I can't believe conversation i just had with creditor, why bother repaying???

mrelephant_2

I cannot believe the conversation i have just had with MBNA helpline representative.

All you worriers out there may as well just stop right now.

I am £62k in debt to 7 creditors, have recently been using Spectrum Debt Management Services, i say recently, thats because i have binned them off after providing poor service and following lots of advice on this site, have realised i have only been getting ripped of anyway.

My current income is less than my outgoings soi have been making £1 token payments or so i was led to believe by Spectrum. Turns out when i phoned MBNA, they haven't received anything at all from them (good job ive ditched them).

Anyway, i rang MBNA to let them know i would be increasing my payments to £3 per mth as i was now using the percentage fees i had been paying Spectrum to increase my token payments.

Well i couldn't believe what i was told, they said we are glad you have chosen to get rid of Debt collecting agency and are offerring to increase repayments, however this will not be enough to stop your outstanding payments being sold onto another party. They then went on to tell me that i would find most of my creditors would not continue accepting such a minmal payment for long before choosing to pass on my debt to someone else.

I did say that i was trying the best i could, (but seems this is not good enough) i did point out that i had thought of making myself bankrupt and the guy from MBNA said that would cost me several hundred pounds and if i could afford to that then why cant i afford to increase my repayments? I was getting annoyed by now because there was i trying to keep them informed i am making the effort to increase my repayments no matter how minimal and here's this guy being like this. I replied that in that case i will wait for one of my creditors take me to court and make me bankrupt, but he said that as i am in work i would find non of my creditors would do this as they would not get anything in return. All that will happen is that my debts will be passed on and on and on with nothing more than the threatening of court action letters being sent, i've had so many of them in the last 12mths i just laugh at the wasted labour gone into producing them

So simply ask yourself, if your credit rating is already poor, as mine is why bother worrying about meeting repayments or even better why make them more than a couple of pounds, just make your outgoings look as reasonably close to your incomings as you can and then make the minimal payments as you can and stick spare money into a high interest account prefferable in someone elses name (just incase you do get taken for bankrutacy) that way you dont have it taken from you.

I know this may be a negative attitude for getting myself out of debt, but it is certainly a positive experience for stopping me and hopefully others out there, worrying about meeting repayments and the threatening court action letters that come in, as for the annoying phone calls, i simply rang BT and got my number changed, non of my creditors have my number now,,HA HA HA

Annie_Fanny

Don't let the turkey sh*theads get you down Mr Elephant. Did you get this person's name/operator number? If yes report him to the CEO of MBNA straight away. Ignore what he said, maybe he is in debt himself, maybe he was having a bad hair day, maybe he was just plain RUDE - whatever the reason you have got to stick with the mantra that all that matters at the moment is YOU and getting this life sucking debt sorted. YOU CAN DO IT. Time to wipe the slate clean and get on with your targets and goals.

Have you been in touch with the many organisations that give free debt advice? I will find the addresses and post them up here for you. Spectrum may have f*cked up but it won't happen again.

Sorry all I seem to do is write ranty emails!

Annie_Fanny

http://www.cccs.co.uk/

http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/cabdir.ihtml

http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/debt_advice.php

This will keep you going!

Good luck! Post back and let us know how you are getting on!

sparkle84

So simply ask yourself, if your credit rating is already poor, as mine is why bother worrying about meeting repayments or even better why make them more than a couple of pounds, just make your outgoings look as reasonably close to your incomings as you can and then make the minimal payments as you can and stick spare money into a high interest account prefferable in someone elses name (just incase you do get taken for bankrutacy) that way you dont have it taken from you.

Actually that exactly what I have decided to do for six months, I have been off work ill but have now returned on full pay, I am on a DMP with cccs paying 5 creditors £5 per month, all my creditors have stopped the interest and charges and when I have saved £4,500 I will up my payments to £300 a month, the reason I am doing this is having been off ill I want to have at least 3 months salary in savings. I believe a lot of people get into a spiral of debt by having no money at all saved for emergencies (not holidays, treats or clothes) so I am doing this because I think it is right for me - so if my boiler breaks down I can pay to have it fixed with out borrowing or freezing simple really

mrelephant_2

My thoughts exactly Sparkle,,, get some savings behind me for a few months then later in year look to using my spare cash towards making more substantial repayments

mrelephant_2

Yes Annie

ben intouch with national debtline and CAS, both recommend bankrutancy, waiting to speak to Payplan when they are back at work 3rd Jan.

I am reluctant to go down bankruptancy road at the moment because i am in middle of trying to get a financial settlement from my recent dicorce, i could come into anything from zero to £30k, so going bankrupt now would mean that what ever i receive from divorce will automatically be snatched from me before i even get a chance to negotiate any possible settlement payments to my creditors so rather than go bankrupt and inherit all the negatives that go along with it i'd rather just hang in for now with my minmum token payments and try to get some savings behind me too, just like Sparkle is suggesting.

I may also consider the option of going for an IVA depending on what the minimum monthly contributions would be to settle a £62k debt over 5yrs, dont suppose you have any idea have you? Think i saw somwhere on this site some guy was paying around £380 per mth on an IVA to clear a £100k debt seems low repayments to me.

saverio

Mr Elephant, I know exactly what you're going through (see my earlier post below),
MBNA are the rudest and most repugnant people ever to do business with - quite honestly they are no better than crack dealers outside of schools.

Our credit rating is already destroyed- and will be until all arrears and payments are brought up to date - so that threat as you point out is a hollow one. I get on average one to two phone calls a day from debt collection agencies, all for MBNA. I am seriously considering ringing the press, and seeing if a story could be written about the methods these people use to harrass creditors.

I can honestly say that the best people who i've ever dealt with have been Barclaycard. The minute you ring to tell them that you're having difficulties, they freeze charges, and try and agree a payment plan. I looked at bankruptcy, but it only really works if you only have yourself and your trousers to support- like the student I overheard. No good when you have a house,partner and daughters!

What i'd love t oknow is what happens when credit card companies or lenders get a situation like longbridge, where a whole community is out of work sufddenly with no hope of re-employment.

I am in the same situation but with half the amount of debt. I need to wait till new year to see if my companies threats of paycuts-again is true, if it is, then one is truly shafted as they say.

Stick in there - I have, only because i feel that i owe it to myself to repay my debts rather than bail out on them. the truth is, they are only there to get money and screw you. We as an honest minority must find a way of creating some justice for us.

I knew of a man, who worked with a relative of mine. He was from south africa, went into a township, paid a bloke to apply for a passport with his picture, came over here, worked like a good boy for two years, racked up some monster credit rating, and then bought all of life's luxuries on HP and pay in six months interst plans,loaded his CC's up with cash advances... loaded it all into a container, and cleared off back to south africa. NO trace of the man. The worst thing, he said he'd wait a couple of years and do it all over again...
landlord gets final demands and threatening letters for a tennant that cleared off three months ago!!

...and we're the mugs who keep paying...

debbie43_2

Hey, in same situation myself, have been for three years with no chance of any improvement, ill health forced loss of job, living on benefits, no chance of getting another job cos of disability, so only pay token payments of £2.50 to 14 creditors, still get letters saying need to pay more but just send budget sheet and then they accept payment for another 6 months, tried asking them to write off debts but no chance yet, maybe in another 3 years!!!

debbie43_2

Hi, try again, have replied once but think i did something wrong, i am new to this!!! I am in same situation - 48K debt (well actually joint debt with my hubby) have paid token payments of firstly £1 per month through Debtcall (crap service from them too) did that for 18 months and then after speaking to MSE decided to 'sack' them and write to all creditors myself and pay them £2.50 each month, all of them froze interest and accepted except American Express and Nat West Credit Card, (they had previously accepted the payment with Debtcall) anyway, finally AE did accept but Nat West still to-ing and fro-ing but i am sticking by my guns. This has all been going on for 3 years now in total. I will never be debt free as it will take for ever to pay these debts at such a small monthly fee but i think i am in control. I just wonder how long these companies will accept this amount. I cannot afford more, so its either that or nothing but i am always worried that they may try and bankrupt us even though i have been told by National Debtline it is highly unlikely that they would do this for credit card debts, it is always in the back of your mind. We have a lot of equity in our house but cannot afford to release it as cannot afford more monthly mortgage payments. Dont think there is anyway out, just continue as i am going!!! So hopefully thats what you can do - try not to lose sleep - easier said than done, but hey-ho -life goes on!!!! Keep smiling!!!! Debbie

System

mrelephant wrote:

My current income is less than my outgoings soi have been making £1 token payments or so i was led to believe by Spectrum. Turns out when i phoned MBNA, they haven't received anything at all from them (good job ive ditched them).

Make sure you ask Spectrum why the money didn't reach it's target. Ask them for a goodwill payment due to the time and worry their poor service has caused you. You never know...

So simply ask yourself, if your credit rating is already poor, as mine is why bother worrying about meeting repayments or even better why make them more than a couple of pounds

Everyone has a different take on this. I'm in a similar situation to you in that I simply can't afford anything more than token payments at the moment. But for those who can afford more, throwing all their spare cash at the debts makes sense in that it gets rid of them quicker. Otherwise, they'll be living in debt forever.

The creditors will use all the nasty tricks in the book to try and get you to pay more than you can afford - if you're aware of their tactics, you're less likely to be give in to them. "I know you're trying to annoy and upset me, but it's not working and I repeat that I can only afford to pay you £1 a month!"

just make your outgoings look as reasonably close to your incomings as you can and then make the minimal payments as you can and stick spare money into a high interest account prefferable in someone elses name (just incase you do get taken for bankrutacy) that way you dont have it taken from you.

Concealing assets from the Official Receiver would be a very silly and unwise thing to do. I think it's actually illegal. But the worst that Credit Card creditors would ever do is take you to court.

Even so, you'd then be asked by the Judge whether you had any cash assets. Again, it wouldn't be a clever thing to conceal that from a Judge.

mrelephant - Don't make any rash decisions just because your creditors are driving you nuts at the moment! If you're being totally reasonable, this will be in your favour if you do ever get taken to court.

And as they now have no way of contacting you by phone, write to them asking for all future correspondence to be in writing only, otherwise it will look like you're deliberately avoiding communication with them.

Good luck
Dave

Edna_Bucket_2

saverio wrote:

Mr Elephant, I know exactly what you're going through (see my earlier post below),
MBNA are the rudest and most repugnant people ever to do business with - quite honestly they are no better than crack dealers outside of schools.

Whatever you might think about yours (and others) treatment by this company, is the above the right way to phrase it?

That last line in itself is probably worth a writ against Martin and the site.

Just a temperate thought.