Barclaycard and Virgin Money Credit Card Debts... 19.5K total

Teekaylon

I have been reading this site for quite some time and am still amazed at how many people there are in exactly the same position as me, before i found this site i believed i was unique in my credit card failures!

ok briefly.......

I am married but am 100% owner of these debts so although i contribute 50% to the household bills i have to cope with the debt solution on my own so to speak

my debts

Barclaycard..... £10681.61 APR 17.9%
Virgin Money.... £8790.21 APR 14.9%

cards i also own... MBNA £0.00 Balance ....credit limit £12400
First Direct Visa £0.00 Balance..Credit Limit £5400

I have been struggling to meet the repayments on both these cards for quite some time, i have been balance transfering for considerable amount of months from one to the other to take advantage of promotional rates across the 4 cards.. my problem now is that it seems my promotional rate lifetime has expired and my minimum monthly payments are just crushing me ... £500+ per month apprx.

As u will see from my SOA (to be posted shortly) i only have around £100 available funds each month after i have paid all of my other obligations so ultimately i have to own up to the companies and tell them i cannot afford to pay.

I have been in touch with the CCCS (very helpful wesbite) and they have advised me to write to each creditor ( supplied a template letter for me also) explaining i am having payment difficulties and that i cannot meet my minimum repayments...

so basically im offering £50.00 to both my creditors and then hiding behind the sofa and wait until the debt collectors start firing mortar rockets through my window...

i feel in such a hopeless situation really i do .... the thing that makes me more angry than anything else is that i have been trying to decrease these debts for nearly 3 years by balance transfering and paying a little extra each month when i could afford to rather than just paying the minimum paymet all the time.

I have made no fresh spending on any of these cards for apprx that amount of time and the debt just doesnt seem to have gone done at all, in fact feels like it has just grown.

any i now feel like i have had good rant and dont know at this point what anyone else can offer in the way of advice.

As i say i have posted a letter each to both of my creditors asking for some assistance in my time of need ....... also in my letter i have asked for them to freeze the amount of interest they are applying to my accounts. do i stand any or much chance here of that actually happening? peoples experience welcome please

just to add, i have just defaulted on my barclaycard and am about to default this week on my virgin card on minimum payments although i have sent payment to both for £50.00 as a token payment and demonstration that i do and will pay the debts but simply cannot afford the huge £500+ payments each month

Enough for now am even boring myself here

Sorry for the long post and

Thanks in advance for any help or advice

Tee

P.S .....SOA to follow shortly

Catslovelycats

Sorry I am unable to offer help here but there will be plenty of people along soon enough who can give you some advice. Especially when they've seen your SOA. All the best.

Teekaylon

Monthly Expenditure

Household

Rent £350.00
Council Tax £75.00
Gas £25.00
Electric £20.00
Water £25.00
TV Licence £7.00
Virgin Media £25.00
Insurance £20.00
Pet Insurance £10.00

Other

Child Maintence £125.00
Shopping £150.00 (includes food,petfood, household cleaning etc)
Car Tax £10.00
Public Transport £5.00
Car Insurance £37.00
Mobile £20.00
Pension £85.00
Diesel £120.00
Haircut £10.00
Dry Clean £10.00

Total Exp £1129

Total Income £1220 apprx ... fluctuates depending on how much overtime i can get so is safe to assume this figure can move £50.00 down or £30-40 upwards

Thanks once again

kerrypn

Teekaylon wrote: »

Monthly Expenditure

Household

Rent £350.00 do you claim housing benefit?
Council Tax £75.00 council tax benefit?
Gas £25.00
Electric £20.00
Water £25.00
TV Licence £7.00
Virgin Media £25.00
Insurance £20.00
Pet Insurance £10.00

Other

Child Maintence £125.00 is this court ordered/for how many children?
Shopping £150.00 (includes food,petfood, household cleaning etc)is this just for you? seems a lot for one
Car Tax £10.00
Public Transport £5.00 what is this for if you use £120 diesel?
Car Insurance £37.00
Mobile £20.00
Pension £85.00
Diesel £120.00 is this essential travel?
Haircut £10.00
Dry Clean £10.00

Total Exp £1129

Total Income £1220 apprx ... fluctuates depending on how much overtime i can get so is safe to assume this figure can move £50.00 down or £30-40 upwards

Thanks once again

Hello

Think we need to know a little bit more about your circumstances really, do you live just you and partner or have you children together? You pay child maintenance for how many children? Have you checked you are claiming all help you are entitled to?
The shopping figure could be reduced if just for your groceries-check out the old style board for tips and tricks in keeping food costs down.

However even if you manage to completely overhaul your expenses, you are still going to struggle making the minimum payments you say are £500 per month +

Does your partner know what situation you are in?

Please take further advice from CCCS, National Debtline or CAB for the different options available to you. Are these your only debts?

How is your credit rating at present/are you update at the moment?

Teekaylon

Thanks Kerry for the post....

Rent £350.00 do you claim housing benefit?
Council Tax £75.00 council tax benefit?............. No to both, My wife earns a fulltime wage also of similar amount to me so wouldnt qualify for benefits im sure but these debts have been accrued solely by me so its down to me to try to clear them


Child Maintence £125.00 is this court ordered/for how many children?.................... this is for one child from a previous marraige, not court ordered no i used the guideline from the CSA website to calculate what i should be paying, i had previously been paying £250 a month until i contested it with ex and we agreed on a reduction

Shopping £150.00 (includes food,petfood, household cleaning etc)is this just for you? seems a lot for one.......... this includes payments for food, petfood for 2 cats and goldfish, household cleaning products........... we spend approx £300.00 a month on these things or £70.00 a week which i pay obviously 50% of

Public Transport £5.00 what is this for if you use £120 diesel?........... i live in Central london i use this 5.00 for local bus journeys on oyster topup to save on diesel

Diesel £120.00 is this essential travel? ........... this is essential travel yes, 720 miles a month to collect my son and return him again (twice a month), 30 miles total daily travel to work

Does your partner know what situation you are in? Yes she fully aware and not prepared to help dig me out of this hole... dont get me wrong shes offering support but will not offer me financial support, but to be fair she could hardly afford it anyway she hs her own financial obligations with househld bills car finance and family issues etc

Please take further advice from CCCS ...... so far CCCS have put together a debt remedy for me i have sent letters to both creditors today to ask for some help...Maybe i should also ring them?. is diifcult for me to get to the CAB during office hours due to work commitment so could speak with them on the fone but would find it way difficult to attend a meeting during ofice hours being self employed and really needing to earn

Are these your only debts? Yes

How is your credit rating at present/are you update at the moment? Spotless up to this point yes i have a clean record although this past week i defaulted my minimum payment on my barclaycard and this coming week am likely to defaulf the virgin card also.... i have already sent token payment as expalined in the template letter supplied by CCCS .. £50.00 to both = £100.00 some way far short of the £500.00 both of these cards are expecting


As you say Kerry even with a complete overhaul of my finances i really cannot see how i am going to be squeezing an extra £400.00 over and above what i can realistically afford to pay so am kinda stuffed here, in the long run i am not in a position to be worrying about my credit file if it goes up in smoke so be it as i see that as the least of my problems at the moment because i know its not just for credit cards i need a good credit record but am feeling like i never want any form of credit it does my head in or will do!


Aslo................... although i have sent letters to both of my creditors to keep things official and proof that i am trying and willing to deal with my problems but would it pay if i rang them both up and expalined my situation also? i have no experience of this kinda thing so have no clue what to do for the best here. Reaading these forums i have seen that MBNA/Virgin can be quite accomodating regarding unmanageable debt but Barclaycard are less accomodating least thats what others seem to be saying....... any ideas?

Once again Thanks

Terry

kerrypn

I think you should definitely call CCCS or National Debtline and discuss this further with them. There are several options open to you at this point, but all have their own advantages and disadvantages, so you really need to take sound advice and make the decision right for you

As I see it you can manage a DMP yourself, use CCCS for a DMP, look at an IVA or look at bankruptcy. Or you could look at a consolidation loan with lower repayments-but I would not recommend this option.

I am by no means an expert on any of these options, however I have been through a BR myself in 2009, so I know a little about this.

I can see you are trying to set up arrangements with creditors and are worried about the response. Would you find it easier to have CCCS act on your behalf?

What are your thoughts on these options at present?

Teekaylon

Well i have no problem with dealing with creditors as im quite a confident person and will not be pushed into a corner even though i do owe a huge sum of money here i realise this, im not so worried about the resonse i am going to recieve from my creditors as there is little i can do to change my situation to change at present, after all the reading i have been doing and from the great advice you have given me here my head is saying DMP yes whether that is managed by CCCS or myself (although need to do my homework on how to do this.... basic negotiation i guess with my creditors and a supply of my SOA ?( which i have sent already today)

i suppose in an ideal world what i would and wouldnt want is

dont want

huge amounts of interest piling onto my already existing debt
baillifs knocking on my door asking for my TV

do want

to deal responsibly with my debt

dont mind

credit file being shot

from a logical point of view i can afford to pay £100.00 a month as the situation stands so it would make sense for me to pay this towards my debt each month and my creditors to accept this token payment and stall increasing the interest this would be my ultra ideal aside of not being n debt in the first place Kerry...

IVA and Bankruptcy ...no no
DMP....yes maybe although dont know the full ins and outs of this option yet?

Thanks once again

Superbiatch

I wouldn't contact your creditors as they'll try to squeeze more out of you.

A self managed DMP is simple (its basically what you've started off). When your creditors have considered your offer they'll write back to you to confirm or reject your offer, but pay it anyway as its all you can afford. In the meantime you will probably receive letters with extra charges incurred due to not paying minumum payments and some can be quite threatening. Don't worry about this, its standard practice and initially your debts might rise.

In a month or two things will die down and hopefully your creditors will be understanding enough to freeze your interest or at least drop it to a minimal level whereby your payments are reducing your debts.

You're doing the right thing, there is no point having a spotless credit record if you are maxed out on your lending level anyway. Its a bit daunting at first, but you will know exactly what you've got to live on and its actually quite empowering living without credit

Edit: Forgot to mention if you bank with either of your creditors open a new bank account pronto and get your wages paid in there too. Do you have an overdraft also?

Teekaylon

Superbiatch wrote: »

I wouldn't contact your creditors as they'll try to squeeze more out of you.

A self managed DMP is simple (its basically what you've started off). When your creditors have considered your offer they'll write back to you to confirm or reject your offer, but pay it anyway as its all you can afford. In the meantime you will probably receive letters with extra charges incurred due to not paying minumum payments and some can be quite threatening. Don't worry about this, its standard practice and initially your debts might rise.

In a month or two things will die down and hopefully your creditors will be understanding enough to freeze your interest or at least drop it to a minimal level whereby your payments are reducing your debts.

You're doing the right thing, there is no point having a spotless credit record if you are maxed out on your lending level anyway. Its a bit daunting at first, but you will know exactly what you've got to live on and its actually quite empowering living without credit



Edit: Forgot to mention if you bank with either of your creditors open a new bank account pronto and get your wages paid in there too. Do you have an overdraft also?

Thanks so much Superbiatch you have basically set my mind at rest as regards the whole DMP thing .... you have basically answered in a logical form what i was kinda putting together in my thoughts as these things are all logical in the long run...........

no money no pay....

sounds terrible i know but according to financial regulations these people do have a obligation to act responsibly towards there customers so therefore if im offering to give them money as repayment why would they refuse.... regardless of squeezing or not.

letters are sent and token payments have been made so now i wil just sit tight as i say behind the sofa and wait for the DCA,s to start sending petrol bombs through my living room window! :eek:

once again thanks

P.S....... i do have a overdraft facility with my bank.... £500.00 but have never actually used it , i bank with First Direct

Teekaylon

gotta sleep more to follow ................... once again thanks for the huge help

Superbiatch

Glad to be of help :beer:

I sleep at night nowadays instead of lying awake wondering how i'm going to make it through the month, its a good feeling. I'm hoping its a learning experience so i never find myself in this position again even though its going to take a long time to pay off