Where to start!

Tollergirl

Well this might be quite a long post, so forgive me if I ramble on! I don't even know where to post this because there's so many different elements.

A few months ago, my husband left me which has made a difficult financial situation even worse. He's being really decent and is still paying the debts while he lives with his parents, but we're still going to have to sell the house and I need to find somewhere else to live (which is tricky with pets but that's a whole other story!) We have a secured loan, and also some bank charges which I think could be reclaimed under financial hardship, but I'm not sure.

The secured loan was sold with PPI, it's with First Plus and we were told we had to take it out. We didn't know any better. I don't know where any of the paperwork is, or what I'd need to attempt to claim that back.

The bank charges are out of hand because of problems my ex has had with his mobile phone. Basically someone has been hacking into his bluetooth and using the internet, racking up bills of between £300 and £700 every month. They've taken nearly £2,000 in the last few months. The first time he rang they told him his sim card had been cloned and sent him a new one, if they'd told him then what it was he could've prevented any further charges. I think he's within his rights to demand they refund the extra amount as they could have stopped it when he first called, but I'm not sure.

With the phone problem came many, many bank charges. I don't know if we'd be able to claim those back under financial hardship because we already claimed some before. It was Natwest and to be fair they were brilliant and refunded the full amount on the first letter. They asked us to sign and say we wouldn't make further claims, which we did, fully intending not to get any more charges but then all this happened.

I have some personal charges on my own account (it was around £2,000 :eek: ) that I had written to them about before the hold (it's Barclays) and they offered half the amount as a good will gesture, but then my life started going down the pan and I didn't pursue it, stupid I know.

My problem is, I don't know where to start on any of that, or what to do about it. My mental state is not great at the moment, I'm feeling permanently on the borderline of a breakdown and have wondered whether those companies that reclaim things for you but take a percentage are worth looking at? I just don't know if I'm strong enough to fight all this, but I do need the money desperately for starting off on my own.

Has anyone got any useful advice on how I can break that down into manageable chunks, or whether it's worth pursuing at all?

I feel totally overwhelmed by all this, I feel like I should start at what is likely to be the easiest and quickest, and then move on from there, but I don't know what that is. Sorry if I sound desperate and stupid, but I kind of am :rolleyes:

natweststaffmember

Yes I have, I'll ask someone I know to pop over and look at the PPI bit.
You have bank charges/ PPI and is there any credit card charges?

di3004

Tollergirl wrote: »

Well this might be quite a long post, so forgive me if I ramble on! I don't even know where to post this because there's so many different elements.

A few months ago, my husband left me which has made a difficult financial situation even worse. He's being really decent and is still paying the debts while he lives with his parents, but we're still going to have to sell the house and I need to find somewhere else to live (which is tricky with pets but that's a whole other story!) We have a secured loan, and also some bank charges which I think could be reclaimed under financial hardship, but I'm not sure.

The secured loan was sold with PPI, it's with First Plus and we were told we had to take it out. We didn't know any better. I don't know where any of the paperwork is, or what I'd need to attempt to claim that back.

The bank charges are out of hand because of problems my ex has had with his mobile phone. Basically someone has been hacking into his bluetooth and using the internet, racking up bills of between £300 and £700 every month. They've taken nearly £2,000 in the last few months. The first time he rang they told him his sim card had been cloned and sent him a new one, if they'd told him then what it was he could've prevented any further charges. I think he's within his rights to demand they refund the extra amount as they could have stopped it when he first called, but I'm not sure.

With the phone problem came many, many bank charges. I don't know if we'd be able to claim those back under financial hardship because we already claimed some before. It was Natwest and to be fair they were brilliant and refunded the full amount on the first letter. They asked us to sign and say we wouldn't make further claims, which we did, fully intending not to get any more charges but then all this happened.

I have some personal charges on my own account (it was around £2,000 :eek: ) that I had written to them about before the hold (it's Barclays) and they offered half the amount as a good will gesture, but then my life started going down the pan and I didn't pursue it, stupid I know.

My problem is, I don't know where to start on any of that, or what to do about it. My mental state is not great at the moment, I'm feeling permanently on the borderline of a breakdown and have wondered whether those companies that reclaim things for you but take a percentage are worth looking at? I just don't know if I'm strong enough to fight all this, but I do need the money desperately for starting off on my own.

Has anyone got any useful advice on how I can break that down into manageable chunks, or whether it's worth pursuing at all?

I feel totally overwhelmed by all this, I feel like I should start at what is likely to be the easiest and quickest, and then move on from there, but I don't know what that is. Sorry if I sound desperate and stupid, but I kind of am :rolleyes:

Hi Natweststaffmember, by all means I shall take a look for Tollergirl in regards of PPI reclaiming.

Hi Tollergirl

First of all sorry to hear of your issues, hope all sorts out for you in the end.
We shall try to help you through this.

I can try to help with the reclaiming of the PPI side of things if you want me to, and of course there is also another thread for this matter if you want to keep this separate to the charges side of the matter.

Link here to PPI reclaiming, also check this through for more ideas on how this works and for more help if neccessary.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.html?f=169

First of all to retrieve all your paperwork you can request ALL your information by means of a Subject Access Request (SAR), here is a template liknk with details here:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1475553
Please note though there is a charge of £10 payable by either cheque or postal order and they must comply by 40 days, and post by recorded delivery.

If you just require your CCA (copy of your agreement), just enclose a payment of a £1 payable again by the means posted above.
They should supply this through the post by 12 days.

In regards of reclaiming, here is a link with guidelines of reclaiming and templates, but just write your own reasons.
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/ppi-loan-insurance

They have 8 weeks to respond in full.
Another letter maybe required if they do not resolve to your satisfaction on the first response, they should let you know this on the first response where they can reconsider your case again.

In the final response they should give details of the Financial ombudsman service (FOS) if your not fully satisfied with the complaint.

Now if this was a joint loan, you may have to discuss these issues with your ex over this, but if he requires the information, he will have to request his own SAR and pay for this just like you have to.

I would also contact your local CAB about this matter and maybe have a free session to discuss this with the CAB solicitor, they can arrange this for you.
As it was joint this is likely to be a complaint you both share, but again contact your CAB who will be happy to go over things with you.

Of course we can still help you through this, so please do post back for help.

Remember to post ALL letters by recorded delivery, good luck.;)

Tollergirl

Thank you so much! It's so kind of you to take the time out to reply to me, I'm genuinely moved.

There is lots there to digest, so I'm going to print this off and speak to my ex about it all. Luckily it's a very polite break up and he's very co-operative, so I'm sure we can tackle this between us and hopefully put us in a better position for starting our new lives.

Thanks again,
Jo

xxx