Light at the end of the tunnel- Finally!!!

Grumbleweed

Back in 2001, i was living in Kent and went a bit mental with credit cards & credit purchase schemes to say the least.
I also had a 15K loan which i took out in 1999 when i was in the forces,which was costing me 500 a month. After i left, was not earning much so decided to apply for some credit cards to make ends meet.
I maxed out all my cards quite quickly, ( in a couple of months) in quite a childish fashion and then moved away from the area.

In 2002, i got a job in a civil servant department, which payed well and have been there ever since. As i moved away, i buried my head in the sand massively over the credit cards and had such a pathetic attitude towards paying it back it now frightens me! I had a £3200 overdraft too!
In 2005, things started to move. I started to get phonecalls at work from these debt collectors demading this and that otherwise other procedings would be taken against me. In 2006 I started seeing my new partner and didn't really know what to do with regards to the problems with money- the phonecalls kept coming. So much that i had to tey and leave the pffoce phone off the hook so that they woldn't contact me. I changed my pa&go phone so may times too! I was evasive to say the least!! I considered getting an IVA but as i was so not-bothered by money i didn't ever persue it- Bloody good thing too!

Payday june 06, i went to get some money from my Lloyds current account, at which point the machine ate my card. I realised that things were getting a little hot to say the least. I got into work and rang the bank. They said that it had been closed a couple of weeks earlier due to my outlandish debts. My pay- luckily had bounced back to the originator and i got that payed into a savings account (with nationwide- many thanks to them for saving my bacon!)
At this point, my partner must have twigged that there was something a bit wrong with my finances. She asked exactly what state they were in, and to my surprise didn't hit the roof when i told her. I dont think even i had realised until this point how bad things were.
I had about 10K on cards, 18K on loan & Overdraft and other stupid things that i had bought on HP- including 8K for a car loan.
I ended up getting a CCJ out of it, as i couldn't pay the amount in time. This was for about 1300 pounds for a laptop i think.

I payed that off last august and got my certificat from the court to say it was satisfied. I am paying off the cards on an agreement with the debt collectors- should be finished within the next few months.
I have tried to contact my old bank to find out how i can repay my loan amount, but i have hit dead ends everywhere i go. No-one seems to know where it has gone. As i was a sod for not opening post, i dont even know which company might have had it! To this day, i cant find out.

I have payed with cash for everything since about 2002 so i wasn't that interested in trying for any credit cards to re-build my credit score. Last week, i got a letter through the door from Vanquis, to say that i have been pre-approved for a card.
Having learned my lesson of not paying things back (in a very real way) i thought i'd give it a go. I applied online, and got that 'we will have to take a milennium to decide' type of message. I didn't think any more of it until i got a phonecall early on this week to say that i had been approved. You could have heard my jaw drop from scotland! Is now in the post.
I plan to use it very carefully to re-build my score. I also got approved by capital one- supposedly better at marking your score sheet for quicker score-building.I am so pleased that i can finally be trusted ( not least trust myself) to rebuild ny credit.

The other thing this means is that i can FINALLY get onto experian and find out what happened to my loan and overdraft. I am very nervous about it but i want to sort it once and for all- would be nice to wake up and not owe anyone anything!

Has anyone else got as ridiculous a story as mine? I feel such a plum for my past mistakes, but it is nice to know that there is a more positive chapter to come with regards to my finances.
Anyone have any suggestions as to what may have come of my loan?


Would like to publiclly thanks my partner for badgering me into getting this sorted

mummum2

I truly have no advice, but just wanted to say well done for coming this far and getting your life sorted. You must treasure your g/f...well done and good luck with the next few months getting finally debt free.:beer:

RAS

Hi

if you have paid nothing towards a debt for 6 years, it is covered by the Statute of Limitations. This means that it is unenforceable in court and that you do not have to pay it off. And by this time it is probably doing the rounds of the less savoury DCAs at a few pennies in the pound.

It will have also dropped off your credit record after 6 years.

Radarjet

We all make mistakes at some point and mostly they end up coming back to bite us. Some lucky ones don't.

Good for you for (both) knuckling down and dealing with the debt.
You've done well and can look forward to a solid future.

Grumbleweed

thanks guys.

Without going mad with trying to apply for credit- as i understand that it affects your rating badly if you get rejected- what stage do you have to get to to be able to apply for normal stuff- such as mobile phone contracts etc...