Some advice please... for a newbie!

I-Owe-You

First of all, let me start by saying hello to you all! :beer:

I was advised to register to this site after speaking to a family friend about my recent problems..

I am amazed by the advice & support I have witnessed already on here given by strangers to stangers - what a nice thing to see....helping people like me who have got themselves into a financial pickle. Its also nice to know I'm not alone.

I wondered if anyone could offer me some valuable advice ...?

I am in my 20s and suffer with profound deafness - which means I cannot hear clearly over the phone, and even struggle face to face despite the use of two hearing aids.

I stupidly agreed to an overdraft a few years back on a new bank account I opened. I of course I enjoyed spending the "free" £1,000 limit but became light hearted about paying it back (& having other financial priorities, I kept putting it off!) ...eventually when the new shoes & clothes I had bought with the borrowed money was no longer new any more, I felt resentful about returning this money, and stupidly ignored it...!

The debt has now accumilated to £1,800. (the additional £800 being over draft fee's and charges continually added over the past 2/3 years)

I have contacted my bank (Halifax) on numerous occassions to arrange for these charges to be halted, and to come to some arrangement for a payment plan - but all my correspondance has been ignored.

I unfortunately have to deal with these issues via post/email as using the telephone is not an option for me due to my disablity. My partner has been refused the right to be an advocate for me due to the information being "confidential" despite me giving my written permission for my partener to speak on my behalf & for a note to be made on my account about my hearing impairment.

My partner is now recieving 4/5 calls a day on our land line telephone from debt collection agency "Icor" who are less that sympathetic to my situation and infact are quite rude. They do not seem to be willing to be flexable to communicate via either my partner or writen in order for me to sort out the situation.

I am at my witts end, as my stupidity of having this debt is now effecting my credit rating resulting in more financial turmoil!

...I am trying not to ignore the debt any more - I am more than willing to pay the money owed back via a monthly payment plan, but nobody seems interested in helping me arrange this unless I can settle the full amount - which is not even questionable in my current circumstances.

Any advice on how to best deal with this (baring in mind my communication hinderences) would be greatly appreciate! Thank you in advance

Numpty_Monkey

:hello:Hi and welcome to the MSE

Have you had a look at
http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/debt_advice.php#3
there might be some templete letters that you can send
The Harrasment by Telephone type one springs to mind;)

GeorgeUK

Hi IoY

One of the first things that we tell people when they join the forum is not to speak to these companies on the phone. You need to make sure that all communaication is in writing so that you have proof of what was said or agreed. Your hearing impairment will not be an issue to getting the debt sorted.

You may have seen in the papers some articles relating to reclaiming bank charges. I would strongly advise claiming back all your charges for the past 6 years.
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/

There are also some letters you can send to get the DCA's to stop calling you. If they continue to do so a few weeks after they receive the letters, report them to OFCOM.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=11571485&postcount=5
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=14588705&postcount=10

If you still have your income paid into the same bank that you have the overdraft with, i would suggest getting another account to pay your wages into. This will stop them from just taking the money from your account and leave you with nothing. The payments will be under your control.

Have you checked your credit file? You can do so free at experian (if you cancel within 30 days).

Try posting up a statement of affairs. We may need to find some areas in your expenditure to get savings on or you may be able to cut back a little so that you can clear the overdraft.
http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

Another option may be to get a 0% credit card that allows money transfers as part of the promotion such as the Virgin credit card. This is 15 months at 0% (last time i checked) and the minimum monthly payment is £25 from the 2nd month.

Numpty_Monkey

I knew a clever one would come along