Credit Card Nightmare

lonely2

Hi

Wondering if anyone has any advice for me re my husband's credit card (TSB). - Ready for a long story?

Having had the card for about 15 years he had never defaulted and always made payments on time with the result that his limit was £10,000 and he was pretty much maxed out on it. Last year he was late with payments a couple of times after being in hospital and then missed one payment which meant it went to their collections department. It was more difficult for him to make the monthly payment plus the missing month so he was just chipping away at the arrears which meant it stayed in collections and he kept getting tel calls and letters.

After only a couple of months a statement came through showing a credit limit of £1,000 and saying that he was £9,000 over limit and should pay this immediately.

Despite many calls to the collections dept, card services and customer support nobody could tell him why this had happened and therefore every month he is hit with overlimit charges.

He pays the minimum of around £200 per month (unable to pay any more due to living at his mum's and still paying half the mortgage etc.) but the balance only reduces by around £20 and the tel calls and letters are never ending.

We're not together at the moment and I have my own DMP but I'm trying to help him sort it out as in all honesty I spent as much as him on the card and want to get him sorted on some sort of plan. When I last spoke to customer support they said they might be able to change it to a loan so I gave them all his incomings/outgoings - he can obviously afford £200 per month as this is what he has been paying but they said they had to add on all sorts of other expenses for eating out, going to the cinema etc. so they said he could not afford the loan! Their advice was to send a budget statement to Collections dept offering the £200. I did this and sent the letter by recorded delivery.

Meantime, I spoke again with card services and they said it had clearly been a bank error which had put him in this position as the limit should not have been lowered like that. They advised to go into a local branch and try to get it sorted.

I did this and explained everything at the branch. She said their was nothing could be done at local branch level and phoned all the departments I had already spoken to.

Collections said they had not received the recorded delivery letter (after checking with Royal Mail I discovered TSB get bulk mail so don't have to sign for recorded deliveries - lesson learned there). Local branch have now faxed the letter and budget statement to Collections and I am awaiting a reply. Meanwhile the tel calls continue every day.

I have tried explaining that since his credit rating is now trashed due to them lowering his limit, he would not be accepted anywhere else for a loan or better credit card deal as his account has been in collections for a year. This means that he is now stuck with TSB paying the extortionate rate of interest as he has no other option.

I really have tried explaining this to all available departments at TSB but get no answers and nobody wants to help (lady at local branch said she thought they would be biting his hand off with a payment proposal of £200 per month).

Does anyone know if limit can be reduced so drastically like this and any advice on what to do. I'm desperate.

PS I took a letter of authorisation with me to the local branch so that I could discuss his account and she did not have a copy of his signature anywhere. Do you think this could mean they won't have the original CCA or would this be held elsewhere?

Thanks in advance for your help x

GeorgeUK

I would forget about phoning and write to the complaints department asking why his credit limit was reduced to £9k below his balance.

Personally, I would write to the banks stating that i was unable to meet the minimum payments required and offer a £1 token payment until they send the debt to a debt collection agency. Once they did that, i'd request a copy of the credit agreement and if they were unable to supply it within 12 working days, the debt becomes unenforcable.

I would also start claiming back all the charges they have been making for the past 6 years.

That's just me though. You are probably better getting in touch with one of the free debt charities for advice such as Citizens advice or CCCS.
(Taken from Fermi's signature)

Professional, free and impartial advice on debt problems can be obtained from several charitable and 'not for profit' organisations. They never make a penny from the advice they give, which means it will be given with only your best interests at heart. You can contact:

Your local CAB Office and ask to speak to a 'money advisor'
The Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS) - Tel: 0800 138 1111
National Debtline - Tel: 0808 808 4000
Payplan - Tel: 0800 917 7823

custardy

does the item show as delivered on RM's track and trace system?

Hopeful1

As said before keep everything in writing. In these situations, their words mean nothing as the right action rarely follows.

I would ask for a copy of their formal complaints procedure and start complaining again officially. If they do not respond to this satisfactorily
take your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman. You will be able to show you have tried to resolve the matter formerly with TSB.

In the meantime, is your husband making the payment of £200 per month anyway? If the money is accepted into the account, this again goes in his / your favour. They are as good as accepting the offer if they leave the money in the account. It also shows your husband is not trying to avoid the debt and is certainly a generous repayment offer (ensure it is what he can genuinely afford).

Are there charges on the account that can be reclaimed?

I would also request the CA as without this you would have a massively stronger case.

Best wishes

lonely2

Thanks for the advice.

Custardy - The item cannot be tracked because they did not sign for it. I phoned Royal Mail and they said that Companies who receive bulk mail do not have to sign for recorded deliveries. They just get them with the rest of their mail and a piece of paper to sign and return to Royal Mail but they don't usually return the paper. That's definitely a lesson learned for me to use Special Delivery in future.

GeorgeUK and Hopeful1. Thanks. The local branch faxed the letter and budget statement to collections then phoned them to confirm they had received it. I will give it a couple of days then chase this.

I'm not too confident about going down the CCA route as it's being going on so long now that I'm not up to any more hassle and I'm not disputing the debt just wanting to sort out a payment plan. I'm also really nervous about debt going to a DCA as I'm scared for my house (although he doesn't live here, he still pays half the mortgage which is in joint names.

If nothing heard in a couple of days I think I will go to the CAB.

Thanks again x

shinyhead

Personally I wouldn't wait for it to be passed on to a DCA. I'd send a CCA request to the TSB straight away. It's quite possible after 15 years they won't be able to find it. Never mind the hassle, if they don't come up with it as hopeful1 has said it gives you a massively stronger case and you can then take control. Then if they pass you on to a DCA you can always send off a CCA request to that agency. It seems to stop most DCAs in their tracks.

GeorgeUK's post has a lot going for it except as above I wouldn't wait for it to be passed to a DCA.

lonely2

Thanks shinyhead. I will definitely think about that once my head's clearer. I'm just quite afraid at the moment. Will give it a couple of days to see what happens

Cheers x

ickledee

If Royal Mail have delivered your item in a bulk delivery then they should be able to provide you with a copy of the bulk delivery sheet, even if it doesnt have a signature they usually have a stamp to show that the items have been checked and received