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

Teekaylon

Well........

is nearly a month now since i defaulted/sent reduced payments to my creditors

instead of paying the ......

£210 to barclaycard
£200 to Virgin

i have sent both creditors a letter asking to pay reduced payments and SOA also sent.......

from barclaycard i keep getting automated phone messages and Virgin/MBNA have today sent me a letter telling me to cut up my cards and they have suspended my account........ so far not so much grief but how much grief am i likely to be in for from here on in? any help from experienced people welcome

thanks in advance

PS........... i have already sent £50.00 reduced payment to both creditors

pip10

Hi,

Thought i would tell you of my experience. I am in the same position as you and also with Virgin/MBNA and Barclaycard.

I offered £1 token payments to both and asked them to stop interest/charges as per advice from CCCS and sent budgets to them.

Barclaycard replied very quickly and accepted the £1 payment for 4 months (i think its was). They stopped interest/charges and said they would review the situation after 4 months.

MBNA have been a completely different kettle of fish!! I sent two of the letters offering £1 payments and asking them to stop interest/charges. The first they ignored. The second they replied asking me to ring them and that was all they said! In the meantime i have been making the £1 payments. They have also been phoning me a lot from one of their Indian call centres. I have not answered any of the calls. The reason i don't answer is that whatever is said on the phone cannot be proved and i expect they will only ask me to pay more, which i can't do. Best to do everything by letter in my opinion. Anyway!... i sent another two letters recently. One asking for the phone calls to stop. And another asking for them to stop interest/charges (i quoted the lending code in this letter). Since then the phone calls have stopped so i presume they got my letters. However, i haven't yet had replies from them, so just waiting to see what they say.

Another thing - always send your letters signed for so you know they have been received and keep making the payments as you promised. I have 4 creditors and out of the four - 3 have accepted the token payments and froze the interest/charges.

Hope this helps, give me a shout if you want to ask me anything.

Teekaylon

Thanks for your input Pip

Ironically i seem to be the other way round , although im early on in the process i seem to be getting more grief from Barclaycard and less from Virgin.......


and i also dont answer the fone unless it suits me , i have sent template letters from CCCS and SOA to both my creditors so the only reason they can be ringing i guess is to try and squeeze more money from me so why would i want to answer when i cant aford more anyway!.......... makes me laugh how i dont get a person from barclaycard ring me from not even an indian call center i ust get a fone call with an autamoted message service when i do answer

Thanks once again

pip10

Ah, strange isn't it how they differ. Virgin/MBNA tend to use a company called Global Vantage who make calls on their behalf from an Indian call centre. I have the number stored in my phone so i always know its them! Let us know how it all pans out.

I have had a form through from my MBNA (the last creditor i'm dealing with). No letter with it or anything just a budget form - even though i have already sent 2 budgets to them! Looks like its not going to as easy with them...

Teekaylon

Thanks Pip

I made my first reduced payment to both creditors last month and so far have had a few automated calls from barclaycard demanding more cash and a letter from Virgin/MBNA telling me that my card is now suspended so please cut it up!

TheLostSheep

Just noticing that you are with Barclaycard.
I'm finding them very difficult to deal with. They say it's not their policy to do partial or full and final settlements. They won't offer me any help on a £2400 debt which I pay £50 and basically service interest.

With regards your financial difficulties, I've found that if you do a income/expenditure and KEEP IN REGULAR CONTACT and don't ignore letters you'll get somewhere. I had the barclaycard automated calls when I missed a payment so possibly that's why they aren't playing ball with me almost a year on.

pip10

Interesting - With Barclaycard i haven't asked about partial or full settlements. I only offered the £1 and asked them to stop interest and charges. They did it immediately. My circumstances at the moment mean i can't afford to pay anything so maybe this is why they accepted...

cg81 wrote: »

Just noticing that you are with Barclaycard.
I'm finding them very difficult to deal with. They say it's not their policy to do partial or full and final settlements. They won't offer me any help on a £2400 debt which I pay £50 and basically service interest.

With regards your financial difficulties, I've found that if you do a income/expenditure and KEEP IN REGULAR CONTACT and don't ignore letters you'll get somewhere. I had the barclaycard automated calls when I missed a payment so possibly that's why they aren't playing ball with me almost a year on.

Choppysocks

Superbiatch wrote: »

The reason why I haven't gone with CCCS or payplan is they have been known to pay your credtors late and therefore your debt increases (although this doesn't happen in all cases but its sods law lol). And I'm a control freak

Thank you that's really useful to know. I contacted cccs yesterday and they gave me advise and a pack which was very useful. However when I contacted the creditors they would not accept the nominal payment without a reference number. When you do the dmp yourself with cccs you do not get a reference number, just a website number which allows you to access all your financial details on the web page, however, they advised me strictly ot to give that reference number put to anyone as they can manipulate my finances.
I've just sent off the national debt helpline pack.

TheLostSheep

pip10 wrote: »

Interesting - With Barclaycard i haven't asked about partial or full settlements. I only offered the £1 and asked them to stop interest and charges. They did it immediately. My circumstances at the moment mean i can't afford to pay anything so maybe this is why they accepted...

Is that on a temporary plan? An arrangement. They've said I can call them but then I only sent my letter back to them yesterday re Full and final so will see what comes back from that. They'd be getting near 50% settlement having accrued near £1k in interest from me in time the debt has been with them.

Teekaylon

Incredibly one week after recieving a letter from MBNA telling me they were going to suspend my account and that i should cut up my cards i get home today to find my NEW replacement card on the doormat as the dates expire on my existing one shortly ......... :eek:

talk about one hand not knowing what the other is doing!!!!