Default questions

ListysDad

Hi everyone.

My wife and I have been advised to default on our credit cards by CCCS due to a lack of earnings (I'm self employed - or more specifically should be!). We've been advised to offer £1 a month to both Halifax (£17k) and Capital One (£6k) till things change and we can do more.

As neither of us have done anything as 'bad' as this before woudl someone please explain how it all works? Specifically:

- We know once you've defaulted it stays on your file for 6 years. When does that six years start?
- How do you go about ramping up payment without them setting the dogs on you?
- Do you have to pay off the full amount?
- Unfortunately both cards are in my wifes name (ashamedly it was me that ran up the biggest debt as a named card holder (but it was mainly things for our new house)) and she simply cannot face talking to them as she's so ashamed. How do I deal with it for her?
- I feel my credit rating must be not so good as when I divorced I was left with a load of debt but eventually paid it all off (albeit slowly) so can I (we) ever recover and if so is there anything we can do to make that happen sooner?
- Lastly, we need to move (to downsize) in a year or so, so how do we go about getting another morgage with such a cr*p credit rating?

My wife has good days and bad (many many more bad to be honest ) about the whole thing and we are desperate to stop the downward spiral. We have made massive changes and, more importantly, we now speak openly and honestly about things without getting too angry so there is no chance of it happening again.

I know in my heart it will be ok as I've seen many more people in a lot worse situation than ours but my wife needs hard facts so any and all advice and guidance is gratefully received so we can move forward and she can begin to smile again...

David

bottleofred

Hi David,

When you stop paying the required minimum monthly payments, initially the calls from the credit card people will start. Basically they threaten pretty much everything up to but not including death, but usually do very little. Yes, they can take you to court, but they can't get blood out of a stone and the best thing to do is pay the token payments, communicate with them in writing and don't let them bully you into paying more than you can afford. Shortly after not paying the minimum payments (1-3 months possibly), you will receive a default notice from each company, which gives you 14 days to settle the accounts or a default is placed on your credit file. Once the defaults are applied on your credit file, they stay on the file for 6 years before dropping off. As your wife is the main card holder, she will not be able to get any credit for a while due to the defaults and if you can get a mortgage then the interest rate will usually be higher. You could always try for the Mortgage yourself though if your credit file is free from defaults etc. Life does go on without credit cards etc and for me it was a relief when the dmp started and the phonecalls eventually stopped. I didn't know at that point that you could ask them to only contact you in writing though and they will use whatever they can to try to frighten you into paying more than you can afford etc but be firm with them. They probably won't speak to you as you're not the main card holder though.

Good luck

Red

ListysDad

Thanks Red. I take it you've been through it!

CCCS did say that when they phone don't let them speak to my wife and to make them go through me. I suppose its just a case of fronting them out.

Thanks for your experiences though.

ListysDad

Bumpty bump!