BWLEGAL | March 2024 - All You Need To Know 
bwlegal

March 2024

A Complete Guide To Bwlegal in March 2024

This article will explain all you need to know about bwlegal.

Who are BW Legal Debt Collectors?

BW Legal are Leeds-based debt collectors. BW Legal Services Limited have been working in debt recovery since 2009, when they first started up. Their address is BW Legal, Enterprise House, 1 Apex View, Leeds LS11 9BH

It is the job of BW Legal to conduct debt collection for both business customers and commercial customers. 

You can find out more about who BWlegal are and how they operate at bwlegal.co.uk.

Topics that you will find covered on this page

You can listen to an audio recording of this page below.

Who are they collecting on behalf of?

BW Legal work as debt collectors for business and commercial clients. If BW Legal debt recovery contact you it is because you are thought to be indebted to one of the companies they work for. 

Some of the companies BE Legal act as debt collectors for are:

  • HMRC 
  • Phone companies such as O2 and EE
  • N Power and other electricity and gas companies  
  • Virgin Media
  • Parking ticket issuing companies 

Even though your initial debts will not have been with BW legal, debt repayments must be made to them. You cannot send payments to the initial creditors. 

Are BW legal bailiffs? 

BW Legal are in no way bailiffs. So, they cannot force entry into your home or take any of your possessions. 

However, BW Legal might take court action. If a county court judgement (CCJ) is issued, then bailiffs can be dispatched to your house on behalf of BW Legal. BW Legal will always write to you and warn you that you are being taken to court for your outstanding debt. 

Moreover, BW legal can send members of their agency to your home to try to retrieve your debt. Whilst they are not bailiffs, this can be a little threatening. However, you do have the right to turn BW Legal away from your home and ask them to contact you via letters or telephone calls.

Will BWlegal send bailiffs to my home? 

If you owe debts and continue not to pay them, debt collection companies normally involve the bailiffs. Bailiffs come to your property and take items with a joint value equal to the amount you owe. 

Before BWlegal can send bailiffs to your home, they must get legal approval from the court. Before this happens you will be contacted many times, to make sure you know of the potential court action. 

This is why our advice is to never ignore letters and calls from BWlegal. The best thing to do to stop the court and bailiffs getting involved is to resolve the debts as soon as you can.

Could BW Legal debt collection take my home?

BW Legal cannot seize your home without agreement from the court. 

If you are not able to repay your debts, or refuse to do so, BW Legal could contact the courts. If the courts grant legal permission, your property could be taken to cover the amount of debt you owe. 

You will always be contacted many times if the court is getting involved. This is so that you know what is happening, and can ideally resolve the debt to stop it actually going to court. 

How can I stop BW Legal debt collection from contacting me?

Letters and phone calls from BW Legal can be irritating, but you should never simply ignore them. 

There are two potential reasons why BW Legal are sending you letters and phone calls. You either owe debts to one of their clients, or they are contacting you by mistake. 

If you think you shouldn’t have to pay the debts BW Legal say you owe, then you may be able to stop the letters and calls. Our advice is to ring them and ask they send a letter containing proof that you owe the debts. 

This ‘proof’ is normally a copy of the original agreement/contract you had with the creditor. The creditor is one of the companies they do debt recovery for. This proof is important, for example some people are contacted by mistake.

BW Legal debt

If this is the case you can stop BW Legal chasing you, and they can instead request the debt off of the person that is responsible. 

The other possible situation is that you do need to pay the debt. In this case, you cannot stop BW Legal contacting you altogether. You should never totally ignore them, as interest might accrue on your debt. This will make your situation and payments much worse. 

However, you can request that they only contact you in a certain way. For example, many people do not want the debt collection agency turning up at their door. So, they ask the agency to only write letters. 

Our advice is to always maintain written communication, so that you have proof of everything that has been said and done regarding your debt. However, some people do like to have phone calls too. 

Always make sure you read any letter you are sent from BW Legal carefully. 

"Letters and phone calls from BW Legal can be irritating, but you should never simply ignore them. There are two potential reasons why BW Legal are sending you letters and phone calls. You either owe debts to one of their clients, or they are contacting you by mistake."

What is a statute barred debt?

This is the fancy way of saying debts are ‘written off’. A debt that is statute barred meets the following conditions:

  • There has been no written confirmation by the person that owes the debt admitting it is theirs during the limitation period 
  • No payment has been made to the debts in the limitation period

The limitation period is 6 years in England and 5 in Scotland. The limitation period begins from the date of the last payment you made. If you have acknowledged the debt in a letter you sent then the date of this letter marks the start of your limitation period.

Remember, if you have a joint debt the other person must also not have admitted to the debt in a letter, or made a payment during this time. 

These regulations are stated in the 1980 Limitation Act. If these conditions are met, your debt is ‘statute barred’. If you have a statute barred debt it means firms like BW Legal can no longer chase you to pay the debt. 

Statute barred debts are rather complicated things. Whilst we have explained these debts briefly above, our advice is to read up more about statute barred debts if you think you might be able to write your debt off. 

You can find further help and advice on statute barred debts, and how the rules differ between Scotland and England, here .

How can I write off my BW Legal debt? 

BW Legal debt may be able to be written off, as mentioned above.

That said, there is a set process that must be stuck to if this is to actually happen. 

If you live in Wales, Northern Ireland, or England this involves an Individual Voluntary Agreement, or IVA for short. If you live in Scotland there is a ‘Scottish IVA’, officially known as a protected trust deed. 

With an IVA you may have an affordable repayment each month for a fixed period of time. After this time the outstanding amount is written off. 

In most of the UK the IVA lasts for 60 months, so you make 60 small payments. If you have a Scottish IVA you will be paying off the debt for 48 months before it is written off. 

After the IVA period is up then an insolvency practitioner will write your debt off. BW Legal debt collectors can not write off the BW Legal debt themselves. 

Once you pay all the IVA payments and have your BW Legal debt written off you will need to fix your credit score. When you are involved with debt collectors, your credit score will fall. This can make it tricky to get loans or mortgages later on. 

After your BW Legal Debt is written off, your history with BW Legal will still be viewable on your credit file for 12 months. Luckily, you can start credit score recovery today. Make sure you pay bills on time, and spend wisely. 

How do I arrange an IVA with my debt collectors?

An official IVA company that is regulated by the financial conduct authority will need to arrange the contract. They will also double check you are eligible. 

While the IVA company can give advice, we recommend getting help from friends, family, or even a service such as Citizen’s Advice

Debt Recovery

How else could I resolve my debt with BW Legal? 

Debt collectors don’t just go away if you ignore them. To stop debt collectors contacting you, you have to resolve the payment somehow. 

Above we discussed how debts might be ‘written off’. Now, we are going to give advice about other ways of dealing with BWlegal. 

  1. Pay BW Legal today 

If you agree that the debt is owed, then the optimal thing to do is to pay it off. The sooner you pay BW Legal the better. Debt collectors tend to charge interest, so delaying payments even by a number of days could increase the cost. 

However, we know that for many people the amount owed may be too high. Paying it all off right away is simply not an option for some.

  1. Apply for a repayment plan with BW Legal

If your debt amount is too high, you can arrange a repayment plan with BW Legal. During repayment plans the debt collection agency won’t charge interest, so your debt wont keep rising. 

You can also discuss what you would like and are able to pay back each month, to work with BW Legal and find a plan that works for you. 

Sometimes, however, BW Legal Debt Collectors won’t be able to offer a repayment plan that is affordable for you. This is because there is only so low BW Legal and other debt collectors are willing to go with repayment options. 

Our advice is to speak to the BW Legal debt collectors today and see what your options are. The longer you leave dealing with debt collection, the greater the interest you will have to pay BW Legal. 

  1. Declare bankruptcy 

Declaring yourself as bankrupt to BW Legal might feel daunting, but could be your best option. 

If debt collectors are chasing you for £5,000+ then you can apply for bankruptcy. If the Insolvency Agency’s appointed adjudicator grants bankruptcy then some of your assets may be taken to pay off your BW Legal Debt. 

After, 12 months of being bankrupt your BW Legal Debt gets written off. However, bankruptcy is a last resort for most people dealing with debt collectors. Our advice is to speak to BW Legal first about how else you could resolve your debt.

  1. Apply for a debt relief order to resolve your BW Legal Debt

This is another way that your BW Legal debt could get written off. 

It is an official agreement that means no interest is charged and no repayments due on your BW Legal debt UNLESS your financial situation improves. 

The agreement lasts a year; once the year is up your BW Legal Debt is written off. The BW Legal debt collectors wont be able to bother you anymore! 

However, remember you will have to make repayments to the debt collectors if your financial situation does improve. The other drawback with this method of dealing with debt collection is that it stays on your credit file for 6 years. 

If you are worried about how a debt relief order can impact your credit, then you could deal with your debt collectors with a debt management plan instead. Our advice is to get started today, to avoid interest building up with the debt collectors.

  1. Use a debt management plan to deal with debt collectors

This debt collection solution is a bit more flexible, as it is an informal agreement with your debt collectors. You will choose an agency to set up the management plan with and pay them a set amount each month.

Debt management plans can be used to deal with non-priority debts and their debt collectors. This means they cant be used if debt collectors are contacting you about council tax, child maintenance, court fines, and many other priority debts.

Another drawback is that interest will still be added and your credit score will still fall under a debt management plan

However, some plans are free and others even flexible, meaning you can modify them if your income changes!

What if I decide to make a complaint?

If you wish to complain about BW Legal, you should first complain to them directly. Send them a copy of your complaint to the following address:

BW Legal, Enterprise House, 1 Apex View, Leeds LS11 9BH

If you are unsatisfied with BW Legal’s response then you can pass the complaint onto the Financial Ombudsman.

Article author

Katy Davies

I am a keen reader and writer and have been helping to write and produce the legal content for the site since the launch.   I studied for a law degree at Manchester University and I use that theoretical experience, as well as my practical experience as a solicitor, to help produce legal content which I hope you find helpful.

Outside of work, I love the snow and am a keen snowboarder.  Most winters you will see me trying to get away for long weekends to the slopes in Switzerland or France.

Email – [email protected]

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Frequently Asked Questions

Who are BW Legal Debt Collectors?

BW Legal are Leeds-based debt collectors. BW Legal Services Limited have been working in debt recovery since 2009, when they first started up. Their address is BW Legal, Enterprise House, 1 Apex View, Leeds LS11 9BH

Will BWlegal send bailiffs to my home? 

If you owe debts and continue not to pay them, debt collection companies normally involve the bailiffs. Bailiffs come to your property and take items with a joint value equal to the amount you owe. 

How do I arrange an IVA with my debt collectors?

An official IVA company that is regulated by the financial conduct authority will need to arrange the contract. They will also double check you are eligible. 

While the IVA company can give advice, we recommend getting help from friends, family, or even a service such as Citizen’s Advice

What if I decide to make a complaint? 

If you wish to complain about BW Legal, you should first complain to them directly. Send them a copy of your complaint to the following address:

BW Legal, Enterprise House, 1 Apex View, Leeds LS11 9BH

If you are unsatisfied with BW Legal’s response then you can pass the complaint onto the Financial Ombudsman.

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