[Tomkat]

DON'T get aggressive or into the "these are my rights!"/"this isn't legal!" argument. No matter how you look at this, you have broken the law and have borrowed £600 which you never paid back.

I've had debt collection companies contact me too, when I was uni and failed to pay a couple of bills. I rang them up, chatted with them about my situation and why I hadn't paid, and we came to a mutual arrangement. I think it's the same for most companies. They'll obviously send you a threatening letter because if they sent a casual "would you mind paying us please thankyou please" letter then you'd probably discard it until it became a bit more serious.

Phone them up with a humble, reasonable attitude and explain your situation. Tell them you are eager to pay off this debt as soon as possible but aren't sure if £50 a month is affordable, as you have a small child now. The more penitent you are, the better.