ld13
Honorary Master
[TL;DR]
A company got an Emolument Attachment Order for a colleague of mine that had R1915.28 outstanding debt (that probably already prescribed). This after a debt collector led her into signing some documents that she probably should not have signed and then promised to call her to arrange a repayment amount. She offered R120pm as she cannot afford the suggested repayment of R653.18pm (12.31 payments totaling R7932.79*). They never called. She never received their EFT details. Our boss got served with the court order today.
My spidey senses detects gross misrepresentation. Help?
[/TL;DR]
I have been helping my colleague to get rid of her debt piece by piece over the past few years. She is a divorced mother with 2 kids. After rent and the children’s school fees she gets out about _R300_ for food etc etc. Obviously this is not enough to feed a household of 3 so the family helps her out wherever possible.
About the last two remaining creditors were ABSA and Sheet Street. We failed in getting any EFT details or account info out of latter so focused our sights on ASBA. The last payment to ABSA was in February 2012. We only managed to get confirmation from ABSA the other day (after a lot of begging) that all her debt towards them has been settled.
Then on 30/08/2012 she was ‘traced’ my some debt collection agency representing MBD Legal Collections / Coombe & Associates Attorneys after confirming her employment telephonically on 16/08/2012. They showed up on quite a busy day and demanded that she signs some forms for an outstanding account of Mr Price to the amount of R1951.28. I flatly refused that she signs anything as we as we did not know of such an account at all. After having a look at the documentation it turned out to be Sheet Street!
We were quite ecstatic and she immediately and specifically asked if their EFT details were included in the documents. The person representing MBD Legal Collections / Coombe & Associates Attorneys / Mr Price / Sheet Street reassured her that she does not have to worry and that all their details were contained within. She was not worried much as the amount outstanding was quite small.
The documents gave her a few options regarding repayment options but these were quite a bit above her abilities (R653.81 per month is a wee bit crazy). The representative of MBD Legal Collections / Coombe & Associates Attorneys told her not to worry about that and asked her just to write down an amount that she feels comfortable with and to sign next to it.
He then represented an income and expenses form to her and asked her to only fill in her total expenditure per month. The representative of MBD Legal Collections / Coombe & Associates Attorneys then reassured her that they will be giving her a call to have a chat about her suggested repayment amount as well as to fill in the income and expenses form more thoroughly. He did not want to give us a full copy of everything so I grabbed it all and pushed it through our scanner.
Today our local sheriff arrived with an Emolument Attachment Order date stamped 11/09/2012 in the Pretoria Civil court addressed to our boss for the mount of R653.81 per month.
I printed out my scanned copy of the documentation and I’m now working through it all. She signed:
Debtor report with the amount she is willing to pay per month*.
Income and Expenditure page, with only the total spenditure filled in.
Notice of default in term of section 129 of the NCA act 34 of 2005.
Demand in terms of the provisions of section 58 of act 32 of 1944.
Consent to judgment, offer to pay debt in instalments and emoluments attachment order in terms of sections 58 and 65J of act 32 of 1944 respectively. R120 offer clearly marked on this form.
Consent to jurisdiction I terms of section 45 of act 32 of 1944
*Also states one of the repayment options as 12.31 repayments of R653.81 totaling R7932.79. I am still trying to wrap my mind around how an R1915.28 outstanding amount can be come 12.31 repayments of R653.81 supposedly totaling R7932.79?
I feel that the representative of MBD Legal Collections / Coombe & Associates Attorneys misrepresented the documentation, did not provide us with the EFT details so that we could start payment and MBD Legal Collections / Coombe & Associates Attorneys did not deliver on the (mis)representative’s promise of a call about the repayment amount and to get more income & expense details.
I gave the whole lot a call but they are like a typical law firm: Sir but she signed.
What would one do in a situation like this? She cannot afford a lawyer …
A company got an Emolument Attachment Order for a colleague of mine that had R1915.28 outstanding debt (that probably already prescribed). This after a debt collector led her into signing some documents that she probably should not have signed and then promised to call her to arrange a repayment amount. She offered R120pm as she cannot afford the suggested repayment of R653.18pm (12.31 payments totaling R7932.79*). They never called. She never received their EFT details. Our boss got served with the court order today.
My spidey senses detects gross misrepresentation. Help?
[/TL;DR]
I have been helping my colleague to get rid of her debt piece by piece over the past few years. She is a divorced mother with 2 kids. After rent and the children’s school fees she gets out about _R300_ for food etc etc. Obviously this is not enough to feed a household of 3 so the family helps her out wherever possible.
About the last two remaining creditors were ABSA and Sheet Street. We failed in getting any EFT details or account info out of latter so focused our sights on ASBA. The last payment to ABSA was in February 2012. We only managed to get confirmation from ABSA the other day (after a lot of begging) that all her debt towards them has been settled.
Then on 30/08/2012 she was ‘traced’ my some debt collection agency representing MBD Legal Collections / Coombe & Associates Attorneys after confirming her employment telephonically on 16/08/2012. They showed up on quite a busy day and demanded that she signs some forms for an outstanding account of Mr Price to the amount of R1951.28. I flatly refused that she signs anything as we as we did not know of such an account at all. After having a look at the documentation it turned out to be Sheet Street!
We were quite ecstatic and she immediately and specifically asked if their EFT details were included in the documents. The person representing MBD Legal Collections / Coombe & Associates Attorneys / Mr Price / Sheet Street reassured her that she does not have to worry and that all their details were contained within. She was not worried much as the amount outstanding was quite small.
The documents gave her a few options regarding repayment options but these were quite a bit above her abilities (R653.81 per month is a wee bit crazy). The representative of MBD Legal Collections / Coombe & Associates Attorneys told her not to worry about that and asked her just to write down an amount that she feels comfortable with and to sign next to it.
He then represented an income and expenses form to her and asked her to only fill in her total expenditure per month. The representative of MBD Legal Collections / Coombe & Associates Attorneys then reassured her that they will be giving her a call to have a chat about her suggested repayment amount as well as to fill in the income and expenses form more thoroughly. He did not want to give us a full copy of everything so I grabbed it all and pushed it through our scanner.
Today our local sheriff arrived with an Emolument Attachment Order date stamped 11/09/2012 in the Pretoria Civil court addressed to our boss for the mount of R653.81 per month.
I printed out my scanned copy of the documentation and I’m now working through it all. She signed:
Debtor report with the amount she is willing to pay per month*.
Income and Expenditure page, with only the total spenditure filled in.
Notice of default in term of section 129 of the NCA act 34 of 2005.
Demand in terms of the provisions of section 58 of act 32 of 1944.
Consent to judgment, offer to pay debt in instalments and emoluments attachment order in terms of sections 58 and 65J of act 32 of 1944 respectively. R120 offer clearly marked on this form.
Consent to jurisdiction I terms of section 45 of act 32 of 1944
*Also states one of the repayment options as 12.31 repayments of R653.81 totaling R7932.79. I am still trying to wrap my mind around how an R1915.28 outstanding amount can be come 12.31 repayments of R653.81 supposedly totaling R7932.79?
I feel that the representative of MBD Legal Collections / Coombe & Associates Attorneys misrepresented the documentation, did not provide us with the EFT details so that we could start payment and MBD Legal Collections / Coombe & Associates Attorneys did not deliver on the (mis)representative’s promise of a call about the repayment amount and to get more income & expense details.
I gave the whole lot a call but they are like a typical law firm: Sir but she signed.
What would one do in a situation like this? She cannot afford a lawyer …
