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cancelling contracts/direct debits - advice pls

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
So I will be moving house in the next week or so, and if I find somewhere that already has sky/Internet etc, then I won't need to transfer either from where I'm currently living......but as I'm currently tied into 12 month contracts on both, I was just wondering what's the legal consequences of just going into my bank and cancelling the direct debits for these? am i liable to get shafted in any way?.....would something like that affect my credit rating etc?

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    You'll still be charged, they'll just send you a bill cos they cant take it from your bank account.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    So I will be moving house in the next week or so, and if I find somewhere that already has sky/Internet etc, then I won't need to transfer either from where I'm currently living

    Do you mean you're moving in with someone who may already have sky/internet ? Or are you just moving house. If you're just moving house you can take your Sky/ISP with you.

    That's what we did, there was already a dish here, so we just took our box and cables for Sky with us and transferred the account to this address. Same with broadband, just transfered it to the new address and number. The Sky thing was instant, the broadband took a few days.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Glittery wrote:
    You'll still be charged, they'll just send you a bill cos they cant take it from your bank account.

    Okay, question: how will they know where to send the bill/track me down? I'm not planning on giving them my new address lol......

    yeah RS i mean if they already have sky/internet in the new place, otherwise i'll just transfer them across like i did last time......
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Ah right, so you'll be like moving in with friends or summat ?

    Well companies do have ways and means at their disposal to track you down, electoral roll for one. Sure there are many others. You could ask them to cancel their (the peeps you're moving in with) contracts, if they're not bound by them, and move over to yours ? But then i'd imagine they'd be happy with what they've got at the mo. Just a thought.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Okay, question: how will they know where to send the bill/track me down? I'm not planning on giving them my new address lol.....
    They'll send your bill to TheSite Towers and Helen will bombard your PM box with final demands :p

    Doing a moonlight flit on your bills is never a good idea, things always find a way of catching up with you.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Glittery wrote:
    Doing a moonlight flit on your bills is never a good idea, things always find a way of catching up with you.


    And, although i don't know for sure, it may affect your credit rating.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    If you cancel your direct debits and move, and don't pay your bills... it'll end up at debt collection who more than likely will find your new address. They can find you via the electoral roll, etc etc.

    And it will affect your credit rating, as you will be breaking your contract and so a default will show on your credit file.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    .
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    If you do a runner you may not be found for a while, but you will be found. If you default on your bill Sky will sell the debt to a Debt Collection Agency, and the DCA will find out where you are because its their money on the line. It's amazing what you can find out when you look hard enough, although it would take time for Sky to sell the debt to a DCA and then for the DCA to track you down.

    It probably would affect your credit rating as a default would show up, although there are ways and means of getting around this. It is possible to abscond on debt and get away with it, but you can't take any financial product with you when you go, otherwise there's a huge paper trail. Your bank will notify Sky or its appointed DCA where you are.

    You'd be better off paying your debt, to be quite honest, if you can afford to. DCAs are very nasty, and they will hound you as much as they can, especially if the fuckers get hold of your telephone number. It's amazing how many DCAs will tell you that you will go to prison and lose your house and children if you don't pay your debt- what's worse is that people believe them.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    sophia wrote:
    If it's a cable company you're with, you can tell them that you're moving to somewhere outside of the area they cover and then they have to release you from your contract early.

    They don't have to. I had this argument with Telewest.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    it WILL affect his credit rating.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Kermit wrote:
    It's amazing what you can find out when you look hard enough, although it would take time for Sky to sell the debt to a DLA and then for the DLA to track you down.

    Most debts aren't bought these days... maybe 5-10% are, but that's all. Most DCA's collect debts on behalf of the company.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    .
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Most debts aren't bought these days... maybe 5-10% are, but that's all. Most DCA's collect debts on behalf of the company.

    Our (personal and professional) experience is otherwise.

    Not that it bothers me personally, it means you can get some tasty deals if you offer a decent full and final settlement figure.

    But it does mean that you get the lying filth at the DCAs hounding and harrassing people into submission with fabricated threats of repossession and imprisonment. The DCAs know that people don't know the rules, and so say everything and anything in order to scare people into coughing up money they can't afford. Which is why if you do know the rules you can screw the bastards- I took great pleasure in making one DCA person cry when he rang me up at work (a large law firm) without my permission (I hadn't given him my number), reminding him that he was breaking the law with his call. He was snivelling, the pathetic little thing. I should frame the grovelling letter of apology I got.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    sophia wrote:
    Oh right. Well I was with NTL and moved outside of their area within the the contract period and they released us from it with no fuss.

    Telewest did with us after a big long fight.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    okay, well my main concern was my credit rating as i need a good one for my wheeling and dealing, so it's probably not worth the hassle.......i was just wondering how they'd go about tracing me, if they could trace the card i put down for DD payments and go to my bank etc, and find me from there........i guess i just want to understand how the whole trail works, how they'd trace it down to me as an individual and fuck my credit rating up......i'll probably just pay the bastards as the alternative sounds messy, but cheers for the advice peeps.
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