~I agree - as long as you have agreed to installments you cannot be seen as refusing to pay!!!
Just a note re bailiffs - if they ever come round to take stuff, tell them it all belongs to your OH (or parents or someone!) and then they have to get a proper list of everything drawn up to see what if anything you do own.... takes a while longer and gives you some time to sort stuff out.
I've recently had a similar problem with an old debt from the pub (just over ??100) a company called the AIC text !! me to ask me to ring them, so i did..... they then agreed ??5 week with me. I got a one ringer from them about a week later, then another a week after that, then a text message asking me to ring them. When i did noone knew anything about it.... then a couple of months later i got a snotty letter saying that i was refusing to pay and i had to fill in a financial statement for them or the bailiffs would be round. (I wasnt working at this point) so i rang them. I was told I was useless because I wasnt earning and being a stay at home mum was no excuse, so I lost it and played hell with the receptionist (who wouldnt put me through to a manager or even the person I had dealth with previously), pointed out that I'd been paying for a couple of months, and told them to stick their letter up their arse. Never heard anything from them again, until a couple of weeks ago when I stopped the SO, and they sent me a cheque for an over paymet I'd made, addressed to a complete stranger!!!!!!
So i rang them and asked what the hell it was only to be told I would have to send the cheque back recorded delivery before they would send me a correct one, but they were adamant that the details on the original cheque were right - So I sent them a snotty letter with the ripped up chq back, telling them that as it was now money they owed to me, they had 7 days to get the chq to me before I started claim proceedings... :lol: I also asked for an apology for their discriminative staff, though I doubt I'll get one.
Sorry for going off on a tangent there.....
but you've paid half of it, and have offered installments. Write down the time and dates of any conversations with them, and ask them to send you a financial statement to fill in, and they cant do anything to you!
Good luck hon
xxxx