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vakaviper

Hi i was reading that it can be possible to get certain debts written off, how and what situations could this be done?

redglass_2

CCCS_Pavan wrote: »

Hi redglass and thanks for your post.

If the debt is in dispute, I’d recommend that you write to them (with the proof they might require) and ask them to put the debt on hold until it is confirmed either way by the Ombudsman.

If they do pass the debt on to a collection agency, you should do the same to make them aware of the situation. Don’t forget to send everything recorded delivery and keep copies of everything you send.

You are entitled to ask them to communicate with you in writing only and they should comply with your request.

If they decide to continue with the standard debt collection procedure, they would need to issue you with a default first. If they aren’t happy, they could apply for a county court judgement (CCJ) which would go through the courts. At this stage, if the issue still isn’t resolved you will have the opportunity to dispute the debt and the judge is likely to put the debt on hold if you have a strong case.

Bailiffs can only be instructed if you fail to comply with a CCJ; so as long as you keep them updated with your situation and respond to any court papers, you won’t get bailiffs at your door.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Pavan

Thanks, Pavan, that's helpful. I have already sent a letter to their legal department (at an address supplied by Ofcom) only to be informed in their recent pestering emails that they 'don't have a legal department' and 'we are not xxxx.com' (despite the fact that the bullying emails come from #credit@xxx.com') and 'nobody would have seen your letter there.'
In response to this stonewalling I attached a copy of my original letter, emailed it to them and offered to send all the rest of the relevant documentation in the same way, so that they couldn't pretend they weren't getting it. They refused to accept other documentation and insisted on talking to me personally. They appear to have ignored everything written in the letter:my final statement to them before I gave up and contacted the Ombudsman was, 'I suggest you read the letter' but I have no hope that they'll bother.

You can see why I want to have things in writing: dealing with this company is like mapping clouds and yes, I'm keeping copies of everything. Sorry but I have 2 more questions:

1. Re addresses: the one in their email, concerning which they angrily wrote, 'It's on all the bills you've had' is, in fact, different from the one on the bills. :wall: How can I be sure to send my recorded delivery letter to the right place? Should I just send it to the address on the bill, and if that turns out to be the wrong address it's really their problem for being so utterly disorganised and maddening?
2. How will I know if they have issued me with a default? Will they just write to me?

StepChange_Pavan

klts wrote: »

Thanks very much for the reply Pavan. When we first got into difficulty we got advice from this site and cccs site and we moved our bank accounts to another bank, we also did an income and expenditure form and wrote to all our creditors with an offer which they all agreed to except RBS. They all agreed to stop the interest and charges and we have been making the agreed payments for a few months. The only one we are having problems with is RBS, they keep asking for more, they have even said that according to our I&E statement we dont have enough spare money to make the payments we have already agreed to and they dont think that any of our spending is excessive. At the moment we are just carrying on making the agreed payment of £340.00 pm as we really cant afford any more (at the end of the month there are times I have to walk well over an hour to work because we cant afford petrol). We do have equity in our house but we only have about 6 years left to pay on our 25 year mortgage and dont want to sell if we can avoid it. If they continue to ask for more money I will contact you again if that is OK. I have read the info about charging orders and I feel a bit better as while they may get an order it looks unlikely that we will be forced to sell our home. Thank you.

Hi Klts and thanks for the update.


Please get in touch if you need any more advice or they do decide to apply for a charging order.


Kind regards,

Pavan

StepChange_Pavan

vakaviper wrote: »

Hi i was reading that it can be possible to get certain debts written off, how and what situations could this be done?

Hi vakaviper and thanks for your post.

Debts are very rarely written off but can become legally unenforceable under the Limitations Act. This could happen if you haven’t paid anything for over 6 years, you don’t have a CCJ and you haven’t admitted the debt. This doesn’t write the debt off though.

This blogpost has some really useful information about writing debts off: http://moneyaware.co.uk/2011/08/your-debts-written-off-is-it-too-good-to-be-true/.

Kind regards,
Pavan

StepChange_Pavan

redglass wrote: »

Thanks, Pavan, that's helpful. I have already sent a letter to their legal department (at an address supplied by Ofcom) only to be informed in their recent pestering emails that they 'don't have a legal department' and 'we are not xxxx.com' (despite the fact that the bullying emails come from #credit@xxx.com') and 'nobody would have seen your letter there.'
In response to this stonewalling I attached a copy of my original letter, emailed it to them and offered to send all the rest of the relevant documentation in the same way, so that they couldn't pretend they weren't getting it. They refused to accept other documentation and insisted on talking to me personally. They appear to have ignored everything written in the letter:my final statement to them before I gave up and contacted the Ombudsman was, 'I suggest you read the letter' but I have no hope that they'll bother.

You can see why I want to have things in writing: dealing with this company is like mapping clouds and yes, I'm keeping copies of everything. Sorry but I have 2 more questions:

1. Re addresses: the one in their email, concerning which they angrily wrote, 'It's on all the bills you've had' is, in fact, different from the one on the bills. :wall: How can I be sure to send my recorded delivery letter to the right place? Should I just send it to the address on the bill, and if that turns out to be the wrong address it's really their problem for being so utterly disorganised and maddening?
2. How will I know if they have issued me with a default? Will they just write to me?

Hi redglass,

You could write to both addresses, but as you have written confirmation you could write to the address that they gave in the email.

If you are issued with a default notice, you will receive it in writing. You might find this blogpost useful: http://moneyaware.co.uk/2011/09/default-notices-what-are-they-and-what-do-they-mean/.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Pavan
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natty11

Hello All.. I am looking for some advice and some help basically.. I don't know if any of you could help!

I have recently got a copy of my credit file as I was turned down for a personal loan with the bank, basically I thought this was a lil strange beacuse I had not taken out anything in credit before.. cut a lonnggg story short I have got 4 defaulted credit agreements with shop direct.

I automatically queried this with equifax, who have not got back in touch as of yet. But I did some investgating myself, I rang up the people who I have got the credit agreements with, and as it turns out "I" apprantly have been making payments towards the debt of £10 per week. (Which I haven't btw)

Beacuse i queried this it turns out anyways, that It was infact my very own mom that has done this to my credit history. I have confronted her about it which she broke down into tears and said sorry! and explained that she is paying it back as best she can.
so my questions to you guys are....

1. Is there any way at all that I can get these removed off my file or even a note to say that I was a victim of fraud - without getting the police involved as it is my mom afterall she has done I couldn't do that to my family.

and secondly I never knew my mom was in soo much financial trouble until now. I have found out she is going from one PDL to the next, just to keep her head above water, how do I get her to go and get the help she needs? because she cant keep going on living this way?

Any advice muchly appreciated xx

(oh and sorry for the spelling mistakes in a bit of a rush to get it all down )

robbo_monkey

Hi all

I recently qualified as a solicitor and so have a good job with a good income. On the way to qualifying though I racked up nearly £22,000 in credit card debt and a professional loan of £16,000 (as well as student loan debt and money I owe my parents).

Despite this, I have a mortgage on the home I live in with my fiancee.

I am meeting all my payments and noone is chasing me, but the credit card debt is maintained, not paid off (I can't afford to overpay).

We marry next year and I'm trying to sort my finances out but struggling. The professional loan isn't a problem because that'll be paid off in 3.5 years if interest rates stay low. The credit cards are the problem.

I have 5:

£9,000 (25% APR)
£5,000 (22% APR)
£5,000 (0% til March 2013)
£1,500 (0% til June 2013)
£1,500 (0% til October 2013)

I'm paying minimum on everything. In total my repayments for loans and cc's (and some money to my parents) are £1,300 a month but after mortgage and household expenses I have nothing to live on or save for unforseens such as car trouble etc...

My priority is to clear the two cards with high APRs. I tried to get a loan to do this but one bank would only look to consolidate all my debts at 17% (meaning much higher interest than I am currently paying). Another bank (with which I have an account) said I met the affordability criteria for a loan of £15,000 at 24% APR (!) over 3 years, but when I applied and they did the credit check, they turned me down.
:mad:
Apart from the level of my borrowing and the fact that I moved around a lot as a student, my credit rating is fine. (Good enough to get a mortgage this year at any rate).

But it seems that nobody will touch me for for lending now despite the fact that I am seeking to consolidate, not borrow further.

I'm at my wit's end because I really want to pay this debt off asap rather than spend £2,500 a year in credit card interest...

Because of my profession, insolvency isn't an option. I would lose my licence and my livelihood.

Any advice or can you point me to a lender who would look at me?

Thanks

R_M

budgiewatch

Hello i am in a mess and i could do with some advice please. I took out an IVA in 2008 for 394.00 per month. Total of debt was 32,000 to 5 creditors.
Due to 3 redundancies, one being very traumatic my health has been shot to bits. and since August 2010 i have only been able to get short term low paid jobs. I live in a rented Flat and i have no assets. In November the IVA failed and within two weeks i have had HSBC chasing me for 11,000.
This has been going on for nearly 15 years now and what used to be a total debt of 15,000 has grown to the above. I am on Jobseekers allowance and i am 54 years old.
any advice would be welcome.

StepChange_Pavan

natty11 wrote: »

Hello All.. I am looking for some advice and some help basically.. I don't know if any of you could help!

I have recently got a copy of my credit file as I was turned down for a personal loan with the bank, basically I thought this was a lil strange beacuse I had not taken out anything in credit before.. cut a lonnggg story short I have got 4 defaulted credit agreements with shop direct.

I automatically queried this with equifax, who have not got back in touch as of yet. But I did some investgating myself, I rang up the people who I have got the credit agreements with, and as it turns out "I" apprantly have been making payments towards the debt of £10 per week. (Which I haven't btw)

Beacuse i queried this it turns out anyways, that It was infact my very own mom that has done this to my credit history. I have confronted her about it which she broke down into tears and said sorry! and explained that she is paying it back as best she can.
so my questions to you guys are....

1. Is there any way at all that I can get these removed off my file or even a note to say that I was a victim of fraud - without getting the police involved as it is my mom afterall she has done I couldn't do that to my family.

and secondly I never knew my mom was in soo much financial trouble until now. I have found out she is going from one PDL to the next, just to keep her head above water, how do I get her to go and get the help she needs? because she cant keep going on living this way?

Any advice muchly appreciated xx

(oh and sorry for the spelling mistakes in a bit of a rush to get it all down )

Hi natty11 and thanks for your post.

Unfortunately, unless you report it as fraud there’s very little you can do to prove that it wasn’t you that took the credit out. You could put a note on your file to explain that the debts were run up by a family member, but this wouldn’t remove the defaults completely.

If your mum’s struggling, it’s really important that she gets some free and independent advice. She can use our online debt advice service Debt Remedy (http://www.cccs.co.uk/ref/drcu) or call our free helpline on 0800 138 1111.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Pavan

StepChange_Pavan

robbo_monkey wrote: »

Hi all

I recently qualified as a solicitor and so have a good job with a good income. On the way to qualifying though I racked up nearly £22,000 in credit card debt and a professional loan of £16,000 (as well as student loan debt and money I owe my parents).

Despite this, I have a mortgage on the home I live in with my fiancee.

I am meeting all my payments and noone is chasing me, but the credit card debt is maintained, not paid off (I can't afford to overpay).

We marry next year and I'm trying to sort my finances out but struggling. The professional loan isn't a problem because that'll be paid off in 3.5 years if interest rates stay low. The credit cards are the problem.

I have 5:

£9,000 (25% APR)
£5,000 (22% APR)
£5,000 (0% til March 2013)
£1,500 (0% til June 2013)
£1,500 (0% til October 2013)

I'm paying minimum on everything. In total my repayments for loans and cc's (and some money to my parents) are £1,300 a month but after mortgage and household expenses I have nothing to live on or save for unforseens such as car trouble etc...

My priority is to clear the two cards with high APRs. I tried to get a loan to do this but one bank would only look to consolidate all my debts at 17% (meaning much higher interest than I am currently paying). Another bank (with which I have an account) said I met the affordability criteria for a loan of £15,000 at 24% APR (!) over 3 years, but when I applied and they did the credit check, they turned me down.
:mad:
Apart from the level of my borrowing and the fact that I moved around a lot as a student, my credit rating is fine. (Good enough to get a mortgage this year at any rate).

But it seems that nobody will touch me for for lending now despite the fact that I am seeking to consolidate, not borrow further.

I'm at my wit's end because I really want to pay this debt off asap rather than spend £2,500 a year in credit card interest...

Because of my profession, insolvency isn't an option. I would lose my licence and my livelihood.

Any advice or can you point me to a lender who would look at me?

Thanks

R_M

Hi R_M and thanks for your post.

It’s difficult to look at your options without looking at your income and expenditure in more detail.

The most obvious suggestion is to look at your budget to see if there are any areas you can cut back on – look at switching your utilities, and reducing non essentials etc.

If you’re unable to get a loan or cards at lower interest rates then it could mean waiting until you have paid the professional loan and then use that money towards clearing the remaining debts.

Unfortunately there is no quick fix and if you’re able to maintain the minimum payments at the moment, it’s unlikely they will agree to freeze them. However, you could write to your creditors explaining the situation and ask them if they can offer a solution. You could offer them a copy of your income and expenditure to show that you’re not spending excessively, you always make your payments and yet the debt isn’t reducing by much.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Pavan