Littlewoods Catalogue refusing to change payment date

A question about : Littlewoods Catalogue refusing to change payment date

Hi, I’m not sure if this is the right place to post, but Ihave been sorting out my finances lately and wrote to all my debts and askedfor a reduced payment plan. Littlewoods agreed and it was going fine until Irealised they wanted the payment every 28 days and I could only pay on the 28thof every month as that’s when I get paid. I wrote to them and explained thesituation a couple of times (they ignored my first letter). When they finallyreplied it was a basic no they can’t change the payment date to the 28thof every month as the computer generates the statements every 28 days. Thismeans I sometimes need to pay twice in one month, which I can’t afford to doand consequently I get Ј12 charges almost every month. Can they do this? Isthere anything I can do about it?

Best answers:

• I'm sure that isn't right. I've had a Littlewoods account a long time and the payment has always been monthly. Perhaps try to call them again and speak to someone else.
  The two-payment month should only come round one or twice a year though, so surely you shouldn't be getting the Ј12 late penalty charge almost every month?
  Littlewoods are shysters... so glad my account with them now sits at 0!
• I'm getting the charges almost monthly because if I miss one payment then it just goes on to the next month so my minimum payment keeps going up and up and I can't afford to pay it. The debt was Ј3,324 and I have got it down to Ј1,495 so I'm doing well. Just frustrated that they wont help me out as I have had six Ј12 late payment fees since August (I seem to have had a run of them) and those six Ј12 are almost another payment that's just been wasted
• I presume your credit report isn't great?
  They can come to a monthly arrangement if they want, but they normally pass the account to collections who only do it if you complain and threaten the FOS for not helping you when in financial trouble and even then they don't always do it. Obviously, this won't do your credit file any good.
  Is it an old pre 2007 account or a later one.
  You need to do everything in writing with this lot.
  Good luck
  HB
• studio were the same ...they also wanted a payment every 28 days it was CAB that told me they were at it and somehow get 13 payments every year instead of 12
  littlewoods and studio were the only 2 and they wouldnt even set up a direct debit / standing order for the 28th ( or in my case the 1st every month )
• Thank you all for your replies.
  No my credit isn't good I'm working towards paying my debts off at the moment but it's a long and daunting road.
  I think (although would have to check to be definite) that it is a pre-2007 one because it started off as a Marshall Ward account and then switched to a Very account and then went over to Littlewoods.
  The agreement I had with them was set up back in December 2012 and I have never received any charges until August 2013, but now I seem to have a run of them. I've even being extra ever since September (apart from December) so I don't understand how they can keep charging me.
• Hi happy_bunny
  Thank you for your reply and sorry, but I'm going to sound really thick here. What is a CCA request? and whats an arrangement AP marker?
  Sorry, new to all this!
• Thanks for the tip happy_bunny. I'll check that out!
• We had exactly the same problem with littlewoods - I was dutifully paying every month (stupidly just looking at payment due, not due date) and suddenly the payment requested doubled, as it is indeed a 28-day payment cycle and it had cycled round to a double payment. I managed to get them to arrange for monthly but they basically wanted the entire balance over three months paying on the 1st of the month, but starting with a one month "break" (so I had a free month). They also froze the interest as part of that agreement. It meant Ј150 a month for those three months to get it paid off, but it was more than worth it, I'm so glad to be rid of it as it had been haunting me for well over a year. I say just try to get rid of it as soon as possible, it was nothing but hassle. Of course - the second it was paid off they sent me a letter with the "good news!" that they were doubling my credit limit . Never again!
• Completely unrelated, but I had a catalogue with this company.. Ј0.00 balance now, always pay within three months so I do not incur any interest. I probably spend about Ј200.00 every year with a Ј2,000 balance.
  I tried to order a washing machine and take advantage of a Buy Now Pay Later offer. It looked like the code was accepted online, then I called the underwriting team just to confirm acceptance and they said because the account was dormant for so long (I do not like owing money on the catalogue) they declined the code. I have since closed the account.