are they allowed to do this?

indebtandneedhelp!

Right where do I start?

I'm in around 20k worth of debt (all unsecured) I'll give you the exact figures later but this is my real bug bear at the moment

I was behind with the payments for my Natwest CC so they have defulted my account and sent it to a debt recovery office (Interim Justica) it was $940 (sorry I can't do pound signs on my keyboard!)

I had no letters from IJ, I got a phonecall form my Mum (I haven't lived with her for 10 years and the card has NEVER been registered at that address) saying she had got a letter (her initials are the same as mine so she opened it) saying I owed all this money and they were going to take me to court blah blah blah, I never got to see the letter as she told me she has ripped it up but she gave me the phone number and told me to call them. I called and said I did not live at that address and could they remove it and gave them my correct address. I paid $20 and said I would call back at the end of the month once i got paid and pay some more and give them a breakdown of my income/expenditure. I called back and paid $30 and gave them the breakdown, they would not accept my offer of $30 every 4 weeks payment and said I would have to clear the balance in 10 months so around $81 a month. I took the details to set up a standing order and done this. My Mum called and said my Dad had written them a cheque for $240 and sent it off, i called to see if it had been received and it had. I assumed my next payment would not be due now till the month after. I got a cll last thursday to say that I had not made a payment since Febuary and I would have to make a $10 payment to ensure that they would take no more action on my account. I told them I had no money till payday (31st) and they said that they could not garentee that no action would be taken. I then got a phonecall form my Mum SCREAMING donw the phone at me telling me that they had called her and told her thay were going to take me to court, and that my Dad had paid the balance off on his credit card. Are they breaking the DPA and if so what can I do about it? so now my Parents are not talking to me and think I'm so irrisposible (well they're not far off but I'm trying now)

Also I have come to "payment arrangements" wiht most of my creditors so that I am paying them minimum amounts and no charges or interest are being added, if they find out about this are they going to be asking questions.....or worse still contacting my parents!

As for the rest owed monthly payment Status
Sainsburys Bank loan 12068.38 65.00 defualt
Marshall ward Catalogue 380.00 5.00 defualt
Kays catalogue 348.49 5.00 defualt
Monument 582.81 6.00 defualt
Capital One 449.00 3.50 defualt
Barclaycard 466.00 3.50 defualt
Style card 771.47 5.50 defualt
Sains Bank CC 2017.18 13.50 was on payment plan but lapsed so are asking for 117.18 over 2 months (over limit balance) then normal monthly payments
Halifax (overdraft) 2048.00 14.00 defualt
CITI card 1163.84 8.00 defualt
Carphone warehouse 149.13 3.50 defualt
GE capital bank 1086.62 7.50 CCJ
council tax (last year) 367.00 104.00
Service Charge 119.00 94.00 CCJ are asking for the whole lot and want o apply to my morgage company (Abbey) for the balance I spoke to someone today at the council and apparently thay can do this?


so all in all.... I don't want to calculate it but here goes 20853.08

I currently earn (after tax) 967.00
mortgage household bills etc 840.00
so left to pay debtors 127.00

so any ideas where I can start, I spoke to someone at debt free direct and they advised me to go for a IVA - I'm not too happy about doing this, also my boyfriend and I have a joint loan (which he pays every month) and I think that will come up if I go for a IVA - any suggestions?

sorry to go on a bit but now it's all off my chest - I haven't told anyone the full extent of it all before - I'm crying now!

Tondella

briefly, more outgoings than incomings - unable to cope with your minimum repayments - go to a FREE debt management charity. either CCCS or Payplan. They will do much as you have started to do ... speak with all your debtors, arrange interest freezing and repayment plan. Because these charities deal with credit companies all the time they are taken seriously. If IVA really is your only option then they will tell you so. They have no financial interest in you, they are a charity. When you contact them they will arrange an appointment to meet you, send a pack in the post and ask you to do a couple of things (get details of your debts, prepare a statement of affairs (incomings, outgoings)). You already seem to have a good idea of these things so you're half way there.

When you are feeling a little better you can post your statement of affairs here if you want, you'll get loads of good advice on how to make it work for you.

Don't worry about your parents, you are your own person now and I think you have shown remarkable strength of character to face up to your debts and start negotiating with your debtors by yourself. I'm sure they'll come around when they realise that you are getting it under control. Everyone makes mistakes in life, you've just got to pick yourself up and learn from them.

all the best

redgemini

Well done for having your lightbulb moment hon - regarding them sending letters to your parents address, I would (personally) send a letter of complaint to their head office - giving them all the details & also send a copy to the Data Protection Registrar. This tends to shake companies as they can be fined a fair amount if they are found to have broken the DP laws (which they seem to have in this case?)
I would also get hold of your credit file & make sure that they have not registered a link to your parents address - if they have - get it removed - you will be able to prove your address by voters roll/ utility bills etc.
I'm sure that some of the other guys on here will have more experience of this than me
Good Luck & try to keep your chin up - I know how hard it can be sometimes!

indebtandneedhelp!

thanks for the support, I will post my actual income/expenditure soon (I take it that is what you mean by SOA?)

both replies have brought a tear to my eye and it's so nice to know other people care

I am going to call them tomorrow and find out exctly what has gone on

oh and how do I join the 20p savers club? I started Saturday and have a mesaly 60p so far....but I'm trying not to spend so no change to be had!

redgemini

Hello again
I've just had a quick look on the net (ahh the wonders of technology!) I've found the official Data Protection site - so it might be worth having a look here?

http://www.ico.gov.uk/eventual.aspx?id=32

Good luck & keep us posted!

lynzpower

In respect of can the council contact the Abbey over your non payment? Yes, they can. My Housing Association has just done the same thing due to arrears, however, they had been threatening it for a while.
Oh and big Welcome !! xx

MrsTinks

lynzpower wrote:

In respect of can the council contact the Abbey over your non payment? Yes, they can. My Housing Association has just done the same thing due to arrears, however, they had been threatening it for a while.
Oh and big Welcome !! xx

*cough* unless you agree for your details to be released then they are in breach of the DPA 1988... Only once they have confirmed your identity and then been given permission to use this info should they be able to do this... Of course I guess there could be a sneaky little clause in your agreement with them in the fist place allowing this but you could i guess ask them to provide proof that you have through one agreement or another issued them with permission to release your details to a third party...

The DPA btw is a very intersting read (I trawl through it myself at regular intervals thanks to work...) and very few people realise exactly what is protected in it so I would definitely recommend at least having a scan through

Regarding contacting your parents for payment then I think they are out of order... You're over 18 and therefor nothing financially or criminally to do with your parents. Once they established the identity of the person on th phone wasn't you then they should have ended that call. By telling your father the amount of the debt then they breached the Data Protection Law... As for harrassment of relatives at an address other than any you have ever been registered as living at then I guess this would be a legal matter and not one I know much about I'm afraid... Worth a call to a legal help line of some sort?

Good Luck

indebtandneedhelp!

lynzpower wrote:

In respect of can the council contact the Abbey over your non payment? Yes, they can. My Housing Association has just done the same thing due to arrears, however, they had been threatening it for a while.
Oh and big Welcome !! xx

they said I need to contact them and give them details of my morgage company, I've managed to put it off and say I was at work! they also said thet they would refuse any payments I sent as it had gone past that stage? I've set up a standing order anyway for the next lot which is due in April......oh and council tax

thanks for letting me know

lynzpower

Basically, what the point of it is, is that your arrears with the council CAN be passed over and added to your mortgage. Additionally there are the usual bank charges that go with it. iE with the ABBEY for me it went like this. A) my HA contacted abbey to say I was in arrears, cue b) aggro letter from Abbey. Abbey will check back with the HA to see if arrears been paid 14 days later. If not 40 quid fine. c)Then will check back another 14 days later, and if still not paid ( cant remember exaclty here but something crazy like £150 fine) and then d) the debt then gets passed to Abbey including the fines and then you pay interest on it.

Lucky ( well I say lucky :rolleyes:) I had the money for most of it and the remaining 350 for this months rent is going on the credit card. sadly needs must, so gotta be done). Only another month till Im debt free, just had to be done :huh: