Have just sent out letters about token payments - what can I expect from my lenders??

Mics_chick

It's a couple of months since me and my OH discussed calling a halt to the credit merry-go-round we're on...

Because of Nationwide completely messing up our application for a new account with them and wasting at least 6 weeks of our time, we've now successfully opened one with NatWest.

So we updated our budget and sent out letters to all our lenders saying that we can only afford a token payment for a start until we've rationalised our monthly payments some more. Our fuel bill is dropping from £129 to £90 a month by switching from E-ON to Npower and that's just for starters

I wondered what type of treatment we might receive from each of our lenders so I've listed them below:

Lloyds TSB
Egg
Barclaycard
Santander
MBNA
Halifax
M&S Money
Virgin

Is there any of these that are really bad?

I would be grateful for any advice/pointers anyone can give us from their own experience.
Cheers Gail

Hannah_10

The really evil b*st*rds are the edge-of-reality type bottom feeders, the pay day loans companies, the ones that lend you money secured on the log book of your car, the ones like Yes Loans who specialise in people they know are in deep trouble already and then pile it on, the companies that collect their weekly £2 on the doorstep from the very poor and just above that (but not by a lot) the catalogs.

You seem to have avoided that whole level of scuminess, so whatever you've got, it wont be as bad as it could be.

Arfhurdaly

Most will write back and say they will want more money.

Your token payment will be credited to your account, but they'll add the arrears on to the next month, and month after.

In my case, only egg stopped interest.

Mics_chick

Hannah_10 wrote: »

The really evil b*st*rds are the edge-of-reality type bottom feeders, the pay day loans companies, the ones that lend you money secured on the log book of your car, the ones like Yes Loans who specialise in people they know are in deep trouble already and then pile it on, the companies that collect their weekly £2 on the doorstep from the very poor and just above that (but not by a lot) the catalogs.

You seem to have avoided that whole level of scuminess, so whatever you've got, it wont be as bad as it could be.

I wouldn't touch these kind people with a barge pole if THEY paid me to.
I'm actually shocked that they can advertise on TV when you see some of their APRs - one of them is over 2000% :eek: that makes them little better loan sharks imho....

Marisco

Yes, I must say I thought I needed new glasses when I saw the interest rate in the "small print" on the bottom of the screen!!!:eek: It was for Quick Quid or something like that!!! How can they get away with it?? I thought loan sharks were illegal!!!!!

Mics_chick

Marisco wrote: »

Yes, I must say I thought I needed new glasses when I saw the interest rate in the "small print" on the bottom of the screen!!!:eek: It was for Quick Quid or something like that!!! How can they get away with it?? I thought loan sharks were illegal!!!!!

I think any lender can charge what interest they like but it all has to be written down and explained.
Loan sharks are illegal coz you can't intimidate people or take any property (like benefit books) to coerce them to pay up.

Mics_chick

Just bumping it to see if anyone else wanted to comment...

MustBeatThis

My experience was that they did not stop interest or charges. They didn't want to accept token payments (I made them over the counter so they couldn't refuse them) and to be honest they were pretty quick about defaulting/selling the debt on.

Sorry to sound negative, but I tried really hard to keep our creditors informed and didn't want to go into default, but to no avail. Mostly this was happening when they were using DCAs to collect the money (some of them were really awful).

I got very regular phone calls, but learned not to answer anything that starts with 0845 etc and which other numbers to avoid.

sorry I can't be more positive!

chuckley

some will accept without a personal budget sheet but some wont. just keep paying what you can afford though, as you notified them of whats what. if they want to take it further, let them. its not like you never told them. just make sure you keep paying whatever you can afford.

i had one reply to my email with a letter saying my offer was fine. Now if i do get any extra funds this will be the one I will pay off 1st seen as though they didn't even request the budget sheet, i said I would forward later in the post.

a lot of them though, really dont care.

climbintheladderouttadebt

The banks/cc companies etc might not respond well but if the debts are sent to DCAs then you stand a better chance of your payment offers being accepted and the hassle reducing.