Any advice will be grateful

liz1102

Hi all,

Im probably in the wrong place so if somone can re direct me that would be good....

After my marriage ended nearly 4 years ago, i walked away with a number of debts. The largest being the only joint debt of 45k to picture loan.

Imanaged to keep my head in the sand until earlier on this year. All my debts have gone now to debt collection agencies apart from the picture loan which is now with idem servicing. I know my ex husband has IVA'd so is paying towards this over a 6 year period, i have no more information.

Idem 45k (joint with ex) Paying £12.50 per week....

Lowell owe £222.15 pay £1.00 per month since april
Advantis Credit owe £882.01 pay £1.00 pm since april
Credit Security £8362.59 pay £5.00 pm since april
Aktiv Kapital £5,504.40 pay £1.00pm since april.

I have a number of questions...

Idem, we had PPI with the picture loan, my ex and I do not speak, so is it possible to claim the PPI back without his signature? I just want them to reduce what we owe. I have the origional agreement, Amount of advance was £34,500.00 PPI £8,607.75 Total amount of credit £43,107.75 APR 7.9% variable. Whats the likelyhood of getting them to reduce the bill, and roughly by about how much? I dont want to rattle their cage if its not worth it as they may try get more out of me They show on my equifax file. default date 27/08/2010

Lowell have offered me a reduced f&f at £166 I could manage this but am scared that if i pay this off the other creditors would demand more money as im not treating them all the same. default 04/05/2011

Advantis Credit still havent agreed to my £1 token payment, and regularly demand more even though all other DCA have. I continue to pay the £1 even so, but might be able to offer them f&f is people think its ok to f&f the lower DCA's. I could however only manage 20-25% does not appear on either equifax or experian

Credit Security, was a marks and spencer credit card, Credit limit £6900.... can I claim the charges back to reduce the balance? I dont want to rattle these as they do not bother me at all, they never agreed to the token payment I just do it through the website every month. Appears on bot experian and equifax default dated 29/06/2010

Aktiv Kapital, I believe I paid some PPI on this but cannot be 100% sure so what should i do here? I know I applied for this online, and I was self employed at the time so its since oct 2005. These do not show up on either equifax or experian

What steps should I take now?

Thank you:o

Moneymash

I would definately set about claiming the PPI back on the loan. The PPI premium (was front loaded) increased the amount of credit and therefore interest you have and would pay. As long as you can prove it was missold e.g. you both had jobs that would pay sickness and redundancy, or other methods of paying this loan of, if you lost your income.

If you both signed for the loan and PPI, you will have to claim the PPI jointly, you will have to include his details on the claim form and you will both have to sign for it. I realise you say you don't speak, but surely this is worth a truce? If successful the loan has to be returned to what it would have been if no PPI had been in place, which will signficantly shorten your loan term and reduce your interest.

Photocopy all original documents and send in the copies, with the PPI reclaim form (free from this site) with recorded delivery postage.

Start looking for old paperwork to see if you had any other PPI and claim for that as well. If the companies you are claiming a PPI refund from, you still owe money to they will more than likely 'set off' the refund against your outstanding balance, which means your debt is going down.

EJG1982

hiya liz

cant say if you're in wrong place as new to this myself!

seems like you been having bit of a sh*tty few years eh. Although im defo no expert i have been in similar situations with 15K+ going to creditors years back..

i cant help on the ppi front, first thing i done was cancel all mine the moment i saw them but..my initial thoughts reading through your post, and thinking 12yrs on im not really any further in clearing mine.. paying £1-5 like you..have you not considered bankruptcy?

i wish i had pushed for it when i was 18 as by now it'll be long gone at 30. I just see the figures you got and the payments your making would be hanging over you had for years, and i know exactly what you mean by offering to clear one. I have received a reduced natwest offer of 60% off owed sum £2.2k > £850ish, but if i accept like you say the others will start demanding.

please also consider these agency can accept a low settlement sum. they will try and get the best they can, but if they have bought the debt from say barclays, they certainly didnt pay much for it. Either ignore these initial letters or respond professional and politely explaining circumstances have not changed and just continue making the payment offer. I went to court once, well it got thrown out before getting to court and the decision came back i pay less than already was!! Lloyds shot themselves in the foot!

my plan is to work out what say 25-30% of the balances is then when i have saved this separately i will approach them all with crazy low offers likes 10% and get them to work me up to the 25-30% ready for me to agree! who knows might work, if not it'll be fun trying. Just keep in mind once they have offered the lower figure, even if they slap ONLY FOR 14 DAYS AND THEN WE ATTACK after it and you either ignore or politely refuse, they have opened themselves up to asking reductions in the future, may take haggling but its your bargaining power!

I've already cleared 2-3 at 40-50% and the remaining ones i am hoping to drop at some point. they have only just caught up with me at my current address (previously all at parents) so its just a waiting game for them now as im not responding to them for a long while. i mean come on, been with them 10 years and not one Christmas card :rotfl:

never ever feel threatened by them aswell, they will always send serious looking letters with big RED INFORMATIVE DANGER HEADINGS to scare you into to paying. Ignore the s*ds, they can only ask for money and if you can prove your not in a position to increase and are paying fairly then just laugh at them. i had letters and calls weekly re court and never came to head, the big boy banks usually push this

have you carried out a detailed budget plan to see what disposable income you have to divide out? i had somethings like £30 and split it based on the percentage of each balance so it was fair, they all got 1% of balance or whatever.. was 11yrs ago!

on the bankruptcy... it does disrupt certain things but in all honesty your credit history is going to be pretty stuffed for quite a few years yet like mine was anyway?and it certainly isnt something to be ashamed or scared, my best mate in her 50's has struggled with 60K for most of her life thanks to bitter ex' hubby and house's etc, worked her booty off to pay mins or missed them, lived off cc and then a friend loaned her the £500 or whatever its is to submit the claim and my god shes never been better. The life thats come back is overwhelming, looks 10yrs younger and ENJOYING LIFE AGAIN! she just wishes she had done it 10-15 yrs ago rather than be proud and hide it:mad:

if you have looked into and its not an option then forgive me for my babble lol

liz1102

Thank you moneymash, I will give it a go but I doubt my ex will cooperate. I can't even speak to him on the phone regarding our 2 children.

Hi EJG1982,

Bankruptcy is something I considered a few years ago but decided against it. I've worked hard these last few years, bringing up my 2 children, worked full time and studied part time and now have a degree. I did all this because I want to emigrate and start afresh with the children and bankruptcy can affect emigration!

Ideally I want to settle at less figures, my credit file is already shot so I'm not worried the affect it has for the next few years. I doubt very much I will be able to pay all the debts off before I went even at f&f but I would like to offer some, after all I had it regardless off the circumstances behind.