Declaring other creditors

sadsue

Hello folks, :hello:

Just looking for some advice please.

I currently have two debts. One involving my Halifax Visa card which is just over £4,000, and the other for an unsecured loan to Northern Rock. Originally £3,000 when I took it out, now currently at just under £1,400.
Owing to losing my job and then becoming ill with depression I have been repaying both debts at the token payment of £1,00 per month which is all I can afford. Northern Rock agreed I could do this until next month so as that time is almost up I have received correspondence from them requesting an update on my personal circumstances. That's fair enough, but I don't see why I should have to disclose to them what I owe to Halifax as they have requested information on any other debts.
What I'd like to know is whether this is a legal requirement or are they just being plain nosy?

Thank you ...

niccatw

I'm not sure whether it's a legal requirement or not, but I'm sure some-one else will know.

I was under the impression that they usually ask for other debts and houselhold bills etc to work out the affordability of any payments you make to them.

I don't know that you need to give them that information if you don't want to.

Sorry, that's probably nothing you didn't already know! Hopefully some-one else will pop along in a moment .

WRINKLES

sadsue wrote: »

Hello folks, :hello:

Just looking for some advice please.

I currently have two debts. One involving my Halifax Visa card which is just over £4,000, and the other for an unsecured loan to Northern Rock. Originally £3,000 when I took it out, now currently at just under £1,400.
Owing to losing my job and then becoming ill with depression I have been repaying both debts at the token payment of £1,00 per month which is all I can afford. Northern Rock agreed I could do this until next month so as that time is almost up I have received correspondence from them requesting an update on my personal circumstances. That's fair enough, but I don't see why I should have to disclose to them what I owe to Halifax as they have requested information on any other debts.
What I'd like to know is whether this is a legal requirement or are they just being plain nosy?

Thank you ...

You are under no obligation to give them any details of your financial affairs , they would like to know everything about your income and expenditure , so they can work out what they think you should be paying them a month , stick to your guns , pay them what you can afford whether they agree or not , eventually this will go to DCA ,s , they will come on heavy with you , dont panic , just come back here for more help , keep your chin up .

sadsue

Many thanks for your prompt replies, especially WRINKLES. :T

I know EXACTLY what I can afford to repay, and like many members on here in similar situations as me, find it extremely annoying to be told what I should be repaying. They really do treat us like first class morons.

Northern Rock had already passed my debt on to Eversheds a while back. What a shower of lying unprofessional b******s they are! Without going into a long winded explanation the upshot of that was they refused to deal with me and passed me back to Northern Rock who were less than impressed by their antics.

I do try not to become to down over this, but it's difficult. I own my house outright and I'm concerned they may force me to become bankrupt or make some claim against my home. *sigh*

WRINKLES

sadsue wrote: »

Many thanks for your prompt replies, especially WRINKLES. :T

I know EXACTLY what I can afford to repay, and like many members on here in similar situations as me, find it extremely annoying to be told what I should be repaying. They really do treat us like first class morons.

Northern Rock had already passed my debt on to Eversheds a while back. What a shower of lying unprofessional b******s they are! Without going into a long winded explanation the upshot of that was they refused to deal with me and passed me back to Northern Rock who were less than impressed by their antics.

I do try not to become to down over this, but it's difficult. I own my house outright and I'm concerned they may force me to become bankrupt or make some claim against my home. *sigh*

I t is not so easy to make someone bankrupt , they could apply to the court for a county court judgement , this is not so bad as you think , the judge would only make you pay what you could afford , if that is a pound a month , then that is what they would get , to make someone bankrupt is expensive , they could not do this as long as you were paying your pound a month , stop worrying post back here for more advice if you need it , good luck .

immoral_angeluk

It's not a legal requirement, it's just that they like to know the whole of your situation and circumstances in order to work out the best way to help you, and how much you can afford to repay. If you refuse to give the information they may think you're trying to hide something as they also like to know that you're treating all creditors fairly and splitting payments evenly between all creditors so you are not preferencing one over another.

Hannah_10

You don't have to tell them what you owe other creditors if you don't want to.

If you were to send them a SOA (see the sticky link at the top of this forum) with a breakdown of your other creditors and it were to show that you can only afford £1 per month and that is that then that'd leave them fairly well stuffed in terms of going to a court for higher payments because the judge can't magic up more money when you have a paper trail evidencing that you are paying everything you can pay. So although it feels like a total invasion you might reconsider sending the information because it then puts them at stalemate if they can't argue back.

This is where being on State Benefits is actually helpful if you are because benefits like Income Support, Incapacity benefit and Employment Support Allowance are costed out with an exact breakdown of what the law says you need to live on. The figures are readily available at any time from direct.gov.uk (with a little searching) or from the CAB who keep a list. The CAB are also one of the good sources of debt assistance too.

So let say your SOA happened to look like you were living on the prescribed minimums the government said you need to live on, all bar £2 a month, you have 2 creditors for large amounts and you are already making them £1 a month payments... Well where does that leave Northern Rock to get more money out of you? It doesn't does it and they know it. That's why it can sometimes be in your own interests to supply the information, as long as the information you supply is fairly watertight. Most people's SOA's contain things not considered essential, like pet food... But then if you knew this you wouldn't send an SOA with pet food on it. :A

The down side to it is that there's a risk they will suddenly realise that they have little hope of seeing thier money back and go for a charging order against the house or other such unpleasantry. Now when the conversation turns to the ins and outs of the various court orders I'm over my head, but the CAB aren't- so I highly recommend popping in to speak to them. It does no harm to get out of the house for an hour either when you're feeling low. The CCCS and National Debtline are also really useful contacts (just expect to be on hold for a while).

As regards making someone bankrupt, they threaten it because they know it frightens you and fear works where playing fair will not (see my signature). In all honestly they have a mountain to climb to make you bankrupt and for what? They're unlikely to get thier money back in the doing of it, if you're saying you're off work for an unspecifiable period of time rather than forever then getting the money out of you is far more attractive a proposition than bankrupting you. Which is what you said- you needed 6 months, well ok, now you need another 6.

For the most part it's all mouth and no trousers with creditors (even more so with the DCA's) think of them as kids having a tantrum and gobbing off rather than solemn promises from Phil Mitchel about what'll happen next and you're on the right lines.

They can only scare you if you let them. For what really can and can't happen next try the debt-advisor at the CAB.