Help needed

nat87

Hi
I wonder if anyone could help me with advice. I have a personal loan with Halifax, I have had 2 missed payments due to no employment. I spoke to them to tell of my situation. Yesterday I received a letter from a debt collection agency asking me to pay £2,600. I am worried sick I cannot afford that amount I am struggling with other debts. Is there any way of resolving this. So worried didn't sleep last night just don't know what to do.

david_hellier

Firstly, if you decide to talk to these people, and before paying any money, ask them to provide evidence that the debt has been assigned to them by means of a copy of the original Agreement you signed with the Halifax.

nat87

Thanks for that will do.

GeorgeUK

Check the documentation if you can - does the loan have payment protection insurance on it?

A loan is not a priority debt - no matter what the banks or DCA's may say. Have you posted up a statement of affairs? You should be able to work out how much you have available from your income and expenditure - anything left over you can put towards paying the unsecured debts.

I would contact CCCS or Payplan too to see if they can assist.

There are template letters on the board that can stop the calls if they are harassing you.

The best option may be to make an offer of £x per month until your situation improves - even if it's only a token payment of £1.

MrsTinks

Have you posted up a full SOA on here for everyone to have a look at?
If you are still out of work and no prospect of re-employment in the near future then you will probably be best of looking at something like a DMP - please don't use fee charging rip off merchants... you can easily do it your self or go through one of the charities in my signature
Basically you have to pay the bills, put food on the table, etc BEFORE you start worrying about paying any unsecured debts. Debt recovery companies are very nasty but often nothing more than a bag of hot air... they have NO powers but could go through court for a CCJ - however (and this is important!) the judge wouldn't make you pay more than you can afford so long as you go along and provide a detailed set of income/outgoings and explain you have been trying to get re-employed etc.
Don't let them try to scare you, never give them card details and certainly never let them have your signaure (and preferably try and avoid giving them your phone numbers if they haven't already got them!)

nat87

Thank you for your replies. I am working now I am also paying a overdraft off which is £179 per month really struggling at the moment, I have 2 months left with this overdraft. Do you know what my options are as to paying this amount off, I haven't even got £10 to my name at the moment. Thank you.

david_hellier

We really need to see your SOA first.

GeorgeUK

First, get your wage paid in to a bank that you don't owe any money to. If you haven't been maintaining your minimum payments, your credit score will not look good, so make sure the bank knows you only want a basic account - you don't want credit and shouldn't get or give permission for a credit check.

Although the banks would like yo to pay off everything, it sometimes isn't possible to do so to their timescale. You should write to them and state what you are able to pay after all your expenditure has been taken care of.

This site will allow you to see clearly where your money is going and what you should have available for repaying debts.
http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

Marthasdad

Who is the Debt Collection Agency? Is it Blair Oliver and Scott? If so, they are Halifax's internal collections people and they are particularly nasty.

If you have a bank account with Halifax, Lloyds or Bank of Scotland, change it straight away and get an unnassociated one, otherwise they may go into your current account just after you get paid and take the lot to make up the arrears - trust me, I learnt the hard way!

Try not to worry, you will get this sorted, you just need to take control and good luck!

gfplux

hello nat87,

Make out your SOA (link - http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html ) and keep it up to date. Try not to guess at the figures, dig out the paperwork. However remember a partial completed one is better than none. It is in fact one of the most important things you will do to start on the road to recovery. If you want a lot of help on this forum, posting your SOA is the first and most important step.


good Luck, looking forward to your SOA

nat87

Hi
I had a text message to ring Albion debt collectors yesterday, so I phoned them and they said I am going to have to pay £40 by today, I haven't got this money. Would you advise me to pay this or speak to them again. Thanks