Struggling with debt? Ask a debt advisor a question

StepChange_James

Chicken0105 wrote: »

I have been doing so well to repay the debts that I was left with after my divorce. I knew that the legal aid that I used whilst going through my court case would result in a charge against my property. I was finally notified that this was done in November. I wasn't advised how I could start to repay the charge so I chased them up and finally got a letter over the weekend to say I can set up a standing order.
What I didn't know was that the charge was approx. £25K and accrues interest at £5 per day.
I can't add this onto my mortgage as my salary wouldn't cover the mortage I have now - my ex pays nothing towards it, or any child maintenance.
I know I have to pay but I can't see it ever being paid off, sleepless nights and so depressed about this.....:(

Hi Chicken0105,

Thanks for getting in touch.

I've found this leaflet about repaying legal aid debts here: http://www.bdfm.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/paying-for-your-legal-aid.pdf but I suspect this will only confirm what you already know.

I don't think there's an easy answer to dealing with this debt. However, we can help you plan a budget and work out how to deal with it alongside the other debts you're paying back too.

Then we'll be able to talk you through long term options to deal wtih debt. You can do this using our online advice tool, Debt Remedy: http://www.stepchange.org/DebtRemedy.aspx or by calling our Helpline and speaking to an advisor: http://www.stepchange.org/Contactus.aspx.

Kind regards

James

Magpie26

Hi!
Am taking my first steps to finally try to get a handle on some old debts after being an ostrich for a long length of time!

My story starts back around 2008 when I was pretty much forced to take an HSBC managed loan when due to redundancy i couldn't pay the unsecured personal loan I had with them. The figure was huge - and I can't even recall precisely how much (to my shame) but around 30,000. I kept making payments every month, until I moved house and bank accounts in 2009. The payment was missed - I think 2 payments must have been missed somewhere, some how, because when I rang the bank to say apologies, will have it straight by next week I was told that the loan was closed and gone to metropolitan.

I wrote to HSBC requesting full history (paying the tenner) and also to Metropolitan with letter that said was not admitting to any debts but that note my new address, please send any signed credit agreements they might think had my name (with appropriate postal order enclosed). Sent it all tracked and recorded, and kept PO receipt to show when it was signed for.

I haven't heard anything at all since. I lived at that address for a further 2 years, with nothing. Other DCA's contacted me, at that address and my subsequent address, but not them.

I am now wondering if this will become statute barred? Will have to look up when exactly I wrote to Metropolitan but was no later than March 2009. I have looked at address where I took on managed loan under maiden name and married name and no CCJ registered there (looked on Trust). Is there a way to establish whether it is barred or whether there are any ccj's from any point in time without poking that sleeping dog?

My prob is, I might be getting married and don't want anything from my messy and horrid previous marriage to come back to bite me (or new partner) on the backside.

Thank you!
Magpie

StepChange_James

Mum4three wrote: »

Hi, not sure if this is the right way to do this, never posted to a forum before.

My husband and I have a debt management plan, but they charge 38% to run it and I think that is wrong. Our account has been sold down the line a couple of times and I think it was about 17% when we signed up with the first company. So I have been looking at taking it on myself to manage so I want to be able to know the 'lay of the land' so to speak. All of our debt is very old. Some overdrafts, some credit cards, some loans. All around 2006-2008. We had just moved to America at the time and just couldn't make ends meet and pay these payments, especially with exchange rates. We struggled and tried but all went into default so that we could support ourselves there. We finally moved back to the UK and are trying to get this all figured out. Which means we have to live rented as our credit rating is less than poor.

So I have some basic questions. I really don't mean to ask a stupid question, but on the credit cards and loans, if we had PPI on them, wouldn't the PPI have paid them off or paid on them when we defaulted? I started thinking about this from the PPI reclaim information that is going around. No PPI 'kicked in' when we defaulted, so would that mean we didn't have any? Plus since it is over 6 years old, the banks wouldn't even have any information, right? Would be 'manna' if a claim could pay off some of this debt.

Thanks!

Hi there,

Thanks for posting and welcome to the forum. You've posted in the right place!

If you've not made payments on these debts in the last 6 years then there's a possibility they may be "statute barred" which means they can't be enforced through the legal system. You can read more about this on our blog: http://moneyaware.co.uk/2013/10/statute-barred-debt/.

With the PPI side of things, these types of insurance don't pay out automatically when payments are missed, only if a claim is made and it meets their criteria. This would usually be because of redundancy or something similar.

It's hard to say if you would have had PPI or not. It's likely you'll have been offered it as an option when you signed up but it would depend if you agreed to it or not (or if the creditor had behaved badly they might have signed you up without telling you).

If you did have PPI then it's possible to reclaim it if you were missold it. There's no time limit but it can be trickier to get the evidence you need if it relates to debts that are quite old. There's loads of good advice about this here: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/ppi-loan-insurance?_ga=1.31775294.1252630461.1388657110.

If your debts aren't statute barred and you're looking to sort them out, I'd recommend you get in touch with us. You could use our online advice tool called Debt Remedy to get a budget, action plan and support with your next steps: http://www.stepchange.org/DebtRemedy.aspx.

Kind regards

James

StepChange_James

Magpie26 wrote: »

Hi!
Am taking my first steps to finally try to get a handle on some old debts after being an ostrich for a long length of time!

My story starts back around 2008 when I was pretty much forced to take an HSBC managed loan when due to redundancy i couldn't pay the unsecured personal loan I had with them. The figure was huge - and I can't even recall precisely how much (to my shame) but around 30,000. I kept making payments every month, until I moved house and bank accounts in 2009. The payment was missed - I think 2 payments must have been missed somewhere, some how, because when I rang the bank to say apologies, will have it straight by next week I was told that the loan was closed and gone to metropolitan.

I wrote to HSBC requesting full history (paying the tenner) and also to Metropolitan with letter that said was not admitting to any debts but that note my new address, please send any signed credit agreements they might think had my name (with appropriate postal order enclosed). Sent it all tracked and recorded, and kept PO receipt to show when it was signed for.

I haven't heard anything at all since. I lived at that address for a further 2 years, with nothing. Other DCA's contacted me, at that address and my subsequent address, but not them.

I am now wondering if this will become statute barred? Will have to look up when exactly I wrote to Metropolitan but was no later than March 2009. I have looked at address where I took on managed loan under maiden name and married name and no CCJ registered there (looked on Trust). Is there a way to establish whether it is barred or whether there are any ccj's from any point in time without poking that sleeping dog?

My prob is, I might be getting married and don't want anything from my messy and horrid previous marriage to come back to bite me (or new partner) on the backside.

Thank you!
Magpie

Hi Magpie,

We've got an article on our blog about statute barred debts, so you can read more here: http://moneyaware.co.uk/2013/10/statute-barred-debt/.

You mentioned that you'd searched trust to see if you've got any CCJs, if it was this website: http://www.trustonline.org.uk/ then I'd say you've already done the most comprehensive search for CCJs.

The other option is to check your credit histories but they'll only be pulling through the same information as the Trust Online search, so I'd expect similar results.

Kind regards

James

banpaydayloans

Some time ago my daughter got into a mess with payday loans. I bailed her out with those companies who were being difficult about making an arrangement and/or charging ridiculous amounts of interest and helped her make arrangement on the other pay day loans and her other debts. These arrangements are still ongoing and she has defaults registered against her. I have just found out that she is now in trouble again with new payday loans and she says she has set up a separate agreement for these new ones through a debt handling company who are obviously charging for their help. How has she been able to access further loans when she has such a bad credit history, so many loans outstanding and has defaults registered against her? I am unwilling to help her out again as I am on a limited income myself and feel that if I do this she will just think I will always sort out her mess. However it is my landline phone that rings constantly from these companies and I am frightened to answer the phone anymore. I also feel so stressed when I see the letters coming through my letterbox and worried if the door knocks when I'm not expecting anyone. So, although this is not my mess, it is having quite an impact on my health. Is there anything I can do to stop this. And how on earth is she still managing to get loans?? Any advice would be much appreciated.

Former_StepChange_Laura

banpaydayloans wrote: »

Some time ago my daughter got into a mess with payday loans. I bailed her out with those companies who were being difficult about making an arrangement and/or charging ridiculous amounts of interest and helped her make arrangement on the other pay day loans and her other debts. These arrangements are still ongoing and she has defaults registered against her. I have just found out that she is now in trouble again with new payday loans and she says she has set up a separate agreement for these new ones through a debt handling company who are obviously charging for their help. How has she been able to access further loans when she has such a bad credit history, so many loans outstanding and has defaults registered against her? I am unwilling to help her out again as I am on a limited income myself and feel that if I do this she will just think I will always sort out her mess. However it is my landline phone that rings constantly from these companies and I am frightened to answer the phone anymore. I also feel so stressed when I see the letters coming through my letterbox and worried if the door knocks when I'm not expecting anyone. So, although this is not my mess, it is having quite an impact on my health. Is there anything I can do to stop this. And how on earth is she still managing to get loans?? Any advice would be much appreciated.

Hi there,

Thanks for your message and I’m sorry to hear about the impact the situation is having on you.

Not all payday lenders do full credit checks on their customers, which could be one of the reasons your daughter has been able to take out more credit. However the payday loans industry is changing quite a lot at the moment due to new regulations, so there is more protection for people who take out payday loans in the future. We wrote a blogpost about some of these changes recently, which you might find interesting to have a read through: http://moneyaware.co.uk/2015/01/the-new-payday-loan-rules-what-are-they/

It’s important that creditors have your daughter’s contact details so that they can get in touch with her to let her know about any changes to her accounts, but I understand that this contact can sometimes be distressing. If your daughter no longer lives at the same address as you then you could ask her to get in touch with the creditors to update her contact details.

You mention your daughter has set up a payment plan through a debt management company, which you believe charges a fee. We believe that no one should have to pay for debt advice, which is why the professional debt advice we offer is free. We also offer a range of debt solutions which you can read about here: http://www.stepchange.org/Howwecanhelpyou.aspx

Depending on the agreement she has made with her debt management company, she may be able to switch to a free service with an organisation like us. I’d suggest she gets in touch with one of our advisors to have a chat about what we could offer her. You can find our contact details here: http://www.stepchange.org/Contactus.aspx

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Laura

Janux

Hello, I have two cards that have been maxed out and I am in no position to pay them off. Not even the minimum payments every month. We have recently moved to the US where I can't work, and my only income is the child benefit.
My husband had recently become bankrupt too and with his salary here we can hardly cover the high living costs.
I was told that there might be a way to agree with the banks on a one off payout which is a % of the debt and close them down. I was also recommended a debt management company.
I am completely in the dark, I have no idea what to do and whats the most efficient way to deal with this, what percentage is the cut cards are willing to agree too take, whats the amount these companies charge. Do they do it as mostly payments or as one off payment, whats best?
Thank you!

StepChange_Jen

Janux wrote: »

Hello, I have two cards that have been maxed out and I am in no position to pay them off. Not even the minimum payments every month. We have recently moved to the US where I can't work, and my only income is the child benefit.
My husband had recently become bankrupt too and with his salary here we can hardly cover the high living costs.
I was told that there might be a way to agree with the banks on a one off payout which is a % of the debt and close them down. I was also recommended a debt management company.
I am completely in the dark, I have no idea what to do and whats the most efficient way to deal with this, what percentage is the cut cards are willing to agree too take, whats the amount these companies charge. Do they do it as mostly payments or as one off payment, whats best?
Thank you!

Hi Janux,

I’m sorry to hear you’re struggling at the moment.

It’s fairly common for a creditor to offer a full and final settlement offer. However it’s not guaranteed what this amount would actually be and there is no average percentage for this either.
You shouldn’t feel pressured into making this payment just to clear your debt, especially if you cannot afford it.

Without knowing your full situation we wouldn’t be able to suggest what the best route of action is.
You say you’ve recently moved to the US, so I am guessing that you took out your debts in the UK before you left?
If this is the case we’d be able to offer you some free advice and let you know the best solution to deal with the debts.

There’s a section on our website for people living outside the UK, it features advice, possible debt solutions and contact details.
You can find it here:

https://www.stepchange.org/LivingoutsidetheUK.aspx

You can give one of our debt advisors a call to have a chat about your budget, income and debts and they’ll be able to advise further.

I hope this helps,

Jen

CardiffAntony

Good evening,


I am looking for some advice re bankruptcy possibility.


I lost my job last year I might be getting it back but in case worst come to worst here is my situation


Mortgage :91000
Consolidated loan (in arrears) around 35000
Unsecured debt : 5000
House price worth approx. 110000-120000 according to zoopla


any advice if the house gets repossessed what happens ?


Many thanks

AlexMac

New to this forum, and, apologies, but I'm trying to cut corners with an appeal for recommended sources of advice for vulnerable elders.

A cousin in her late 60's isn't coping after the death of her partner a year ago(who I suspect handled the money) and a period of protective hospitalisation in a mental ward last year. She's not mentally ill, just stressed and confused and not coping. She never was terribly bright, but the trauma of the last year has pushed her over the edge.

She lives in Chester in NW England. I live in London. No close relatives. Social Services are not helping (in fact, the Local Authority are adding to the problem by chasing over a grand's contribution to the care element of last summers' Deprivation of Liberty Safeguarding ). She has temporary support from the local NHS mental health community team, but they are saying the 'family' must support her.

I'm not getting a response from her local Age UK to voicemails and emails (admittedly, their recorded messages say they are busy).

Any idea who else - agencies or charities - can help her sort herself out. I plan to visit in a few days to meet her bank, and any other agencies such as the Council who might be persuaded to lay off. I'll obviosuly look at why she's slipping into debt, (she only has basic pension/pension credit) but seems to have a credit card and an uneccesarily costly Premium Bank Account) but I live 200-odd miles away, so difficult to offer sustained practical help. And in any case, everyone is in charge of their own life.

But any contacts welcome, especially in her Chester , West Cheshire area