Please help me - Solicitors letter received

bailey59

Hello, I am hoping someone can give me some advice please and save my sanity at the same time.

I owe £26,000 to Lloyds TSB on a credit card. I stopped paying even the minimum amount on this about a year ago as I missed a payment then was unable to pay the amount they kept asking for. I got nowhere at all with them and eventually the phone calls stopped so instead of doing something about it I left it. Hindsight is a wonderful thing as I now know about token payments etc, if I had done something then my balance with them would be approx £15,000 as they have added £10,000 interest onto the account in the past year! The calls started again about 4 months ago. I told them I couldnt pay what they were asking for and they never mentioned token payments etc. They therefore took £300 out of my bank account towards the card. When I found this site I sent a SOA to them on 15th Sept and offered them a payment of £78.00 per month. I then received a default notice on the 18th Sept then a letter from them on 22nd Sept saying that they wouldnt accept my proposed payment but they have frozen the interest on the account. On the 28th Sept I sent a token payment of £30.00 and I am just about to send another payment for £78.00 to them.

I have now received a letter from SCM Solicitors which states that depsite several reminders including the issue of a default notice the account still remains out of order and that interest continues to accrue on a daily basis. (This is after I have a letter from Lloyds stating all interest was frozen from the 22nd Sept) The letter is now a formal demand on me to reapy the full outstanding balance within 14 days. If payment is not received court proceedings may be instigated without further reference. The credit card has been cancelled and also if Lloyds dont receive a satisfactory response from me they will lodge the information relating failure to pay to Experian etc.

The letter also states that it is common practice within the finance industry for this information to be used when assessing my ability to manage my finances and this may also impact in the case of family members or associates where they have a relevant financial association with me.

The letter finishes with: If you are unable to pay the full balance Lloyds may be prepared to accept a reduced sum together with realistic proposals for regular monthly payments. You must telephone Lloyds on receipt of this letter to discuss.....

REMEMBER THIS IS A FORMAL DEMAND PRIOR TO THE COMMENCEMENT OF LEGAL PROCEEDINGS AND YOU ARE STRONGLY URGED TO MAKE IMMEDIATE PAYMENT TO AVOID THE ABOVE ACTION.


I am petrified, is this it??? Have I left it too late to do anything?? I have been soooo stupid. I own my own property and have a mortgage of £95,000 and a secured loan of £22,000 and my house value is approx £110-120,000 if Im lucky.

What will happen now, what should I do?? Can someone please help me. Thanks

ladybez

First of all I am no expert, they will be along shortly. If you Google SCM Solicitors, they would appear to be LTSB employees. From what you are saying a default notice has already been issued, which will show up on your credit report. It can only impact on family members if they ahve a financial association ie. joint account, joint mortgage etc with you.
I would not telephone them, as some companies have been known to co-erce you into paying more than you can afford. I'm sure there will be a template letter somewhere on here, will have a look for you. In the meantime, asMartin says "there is no financial problem which cannot be solved" and "they can't have what you ain't got"
Have you contacted anyone like CCCS, Payplan or CAB for advice?

bailey59

I have contacted CAB & CCCS. CCCS decided that an IVA was not going to be in my best interest as I might be made redundant next month, they did say they would ask someone to phone me from the DMP department but they havent phoned so I need to contact them again. I am just so worried now.

euronorris

Did you actually receive the default notice from them? Or any of the other correspondence they refer to?

And I assume you still have the letter from them re freezing the interest?

There are some template letters on here that you can use, especially if no default notice has been received. Someone more knowledgeable will be able to help with that. But it is definitely worth pointing out that you haven't received the notice and also attach a COPY of the letter they sent you re frozen interest.

Always remember to send the letters via recorded delivery too, this way, they cannot claim they didn't receive your letter.

It will all get better. But again, as above poster says, I would reccommend contacting CCCS or Payplan for advice. They are free and well known on here for being very good.

Have a cup of tea, take a deep breath and then give them a call. I think their contact information is on the site somewhere.

ladybez

If you go on the National Debtline website there are an assortment of template letters that you can use to send to SCM, sorry don't know how to post links, not very computer savvy!! It may help to post up a SOA so that the clever people on here can make some suggestions as to how you can tackle this debt. If you are not comfortable with this, you will still get lots of help and support as we are almost all in the same boat.

CeeBeeDeeBee

Hi thats one hefty credit card!

First thing I would suggest you do is have a look at Never In Doubts Unenforcebility thread in Debt Free Wannabes.

Sending off for your CCA will buy you some time and it may even turn out that the CCA is unenforceable.

As others have said speak to some of the debt charities, I use CCCS but they are all good, you might just be on the phone for ages as they are really very busy at the moment!

Chris

bailey59

Thanks for your replies guys. I did receive the default notice and I contacted Lloyds TSB in writing just before and just after I received it. Im not sure what I do once a default notice has been received so I think I will just write to Lloyds again and send them another cheque.

Where do I find the thread by Never In Doubt about Unenforcibility please? I dont understand all this CCA business at all!!

Also I did get in touch with the CCCS about an IVA and they have just phoned me again to arrange an interview on Friday to discuss a DMP which will hopefully help clear things up. Talk about a living nightmare!

CeeBeeDeeBee

The thread is usually on the first page of Debt Free Wannabees.

I know what you mean it can take a while to get your head around things but the main thing to know is that there are things you can do!

The CCCS are good so see what they say. Is it just this one credit card that you have problems with? If so you might want to hold off on a DMP or IVA as these will include all your creditors and stop you being able to use any other credit cards you have, even if you're up to date with them.

Chris

euronorris

A CCA is a Consumer Credit Agreement.

Basically, this is the document that you would've signed and sent back when you took out the credit card.

You have a legal right to request this document from the lender, and they have a certain amount of time to provide you with a SIGNED copy of the agreement. If they are unable to provide this, then the agreement becomes unenforceable.

This doesn't remove the debt, it just means that they can't enforce the terms, ie. repayment.

A lot of banks/lenders have been very slack in keeping accurate, up to date records of such agreements and so, many on here have found that they are simply unable to provide you with the document.

I also believe that, whilst you are waiting for them to produce such document, they can no longer follow any actions in respect of collection of the debt. Simply because the debt is in dispute.

I think that my understanding above is accurate, however, if anyone notices something is not quite right, please feel free to correct me.

GeorgeUK

Requesting a copy of the CCA is one thing you can do (although they are allowed to send a reproduction which will not be signed).

Have you claimed back any charges that have been applied to the account?
Was there any PPI on the card? Was this missold?

I would write to SCM stating that you are seeking advice from CCCS and Payplan. This should give you a little breathing space. Also state that you will be paying £1 token payments until you have had a budget worked out.

After this you may be able to make them the same offer, but i would wait until you have a better idea of whether you will be made redundant or not.

bailey59

Firstly, no this isnt the only debt I have, unfortunately, so I need to do a DMP asap and I dont care if I cant use a credit card ever again! Lesson learnt well and truly. Once I have sorted out this mess I will never rely on credit ever again.

I will investigae further about requesting a CCA then if you think it may help me immediately. Still confused but thanks for steering me in the right direction.

There was PPI on this card, in fact when I was off sick I was able to claim on it if I remember rightly but it was a while ago now so I dont think I can claim it back!! BUT the PPI was only cancelled by Lloyds on the 11th Sept this year. Now I think I am right by saying that I was in breach of my contract with them about a year ago when I stopped making any payments to them so I am unsure whether the PPI should have been cancelled a year ago as I wouldnt have been able to claim on it due to non payment, so I dont know if I can claim this back?? Anyone know about this?

I am also going to write to all my creditors, old store cards etc to see about claiming charges back.

Thanks again for your replies