or more creditors, and we support them to reduce their monthly repayments to what is an affordable amount, through an IVA.

Although it can sometimes feel like there is nothing you can do if you are drowning in debt, in our experience there is always at least one thing that you can do to improve your situation. Contact a debt agent on our team by clicking ‘Get Started For Free’.

How do I calculate how much I can afford to repay Wescot Credit Services?

Their debt collectors will be keen for you to repay the maximum amount possible. However, you must ensure that you complete a robust budget exercise to avoid leaving yourself short of money.

Start by listing out your total income and then list all of the essential expenses that you have to pay each month, such as rent, food, electricity, travel costs, etc. When you deduct your expenses from your income, please make a note of the answer and run the calculation another time to check it. The remaining numbers should indicate what you have left in your budget to put towards your debt. We recommend that you build in some money for contingency in case you receive an unexpected bill that you need to pay from the rest of your budget.

If you owe money to multiple creditors and this exercise shows that you do not have enough to make their minimum payments, contact our team at IVA Online and we’ll guide you to understand your options. We are not affiliated with any specific debt solution business so we can search across the whole of the market to get you the best set of conditions that see you repaying the minimum amount possible. We’ll also do our best to handle the debt collectors for you.

Do Wescot Credit Services have a good reputation?

At the time of writing this Wescot Credit Services and their debt collectors have a poor score of 1.8 out of five from 22 reviews on the review site Trustpilot. If you navigate to the review page, you will see names and comments from debtors who have dealt with these debt collectors. The negative comments include an article that talks about how the debt collectors called him frequently, another person who Wescot were chasing for a debt that did not belong him, people who mention difficulty contacting the debt collectors and many other claims of poor account handling.

How do Wescot Credit Services use my data?

These debt collectors have a privacy policy on their website, which explains how they use your data as you use the website. The Data Protection Act stops debt collectors from using your personal details for anything other than the debt collection process. In addition, in the process of chasing your debt, their debt collectors can not share details of your debt with other people.

Can Wescot Credit Services send me to prison?

No. Given the types of debt that their debt collectors chase for, they do not have the powers to send you to prison. However, they can take you to court and issue a CCJ which has a long term effect on your credit rating unless you repay it within a 30-day deadline. A CCJ will stay on your credit file for six years.

This picture is different if you are working with debt collectors from an agency that collects criminal fines, council tax, stamp duty, and income tax debts. In these cases, as a last resort, it is possible that in practice, you could receive a jail sentence for non-payment.

Do not let your debt situation escalate. Get the support you need to deal with the debt collectors, as early as possible.

How can IVA Online help me?

We support individuals with debt problems and people who are being chased by debt collectors to understand their options. This support typically involves finding a way to settle their debts while repaying the minimum amounts possible, on a basis that is affordable within their budget.

If you would like our team to connect you with free debt guidance, you can call us on 0330 122 8447 or click ‘Get Started For Free’.

What is an IVA?

An Individual Voluntary Agreement (IVA) is a means of repaying debts with multiple creditors by consolidating them into one affordable monthly repayment. It’s a legally binding agreement.

To secure an IVA, you would work with an Insolvency Practitioner to determine your debt repayment budget. The Insolvency Practitioner would then arrange a meeting with your creditors to ask them to approve your IVA request. The Insolvency Practitioner will need to persuade them that this is the best way for them to recover the maximum amount of money from you.

You will typically pay instalments for five years, after which time your creditors will write off any remaining debt on your account.

To find out if an IVA could work for you, click ‘Get Started For Free’.

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