Struggling with debt? Ask a debt advisor a question

Former_StepChange_Rachel

Kli1 wrote: »

Hello

I am a 25 year old compulsive gambler trying to get my life back on track.I have got myself into some serious debt from this addiction. I currently have 3 personal loans I need to pay. I did have an additional loan of £15000 but I am fortunate enough to have an understanding family which helped me pay that off.

My loans are : 1) sainburys- £7500 (9.1% APR) 30months @ £279.22
2) Tescos - £7500 (6.4% APR) 48months @ £178.73
3) Nationwide- £15000 (12.5% APR) 60months @ £332.43

I get paid monthly and after tax , receive ~£1500.
I worked out my monthly essential spendings are around £750-800, leaving me with just enough or just under what I need to pay off the loans.
Is there any other options for me, as I probably wont get accepted for a consolidation loan and do not wish to go bankrupt?

Hi there, thank you for getting in touch with us.

I'm very sorry to hear you've been dealing with a gambling addiction and wanted to say well done on taking steps to get things back on track. It's not always an easy thing to reach out for support when it comes to these things, so be proud that you're doing what's necessary to put this behind you.

There's a charity called Gamcare that provides free and confidential support to people recovering from gambling addiction. You can call them for free or chat online with an advisor. Visit their website for more information: http://www.gamcare.org.uk/

In regards to your debts, we can certainly help you. We're a free and independent debt advice charity and we help thousands of people deal with their debt problems every week.

In order for us to be able to help, we need to have a close look at your budget. You can put together an action plan and work out a debt solution by using our online advice tool Debt Remedy: http://www.stepchange.org/msehelp

Alternatively, you can go through your budget and get debt advice over the phone via our free Helpline (inc. from mobiles) - 0800 138 1111 Mon - Fri 8am to 8pm, or Sat 8am - 4pm.

Hope this helps

Kind regards

Rachel

Former_StepChange_Rachel

sickasachip13 wrote: »

Hi,

I'm a bit puzzled...my OH and I have been on a DMP for a few years. We recently had our review and our payment had to be lowered (for various reasons). So, the new lowered payment, as agreed, went out of our account last month (by DD) and we then got this email telling us we have not paid enough and we should consider using DD.....??

We haven’t received your full payment this month.

As we’ve been unable to make a full payment to your
creditors
they may contact you directly and they may start adding
interest and charges to your debts. To avoid this
happening it’s important that you make your full
payment.

If you’re struggling to do this or you need any extra
help and support please call us on 0844 264 6407 to
get your DMP back on track. We’re open Monday to
Friday 8.00am to 8.00pm.

You might find it easier to pay by Direct Debit.
It’s completely free and gives you one less thing to
worry about as we take the payment straight from your
bank account. If you’d like to set up a Direct Debit
for future payments please call us and we can talk you
through this

Hi there Sickasachip,

Would you mind giving us a quick call and we'll take a look at what's going on for you? It could be a simple admin error but it's always a good idea to check these things so you're not worrying needlessly.

Kind regards

Rachel

steeli

Hi

If I get a letter from Halifax that states "You have £3000 that needs paying now of which £5500 is charges" (paraphrased and approx values), does that mean my total o/s debt is £3000 of charges and initial capital+expected interest has been paid?

StepChange_Pavan

steeli wrote: »

Hi

If I get a letter from Halifax that states "You have £3000 that needs paying now of which £5500 is charges" (paraphrased and approx values), does that mean my total o/s debt is £3000 of charges and initial capital+expected interest has been paid?

Hi steeli and thanks for your question.

I’d recommend that you give them a call to be sure as I can’t be certain either way.

Thanks,
Pavan

cheapopete

Thanks in advance for any assistance folks.


I have what I thought was a CCJ (arrived a short while back) about a £6500 debt on a Co-Op credit card which has been "assigned to/purchased by" Lowell. (plus 8% interest)

EDIT!! It's a money claim form! Not a CCJ.

In 2010, after I had a major life/finance problem, I was put in touch with Debt Free Direct by the CAB. DFD sent a guy round who effectively acted like a salesman and got the paperwork sorted in 2 hours or so.
I did get my job back that I had lost, which enabled me to not loose my house. But I previously was doing two jobs, so money became tight to say the least.
Partly my fault I know.
I mentioned to him that I was in contact with my building society NRAM, (supremely helpful as Northern Rock during my bad time ) to have my mortgage converted to interest only, which would enable me to afford several payments that I could not afford by that time.
I had/still have, Co-Op card @ £6500 and LTSB @ £9100 , plus Vodafone @ 110 (DFD guy insisted on adding that to the list) If you add interest to that lot you can guess that it goes well over 20 grand.
While I was waiting for paperwork to come back from all and a meeting of creditors to be arranged, NRAM wrote to me saying they could only convert my account for 12 months, which would mean my ability to keep up the level of payment set up by DFD would disappear immediately.
DFD say they had a meeting of creditors (without me) and the creditors all pulled out of the arrangement.
The deal was closed, and I didn't get the interest only change.
The communications I received from LTSB, Co-Op and Voda after that all offered to allow me to pay almost half their originally owed amounts to close the accounts.
How did they think I was going to do that as I had no money and an appalling credit rating?

After that I didn't know what to do.

More recently, I am significantly less depressed now than I was then or during my bad time. Partly due to me affirming that I will NEVER AGAIN have credit beyond a couple of hundred quid from a family member to fix the car, or pay a vet's bill.

Last month my car broke down and I contacted NRAM about a mortgage holiday, but was declined due to their concern that I may struggle if interest rates go up.

So now, along comes this Claim document, with a correct Co-Op account number (but no signature by the plaintiff).

I have done a StepChange budget form thingy but am in severe doubt as to my own accuracy with monthly spending. Plus I'm not sure the creditors will go for repayments that take me past the age of 75.

I am a long term tinnitus/hearing loss sufferer who struggles with even thinking about finance and form filling. The tinnitus means that I often don't do well in the phone and often just hope I got the general idea of what someone said.


I wanted to post on here, even though I am going to call StepChange in a while to talk about the budget form I filled in and maybe cycle up to the local CAB (again) to see if I can get an appointment for more advice there as well. I suppose I'll have to phone Northampton CC as well?

Pete.

LittleBabyNothing88

Hi,

My girlfriend ran up a credit card and overdraft debt with Halifax in 2009 when she was made redundant. I am currently trying to help her through this, and want to get a full picture.

Last year, she had a recovery agency turn up on the doorstep and demand money, and then set up a standing order. They never set up the standing order, and have not taken a penny. Unfortunately she has buried her head and we are now only addressing it. She is unsure whether the recovery agent was acting on behalf of Halifax or the whether they have sold it to the debt recovery agency.

My question is this: how do we trace who actually owns the debt? My gut feeling is that if we approach the debt recovery agency, whatever the case may be (whether they were working on behalf of halifax, whether they had been sold the debt, or whether they have since sold it on), they will just say "yes, we own the debt, pay us up" when in fact they might not own the debt for one of the reasons above. Yes, I understand that that would be extremely dodgy, but I don't trust these companies at all.

Any ideas? Would a credit report from Equifax / Experian show this up?

Thanks in advance

StepChange_James

cheapopete wrote: »

Thanks in advance for any assistance folks.


I have what I thought was a CCJ (arrived a short while back) about a £6500 debt on a Co-Op credit card which has been "assigned to/purchased by" Lowell. (plus 8% interest)

EDIT!! It's a money claim form! Not a CCJ.

In 2010, after I had a major life/finance problem, I was put in touch with Debt Free Direct by the CAB. DFD sent a guy round who effectively acted like a salesman and got the paperwork sorted in 2 hours or so.
I did get my job back that I had lost, which enabled me to not loose my house. But I previously was doing two jobs, so money became tight to say the least.
Partly my fault I know.
I mentioned to him that I was in contact with my building society NRAM, (supremely helpful as Northern Rock during my bad time ) to have my mortgage converted to interest only, which would enable me to afford several payments that I could not afford by that time.
I had/still have, Co-Op card @ £6500 and LTSB @ £9100 , plus Vodafone @ 110 (DFD guy insisted on adding that to the list) If you add interest to that lot you can guess that it goes well over 20 grand.
While I was waiting for paperwork to come back from all and a meeting of creditors to be arranged, NRAM wrote to me saying they could only convert my account for 12 months, which would mean my ability to keep up the level of payment set up by DFD would disappear immediately.
DFD say they had a meeting of creditors (without me) and the creditors all pulled out of the arrangement.
The deal was closed, and I didn't get the interest only change.
The communications I received from LTSB, Co-Op and Voda after that all offered to allow me to pay almost half their originally owed amounts to close the accounts.
How did they think I was going to do that as I had no money and an appalling credit rating?

After that I didn't know what to do.

More recently, I am significantly less depressed now than I was then or during my bad time. Partly due to me affirming that I will NEVER AGAIN have credit beyond a couple of hundred quid from a family member to fix the car, or pay a vet's bill.

Last month my car broke down and I contacted NRAM about a mortgage holiday, but was declined due to their concern that I may struggle if interest rates go up.

So now, along comes this Claim document, with a correct Co-Op account number (but no signature by the plaintiff).

I have done a StepChange budget form thingy but am in severe doubt as to my own accuracy with monthly spending. Plus I'm not sure the creditors will go for repayments that take me past the age of 75.

I am a long term tinnitus/hearing loss sufferer who struggles with even thinking about finance and form filling. The tinnitus means that I often don't do well in the phone and often just hope I got the general idea of what someone said.


I wanted to post on here, even though I am going to call StepChange in a while to talk about the budget form I filled in and maybe cycle up to the local CAB (again) to see if I can get an appointment for more advice there as well. I suppose I'll have to phone Northampton CC as well?

Pete.

Hi Pete,

Thanks for posting. It sounds like the form you've received is the first stage of getting a county court judgment. The claim form is your chance to put your input into the process and try to get a reasonable agreement in place.

There'll be an address on the front page for the paperwork to be sent back to and if you accept that you owe the money and fill out the forms with details of how you'd like to pay back the debt the company can decide if they accept or reject your offer.

The important thing to know is that if the company don't accept your offer then the courts will make an assessment and set the payment based on what they think you can afford.

This is all done through the post usually, so you'll get a letter through informing you of the judgment within a few weeks of you sending your forms off.

There's a useful video about how to complete CCJ forms on our website here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoI57aX5i6M. You'll be able to check the example paperwork in the video against the forms you've received to make sure it is the same thing we're talking about.

An alternative to giving us a call would be to use our online Debt Remedy advice tool. It'll guide you through making a budget and there's a "live chat" option which you can use to type back and forth with an advisor (the people who run our live chat sit near me in the office and they're all lovely).

Here's the link to Debt Remedy: http://www.stepchange.org/msehelp. It'll give you a printable budget at the end of the process which you could attach to your claim form when you return it. It's still important to fill in the court form too but our budgets will allow you a bit more space to go into detail to supplement the information on the form.

Kind regards

James

StepChange_James

LittleBabyNothing88 wrote: »

Hi,

My girlfriend ran up a credit card and overdraft debt with Halifax in 2009 when she was made redundant. I am currently trying to help her through this, and want to get a full picture.

Last year, she had a recovery agency turn up on the doorstep and demand money, and then set up a standing order. They never set up the standing order, and have not taken a penny. Unfortunately she has buried her head and we are now only addressing it. She is unsure whether the recovery agent was acting on behalf of Halifax or the whether they have sold it to the debt recovery agency.

My question is this: how do we trace who actually owns the debt? My gut feeling is that if we approach the debt recovery agency, whatever the case may be (whether they were working on behalf of halifax, whether they had been sold the debt, or whether they have since sold it on), they will just say "yes, we own the debt, pay us up" when in fact they might not own the debt for one of the reasons above. Yes, I understand that that would be extremely dodgy, but I don't trust these companies at all.

Any ideas? Would a credit report from Equifax / Experian show this up?

Thanks in advance

Hi there,

A debt collection company wouldn't be in business for very long if they were taking money off people for debts they weren't dealing with but I can completely understand why you'd be cautious in this situation.

Checking a credit report would probably have information on there about who's currently dealing with an account but the way to be most sure would be to speak to Halifax and ask them if they've sold the account on or not.

It can be a bit daunting to call up creditors but in this situation it might be worth while to get peace of mind over who's dealing with the debt.

She can check her credit file online for free using noddle here: https://www.noddle.co.uk/ which uses the Call Credit credit history system. The other credit reference agencies have similar services too but they offer free trials rather than a permanently free service like noddle.

Good luck

James

cheapopete

StepChange_James wrote: »

Hi Pete,

Thanks for posting. It sounds like the form you've received is the first stage of getting a county court judgment. The claim form is your chance to put your input into the process and try to get a reasonable agreement in place.


Kind regards

James

Thanx for your quick response James.

Yes, I want to do this, but having got dumped, basically, by DFD, I sort of presumed that I'd get taken to court, but didn't expect it to take nearly 4 years.

I have just managed to get signed up again to Experian to view my credit history and rating. It seems odd to me that I have a "Good" rating of 945, despite expecting to be sub zero.
In my "credit history summary", it seems that all I have against me is a £26 appears with Virgin Media, my cable internet provider, (that I knew nothing about)(maybe due to a bank holiday weekend or something. But way down in the accounts section are my two big debts.

Why do they not show in my current rating? To my way of thinking, they are like two big self inflicted black eyes!!


Aside from the above.
I need to amend my DMP data, but I'm having trouble logging in to my DMP on the Stepchange website now. I put in my CRN but the password I thought I used doesn't work and the 'forgot' applet refuses my CRN and email. The same email that Stepchange are using to contact me.

I've just messaged the website via their email feature.

Thanx again anyway James.

StepChange_James

cheapopete wrote: »

Thanx for your quick response James.

Yes, I want to do this, but having got dumped, basically, by DFD, I sort of presumed that I'd get taken to court, but didn't expect it to take nearly 4 years.

I have just managed to get signed up again to Experian to view my credit history and rating. It seems odd to me that I have a "Good" rating of 945, despite expecting to be sub zero.
In my "credit history summary", it seems that all I have against me is a £26 appears with Virgin Media, my cable internet provider, (that I knew nothing about)(maybe due to a bank holiday weekend or something. But way down in the accounts section are my two big debts.

Why do they not show in my current rating? To my way of thinking, they are like two big self inflicted black eyes!!


Aside from the above.
I need to amend my DMP data, but I'm having trouble logging in to my DMP on the Stepchange website now. I put in my CRN but the password I thought I used doesn't work and the 'forgot' applet refuses my CRN and email. The same email that Stepchange are using to contact me.

I've just messaged the website via their email feature.

Thanx again anyway James.

Hi Pete,

The scores that services like Experian provide are a guide that they produce based on their interpretation of your information. Lenders make their own decisions, so the number quoted is more of an indication of how you're likely to be perceived.

It seems odd that these debts aren't having more of an effect. It could be some sort of mistake that means they're not reporting correctly on your file or it could be a glitch in the system Experian use to generate the score. If you get in touch with them then they'll be able to clarify.

If you receive a CCJ for the debt you've received court papers for then it's likely your credit rating will take a bit of a nosedive though.

Thanks for flagging up the issue you've had with logging onto the website. The guys you've emailed will get back in touch and be able to tell you more about how to get logged in.

Cheers

James