Wherediditallgo’s ‘path to enlightenment’ bankruptcy diary

PixiePie

LOL, I'man avid surfer of the freebies forum, but I think I'm blind I did get a wikked bottle of sun cream though that was MASSIVE for a freebie, so that was great I think I'm just too slow and miss out (or my postman has a HUGE pile of freebies that I've applied for and he's helped himself to, as it is some things are coming up to a month later than other people seem to get theres on there :mad: )

Unfortunately Ryanair wouldn't play ball with me, so couldn't get any flights - not that we could afford to stay anywhere anyway lol...Hope you have a lovely time each time

wherediditallgo

15 August - Much as I love my mother, I'll be glad when she goes back home in a couple of weeks. She's been with me a month so far, & has managed to break/damage at least a couple of things every week, all except one of which is going to cost me money. Her latest one is to dye my new beige & mushroom bathroom floor pink because she decided to bring flip-flops with thick red rubber soles to wear in the house - she knew that the dye runs out of them when she washes them at home, but it didn't seem to dawn on her that the same thing would happen if she got them wet in my bathroom. Now nearly half the bathroom floor is stained pink thanks to her trying to wipe up the spilt water & spreading the dye even further, & the dye won't come off. :mad:

I certainly can't afford to replace it, & she's not even offered an apology never mind to buy a rug to cover it - according to her, I shouldn't be so annoyed about it, which just made me even more annoyed! Yes, things are a bit easier now financially now I'm BR as I don't have creditors breathing down my neck, but I'm definitely not in a position to spend money unnecessarily. Everything's got to last as long as I can make it, as I can't afford to just go out & replace something the minute it's broken. I wish people would give more thought to how they behave in someone else's home.

wherediditallgo

22 August – Looks like I’ve got an exercise in diplomacy coming up. I had the biggest argument with a creditor today, & it left me exhausted & so very angry. LTSB knew within 2 weeks that I went BR at the end of March, but kept taking money from my current account to pay the credit card each month. It took a lot of calls on my part to finally get that sorted out. Then early this month I found out that they’d put an entry on my credit file, showing I had arrears on my credit card. I rang them, was told it would be corrected within one working day. Two whole weeks later, it still hasn’t been, so I rang them again. It was bad enough being told that they won’t change the ‘arrears’ statement, even though they know that the card was covered by my BR. What really got me mad was that the man said they were potentially writing off a lot of money, yet I expected them to change an entry on my credit file because I didn’t like it. I was livid.:mad: I told him that my right to have the correct information on my file was totally separate from my BR status – I’m not a criminal, & it’s irrelevant whether I owed them £1 or £1m, I was still entitled to have my credit file reflect the correct information. Secondly, the ‘potentially writing off a lot of money’ comment is out of line, since I’m paying an IPA which means the bank will get a significant proportion of what they were owed, especially if my financial circumstances improve. At first, he was really full of himself, but eventually he put me through to the Insolvency Department, who said that while they won’t take the arrears comment off now, they will remove it on receiving a copy of the OR’s letter confirming my discharge and the default date will then revert to the date of my BR. I have asked for this in writing, and I have got her name & phone number.

I’m going to send a complaint to the bank through its own complaint’s procedure, & then follow it up with a complaint to Financial Ombudsman & the Information Commissioner. Firstly, no-one’s BR should be thrown back in their faces like this – the BR procedure is enshrined in law, & isn’t to do with me as a person. Secondly, I don’t see why a creditor should be allowed to put arrears on your account and then change it to ‘default’ when you’re discharged. If they feel I’m in default, they should put the default on the account now, not put arrears now months after the BR then change it to default on my discharge, so that I’ve got to then argue again for it to be changed to settled or satisfied. I want this looked into – I want to know that this is dealt with in the correct order, & I want it on record if they’re doing things incorrectly. I certainly want an enquiry into the ‘potentially writing off a lot of money’ comment – my rights are my rights, & no-one should be spoken to like that. If I get nowhere with the complaints, I’ll submit a ‘Notice of Correction’ so that people can get both sides of the story when they look at my credit file in future.

If I didn’t know it already, today proved to me that LTSB couldn’t give a monkey’s about the 20+ years of custom I gave them. If I ever come into money, it’ll give me great pleasure to wave the cheque under their noses & tell them they’re not seeing a penny of it, and why.

tigerfeet2006

:mad: Feel really angry on your behalf. This site has really opened my eyes on the loyalty of financial institutions, it's to their own pockets.

But Yaaay!!!:j :j to you for giving them hell. Now go and have a cuppa!!

owetoomuch

WDIAG sorry you had to deal with that today, but pleased to hear you haven't lost your fighting spirit, you are such a stong person so dont let a narrow minded person get you down.

On an aside did you get the stain out of your bathroom floor?

wherediditallgo

It's lighter than it was, but I think that's partly because there's probably not as much flooring left. I tried using rubbing alcohol, WD40, bleach, warm soapy water. It looks much better than it did, & to someone seeing it for the first time, it's hardly noticeable except in certain lights. However, I can see it as soon as I go in the bathroom, & I know it's going to irritate me for a long while to come. Her consolation comment was that lino changes colour after a while anyway, so it won't be so obvious then. On that basis, I should hope the whole floor starts looking rough asap then.

wherediditallgo

I've got all the stuff from the Information Commissioner's site, & it's very clear, especially with the update from earlier this summer - the date the credit reference file shows your debt as settled or satisfied should fall between your BR date and your discharge date, but no later than your discharge date. If a default has been recorded on your file, it should be no later than your discharge date. Once you're discharged, the creditor is required to change the info with the debt or default to show the debt as settled, satisfied or partially settled/satisfied at a date no later than your discharge date - they can't just put a default & leave it like that: once you make your request for the info to be updated, they have to do it. I'll be more than happy to quote that back to them when the complaint goes in (I hope to get it done by Monday). I'm not having LTSB drag me through all this again when my discharge should mean the debts no longer exist in terms of my credit file.

As for my fighting spirit, the negative side of my medications is that I feel sick or sleepy, sometimes both. The positive side is that when I'm awake, I go at everything like the Refreshers granny. I can't be doing with people who try to put me down & carry on like they're doing me a favour. LTSB aren't doing something special for me - the law means I'm entitled to go BR, & people only go BR when they owe money funnily enough, so the sooner they get their tiny minds around that little principle, the better off they'll be. I've never allowed people to get away with patronising me, & I'm not going to start now.

scaredwitless32

Im sorry to hear that LTSB are being a*$!holes, i bank with them and they are my OH creditors :mad:, NEVER been any help to us whatsoever! Goodluck with your complaint and dont let them get you down.

fermi

Good on you WDIAG. Don't take any rubbish from them.

You're putting me to shame.:o I've been discharged for weeks and I haven't sent off for my CRF's yet. Although I do have all the letters prepared ready to add the few crucial details to and then send when I do.

wherediditallgo

1 Sept - Got the letter from the bank confirming their policy on credit files, so a copy of that will be going in the formal complaint. Cheered myself up with a session in Poundland - found some great bargains which will help with the Christmas budgeting. Got some glossy photo paper - they do 20 x A4 sheets, or 80 of the 6"x4" sheets. They printed up really well, so I've decided that I'm going to try using Photoshop to make some original calendars & cards for Christmas. At £1 per pack of paper, I can afford to make some mistakes.