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StepChange_Pavan

macky11 wrote: »

I took out a loan in 2006 with a well known company for £4000. I lost my job in 2007 and had to survive on benefits, therefore my repayments stopped.
I have recently obtained my credit report and noticed that this company defaulted my loan in 2011 with a closing balance of almost £22,000. Can they legally do this and can they default an agreement 4 years after the last payment was made if they havent recieved any correspondence from me either?
I want to improve my credit score and this debt is making it virtually impossible so any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

Hi macky11 and welcome to the forum.

You would usually receive a default notice after three to six payments although they can send this at any time (http://www.cccs.co.uk/InfoCentre/EnglandandWales/Creditoraction/Courtaction/Defaultnotices.aspx). Do you remember receiving the letter through the post?

If you wanted to challenge the default date you would need to contact the creditor that you owe the money to. It sounds as though they’ve also added on a lot of interest and charges so you could challenge this too. If you’d like some help in questioning both of these you could contact the Financial Ombudsman (http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/contact/index.html).

The best way to help your credit file is to come to a mutual arrangement to repay the debt that’s outstanding. If it’s been over six years since you made a payment and assuming that you haven’t received a CCJ, the debt could be statue barred. Although this would make the debt legally unenforceable, it wouldn’t wipe clear your liability and could continue to affect your credit file.

If you’d like some more detailed advice on how to deal with the debt you 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. We’re open Monday to Friday 8am - 8pm and Saturdays 9am – 3pm.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Pavan

Jen12345

Hi,

I have old student debt on 3 credit cards and a maxed out overdraft now totaling around £5000. I had been successfully decreasing the debt until I was made redundant a few months ago and I've been unable to find permament work since. I've managed to make the minimum payments each month and at the end of May I'm starting a 4 month job in USA.

2 of my credit cards are balance transfer cards with 0% interest. The introductory 0% rate expires in June on both and it will then increase to around 20% which I will not be able to afford to pay.

My question is, because I am currently unemployed, if I apply for a new balance transfer card to transfer some of these debts, will I be rejected due to currently claiming JSA?
When I move to USA at the end of the month and my JSA claim stops, could I then apply for a balance transfer card as I will be employed? Although there will be no evidence of income as I'll be paid in cash at the end of my contract so the money wont be going into an account.
No idea what to do, I finally have a job but the last thing I want is to be in another country worrying about my debts here
Any advice appreciated, Thanks

macky11

macky11 wrote: »

I took out a loan in 2006 with a well known company for £4000. I lost my job in 2007 and had to survive on benefits, therefore my repayments stopped.
I have recently obtained my credit report and noticed that this company defaulted my loan in 2011 with a closing balance of almost £22,000. Can they legally do this and can they default an agreement 4 years after the last payment was made if they havent recieved any correspondence from me either?
I want to improve my credit score and this debt is making it virtually impossible so any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

my default balance was £11420, and my experian credit reports says that my account default date is nov 2011, but my current balance is nearly 22000. can they still add money to my balance after the default date??, any advice would be appreciated thanks.

JessM88

Hi,

I was unfortunately very stupid at 18 and got my self into debt with store cards/credit cards and a loan - I've learnt the hard way!!

I've been on a debt management plan since November 2009, at the time of going on it I was advised my debt would be paid within 3 years, I've just had an up to date statement and am now realising this was probably never realistic, I owed approx £8000 and currently owe just over £4000. I've been paying £150 per month to the company I took the plan out with, they take 17.5% or £25 (it works out that ive paid them approx £800 of which could of gone towards paying off my debt) which ever is greater so I'm basically only paying £123 a month off my debts, I'm now in a position where I am able to pay more off (approx £200 per month) of course if I tell the people who I took the DMP out with their charge will increase, 4 of the balances are under £300 the most is £1747. I've worked out a new payment plan which I'm thinking of putting to my debtors (all of which work in their favour as I'll be paying lager payments) I'm worried about cancelling the DMP and possibly getting charged for doing so and also worried about contacting people I owe money to as they can be very intimidating. Can anyone help with some advice about approching creditors? Any advice would be useful.

Thanks

StepChange_Pavan

Jen12345 wrote: »

Hi,

I have old student debt on 3 credit cards and a maxed out overdraft now totaling around £5000. I had been successfully decreasing the debt until I was made redundant a few months ago and I've been unable to find permament work since. I've managed to make the minimum payments each month and at the end of May I'm starting a 4 month job in USA.

2 of my credit cards are balance transfer cards with 0% interest. The introductory 0% rate expires in June on both and it will then increase to around 20% which I will not be able to afford to pay.

My question is, because I am currently unemployed, if I apply for a new balance transfer card to transfer some of these debts, will I be rejected due to currently claiming JSA?
When I move to USA at the end of the month and my JSA claim stops, could I then apply for a balance transfer card as I will be employed? Although there will be no evidence of income as I'll be paid in cash at the end of my contract so the money wont be going into an account.
No idea what to do, I finally have a job but the last thing I want is to be in another country worrying about my debts here
Any advice appreciated, Thanks

Hi Jen12345 and welcome to the forum.

You wouldn’t necessarily be rejected for a credit card simply because you’re unemployed as there are many factors that lenders base their decisions on.

You can read this article to find out more about how credit files work: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/credit-rating-credit-score.

If you can’t afford the new repayments and don’t’ get accepted for a balance transfer it’s best to write to your creditors and make them aware of your circumstances.

We can advise you on your options but we would need to look at your situation in a bit more detail. If you’d like us to do this you call us on 0800 138 1111.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Pavan

StepChange_Pavan

macky11 wrote: »

my default balance was £11420, and my experian credit reports says that my account default date is nov 2011, but my current balance is nearly 22000. can they still add money to my balance after the default date??, any advice would be appreciated thanks.

Hi again,

Yes, they can continue to add interest and charges even after you have defaulted.

The charges do seem extreme though so you could contact the creditor and ask for a breakdown of exactly what you owe and how the charges have amounted to so much.

I hope this answers your question.

Kind regards,
Pavan

StepChange_Pavan

JessM88 wrote: »

Hi,

I was unfortunately very stupid at 18 and got my self into debt with store cards/credit cards and a loan - I've learnt the hard way!!

I've been on a debt management plan since November 2009, at the time of going on it I was advised my debt would be paid within 3 years, I've just had an up to date statement and am now realising this was probably never realistic, I owed approx £8000 and currently owe just over £4000. I've been paying £150 per month to the company I took the plan out with, they take 17.5% or £25 (it works out that ive paid them approx £800 of which could of gone towards paying off my debt) which ever is greater so I'm basically only paying £123 a month off my debts, I'm now in a position where I am able to pay more off (approx £200 per month) of course if I tell the people who I took the DMP out with their charge will increase, 4 of the balances are under £300 the most is £1747. I've worked out a new payment plan which I'm thinking of putting to my debtors (all of which work in their favour as I'll be paying lager payments) I'm worried about cancelling the DMP and possibly getting charged for doing so and also worried about contacting people I owe money to as they can be very intimidating. Can anyone help with some advice about approching creditors? Any advice would be useful.

Thanks

Hi JessM88 and welcome to the forum.

It’s definitely a good idea to cancel with the fee charging company as you’re right that the extra money could be going towards clearing your debts a lot quicker. You would need to check their cancellation terms to find out how to do this but it should be fairly easy to do and hopefully there won’t be any fees.

With regards to approaching your creditors, I’d recommend that you write to them and include a copy of your income and expenditure to show that you’re paying as much as you can afford. You could also explain that you’ve decided to contact them yourself as you’re able to offer more.

If you’re unsure about doing this or you’d like some help with putting together a budget we can help you free of charge. If a DMP is your best option we will advise you how you can set one up but there’s no obligation in case you decide to administrate it yourself.

You can visit 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

Rippone

Hi,

Hope I am writing in the correct section.

I have been recently notified by a Debt Recover Agency of an outstanding balance of £400 for a gas bill in my ex-flat.

I moved from that flat 16 months ago. At that time, I phoned the Gas provider asking them to close my account and paying what I consumed until that day.
So I did but the account wasn't closed plus something went wrong with the amount I paid, not covering all the money they asked.

Until that day, the account of that house remained under my name without me notice it, and the new tenants never paid the bills or changed the account under their names.

What can I do to avoid to pay the money due?
Honestly I think it's just fair I pay for the outstanding until the moment I left (around £30). But I don't want to pay the remaining amount.
If will be brought to court by LCS debt agency I can prove I moved to a new house in 2 ways: 1) showing my new contract; 2) showing Housing Benefit & Job Seeker allowance letters at that time.
But my fear is that legally I am still reliable of that money because that contract was kept under my name.

Thank you for any help.

Marco

katie2074

My partner is in a DMP, and one of his debts have come forward and offered a 50% discount to pay the debt in full, and will log on the credit reference as partially satisfied.

It seems like a no brainer, but should he do this? I'm prepared to lend him the money to do it, just not sure if it will do more harm than good to his credit file.

Thanks for any help!!!

millymollymoody

Hi

I'm just wondering whether anyone could offer me advice on what to do. Three years ago, I had some savings and no debt (other than the mortgage), but had a disaster a couple of years ago due to two separate legal '!!!!-ups' which meant that I had to spend upwards of £20k in legal fees fighting for my home.

I now have a £15k bank loan, £6k on credit cards and a £3.9k overdraft and feel I am getting more and more into debt each month.

There's only about £20k equity in the house, so I'm unlikely to be able to re-mortgage and add the debt onto that, so I'm just not sure where to go.

I've got a relatively good income and quite a secure job, but the debt is starting to get me down.

I've been told by the solicitor I used a couple of years ago that I have a very good claim against the solicitors who made the original error, but I can't risk any more debt on legal fees and 'no win, no fee' arrangements only seem to cover accidents, medical negligence and unfair dismissal'.

I just seem stuck in debt through no fault of my own and it's really getting me down. Grateful for any advice anyone could offer.

Sorry if this seems a bit of a ramble!