hi im in great need of some advice please

supakid

also i wanted to ask about my HSBC current account if i havent paid the charges can i get the removed becaused i havent paid any of £513

justruth

My advice first of all would be to open a second bank account, I don't know if you have one but if not get onto that first, just a basic account will do. Into that you can get everything paid. Then treat the overdraft as a seperate debt in the same way as you are treating the others.

Orange I would call up if they haven't already passed on the debt. Ask to be put onto PAYG and make them an offer, something you can afford, they won't be charging you interest of charges if memory serves.

You can pursue the charges as they have effectively already taken the money off you by increasing your debt. As you are in financial difficulty you stand a chance of getting them taken off. Do you have statements dating back to when you first started to accrue charges? You can claim back for 6 years but due to your age you shouldn't have been in a position to incur charges untill 3 years ago. Write to the bank seperately to the credit card, use the template letters on here if you like. My experience of HSBC is that they will offer you around 75% first then the full rebate later, although that may have changed since they stalled up the whole process.

When you write to moorcroft regarding the argos debt, I would mention in the letter that you made a £50 token payment, including the date, but did so at the expense of other creditors and can only afford £x a month until your circumstances improve or the debt is paid off.

5 creditors with relatively low amounts is manageable as they will be more willing to take smaller token payments. I don't know exactly how much you can afford at this time but if you agree to make £5 token payments to each one then thats £25 a month, or is as you say you really do not have any expenses going out £25 a week. Then try to clear them off faster than that if possible, at £25 a week your orange debt would be cleared in 17 weeks, then you could increase your repayment to the others. There is no legislation that they have to freeze interest, but if they go to county court then they are limited to the extra they can charge and the amount that you have to pay back.

In total your debt is £2462.30. Just paying off £25 a week would clear this (assuming no interest) in 99 weeks, so just less than 2 years. (about 8 years and 3 months if you went monthly). It's not forever, and if you can get a job in the meantime you can happily knock them on the head and clear them.

My advice is to sort the debt out tomorrow. Write your letters, open the second account, call orange and get all of this figured out. Set your alarm for 9am and get to work on it. Take back control. Then tomorrow evening update on here everything you have done and if you like add how you feel about it. Tomorrow night get a good nights sleep.

supakid

mate your a genius.. i will start this tomorrow, hopefully this is the 1st step for me to get sorted.

supakid

Ask to be put onto PAYG and make them an offer--- what do you mean by this- and what are the chances of moorcroft and capquest accepting my token payments?

justruth

Do you still use the phone? If so ask them to put it on PAYG, if no then that doesn't really matter, they like to keep you as a paying customer so they will often do this for people in financial difficulty. Then explain your situation and that you can only make small token payments at the moment, and that you are drafting a letter confirming this. Make sure you get the name of the person you are talking to and include the details of the conversation in the letter. Most people argue that everything should be done in writing, but on an £85 debt with orange I would try talking to them and you may find them reasonable. They may even advise you about easier ways to make the token payments. If you do not feel confident enough to talk to them then by all means do it in writing.

If you are currently on contract with them then the monthly payments will cease as soon as you make the arrangement to go onto PAYG, this is why I suggest it. It does depend on you though and how you feel you will cope if you get someone who's had a bad day!

Some advise for talking to people on the phone. Sit down with a drink of water, and a paper and pen. Write down the date and time that you call and which people you are speaking to. Make a note of all the main facts that you are dealing with, remain calm and polite throughout. If you feel yourself getting wound up thank them for the information and say that you need to have a little think about what they have said. Then ring up again when you have calmed down and talk to someone else. It's a very empowering way to deal with creditors etc I find. After you have concluded the conversation summarise what they have said back to them to clarify everything, add that you are writing it down so that you remember (this helps make them a little more accurate) and when done you can refer to the points made in any correspondance. Writing and saying "I rang up on 10th and agreed this" is not as effective as "I rang on the 10th at 11.15am and agreed with Adam Other this". Does that make sense?

supakid

yeh, im on contract with them.. but i dont use the phone/sim anymore, the contract £20 a month. the money has built up because i have not been paying the bill, as the sim is not in use its not because of the usage

justruth

Moorcroft and capquest will probably be really unpleasent about it according to some posters, but then thats not really something you have to worry about. The worst that they can do is take you to court, which is really no bad thing. They know full well that if this happens the judge will not make you pay any more than you can afford, and the token payments you agree, so long as you keep making them, are likely to be what the judge recommends. Because of this they try to bully and harrass some debtors to pay up more without actually taking them to court. It is important to remember that they cannot send a bailiff round unless they have the CCJ and you fail to pay the court determined amount. So there is no need to worry too much about it. Most CCJs are won because the defendant fails to defend the claim or turn up for court. As you are facing the debt this will not include you.

justruth

supakid wrote: »

yeh, im on contract with them.. but i dont use the phone/sim anymore, the contract £20 a month. the money has built up because i have not been paying the bill, as the sim is not in use its not because of the usage

You do not have to use the sim if you ask that it go on PAYG, but they will cancel the contract from the day that you go onto PAYG

As you are not using it they may just cancel anyway. Ask them

supakid

cool i guess it's time to get my head together... i will update you tomorrow. cheers mate.

supakid

they have put me on a pay as you go for 4 months and i have to pay £22 a month to pay back the debt then continue with the £20 payments as normal which i think is fair as my contract does not end till next year.