Help needed please!!

Ronson21

Hi people,

I've used this forum as a valuable tool in the past for advice but have today registered as an unexpected development has occured with my problem.

To cut a long story short I ran up a debt of approx £60k on various credit cards and loans. I struggled by, "borrowing off Peter to pay Paul" until about 6 months ago when my wife found out about all of my debt by accident. To be honest it was a relief when she did as all the secrecy was not good. She hit the roof but thankfully has stood by me. I went to see an I.F.A and he basically gave me 2 options. Bankrupcy, or use a very close family member who had offered to help me out of this mess by means of a re-mortgage. After thinking long and hard we decided against bankrupcy and take up the extremely kind offer to help me out. The I.F.A advised that once the funds were raised he would negotiate on my behalf with all my creditors and agree "Full and Final Settlement Figures" which would mean that although I would probably be given some Default Penalty Notices the debt would be cleared and the consequences would be much less severe than bankrupcy. From the outset I wrote to all creditors and explained the situation. Some reacted better than others, freezing interest and accepting vastly reduced payments. Others have been constantly on the phone hasttling for money I haven't got.

Anyway, the funds were released last week and I've been able to settle most of my accounts at approx 90% of the amount I owed as the money raised was 90% of my total debt. This is with one exception!!! I got a £15k loan with Beneficial Finance approx 2 years ago. They have sent me a court summons and quoted a settlement figure of £22k to cover "recovery charges". My I.F.A. has spoke to their solicitors and managed to get that down to £18k but as I've based everything on 90% this is still about £5k more than I was hoping to pay - meaning there is not enough left to pay other creditors. While I totally appreciate this problem is all my own doing I feel this is totally unreasonable behaviour on their behalf - after all I paid my monthly payments of nearly £300 for 18 months and they still want back substancially more than I borrowed.

Can anyone offer any advice please? My I.F.A. has been very helpful and he feels I should maybe take a chance and go to court. The other 7 creditors have all entered negotiations without the need for solicitors - some accounts have been settled over the phone while others required offers in writing, which have been sent out and I'm waiting for replies.

I'm not fully aware of what will happen if I go to court so any advice would be very appreciated. Is it possible to have the hearing moved to a court nearer my home for example??

Thanks in advance for any advice.

rayday2

My parents took Beneficial to court years ago I would go get a free session with a solicitor and see what they say.

It is possible to get a court set near you, have you spoken to the national debtline? They would probably be helpful to you in this matter.

Ronson21

Thanks for that. My I.F.A. has again spoke to Beneficials solicitor this morning and they won't give an inch. I've spoken to the court and they have told me to put a written offer to the solicitors and copy the court too. If they still won't accept then the chances are it'll be moved to court nearer me. I've added up and I've already paid back about £5k to them in monthly payments. I can't believe they are being so unreasonable. My worry now is that they force me into bankruptcy in which case the re-mortgage on my family members house will have been a totally pointless exercise. I can't see why they would do that and get nothing when I'm making them a reasonable offer in the first place? They may deem it as unreasonable but thats only due to the grossly over the top charges they have applied!!!

Thanks again for advice. Much appreciated. Has anyone else had any bad dealings with Beneficial Finance out of curiosity?

Merlot

I had a thought, when you took out the loan, did you purchase PPI (payment protection insurance), if so, take a look at Martins advice on this:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/ppi-loan-insurance

Merlot.x.

Ronson21

Merlot wrote: »

I had a thought, when you took out the loan, did you purchase PPI (payment protection insurance), if so, take a look at Martins advice on this:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/ppi-loan-insurance

Merlot.x.

I don't think I did but I will dig out the paperwork and have a look. Thanks for that Merlot.

Edit: Just checked and no PPI on loan.

Ronson21

Quick update.

I've submitted my Addmission to the court and offered them nearly £14k (which they quoted as a settlement figure in June - but I didn't have the funds available to pay it then!!!). Hopefully they will accept this as I really don't want to go to court as I'm scared to death. I think this is a reasonable proposal but I guess we'll have to wait and see. Watch this space. Thanks again to those who offered advice.

pepe2008

If you've already sent your Admission back, then its now up to the Court. However, you've taken reasonable steps to resolve the situation and you are making a more than reasonable offer so that looks good on your part.

Good Luck with it all, the Courts are more freindly than you think and can take a very dim view of greedy Loan Co's....especially if they feel that he Courts time is being wasted just because of this!

I had one Co try at Court to increase my payments on a judgement....it cost THEM £90+ in Fees and they got told where to go:rotfl: :rotfl:

Ronson21

Thanks Pepe, feel a bit better after reading your post. Glad you think I'm making a reasonable offer as I just want this whole thing sorted out so me and my family can move on from this.

I'll post any further updates as and when.

Thanks again.

Ronson21

Hello again,

I've not posted in regard to this for a while as I've not heard anything back - until yesterday when I received an "Allocation Questionnaire" from the court.

This is pretty heavy reading and I'm not sure how to go about filling it in. I was gonna contact my I.F.A. later and see what he suggests but I've a feeling this is way above his field of expertise. Would I be wise contacting a solicitor or the C.A.B. or is there anyone else more suited?

Can't believe they haven't accepted my offer, especially when all my other creditors have been generally helpful and sympathetic.

Any help or advice would be gratefully received.

Thanks in advance.