Help I've been hiding but now I'm in a muddle

in-a-muddle

I'm at the end of my tether. I'm not going to explain why I find myself in this position as all those in the same financial muddle as me have their own reasons for being over their head in debt. I owe around £25000 in total. £1000 against a store card, £15,000 Barclays unsecured Select loan, £7,000 to the Halifax and another £1000 in utilities and council tax and I have a £400 overdraft. I rent my flat it's not mine and now I share with 2 others, a new partner and a lodger however, this mouth is the first month I'll recieve rent and help from them.

I couldn’t work for 18 months and towards the end of this period of being unable to work I stopped paying my monthly instalments as my savings ran out. I started a new job last November and now earn £18,000 before tax per annum which is around £25,000 less than I used to earn before i had to stop work. In the past I have lived beyond my means maybe because I have always had the resources to fund and repay any expense.

This month was the first month that I was not going to be over drawn at the bank and I'd have a small amount of money to see me through until the next pay day. My rent, food and simple living ex’s would have all been covered. But Barclays Select took £408 out of my Barclays current account (without warning) and because of this my rent cheque has been returned unpaid with a £35 bank charge…

There are 3 questions I’d like to ask the group… the first one, who can I talk to about getting back on track with monthly (reduced) payments to my creditors so that these debts can be repaid over time and with what i can afford. I've been hiding from all my bills for about 6 months now and I'm in such a muddle who to start repaying first. Secondly, can Barclays do this, take money out of my account without me knowing? (even though they have already) and finally should I reclaim all bank charges over the past 6 years... I think the changes will amount to around £3000!

Thanks for your advice in advance guys,

In-A-Muddle

crazyfj

First thing you need to do is get a basic bank account (or current acc), do not get an account with someone you owe money to, I'am afraid barclays can do this if you bank with them.

http://www.moneyfacts.co.uk/banking/bestbuys/banking_basic_bank_accounts.aspx

you could also contact payplan or cccs to help you reduce your monthly payments.

not been invovled in bank charges, maybe someone else can offer advice?
fj

silkglade

Hi, I am not an expert on this situation so anyone feel free to correct me. I take it your main bank account is with Barclays. In which case yes they can recover monies owed without warning. That happened to me about 10 years ago and from what I was advised from the CAB that if i ever took a loan out again NOT to go to the bank my account was with and wages went into for that reason.

MOST IMPORTANT: YES FOR DEFINITE CLAIM THE BANK CHARGES NOW! you can pay it into your debts to get you back on track!!!

Hope I have been of help to you and good luck

in-a-muddle

thanks guys .. in terms of opening a new bank account i'm worried because i'm in default with creditors no bank will want to give me an account ... is it easy to open a new account with a new bank I've been with Barcleys for 20 years

silkglade

If you ask for a basic account. I believe that nat west does one that does include a debit card and direct debits and standing orders. But you MUST ask for a BASIC ACC as then they do not credit check you as they are not offering you any kind of credit facility

Good luck and keep us updated

beanielou

As a wee aside you need to sort out your council tax arrears as soon as you can as they are a priority debt.
Good luck!
Welcome to MSE by the way.

in-a-muddle

thank you for the advice on the bank account and the council tax the advice has been taken on board I've just applied for a Co-Op bank basic bank account online and I'll be calling the council tomorrow .. another question, what is cccs and cashplan?

Tori_Bellatrix

silkglade wrote: »

If you ask for a basic account. I believe that nat west does one that does include a debit card and direct debits and standing orders. But you MUST ask for a BASIC ACC as then they do not credit check you as they are not offering you any kind of credit facility

Good luck and keep us updated

Quite a number of basic accounts do have credit checks however I think that the actual score is not the primary concern, it's more to check financial status (i.e. fraud, bankrupt etc...)

Tori_Bellatrix

in-a-muddle wrote: »

thank you for the advice on the bank account and the council tax the advice has been taken on board I've just applied for a Co-Op bank basic bank account online and I'll be calling the council tomorrow .. another question, what is cccs and cashplan?

Hi, the Co-op basic account is Cashminder ... to my knowledge, you can't apply for this online ... was it the normal Co-op bank account you applied for?