Daughter's debts

purdita

My 22 year old daughter who is at uni but lives at home has run up debts on store cards and bank overdrafts she has no means of clearing. We have bailed her out in the past, but she has continued to build up more debt so we are not going to do so again.
The thing that worries us is that we are constantly getting phone calls from people chasing her and have now received a postcard from Hillesden Securities, wanting her to phone and make an appt for a representative to call.
My husband and I have no debt whatsoever. The mortgage has been paid, we pay our credit card in full each month and have nothing on HP. but if addresses are used by credit companies, dread to think what our credit rating is like :mad:
I am worried sick that bailiffs are going to turn up on the doorstep and demand entry into my home. Can they do that, even though the debt is not ours?
Can we ask for our address and telephone numbers to be removed from these companies records?
Any advice would be really helpful.

dreamdreamer

People will be able to give you great advice on the baliffs, I have no experience there I'm afraid, but just wanted to reassure you that credit ratings are done on individuals, not addresses, so unless you are finanically linked to your daughter (eg. any joint financial products such as bank accounts or loans) then she can run up as much as she likes and it won't affect your credit rating.

hallowitch

purdita wrote: »

My 22 year old daughter who is at uni but lives at home has run up debts on store cards and bank overdrafts she has no means of clearing. We have bailed her out in the past, but she has continued to build up more debt so we are not going to do so again.

been there done that not doing it again
The thing that worries us is that we are constantly getting phone calls from people chasing her

if you can afford it by yourself a truecall (google it) best thing i ever bought i recorded every call from these debt collector's and then blocked there numbers (bliss and plenty ammo against there unlawful actions)

and have now received a postcard from Hillesden Securities, wanting her to phone and make an appt for a representative to call.

you write to them (recorded delivery )and inform them this is your property and they are not welcome

My husband and I have no debt whatsoever. The mortgage has been paid, we pay our credit card in full each month and have nothing on HP. but if addresses are used by credit companies, dread to think what our credit rating is like :mad:

I don't think it will affect your credit but i do believe you can dissociate yourself from her others may be able to explain this better
I am worried sick that bailiffs are going to turn up on the doorstep and demand entry into my home. Can they do that, even though the debt is not ours?

no bailiff or HCEO can levy/remove your goods for her debt regardless of what they say and they will say plenty we can get a locksmith, we can enter your house ,we will call the police, all said to frighten you into paying her debt


If you are worried about this the best thing you can do is get a statutory declaration done include you vehicles if you have any
Can we ask for our address and telephone numbers to be removed from these companies records?

yes you can but it will make no difference (truecal)
Any advice would be really helpful.

If a Bailiff or HCEO does turn up at your home don't answer the door speak to them through it record the conversation or video if you can

A statutory declaration looks something like this

— STATUTORY DECLARATION




To: (the bailiffs) (their address)





I (your name)



of (your address)


Do solemnly and sincerely declare that:



the items listed (list them)
are not the property of (your friends name) and (reason why they were there) and have always been my sole property


And I make this solemn declaration conscientiously believing the same to be true and by virtue of the provisions of the Statutory Declarations Act 1835 and Section 5 of The Perjury Act 1911.



Signature:




Declared at



On the day of two thousand and



Before me




A Commissioner for Oaths, or Notary Public/Justice of the Peace/Solicitor having the powers conferred on a Commissioner for Oaths


the solicitor will keep you right ask for an original copy and 2/3 notarised copy's should cost about £10


If a bailiff or HCEO turns up hand a photo copy to him through the letterbox and send a notarised copy to the bailiffs firm HCEO (recorded delivery) with a cover note informing them that any removal /interference against the listed goods will result in legal action against them and the company that employed them

purdita

Thank you so much for replying. She has her own car which we bought for her but put it in her name. She genuinely needs this to get to Uni and to her work placements. Could they take this?
As far as we know, she doesn't yet have any CCJ's and we are wondering what she can do to avoid it getting that far.
I'm guessing she owes approximately £4000, mainly due to the charges being added for either late or non payment each month. The annoying thing is that I am still intercepting and destroying offers of loans from companies like Provident!
I don't have a clue what she can do to try to get the totals down. She has managed to find a part time holiday job but I don't think she's going to earn enough to make much of a difference.
Does she owe enough to consolidate and make one payment each month?
Would it be worth trying to get her to see someone at Citizens Advice or similar?

Butti

It would be good for her to go and see the CAB or the CCCS or set up a plan of how she is going deal with her debt. This could be a DMP. She could download a SOA (statement of affairs) from one of the stickies at the top of this board and work out her budget.

Personally I would advise her not to leave the car outside the house or in the drive because it is quite easy for them to just take the car. These people do not listen to reason. They are not interested in whether she needs the car just how much the debt is and how much of that the car will cover.

B

DVardysShadow

purdita wrote: »

... I'm guessing she owes approximately £4000, mainly due to the charges being added for either late or non payment each month. The annoying thing is that I am still intercepting and destroying offers of loans from companies like Provident!

Are you and your daughter working together to deal with the debt? Has she asked you to intercept loan offers?

Because if she has not, may I respectfully suggest that this is a step too far in interfering - which is actually counterproductive in bringing her to financial maturity. One day she will have to learn to deal with offers of credit without your help.

GeorgieFTB

DVardysShadow wrote: »

Are you and your daughter working together to deal with the debt? Has she asked you to intercept loan offers?

Because if she has not, may I respectfully suggest that this is a step too far in interfering - which is actually counterproductive in bringing her to financial maturity. One day she will have to learn to deal with offers of credit without your help.

I have to agree, I'm sorry but I think she needs some tough love, which won't be easy... She needs to have her lightbulb moment and ask for help, I think I have tried every trick in the book to bring that forward but none of them will work if the other person does not want to deal with it!

The best you can do for her is to let her know that it will come crashing down and that you can help and point her in the right direction when it does... then button it!!! For me that would be the most difficult bit but she has to make her own mistakes and learn from them!

Gx

purdita

DVardysShadow wrote: »

Are you and your daughter working together to deal with the debt? Has she asked you to intercept loan offers?

Because if she has not, may I respectfully suggest that this is a step too far in interfering - which is actually counterproductive in bringing her to financial maturity. One day she will have to learn to deal with offers of credit without your help.

She is living under MY roof, these unsolicited letters are being sent to MY address and I am the one constantly being telephoned by debt collectors.
If trying to stop her from getting even deeper in debt is interfering, then I plead guilty as charged. I only wish I'd Interfered more in the beginning and then she wouldn't be in this mess.

Lozzy88

Have you actually spoke to your daughter about her debt and how much its affecting YOUR life?

purdita

lozzy88 wrote: »

Have you actually spoke to your daughter about her debt and how much its affecting YOUR life?

I have told her until I'm blue in the face that she needs to sort this out before it ruins her life. It will stop any chance of her gaining employment in her chosen field (social work) if she's still got bad debts once she's graduated. It's also causing friction at home with myself and my husband (her stepfather).
She knows she's been silly and promises to sort it, but she's hopeless.
I know she's being immature by burying her head in the sand but apart from being terrible with money, we've never had any trouble.
I'll go with her to get advice but as I said in my first post, will not pay the debts for her.
I just really wanted reassurance that I wasn't going to get bailiffs marching into the house and advice on what options are open to her and whether there is any chance that in order try to get these debts reduced some of the interest and late payment charges could be waived if she could pay them off one by one?

theoretica

If she is on a debt management plan and paying something to the debt it is less likely to result in bailiffs etc.

Have you thought about withdrawing her use of your telephone and getting her to contact all these companies to change the number to her mobile (presumably she has one). This would then give you ability to say it was no longer her number and further calls to it would be reported as harassment.