Struggling with debt? Ask a debt advisor a question

Emmey

Hi there, a few years ago I was quite badly in debt (30k) and went on a DMP with CCCS which was an absolute lifesaver. You were absolutely helpful and helped me manage my money and payments back. I have now managed to pay off all the debt and closed all accounts. However, after checking my credit file, it seemed that 4 of my creditors gave me a default which is now adversely affecting my credit record. I read somewhere that you could try to get them removed if they can't prove they sent you the default in the first place (I can't find any record of them). I have written to all of these creditors but out of the 2 that have replied so far, they said they don't have to provide me with any information. Is there any way I can attempt to have these removed? Thanks, Emma

Worried1976

Hi guys
I'm hoping someone can give me some advice on the impact being married has on debt liability. My husband and I have been married less than 2 years. We have very different attitudes to money! I have always been very cautious and sensible, paying loans, credit cards etc as required and never having any financial issues. My husband is slightly more irratic, although, to his credit he has improved substantially over the last few years. Until last year, his personal debt was under control but July 2010 he lost his job. Because I am working, after 6 months of JSA he is not entitled to any benefits and as such, I have been paying all of the mortgage, household bills etc since then.
We have had a joint mortgage for 6 years. During this time, we have not defaulted on any payments, even though on many occasions my husband has not been able to contribute.
My husband has informed me today that he still owes £8000 loan, £3000 credit cards and £700 overdraft. I had been paying £20 per month on his behalf thinking that this was agreed. However, they have now passed the debts to a debt recovery agency and are asking for all the monies. He is intending on writing back explaining he is dependent on me, detailing outgoings and offering £10 per month to each (as advised by debt advice charity), which i will pay.
Hopefully, they will accept this but we have been warned that because there is approx £14k equity in the house, this could be considered by his creditors. My question is, is it worth transferring the house and mortgage into my name only? I'm pretty sure the mortgage company would agree as it was pre-approved from my bank based on my track record and they would have given it to me as a single person. My husband has suggested this as a solution but does the fact we are married still mean that my credit rating and assets would be affected by his bad debt even if they are not jointly owned? I'm finding the current situation very difficult and hate the fact that I'm being affected by my husband's poor money management. I love him to bits but money stress is seriously impacting on our relationship.....
Any advice gratefully received.

robgavin1990

Hi I am hoping you would be able to help my mum, she is currently in debt of £1065 through her credit card. In march of this year she made an agreement with the company to pay £30 per month but due to the interest rates this would only pay £18.18 off the debt on the credit card and £11.82 would be taken for interest charges. In may of this year she managed to scrape an extra £20 together each month taking her monthly payments to £50 in hope that this will reduce the debt further as well as reducing the interest charges. In fact this has made matters worse as roughly only half of this is reducing the debt while the other half is being paid towards interest charges, only between £23 and £25 is being taken for credit card payments while £25 - £27 is taken for interest charges, she has telephoned the company as the interest charges are unreasonably high and is just not a reasonable amount for her to pay, she nor her husband are able to work due to disability so this is not a interest rate that is affordable to her, the company have simply told her their is nothing they will do to help her and she will have to continue paying £50 per month for 4 years which is just not affordable, when originally she was only agreeing to pay £30. She is now in a position where she simply can not afford to pay this and it is severely affecting her health and well being, her husband has recently been diagnosed with leukaemia and she is upset enough with out having this problem. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks.

lindylou4711

Hi my 73 year old mother recieved a letter dated 1.09.11 from capquest.We have had no previous correspondence from this firm.The letter is in my mums surname but a different christian name.The letter relates to a catalogue debt,my mum is old school and has never owed a penny in her life! She was worried about the letter but i told her to ignore it.On thursday 9/09/11 a letter arrived from door stop collections stating that unless said name rings a Mr Hale in 48 hours the bailiffs will be sent to the property.My mum is terrified and can,t sleep.The letter has a warrant number on but is not a court letter (i don,t think) and says van and driver booked.Please help as i am in work all week and don,t want Bailiffs at the house.The capquest letter is for shop direct.

lindylou4711

Sorry should have mentioned no address on second letter just a mobile number for Mr Hale,in red at the bottom of letter it says final notice to warrant of execution,thanks.Reading on here don,t they need a ccj for this kind of debt?

amagicwandplease

Hi,
Just about to enter into a CCCS dmp as mountain of CCs is getting me down and after 6 months struggling on maternity leave I feel its the only way we'll ever get out.
When I first read through the forums I felt great about it but since I've 'pressed go' I am now getting cold feet about stopping the payments as I am not sure I can cope with the threatening letters and phonecalls I have just been reading on some other threads that people seem to get, especially when I have about 15 creditors to deal with

O/H is great but theres only so much he can do as its all of my debts (he still has his own to deal with in addition to helping with mine!) so I feel Im going to have to fight this one out alone.
Can I reasonably request somehow that I am only contacted in writing or if I call them initially will it help? We've been managing only minimum payments for so long I need to do something but I am really frightened about all of the over limit, late charges and interest which will be added on for the next few months and if they dont accept we'll just be worse off.

Are there many creditors that really wont accept reduced payments and will they be less likely if I am way over my limit for missing this months payment already? I know it'll happen soon anyway but it just feels like such a big deal to stop payments this week when I dont know how long it will take CCCS to step in and help me sort this mess out

Really looking forward to it all being sorted and getting some sleep again, however I feel that may take some time!!!!!!

System

Emmey wrote: »

Hi there, a few years ago I was quite badly in debt (30k) and went on a DMP with CCCS which was an absolute lifesaver. You were absolutely helpful and helped me manage my money and payments back. I have now managed to pay off all the debt and closed all accounts. However, after checking my credit file, it seemed that 4 of my creditors gave me a default which is now adversely affecting my credit record. I read somewhere that you could try to get them removed if they can't prove they sent you the default in the first place (I can't find any record of them). I have written to all of these creditors but out of the 2 that have replied so far, they said they don't have to provide me with any information. Is there any way I can attempt to have these removed? Thanks, Emma

Hi Emma and thanks for your post.

Once you break the original terms and conditions of the credit agreement your creditors can default you.

The defaults will stay on your credit file for six years. You could try and write to the creditors and ask that the defaults be removed. In my experience most creditors are unlikely to remove them.

This article will give you more information on how credit ratings work and how to improve them.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Mat

System

Worried1976 wrote: »

Hi guys
I'm hoping someone can give me some advice on the impact being married has on debt liability. My husband and I have been married less than 2 years. We have very different attitudes to money! I have always been very cautious and sensible, paying loans, credit cards etc as required and never having any financial issues. My husband is slightly more irratic, although, to his credit he has improved substantially over the last few years. Until last year, his personal debt was under control but July 2010 he lost his job. Because I am working, after 6 months of JSA he is not entitled to any benefits and as such, I have been paying all of the mortgage, household bills etc since then.
We have had a joint mortgage for 6 years. During this time, we have not defaulted on any payments, even though on many occasions my husband has not been able to contribute.
My husband has informed me today that he still owes £8000 loan, £3000 credit cards and £700 overdraft. I had been paying £20 per month on his behalf thinking that this was agreed. However, they have now passed the debts to a debt recovery agency and are asking for all the monies. He is intending on writing back explaining he is dependent on me, detailing outgoings and offering £10 per month to each (as advised by debt advice charity), which i will pay.
Hopefully, they will accept this but we have been warned that because there is approx £14k equity in the house, this could be considered by his creditors. My question is, is it worth transferring the house and mortgage into my name only? I'm pretty sure the mortgage company would agree as it was pre-approved from my bank based on my track record and they would have given it to me as a single person. My husband has suggested this as a solution but does the fact we are married still mean that my credit rating and assets would be affected by his bad debt even if they are not jointly owned? I'm finding the current situation very difficult and hate the fact that I'm being affected by my husband's poor money management. I love him to bits but money stress is seriously impacting on our relationship.....
Any advice gratefully received.

Hi Worried1976 and welcome to the forum.

It sounds like you and your husband would benefit from some free and impartial advice.

It’s normal for creditors to pass debts onto a collection agency or their own collection departments when the debts have been in arrears for a certain length of time.

Creditors can threaten all sorts of things, but at the moment your partner can only afford token payments which you are making on his behalf.

If the house is in joint names then the equity is shared so half of it £14k belongs to you.

You would need to take more advice from us and possibly from an independent financial advisor regards your position with the house.

I’d recommend that you both call us and we’ll assist you in putting together an accurate income and expenditure budget to make sure that you can manage on your current budget, this would also show your husbands creditors that as a couple you are making your best efforts.

Please call our free Helpline on 0800 138 1111. We’re open Monday to Friday 8am - 8pm.

If you phone us it may be possible to refer you directly to a counsellor for immediate advice. Alternatively, we will arrange for an appointment to be booked at a time convenient for you.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Mat

System

robgavin1990 wrote: »

Hi I am hoping you would be able to help my mum, she is currently in debt of £1065 through her credit card. In march of this year she made an agreement with the company to pay £30 per month but due to the interest rates this would only pay £18.18 off the debt on the credit card and £11.82 would be taken for interest charges. In may of this year she managed to scrape an extra £20 together each month taking her monthly payments to £50 in hope that this will reduce the debt further as well as reducing the interest charges. In fact this has made matters worse as roughly only half of this is reducing the debt while the other half is being paid towards interest charges, only between £23 and £25 is being taken for credit card payments while £25 - £27 is taken for interest charges, she has telephoned the company as the interest charges are unreasonably high and is just not a reasonable amount for her to pay, she nor her husband are able to work due to disability so this is not a interest rate that is affordable to her, the company have simply told her their is nothing they will do to help her and she will have to continue paying £50 per month for 4 years which is just not affordable, when originally she was only agreeing to pay £30. She is now in a position where she simply can not afford to pay this and it is severely affecting her health and well being, her husband has recently been diagnosed with leukaemia and she is upset enough with out having this problem. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks.

Hi Robgavin1990 and welcome to the forum.

The interest rate of the card will have been in the original terms and conditions your mother signed up for.

It sounds as if she is no longer in a position to pay these amounts and there could be a number of debt solutions available to her, some of which she may not be currently aware of.

She could try our online debt counselling service Debt Remedy (http://www.cccs.co.uk/ref/drcu) or she might want to speak to a counsellor on the phone.

She can call our free Helpline on 0800 138 1111. We’re open Monday to Friday 8am - 8pm.

If she phones us it may be possible to refer her directly to a counsellor for immediate advice. Alternatively, we will arrange for an appointment to be booked at a time convenient for her.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Mat

System

lindylou4711 wrote: »

Hi my 73 year old mother recieved a letter dated 1.09.11 from capquest.We have had no previous correspondence from this firm.The letter is in my mums surname but a different christian name.The letter relates to a catalogue debt,my mum is old school and has never owed a penny in her life! She was worried about the letter but i told her to ignore it.On thursday 9/09/11 a letter arrived from door stop collections stating that unless said name rings a Mr Hale in 48 hours the bailiffs will be sent to the property.My mum is terrified and can,t sleep.The letter has a warrant number on but is not a court letter (i don,t think) and says van and driver booked.Please help as i am in work all week and don,t want Bailiffs at the house.The capquest letter is for shop direct.

Hi lindylou4711 and welcome to the forum.

Bailiffs work for the local county court and are only sent to properties regarding a credit agreement after a County Court Judgement has been issued and then defaulted upon, it doesn’t sound like this has happened in your mothers case.

Creditors often threaten bailiffs but are actually referring to door step collectors. These have no more power than someone ringing you on the phone, they can be just ignored at the door.

In this case it sounds like the debt has nothing to do with your mother, I would recommend that she calls the collection agency involved and state this, I would also ask them to provide written proof that the debt belongs to her.

She should also put all this in writing to them and send the letter recorded delivery to the collection agency. It would be up to them to provide proof that the debt was your mother’s; if they cannot prove it they cannot enforce it.

Your mother might also want to warn them that she will be reporting the matter to the Office of Fair Trading. You can find the complaint form in the link.

If she needs any further advice please call free Helpline on 0800 138 1111. We’re open Monday to Friday 8am - 8pm.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Mat