New and in need of help!!

troytrumpet

Hi everyone!!

I am new to this, though have enjoyed the advice and information on Martins e-mails for quite some time.

A little info about me, a happy freelance musician trying to get by in the world!! I am a very anti-materialistic person, so in the past have not valued money as something to hold on to!!! This, is now to my detriment.

Due to a 3 month lapse in a mental illness I unfortunately have, my debt control is out of control, and I don't know what to do!! All I have is a few grand on one credit card, and charges with the bank of Scotland. However, these charges have wracked up after I payed off a £1300 overdraft in one lump sum last December and cleared the account!! They now say I owe £500 of charges!!!

Any advice or help would be greatly aprreciated.

Being self employed means money isn't always regular, so it is difficult for me to manage it all.

Thanks

Tixy

Hi and welcome

Do you know why they say there are charges on the account? did you clear the overdraft and then stop using the account altogether? it could be that there was either some residual charges applied the next month that have then snowballed or that one of your direct debits was not cancelled or a late cheque went through.
But you do really need to know how they charges have occured. Do you have online banking from this account? can you track back to December? if not then I would write to them and ask them for a breakdown of the balance. If it is all charges and you explain the situation and that you did not realise they were being incurred they may be willing to come to an arrangment to reduce the amount you owe.

With the credit card are you financially able to meet the minimum payment each month? do you have this set up as a DD so that you know you won't miss it even if you are unwell?
Do you have arrears on the card? or are you over the limit? if so then it will probably make sense to write to them proposing a repayment plan that you know that you can afford (base it on a low income month so that you should be able to afford it even on a bad month) at the same time you could also ask them to consider freezing interest & charges on the account (they may or may not but its always worth asking).

I would also try writing out a statement of affairs to see how much you can afford towards your debts each month and whether you can afford your priority costs. Whilst the income section might be harder for you with a fluctuating income its still worth doing to get a full picture - http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

stoocake

It sounds like getting a part time job would be a good move for you, just so you've got a stable income, even if it is small. Post an SOA up too so we can see a better idea of your situation

troytrumpet

Hi there,

thanks for your advice. The snowballing bank charges occurred on an old student account that I still had from years ago. I never used it at all, so no DD or debit transactions were being made. I paid the lump sum 6 days after the BOS introduced the new daily charge system, where you are charged daily for being overdrawn and over the overdraft limit. Not being fully aware of this-and I hold my hands up to say I know it was my responsibility to understand what this meant-there were six days of charges that were applied 24 days after I cleared the account. I didn't notice this until the end of January, and there were daily charges for the whole of that month. The way it works is no amount of part payment makes a difference, I had to clear the lump sum, which was then sitting at approx. £115, and I had just been admitted to hospital, so no work was coming in!

As for the credit card, I got into arrears whilst in hospital and I thought I had payment protection on it, but months later I discovered I didn't.

So basically, now I am back at work with a lot of work coming in, I am trying to get to grips with my mistakes. I can see your point about getting a part time job, but with freelance work accumulating, I cannot commit to regular hours somewhere. I will write to the bank and to the credit card company to let them know of the situation, and see what happens.

Also, I got a hand written letter from some company called Hillside, based at Clifton House in West Yorkshire. Who are they? I cannot find them online?

Thanks again, I really appreciate the advice.

Tixy

Hillside are a debt collection agency. I certainly would ignore any hand written letter from them.
They could have bought one of your debts, or could be acting on behalf of one of your creditors or could be looking for someone else entirely.