MBNA reduced payments help..cont

misstree_2 · 29 May 2009 at 11:59AM

Hi all.
I've already posted his in the 'Credit Card section' but was advised to post it here, as this is a more suitable place. I'll provide a link for the other thread, as there are replies on it.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=21958615#post21958615

I recently went to the C.A.B to get advice on lowering my monthly payments to MBNA. I owe a little under £9000 and my monthly payments go from anything from £115 - £145. I no longer have a card and haven't since back last year some time. My monthly payment is barely covering..or even not, the interest that goes on monthly.

The advice I was given was to do an income and expenditure form and to contact them with an offer. I have done this and have offered them £50 per month. I received a letter back, asking me to telephone them to discuss this further, which I did about an hour ago.

This is what I sent them..

Please note, all calulations will be based on monthly figures.
Incomings
Incapacity and DLA benefit - £551.00

Outgoings

Council Tax - 30.00
Water rates - 30.00
Gas - 30.00
Electicity - 40.00
Builings and Contents
Insurance - 30.00

Phone - 15.00
Travel/Petrol - 30.00
Catalogues - 56.00
Other Credit Cards - 16.00
Housekeeping/
Shopping - 160.00
Other/Loan - 60.00
TOTAL - 497.00
__________________________
Income - £551.00
Ougoings 497.00
Bal left £54.00
This is an accurate record of my financial position on 10 May 09.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The guy I spoke to went through the figures and asked for more info on how I've been managing to make the payments. I told him that the last few months I've been borrowing money from family and friends to make up the payments, but I can't do this any longer. He asked eactly how much I borrowed, how much I repay and how often. I couldn't give him a clear answer as it differs, and sometimes I can't afford to pay a certain amount.

He recalculated and got a figure of £365 and said that I could afford to pay in the region of £100 per month! I know that this is impossible, and can't even see where the figure he got came from. He confused me so much that I agreed to take another look at my finances and see if there's anything I haven't put down. He also said that I need to be more specific with the 'other/loans' part and that if I go out socialising that I need an exact figure. My needs will obviously differ slightly from month to month, like if an emergency of some kind comes up.

I really don't know how to proceed now, and am feeling so stressed and low from the phonecall. I am a grown woman sitting here almost in tears with fear of this company, which is ridiculous!
I need to ring them back withen the next couple of days with some sort of better offer?

What can I do?

I've had trouble with them before so am used to them being not very understanding.

GeorgeUK · 29 May 2009 at 12:08PM

To get a clear idea of all your expenditure, it may be best if you post up a full statement of affairs. The SOA calculator will help with that.
http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

If you phone them again, ask for a breakdown of the figures he comes to. If you don't pay your catalogues or cut back on food, then of course you can pay. Sounds like bankers logic to me.

We're here with all the backup you need. No need to be afraid of them.

Have you had any bank charges that you can reclaim?
Does the account have payment protection insurance? Was it missold?

Are you in Scotland or England? You may have different options depending on where you are.

misstree_2 · 29 May 2009 at 1:14PM

Hi George, thanks for your reply.

I have asked them several times to breakdown the figures and offer me more of an explanation, but they just won't comply and tell me that my figures aren't right. I shan't be discussing this again over the phone, although yesterday I was at a very low point and decided that no-one could make me feel any worse, so rang again and got someone to actually take a payment from me, regarding this months. The person I spoke to the day before had refused to take anything but the full min monthly payment, so at least that's something.

I am gathering so much advice and info about all this that my head is spinning, but this needs addressing. The SOA I will look at in more depth and I need to check that all my figures are totally accurate.

No I haven't gone done the reclaiming bank charges route and no there isn't any payment protection.
One thing I've been advised to do is write to them regarding the CCA.

I live in Wales.

GeorgeUK · 29 May 2009 at 1:51PM

If you have charges that you could reclaim, you should send a Subject access request to get a copy of both the transactions and the agreement. Doing a basic CCA request will not usually provide you with a copy of the original document, rather a reporoduction that they create using data from their system as they do not need to provide a document with your signature. With the SAR, they do.

Credit Agreements signed before 6th April 2007 must have certain terms on them to be enforcable. If the agreement doesn't have those terms, then it may not be enforcable (but if you stop paying, they usually put a default on your account). If it was taken out after 2007 then the prescribed terms are not necessarily required and whether you had to pay or not would be at the discretion of a judge.

Cheeky_One · 29 May 2009 at 3:06PM

Hi
I used to work in a team which dealt with reduced payments. Looking at your SOA, the only thing I can see wrong is that you've included payments to your other creditors in your outgoings. You should remove these from your outgoings as all creditors should be treated the same i.e. if you are offering reduced payments to one, you should do that to all. If you take out your payments to your other creditors, you are left with £365 in your expenditure. Which leaves you with £186 per month with which to pay your creditors.

Creditors (including loans - as long as they're not secured and catalogues) should be offered repayments on a pro-rata basis - the one with the highest balance should get the largest share of the payment. To work out pro-rata payments, you should use the following formula:

Disposable income (£186) multiplied by the separate creditor balances divided by the total debt owed.

I hope this helps but you should try not to worry about it. There are other agencies who can help & won't charge you for their services such as the CCCS (Consumer Credit Couselling Service). They will contact all creditors on your behalf & any repayments to them will be made by the CCCS if they can take you on a Debt Managment Plan. You should give them a call.

Hope the above helps & possibly clarifies things for you.

I_luv_cats · 29 May 2009 at 3:58PM

Really you are paying too much to your creditors. I would expect only token payments (if any) if you are on benefits.

I would seek the advice of National Debt Line / CAB or CCCS to your best way forward.

Bankruptcy may be a way forward as your debts are going to take over 13 years to clear (without any interest and charges)

Bankruptcy would give you a fresh start and free you from all the worry and stress.

misstree_2 · 2 June 2009 at 3:33PM

I sent off for my CCA over the weekend, but when checking the copy I had saved, I realised that I had done a very stupid thing and not included my address on the letter. Although they can get it from my account number, should I rely on that or resend the letter with another £1 fee?
I don't want them using my error as an excuse not to reply, so what would be advised?
I didn't sign the letter but am worried that they have my signature from previous letters and could use it in an unscrupulous manner, as I've read worries over some companies doing that. I guess though, that there's nothing I could do about that.

I want to do the SAR too, but haven't got the £10 fee at the mo.

I've also rang the council tax and spoke to someone who explained things quite well and the outcome is that I'm not as much in arrears from last year as I thought and my monthly payment is now reduced, so at least one good thing has happened.

MBNA reduced payments help..cont

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