Would be grateful for any help

d-van

Hi,
I am new on here as I am trying to deal with partner's debt. I have no idea where to start as I've never done this before. I have obtained his credit report and I would be grateful if someone could help me understand it. The situation is pretty bad but I promised him I'd try sort it out as much as I can (he is unable to deal with it himself)
First of all, could you tell me what does the status default means? He has got a few of them, defaulted in 2009 and 2010. Also, there are 3 credit card debts, all of which he has paid PPI for since 2004. He lost his job a while ago (aprox 10 months ago) and they haven't been paid since. I gather I should get in touch with the credit card companies and see if the PPI will cover the payments?
Also could you let me know if these defaults, if I was to pay them would he be able to obtain credit in the future?
Thank you and I have more questions but I'd like to start somewhere and this seemed like a good place

Mikeone

Hi, welcome to the forum! You're definitely in the right place to find some help.

Defaults stay on a credit file for 6 years (unless someone can correct me). Unless they were applied incorrectly, they cannot be removed until this period is up. They will have an adverse effect on his credit rating I'm afraid. Not the end of the world though, I've got one myself (as have many, many people here).

PPI reclaim is a must -just found out I may have a claim and will be following it up. There are guides to making a reclaim on this site, but other posters may have personal experience which will be helpful to you.

Finally, try to keep your chin up. It must be quite worrying for you at the moment, but trust me, things do get better and there is a way through this.

Best of luck!

d-van

Thank you for your reply. Should I just contact each of the credit companies regarding the PPI? Should I phone them? I'm not sure if they will speak to me as the debt is not in my name. Would I be better off writing to them?

dancingfairy

As it's not your debt I presume you will need something in writing from your other half to say he gives permission for the company to deal with you. I would keep everything in writing so there is a papertrail as it's very easy to misunderstand or miss something on the phone and some companies tend to over exagerate everything that might possibly have happened to someone ever and make it sound like they will make you bankrupt, take your home, put you in prison, call the police etc- 99.9% of which is complete and utter rubbish and the rest is so rare you've got more chance of winning the jackpot on the lottery
I would definitely try and claim on the PPI otherwise I would look into whether it was missold.
Have you done a budget sheet yet for your other half to see what the situation is re benefits, outgoings etc?
Are you able to involve him in the process so he can see for himself what's happening?
df

Tixy

Are you trying to reclaim the PPI paid (which is what Mike is suggesting) or do you want to make a PPI applicatoin for them to pay the debts whilst he is unemployed - which is what I think you were suggesting?
Has he actually contacted the PPI at all to put in a claim when he became unemployed? Usually I think they only pay out for 12months and it may be that they won't backdate the payments if he hasn't yet claimed.

Usually I would start by contacting them by phone and they will usually send out a form of some sort to complete to say you are unemployed etc for them to assess if it comes within the agreement. As they are not in your name it may be more difficult - you could try ringing just to see if they will send forms out to partner, which will probably be quickest. If they won't it will probably have to be by letter.

Defaults are entered when the creditor believes the credit agreement has permanently broken down (typically its after around 3months of missed payments). They will as Mike says stay on for 6years from the date they were put on his file. He will struggle to get any mainstream credit with them on there.

If the debts are settled in less than 6years they should be marked as satisfied defaults (which are a little better than unsatisfied ones).

Long term (and after 6years) defaults shouldn't impact on his future ability to get credit.

Mikeone

Tixy wrote: »

Are you trying to reclaim the PPI paid (which is what Mike is suggesting) or do you want to make a PPI applicatoin for them to pay the debts whilst he is unemployed - which is what I think you were suggesting?

Sorry! My mistake -I seem to have misread the OP.

d-van

Yes I am trying to claim the PPI so that they would cover payments whilst he is unemployed. He has not dealt with any of it since he lost his job, he has fallen in a state of depression and was unable to. I am trying to deal with it without involving him as his emotional state is very frail and I'm afraid it will just do him worse.
You say they won't backdate the payment, does it not count for anything that he has paid PPI for 6 years prior to losing his job and never missed a payment?
I am going to phone them and see what they say, i really hope they can just send out the forms then I could fill them in without having to involve him in any of it.
I have got a pile of unopened letters to deal with and really don't know where to start. I just hope I can do something about it. Thank you for your support

RAS

d-van wrote: »

I am going to phone them and see what they say, i really hope they can just send out the forms then I could fill them in without having to involve him in any of it.
I have got a pile of unopened letters to deal with and really don't know where to start. I just hope I can do something about it. Thank you for your support

Hi

Becausee of the Data Protection Act it is most unlikely that the companies will even speak to you, unless you get OH alongside you, he does the security questions and then authorises them to talk to you.

Otherwise you need to get him to sign a letter telling them you are acting on his behalf. The write and ask for the forms, with a copy of the POA included.

Tixy

I don't know that they won't backdate the payments - but I think its possible they may be a bit difficult about it (to be honest most insurers seem to like finding excuses why they don't need to payout - in my experience).

Ring them to start and see what they say. If they say they need to speak to him at least you will know where you are.

If there are also debts without PPI then rather than pay nothing to these accounts it is prefereable to write to them (in his name) to say he is unemployed and can only afford a token payment towards the debts - even if its only £1 a month he can afford. Keeping in touch with creditors and paying a token payment reduces the chance any of them will take court action against him to try to recover the debt.

Regarding the unopened paperwork, start with a pile for each debt and put in date order so you can see what is the most recent correspondance from each one and therefore work out a plan of action. If once you've been through all the paperwork you have any queries people on here should be able to advise and help.

Finally regarding the PPI - if they won't pay out at all for any reason then you may want to look into whether there is any possibility that the PPI could have been mis-sold. As Mike said there is a section of the forum related to this and on some old agreements PPI was mis-sold for various reasons so it could be something to consider if they won't pay out.

d-van

I have managed to get them to post PPI forms. They did ask to speak to him and asked him 3 security questions but then I spoke to them and got them to send them all out. I need to inform myself in more detail about PPI and what it covers. I have spent the past 4 hours opening letters and sorting through them. I have also been reading other threads on this forum so I will fill in a Statement of Affairs but first i have a question. I have noticed, going through his bank statements that on his Natwest account which he opened over a year ago, he has been charged a Maintenance Charge of £20 as well as a subscription of £6.95 each month. So if I'm correct he has paid over £300 in charges for this account so far! I have asked him about it and he doesn't recall ever subscribing to any such account. So he phoned Natwest and they informed him that he has got an Advantage Blue account which they upgraded from his original Current Account but there is no such notice of this in the correspondence. They said the Advantage Blue account pack was sent in the post but my partner does not recall receiving that. The person he was speaking to on the phone told him that the account has a series of benefits including a Railcard and Mobile Phone Insurance (now i googled this railcard and it appears it only applies to people between the ages of 18-24 whereas my partner is older than that!) He hasn't benefited at all from these 'Advantages' and so he asked Natwest if they could change his account back to the initial one he opened which was free of charge. The advisor on the phone told him that he needs to go in branch and do this as it cannot be done over the phone, at the same time trying to persuade him to keep the account and that it might and i quote 'come in handy if you happen to lose your mobile phone'. In the end he had to excuse himself and hang up as he was growing very frustrated with the advisor. I personally feel that he was very unhelpful and unprofessional so I will go with my partner in branch tomorrow to try and sort this out. Now my question is, is there any chance he could get those money back that they charged him for this account if we can prove that he hasn't consented to it? I know it is his fault for not checking his bank statements earlier but I really do wish to solve this matter now. Should we ask Natwest to produce proof that my partner consented to being upgraded to this account?
Sorry for the long post but I really don't know how to deal with this.
I forgot to mention that he does not have an overdraft facility with this account

ceejaydee23

d-van its certianly worth asking them to provide the paperwork he signed, as to upgrade the account like that they would have needed your partner to sign paperwork.

Just recently i had a phone call from natwest to "upgrade" my step account to a current account, at the time i wouldnt confirm all the details to the salesman as was not in a place to do so, but when i went in the bank to sign paperwok, i realised they hadn't just "upgraded" my account but opened a new one!