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lifeslove

Hi, I've just had a house call from a company called Greenwoods who say they have bought over an old debt of mine, the guy said we could work out a payment plan, great, but he said it's almost like applying for a loan and wants my National insurance number, I refused as I don't see why he needs it, do I need to give him it ? I have ID I can show hime. He is coming back tomorrow, can anyone help, has anyone heard of them ?

Thanks

khyberpass

Divorce left me with all of the debts...3 years down the line and I am not making any headway, so want some help to "sort my life out"...

I earn a decent 100k pa but it's all being eaten up...

I'm paying off two mortgages (my house and the exs house)...£1369.53 on my house with 10 years to go...£519.23 on her house with 19 years to go....both repayment (ING & Halifax)

I've got 2 loans:-

£17539 - a consolidation loan with Nat west paying £320.31 per month (£153.05 id finance) - approx 7 years to go
£6600 - a car loan with Barclays paying £232.10 with 30 months to go

I've got 3 credit cards:-

£3136.83 - Amex BA Plus - £147 min payment
£7700.30 - MBNA - paying £283.44 (£199.93 is finance)
£5007.79 - Nat West Platinum - paying £115.24 (£1.21 finance)

Finally I've got an overdraft running at approx £6300 costing me approx £90 per month...

SO basically I have monthly mortgages of c£1900;monthly loans of £552; monthly credit cards of £445 plus an over draft of £90...meaning I have debt repayments of almost £3000....

any advice on a way of organising these more effectively to pay them down, while giving me a life?

thanks for any help. It just weighs me down...

StepChange_Pavan

lifeslove wrote: »

Hi, I've just had a house call from a company called Greenwoods who say they have bought over an old debt of mine, the guy said we could work out a payment plan, great, but he said it's almost like applying for a loan and wants my National insurance number, I refused as I don't see why he needs it, do I need to give him it ? I have ID I can show hime. He is coming back tomorrow, can anyone help, has anyone heard of them ?

Thanks

Hi lifeslove and thanks for your question.

If they’re asking for information they’d need to approve a loan, it sounds as though they could be setting up a new finance agreement.

I’d recommend that you ask to see the new terms and conditions before you agree to sign anything.

You could put together a budget before you next see him and work out your own plan. This way you already know how much you can realistically afford and you won’t be pressured into agreeing a new amount that might be too much.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Pavan

StepChange_Pavan

khyberpass wrote: »

Divorce left me with all of the debts...3 years down the line and I am not making any headway, so want some help to "sort my life out"...

I earn a decent 100k pa but it's all being eaten up...

I'm paying off two mortgages (my house and the exs house)...£1369.53 on my house with 10 years to go...£519.23 on her house with 19 years to go....both repayment (ING & Halifax)

I've got 2 loans:-

£17539 - a consolidation loan with Nat west paying £320.31 per month (£153.05 id finance) - approx 7 years to go
£6600 - a car loan with Barclays paying £232.10 with 30 months to go

I've got 3 credit cards:-

£3136.83 - Amex BA Plus - £147 min payment
£7700.30 - MBNA - paying £283.44 (£199.93 is finance)
£5007.79 - Nat West Platinum - paying £115.24 (£1.21 finance)

Finally I've got an overdraft running at approx £6300 costing me approx £90 per month...

SO basically I have monthly mortgages of c£1900;monthly loans of £552; monthly credit cards of £445 plus an over draft of £90...meaning I have debt repayments of almost £3000....

any advice on a way of organising these more effectively to pay them down, while giving me a life?

thanks for any help. It just weighs me down...

Hi khyberpass and welcome to the forum.

It sounds as though you’d benefit from putting together a realistic budget. Although you’ve mentioned all your credit expenditure, you also need to list all your priority and everyday expenditure. This includes everything from council tax and utility bills to food and entertainment costs.

List absolutely everything that you spend money on to give you an accurate picture of your spending.

Once you have all this information written down you can asses your situation and see what changes you need to make.

You need to work out which debt is charging you the most interest and start making extra payments on top to reduce the debt quicker. You could also consider switching to 0% interest cards if this is an option: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cards/balance-transfer-credit-cards

You also need to ensure that you’re not relying on credit to live. Allocate an amount to pay off your overdraft each month too.

This could mean making some lifestyle changes to reduce your debt, but if you don’t you could be repaying them for a very long time.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Pavan

daze21

Hi,
I am looking for some advice on where to start sorting things out

I recently graduated after spending 9 years dossing about being at uni working and part time study.. a whole mix of things really. So durin this time I had a great time went abroad, partied etc.
Now at the end of it I have a bit of a trail of destruction with debts knocking about in a few places which to be honest I am unsure of their exact location and amount as they seem to sell them on for fun

I now am quite interested in boring things like mortgages as renting just seems like a bit of a waste.

I now have a job and do extra work self employed. I am in a position where in 1 - 2 years I could save up enough money to pay off these debts should things carry on the way they are.

Do I contact these companies (most of which have no idea where I am and are not bothering me atall) or wait until I can contact them and give them money?

My total debts are roughly split over 3 credit cards all of which I have not paid since 2007 at the time of my beginning to ignore them they were :

GE Money £3,500 (cl finance)??
Mint (RBS) £3,500
+ Natwest: £350 (phillips) ??

I have no idea what happend to them but think I might have a ccj from atleast one if not all of them. A while ago (2007) they were ringing me offering me to pay half and get rid of them, Any chance of them doing this still?

what should I do? I hate talking to these people when I have no money as they are unreasonable and ask you if someone can lend you the money to pay and stuff like that. But I want to get a mortgage in the near future so perhaps paying them in installements would help this.. I really don't know.. Help??

I have already paid off council tax, water, a speeding fine that escalated and some other smaller bills which seemed more important as they actually knew where I was.

head_above_water

we have come to the end of the road. we have borrowed, begged and sold stuff on ebay to make all our payments, but we can go no further. Although we are both working full time, there is no money left after paying bills so have been using credit cards to do shopping, petrol etc.
we need help, but are currently up to date with all our payments. we did miss one cap 1 payment and the relentless phone calls are driving us crazy, esp as I work nights and need to sleep in the day ( i can't turn the phone off in case my elderly parents need me )
I know our situation is self inflicted, we looked into a newspaper advert that could lower our credit card payments, but the fees were high . also we feel responsible for a debts and don't want them written off like the advert says. we want to pay, but at the moment we are getting hammered in fees. I paid the minimum on my card 1 day late so they added a 12 charge that put me over my limit so they charged me another £12 for going over. its a viscous circle. How do we get help as we are working?

EchoFalls1982

lifeslove wrote: »

Hi, I've just had a house call from a company called Greenwoods who say they have bought over an old debt of mine, the guy said we could work out a payment plan, great, but he said it's almost like applying for a loan and wants my National insurance number, I refused as I don't see why he needs it, do I need to give him it ? I have ID I can show hime. He is coming back tomorrow, can anyone help, has anyone heard of them ?

Thanks

Huh?? Don't give them anything! Why on Earth do they want your National Insurance number?? What's the reason for that? I have heard of them and they sent me a letter and basically it seems like they are a company who aren't even an actual company-they are run by the same creditors and it is like they are using scare tactics against you. DON'T GIVE THEM ANYTHING.

fatbelly

lifeslove wrote: »

Hi, I've just had a house call from a company called Greenwoods who say they have bought over an old debt of mine, the guy said we could work out a payment plan, great, but he said it's almost like applying for a loan and wants my National insurance number, I refused as I don't see why he needs it, do I need to give him it ? I have ID I can show hime. He is coming back tomorrow, can anyone help, has anyone heard of them ?

Thanks

Greenwood are the same organisation as Provident - doorstep lenders. If you are not careful you will be taking out a valid agreement with them to cover something that may not be valid. As things stand you have no idea what the alleged debt is. I would suggest the following approach:

1. Refuse to deal with this on a face-to face basis - you want everything in writing.
2. Send them a prove-it letter.

This may not be your debt. Even if it is, it may be statute barred, or may be otherwise unenforceable. It may be a disputed utility or phone bill.

sambodidly

Hi
Im completely and utterley devestated and ashamed that its come to this.

I/we are in severe debt and I know we having been living far beyond our means.

We are £3000 overdrawn, with £2000 on Credit Cards and £6000 loan.

Today, we having nothing left.

We run our own small business but that is struggling too so were in a no win situation.

Please please can anybody advise me of what to do.

Thank you.

Squat

Hi,

I'm not in debt, but my girlfriend has managed to acquire 3 or 4 credit cards. She is capable of managing her debt if she manages to balance transfer onto another card. Left to her own devices, this won't happen.

I want to be able to make decisions for her with regards to this. She lets me file her bills now so that I can keep an eye on things, but I would like some sort of power of attorney so that I don't need her consent/presence every time and as I am freelance, I have time (an inclination) to shift her debt. Nothing nefarious - she wants me to do this.

Thanks,