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CCCS_Amanda

chichi128 wrote: »

Hi this is my 1st post on the site and I'm hopeful that someone may be able to help as my MBNA debt is driving me crazy!!
About 3 years ago I did a 0% balance transfer to MBNA from Egg of £7000 set up to repay at £500 a month.
I don't have the best of memories but know that I missed the 1st payment by direct debit, but I'm sure I paid it well before the next payment was due. MBNA then changed their T&C's to only take minimum payments by direct debit, if you wanted to pay more this had to be set up by standing order which I meant to do but actually never did, so for the last 3 years I have been paying the minimum per month, assuming that every penny of my monthly payment was coming off my debt of £7k.

At some time not long after I took the card out MBNA called me to sell me PPI. I did take it out but did not realise that this had put me over the credit limit on my account as I had not been given the 0% interest rate, but charged between 25% and 28%, so instead of coming down my debt was increasing.

I have 2 real issues with MBNA, firstly I believe that they mis sold me the PPI as they knew that this would put me over my credit limit, yet went ahead and did it, not mentioning that this would put me over. I also believe that their systems should not have allowed a purchase to have gone through on the same basis; knowing it would put me over my limit and start the incurring of charges.

....

I'm really not sure what to do. I'm struggling to pay off any more to MBNA than I already am at the moment, and feel that what they have done to me while it may be legal (probably only just) is morally wrong, and am curious if what they have done falls under "sharp practice".

Would I be better off going to the CAB to see if they can do anything for me, for example negotiating to freeze the interest rate, get the PPI refunded, should I go with this no win no fee company, or just swallow it and knuckle down and pay it as fast as I can.

All replies will be gratefully recieved

Cheers Chichi128

Hi Chichi,

I am afraid that there is not much that you can do regarding the rate of interest that MBNA are charging you. The only thing that I could suggest is to possibly try and transfer the balance to a card with a lower APR.

And, unfortunately, the Terms and Conditions that you sign with a creditor cover missed payments, cancelling 0% deals, etc. If you feel strongly, you could try making a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman.

The MSE website has a lot of fantastic information on reclaiming PPI and I would suggest you have a look at this link (http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/ppi-loan-insurance ) before you have a ‘no win, no fee’ take a look at your case.

I hope that this helps.

Amanda

CCCS_Amanda

Douggy wrote: »

Hello, I wonder if you can advise me.

I have debts of about £13'000 across 3 credit cards, 3 bank Overdrafts and a loan. (Not including student loan which I know is a whole other matter)

I am from Wales but moved to Scotland for a job just over one year ago.

I am on a casual contract job low wage, and my contract just ended so am now unemployed. There is the possibility of going back to the same job, but not until October when they need me again.I am looking for work all over Britain as I am happy to move for the right job, but again this will cost money.

Every month I have been paid, the account I'm paid into looks good for about a day then I am poor again, so end up having to use my credit card to buy food and pay bills etc. There seems to be no escape and i have been struggling like this for as long as I know.

I've gone onto the CCCS website and filled in the questionairre and the outcome is to open a new account (have just applied online) write to everyone I owe money to and offer £1. I have printed out letters etc to send and will do so once my new bank account is open and I can set up Standing orders etc.

A couple of Q's... I know I sound terrible. I have not been on crazy holidays or madly shopping. Real life is expensive. I don't want to run away from the mess and it's embarassing never being able to tag along with others for fun things, and having to beg parents who also don't have any money but it's drowning me and up until now it has been a necessity to stay alive. Melodramatic!

Q1... does only paying a pound totally screw up my credit? So far it's ok. But having a good credit rating due to massive struggle and gaining more debt to keep it ok has done me no good so far.

Q2....I'm wondering if I should/ can do the DRO as I have only lived in Scotland a short time (I don't know entirely if i can?)

Q3....I have a car I am rather fond of. I did an online valuation and it is under £800. But how is it valued if I go the DRO way, what proof do I need to show? I don't want to lose it. Ridiculous sentimental nonsense. But i would rather it be under a grand for these reasons.

Phew. I'm glad I can come on here and let off steam. I'm rather tired of it and new to the forum, so your advice and help is so welcome. Many thanks! Sorry too for the long winded writing

Hi there,

If you are paying £1 to your debts, as you are paying less than your contractual payment, this will affect your credit file.

In order to be eligible for a DRO you must, in the last 3 years, have had a residence or carried out business in England and Wales. As you have only been in Scotland for just over a year, you would still be able to apply for a DRO.
The Insolvency Service uses the Parkers website to ascertain the value of a vehicle. Have a look on this web site just to ensure that your car is worth less than the £1000 limit.

From what you have said about job hunting, you have to be careful if you are considering a DRO. For the 1 year moratorium period you can not have more than a £50 per month available surplus. If you find a job and you have more than £50 surplus income, your DRO would be revoked, and you would have to make repayment arrangements with your creditors.

If you have any doubts, you can have an appointment with one of our debt counsellors and they will advise you on the best course of action and guide you through the pros and cons of your decision. You can contact our helpline on 0800 138 1111.

Amanda

CCCS_Amanda

suziq5001 wrote: »

Hi, I'm new to forums and am not sure if I'm posting this question in the right place! Sorry if I'm not!!

My question is about a CCJ that I have against me for a huge amount of money - £28,000. I went to court about this three years ago and my creditor (the RBS) suceeded in getting a charging order on my house. I have an agreement with them now to pay £124 monthly which I have kept up. My question is, will this disappear from my credit file after 6 years - even though the debt is unsettled? Or will it remain until the debt is paid off.

Thanks in advance for any advice!!

Hi suziq5001,

As far as I am aware the CCJ will fall off the credit file 6 years after it is issued. I have attached a copy of a booklet that will give you information on your credit file.

www.ico.gov.uk/upload/.../credit_explained_leaflet_2005.pdf

Amanda

CCCS_Amanda

shaken_not_stirred wrote: »

Hello,

I wanted to get other people's opinions and advice on a situation my wife is faced with. She ran up a Credit card bill with Virgin Credit Card and went over her £9000 limit. I discovered this in Feb 09 and made her call Virgin to sort this out. The problem is because she is over her credit limit they are charging ridiculous amounts of interest. She has since called them 6 times in an effort to come to some sort of arrangement to reduce the problem for her however they do not help her or offer a solution. She pays between £300-400pcm to Virgin and despite this her balance has risen from £10400 in Feb 09 to £11200 last month. Surely they have some moral obligation to help her - especially as she called several times to ask for help as she couldnt afford to pay more. She has paid over £6500 since Feb 09 and yet her balance has increased £800. What can she do?
kind regards
s.n.s

Hi there,

Is there any way that you can try and get the card under the authorised limit? Have you considered making a partial balance transfer? Though I know this is not a long term solution, it will mean that you are not being charged an over limit fee monthly.

If you feel that your creditor has been unreasonable and has charged you excessively, make a formal complaint in writing. If this fails to bring about a result, you can make a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman for them to consider. http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/

Amanda

MapperleyFlyer

I'm digging myself deeper & deeper into debt and coulddo with some advice. I'm around £22000 in debt which is made up from the overdraft on my account, a loan with my bank and am almost maxed out on my credit card. I rent my home and don't own a car, would an iva be the best way forward?

[Deleted User]

My dyslexic friend has got himself into a tangle which I'm trying to help him unravel.

He is the leaseholder of a flat where he, a series of tenants and his daughter have lived over the past 5 years. His life has been a bit chaotic during this time.

He lived in his flat when he was unemployed and in receipt of benefits.

During most of this time he has been living with a girlfriend, in her house, in another local authority area than the one in which his flat is and at times staying with friends.
A month ago, he split from his girlfriend and moved back into his flat.

In the process of informing the local authority that he was moving back in, he discovered that neither his tenants or daughter had been paying council tax.

The local authority have now sent demands for most of the missing payments plus court costs.

I have sat down with him and worked out a detailed table of who was living in the flat and when, which I sent to the local authority.

The local authority have replied and want:

copies of original, signed tenancy agreements
and proof of where he was living and registered for council tax

He has discovered that his ex girlfriend had not included him in her council tax payments and was instead claiming a single person discount. Despite paying her monthly more than enough money to cover this, he does not feel able to 'drop her in it' with her local authority, due to the acrimonious and distressing nature of their break up - she has a mental health history, too.

Questions:

If he supplies tenancy agreement copies for most of his tenants (apart from his daughter, who just had his permission to live there), does he HAVE to prove where he was living?

If he was staying with friends - a married couple paying standard council tax, would they have had to listed him, to their local authority as living there in order to prove he was there? Would a letter from them serve as proof? Would they be liable to pay any more, if they were already paying the full amount for two people?

Is he liable for court costs for bills he never saw?

Is there anything else that can help him?

After some disastrous years, he just managed to see a debt-free future in reach and the possibility of a bill for nearly £3000 is a major setback.

Bengal128_2

Hi

I am in process of doing a CCCS, I have just given them the go ahead to authorise it. I have £453 to pay to them a month for 5 creditors and total sum is £46000(without interest). I stupidly rang Mercers today as they threaten a debt collector. So they told me that Barclaycards don't always listen to CCCS and that they would let me pay £65 a month until CCCS are in touch to stop debt collector coming around. I havent sent any money off as I have just read that CCCS won't help if I've gone into an agreement with them. So should I do, I just want to pay my debts and I feel I've been duped. Am I ok? What should I do? Please please please reply as CCCS arn't open over the weekend and I desperately need advice. Thanks for reading.

manicmiz

Hi,
Sorry if this has been asked before, but there are lots of pages to read through! I am in the process of setting up a DMP through CCCS. I get paid in less than two weeks and it will go straight into my bank account. I am setting up a new bank account, just waiting for the paperwork to come through, so it won't be set up in time to have my salary paid into it, I expect. So should I go ahead and send the notification to creditor letter to my existing bank (who I also have a cc, overdraft and loan with!) or should I wait in case they offset my salary against the debt and I have no money for the next month? Hope that question makes sense! Thank you.

LolaCola_2

Hi,
My Husband and I are nearly 1 year into a DMP with CCCS. Thank you for all the help you've given us so far :-) Everything has been going very well. However we've hit a strange problem. My husband made a online purchase with Paypal the other day. The problem was he had registered our new bank account card with paypal but forgot to delete the old card which is linked to one of our creditors.The result was that Paypal defaulted to the "old" card which we didn't realise was still active. This was a genuine mistake & it was only a matter of a few pounds, but this has resulted in us going just pence over our original agreed overdraught with our creditor (the amount which we were paying off on our DMP). When we got our statement and realised our mistake we immediately put back the exact same total of the transactions from our correct bank account. But then the bank in question hit us with a £25 overdraft charge. We are unsure what to do now as the amount we are paying each month will not cover this £25 and subsequently we will be paying more and more charges each month the longer we are outwith the original agreed overdraught as a result of my husbands stupid mistake (i am so not happy with him for this :mad:). We were considering borrowing the £25 to cover the charge as we don't want the debt to spiral with charges. What advice would you give us.
Many thanks

CIS

Questions:

If he supplies tenancy agreement copies for most of his tenants (apart from his daughter, who just had his permission to live there), does he HAVE to prove where he was living?

He needs needs to provide as many tenancy agreements as he can and needs his daughter to also confirm the periods she was resident. The local authority have to be satified they are billing the correct people for the correct periods.

If his daughter was the sole resident at the time then she would be liable for the period, if she was living there alongside tenants who had tenancy agreements then they will be liable for that period.

If he was staying with friends - a married couple paying standard council tax, would they have had to listed him, to their local authority as living there in order to prove he was there? Would a letter from them serve as proof? Would they be liable to pay any more, if they were already paying the full amount for two people?

They should have advised the council he was resident, but assuming they had received no discounts, they would not have been liable for any further council tax just because he was resident.

A letter from them would support his case but ideally he also needs some documents showing his address for the earlier periods (dated bills or statements).

Is he liable for court costs for bills he never saw?

It is his responsbility to ensure the council are informed of when he is liable for council tax (and as a L/L is very advisable) and as such the council are correct in that they can issue documents, quite legally, to the last known address. If he never told them of his contact address then they have billed correctly.