Never-ending debts!

jaguar2

I'm new at this, so apologies if it's already covered somewhere else.

I am most definitely a debt-free wannabe!

My problems started way back in 1996 when I started university and banks were litterally throwing credit at you.
It started with one Barclaycard with a limit of £350. When I used the card and got close to my credit limit, the credit limit was increased. Many 'essential purchases' and many 'shopping trips' later, I had a credit limit of £9200 and owed almost £9,000.
I should point out at this point that I wasn't a typical boozy uni student - I had a job to pay for the bare minimum and not much time for socialising. The problem for me was a shopping addiction - shopping to make yourself feel better, convinced you 'had' to have it and living well beyond means.

At my lowest point I had 5 separate credit cards (thanks to the many 0% deals there were!), a student loan and a bank loan as well as a couple of store card/catalogue accounts - I owed somewhere near £50k. :eek:

In the time following uni, I worked extremely hard to try to clear as many debts as possible or move them to cheaper interest rates.

I still have a bank loan (Lloyds) and 3 credit cards (Lloyds, Tesco & Barclaycard) but that's it and total owed is near £22k now....but that's stilla lot more than I'd like to owe.

I looked into debt management & IVA but figured that it was my own fault for spending the money (even if I was encouraged), so should pay the full amount back.

I have an okay-paying job, I owe less money than I used to but I seem to be much worse off!
I want to buy a house and have done for many years but I just can't find the money, so I'm still renting.

It just seems to be never ending! It's so frustrating.

Then I received a statement from Barclaycard today telling by they're putting the APR up by 5% and it's just getting too much!
Tried phoning but they're clueless, so am sending a letter instead to see if I get any joy from them. :mad:

I was contacted by a company claiming they could potentially write off debts due to PPI mis-selling, interest miscalculation and unenforceability. Plus sounded far to good to be true - was tempted to bite their hand off at the offer. They wanted a fee up front, so steered well clear.


Couple of questions....

• any ideas if I could complain to Barclaycard over unsolicited credit limit increases in the past to try to reduce the overall amount? or is too long ago now
• is it advisable to investigate PPI mis-selling yourself or to find a company to do it on your behalf?
• are claims for PPI mis-selling/mis-calculation of interest limited to active accounts only? or can you ask a company to look at closed accounts too?
• are the fees for requesting your information from a company on a per account or per person basis? i.e. if I asked Lloyds for my information and I hold a loan & a credit card would I need to pay them once for my information or once for each account?

Money is soooo confusing and extremely frustrating!

TMoose

Welcome Jaguar

I'm with you on this - exactly the same for me (although replace shopping with gambling).

To answer a couple of your questions.

1) Steer clear of the unenforceability companies. They are all scammers, and don't do anything that you couldn't do for yourself if you so desires (see Never In Doubt's "Unenforcibility" thread if you are interested. Bear in mind that tihs is a topic that gets alot of strong opinions, so prepare a thick skin!
2) If you speak to Barclaycard within 7 days of recieving the rate increase letter they are obliged to return you to your former rate if you close the account and continue to pay (just can't add any new transactions, and when the balance is cleared they cose the account)
3) Put a Statement of Affairs up here using http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html and there are lots of really helpful people who can come up with ideas to streamline your budget
4) Keep your chin up! You've come a long way, and with the support of the guys & gals on here, you can finish the job! I did!

Moose

Tixy

Hi and welcome

Just to add - regarding the interest rate increase - they should explain to you how you can opt out (eg with egg you send a secure online message to opt out) have a read of this so you know your rights and what to put in your letter - http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/credit-card-interest-rate-increases

definitely steer clear of these types of companies who are contacting you.

I also agree about posting up a statement of affairs, you may find people can suggest where you can save money without needing to cutback as well as suggesting where cutbacks could be made. This will help you clear the debts quicker and cheaper and get you saving up for a deposit on a house sooner.

If you do really want to consider whether you debts are unenforceable bear in mind you would be doing this as the expense of your credit rating - so no chance of a mortgage for the next 6years or so.

Do you think you were missold PPI? what products do you have it on and why do you think it could be missold? There is a board on MSE dedicated to this and if it was actually missold then no point giving away money to a third party.

I believe a data protection act request would be one fee for all your info, a CCA request would obviously be per account.

jaguar2

TMoose wrote: »

I'm with you on this - exactly the same for me (although replace shopping with gambling).
Moose

Thanks Moose. It's good to know that I'm not alone!

So far I've contacted Barclaycard and got the standard 'credit score' response. I'm going to write to them to stay on the existing rate & close the account afterwards, I haven't been using it anyway - just slowly chipping away at the outstanding balance.

I'll put up a statement of affairs soon, just looking for all the necessary details now.

jaguar2

Tixy wrote: »

Do you think you were missold PPI? what products do you have it on and why do you think it could be missold? There is a board on MSE dedicated to this and if it was actually missold then no point giving away money to a third party.

Thanks Tixy.

I would hope not (was more wondering out loud whether I should go back and check on it) - as I have never asked for it and am sure I would not have agreed to it - but I have read stories of some people opting out of PPI but it still being added anyway.

Will take a look at link provided re: credit card rate hikes.

foxgloves

I think banks have been extremely irresponsible with their selling of credit. My partner has also in the past fallen foul of the 'Oh look what a great customer you are, that's why we've decided to increase your credit limit to £10,000', etc, etc, and we are now down to paying off the last of these debts which he increased at the time to pay off several much smaller debts when we should have just tackled each of them individually. Having said that, the banks don't creep in at night & slip the money into our wallets....we have to agree to it, and although it's easy at the time, we all know in our heart of hearts that we're spending someone else's money & paying them for the privilege! So, while I think their behaviour has been pretty despicable (& that's not even getting onto them causing the current recession & still paying themselves hefty bonuses), I'm not sure anyone would win a mis-selling case on this. The bottom line is that we are all responsible for knowing what our income is & choosing whether we wish to live within it. I don't mean to sound harsh....we've spent a lot of time paying off debts & one thing it teaches you when the end is sort of in sight, is that you only have to overspend your income by just £50 a week (& that's without putting bigger stuff on credit cards & loans) to end up with £2,500 of debt after just one year. I'd love to think the banks could be forced to take some responsibility for chucking credit at people, but you can't get away from the fact that it's personal responsibility as well. (Am really OFF banks at the moment!)