cahoot flexi loan advice needed please

madhatte2020

hi,
First time and very anxious poster. I will try to make a long story short. Took out a cahoot flexi loan in 2002, had no trouble paying back loan was well within my budget, in 2007 suffered a messy and expensive divorce coupled with cahoot whacking up interest started to struggle to repay and had to rely on drawdowns from the account regularly. Last year having started a family with new partner had certain child benefits withdrawn due to income level plus cahoot further whacked up interest AND withdrew drawback (flexi) element of account. All in all 12 months ago my finances became unmanageable so i sought advice, i spoke to a debt management company and cahoot who advised me to suspend payments to my 3 creditors, during the 2nd month of this process i didnt like what i was hearing from debt management firm and so tightened our belts to the max and decided to battle through on minimal budget, i hadnt actually missed any payments on my bank loan (still havent) and though i went 3 months behind on credit card have rectified that and now make minimal payments. However.... i somewhat stupidly waited for cahoot (now santander) to get in touch re the £10.500 i owed them but time passed and they didnt make contact, infact some 6 months later they still hadnt written to me (phone number had changed in that time). I have now checked my credit file and was shocked to see that the loan has been defaulted but i dont understand what this means and more importantly i have no idea what my best course of action is, ive looked at lots of threads on here ranging from dont deal with cahoot/santander as they are totally unreasonable etc to the extreme of people claiming that they received payments for unfair account management. I have never intentionally not repaid a debt and want to repay monies owed no matter how long it takes thats why i refused the IVA route but im worried that i will have baliffs at my door any day now - can anyone please advise and yes i know i have at best been an idiot with my financial management.
thanks in advance

Tixy

but i dont understand what this means and more importantly i have no idea what my best course of action is,

Defaulted means that you have defaulted on your original agreement to repay this loan.
A default is typically added to a person's credit file once they are between 3 and 6months behind with payments, it is sometimes added straight away if a debtor advises they are in difficulty and will be entering a DMP.
A default notice will stay on your credit file for 6years - and severely affect your chance of getting any new credit.

I would suggest you work out how much you can afford a month and write to them to make an offer of repayment. Or you might want to get in touch with one of the free debt advice charities for advice on your situation and finances - see this thread - IMPORTANT - Where to seek professional impartial advice about your debts.

but im worried that i will have baliffs at my door any day now -

Bailiffs cannot be instructed unless your creditor has taken you to court and obtained a CCJ against you. Do you still live at the same address as cahoot have for you? If they were going to commence court proceedings they would send court papers to your last known address.

happy_bunny_2

Its also worth taking a look through this thread, as the interest rate hikes are a subject of many complaints. Won't be quick, no guarantees, but worth a shot as it won't take long to complain:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3578349