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Flash_Gordon_1985

Hi there, I had 2 contracts with Vodafone 1 from Feb 2010-Feb 2012and one from May 2010- May 2012.
Anyway a massive change in income due to job uncertainty meant in August 2011 was my last payment to Vodafone which I emailed them and let them know thinking I'd get a bill in 2/3 months asking for line rental which I accept I'm liable.

Fast forward to December 2014 I get the 1st letter in over 3 years and it wasn't even from Vodafone! It was from fredrickson for 2500.00!.

I'd explained my side of the story to them and apparantley this should've been set in motion in November 2011 (3 months after the 1st non payment). I rang Vodafone and spoke to some guy who said I was liable for the debt no matter what and 4-5 calls to fredrickson going through the same. Now Vodafone have sold my "debt" to lowells debt recovery, and 2 days ago I emailed them the exact same.
Do you have any advice for me? I haven't sent any payment to Vodafone since 2011 yet on my credit file it shows the contract being paid up until November last year! How can that be possible? Also how can Vodafone not even send me a letter asking why there's no direct debit set up? For all they know I could be dead and how is it possible for Vodafone to carry on the contract by another 2 years with me knowing?

For the record I've agreed that I'll pay my outstanding line rental but not the rest and it's like banging my head off a wall.
Please help

jaso

Hello.
I have been a rate tart for a lot of years now and have about £20,000 debt spread over about 5 different credit cards.
I swapped to another 0% card religiously as interest was about to be charged.
everything was fine until I was forced to go self employed, I had a late payment on one of the cards and they started to charge me interest.
The payments rocketed.
Two cards alone are charging me well over £100 Per Month in interest alone. and only taking £10 or £20 off of the card total.


I have missed more payments, not having enough money in the bank to pay them, incurring bank charges leaving me even worse off.
I can not get a 0% card anymore to transfer the balance to and can not afford the card payments.
I don't want to loose my house.
Please, Please can someone point me in the right direction?


Jas

StepChange_Jen

Flash_Gordon_1985 wrote: »

Hi there, I had 2 contracts with Vodafone 1 from Feb 2010-Feb 2012and one from May 2010- May 2012.
Anyway a massive change in income due to job uncertainty meant in August 2011 was my last payment to Vodafone which I emailed them and let them know thinking I'd get a bill in 2/3 months asking for line rental which I accept I'm liable.

Fast forward to December 2014 I get the 1st letter in over 3 years and it wasn't even from Vodafone! It was from fredrickson for 2500.00!.

I'd explained my side of the story to them and apparantley this should've been set in motion in November 2011 (3 months after the 1st non payment). I rang Vodafone and spoke to some guy who said I was liable for the debt no matter what and 4-5 calls to fredrickson going through the same. Now Vodafone have sold my "debt" to lowells debt recovery, and 2 days ago I emailed them the exact same.
Do you have any advice for me? I haven't sent any payment to Vodafone since 2011 yet on my credit file it shows the contract being paid up until November last year! How can that be possible? Also how can Vodafone not even send me a letter asking why there's no direct debit set up? For all they know I could be dead and how is it possible for Vodafone to carry on the contract by another 2 years with me knowing?

For the record I've agreed that I'll pay my outstanding line rental but not the rest and it's like banging my head off a wall.
Please help

Hi there,

I’m sorry to hear about this situation.

It’d be hard to offer advice on Vodafone continuing your contract without knowing more about your original agreement with them and more about the situation. However if you’re unhappy with the way Vodafone have dealt with your account then it might be worth sending them an official complaint in writing. You can also raise your concerns about the contract being paid until November.

Most creditors will add charges and interest to a debt and this should be outlined in the original terms and conditions of the agreement you took out with them. If the additional charges added to your debt weren’t outlined in your agreement then this can be something you bring up in the complaint. If you get in touch with Vodafone, you could also request that they send you a breakdown of what the charges on your account are for.

You can find out more about charges and interest on our website here:

http://www.stepchange.org/Debtinformationandadvice/Whatyourcreditorscando/Chargesandinterest.aspx

If you have any more questions please let us know.

Jen

StepChange_Jen

jaso wrote: »

Hello.
I have been a rate tart for a lot of years now and have about £20,000 debt spread over about 5 different credit cards.
I swapped to another 0% card religiously as interest was about to be charged.
everything was fine until I was forced to go self employed, I had a late payment on one of the cards and they started to charge me interest.
The payments rocketed.
Two cards alone are charging me well over £100 Per Month in interest alone. and only taking £10 or £20 off of the card total.


I have missed more payments, not having enough money in the bank to pay them, incurring bank charges leaving me even worse off.
I can not get a 0% card anymore to transfer the balance to and can not afford the card payments.
I don't want to loose my house.
Please, Please can someone point me in the right direction?


Jas

Hi Jas,

Thanks for getting in touch.

I’m really sorry to hear you’re struggling at the moment. Please know we’re here to help, so you don’t need to deal with this on your own.

You mentioned that you’re scared to lose your home. It’s normal to worry and think about worse case scenarios, but dealing with your debts as soon as possible and understanding what creditors can and can’t do is an important step to starting to get back on track. You can read more about creditor action on our website at:

http://www.stepchange.org/Debtinformationandadvice/Whatyourcreditorscando.aspx

As you’re struggling to make the payments to your debts, it sounds like you’d benefit from getting free debt advice so you can assess the situation and find out what options are available to help you deal with it.

We have a free debt advice tool on our website called Debt Remedy. All you need to do is enter information into it, about your debts and budget and then it’ll use this to recommend a solution to help you deal with your debt. If you decide to go ahead with our recommended solution, we’ll be here to support you throughout the process. You can find Debt Remedy here:

http://www.stepchange.org/Debtremedy.aspx

We also have a free Helpline service, so if you’d prefer to have a chat with someone then please feel free to give us a call. You can find out how to get in touch with us here:

http://www.stepchange.org/Contactus.aspx

I hope this has helped,

Jen

richardawaller

I set up a DMP with Stepchange in the Spring, but there are couple of things I'm not sure about. While I know Stepchange can't force anybody to freeze interests and charges on accounts and we're relying on goodwill (take from that what you will), a matter has arisen with one of my creditors which I'm trying to deal with directly with them but they're not cooperating at all so far.

I had an account with Very that I included in the DMP and I have since had more charges applied to the account. However, when asking Very about it they claim they are not managing the account and that it is the responsibility of NCO. I called NCO and as I expected they promised that they would freeze the charges as they advised me that they had no power to issue charges on the account anyway. So basically, although Very have told me that they're not managing the account and they've agreed a DMP with me, they're somehow making charges on the account. Is this legal?

Former_StepChange_Rachel

richardawaller wrote: »

I set up a DMP with Stepchange in the Spring, but there are couple of things I'm not sure about. While I know Stepchange can't force anybody to freeze interests and charges on accounts and we're relying on goodwill (take from that what you will), a matter has arisen with one of my creditors which I'm trying to deal with directly with them but they're not cooperating at all so far.

I had an account with Very that I included in the DMP and I have since had more charges applied to the account. However, when asking Very about it they claim they are not managing the account and that it is the responsibility of NCO. I called NCO and as I expected they promised that they would freeze the charges as they advised me that they had no power to issue charges on the account anyway. So basically, although Very have told me that they're not managing the account and they've agreed a DMP with me, they're somehow making charges on the account. Is this legal?

Hi there Richard, thanks for getting in touch.

Now your debt with Very has been taken over by a debt collection agency, you shouldn’t have any more charges applied to your account. With that said, it’s still possible that charges were added to the debt shortly before it was passed over to NCO. If you feel you’ve been untreated fairly in regards to these charges, you could put a complaint about it to the company in writing, which you can then escalate to the Financial Ombudsman if they don’t resolve it in a way that you feel is satisfactory.

As you mentioned, neither we or any other organisation can force creditors to freeze interest on any debts included in a DMP, as it’s an informal debt solution. The hope is that your creditors will eventually freeze interest as a gesture of goodwill as more payments are made via your DMP.

I hope this helps. Please write again if you have further questions.

Kind regards

Rachel

fierybird

Hi in about 2013 i ordered some goods from a fashion world catalogue these totalled about £100. I got into ill health and debt and missed a few payments and they started adding charges on.

I arranged to pay back £30 a month in late 2014 and spoke to someone in their collections office and explained i had depression and other health issues and was struggling to pay back all the charges that had been added but this fell on deaf ears.

Last month i spoke to someone at yheir collections office and asked how much i had paid back they informed me just over £300! I asked how much more was owed and they said another £300!

How is it that i am paying almost £600+ for goods i have already in theory paid for???

This is making me so ill as i dont know what to do for the best do i carry on paying? Or stop? I did tell them to take me to court but was told thats not how they deal with things??? Whatever that means.

I am still getting text messages telling me my payment is due which makes me feel sick to the pit of my stomach.

Is there a letter or anything i can send them to end this as as far as im concerned why should i pay 6 times for the same goods in charges?

Please please can someone advise and help me im desperate.

Kind regards

carlne

I wonder if somebody can offer some guidance please.
This probably confronts 2 problems, but don't expect it all to be answered. My wife's brother has always had a problem with gambling and over the years ran up debt to support his habit. Each time, he has got himself into a state and we have had to bail him out. The last time we categorically told him no more as he would see us as his "get of jail card" He then met a fantastic lady who pushed him to stop gambling and save money. Unfortunately, it got the better of him and she wanted no more to do with him and they separated, leaving him with over £10k of savings. We thought he was fine, till last night, he turns up, in pieces to say he has lost the £10k through gambling, but also racked up debt, not just a couple of hundred pounds, but a £4,500 loan, £2k CC, £3500 overdraft and 7, yes 7, PayDay loans. In total to a tune of £15k.
As always, he wants us to bail him out, but I am loathed to do, unless there is some way of being able to stop him getting access to credit. So, I have a couple of questions:
1) is it possible for somebody to put a note on their credit file that simply says, "do not lend me any money not matter how hard I beg"
2) Surely these payday companies should be looking harder at who they are lending to, as all 7 of these agreements where taken out at EXACTLY the same time and it is clear that he is not in a position to afford these
3) Would an IVA be more suitable to him so he clears the debt himself but then in essence, kills his credit worthiness for the next 5 years
4) And don't expect this forum to answer this, but is there a way of getting him banned from ALL online and high street bookmakers etc.

Any other suggestions of what we can do, as we are not the sort to leave him and turn our backs on him. We have even thought about having him pay his salary into my wifes bank every month, she controls getting the debt paid and then he gets "pocket money" but he is a 33 year old man who should not be treated like a child!

Sorry for the very long post, but wanted to paint the larger picture.

Razororg

Hi There.

I'm looking for some advice regarding a DAS scheme and a statute barred loan and bank overdraft.

Back in 2008 I entered into a DAS scheme in Scotland relating to a £20k debt with HSBC. £10k from a loan that I got when I first moved to Scotland a couple of 5 years earlier and £10k from a bank account overdraft from my HSBC bank account that I had opened whilst living in London over 15 years ago.

For one reason or another I stopped paying into the DAS scheme in 2009 (over 6 years ago) and had literally heard nothing more about it until a couple of weeks ago when HSBC started writing to me separately chasing payment for each part of the debt (loan & Bank OD). I have not made a payment since mid 2009 nor have I contacted them in any way since I last made a payment.

I understand that these debts are now likely to be statute barred. My question is this: Is the entire debt subject to Scottish or English law or are the two parts subject to the laws in the respective countries in which the loan and bank account where opened? I know that it is over the time for both debts in either country but I would like to know where I stand.

Also should I send a statute barred letter now or leave it until they start to escalate things so this leaves as much time as possible since my last contact with them.

Thank you for your time.

tinstar101

I'm recently getting my act together after years of bad money management and hiding my head in the sand. I've got almost everything cleared apart from one final thing, a Pay Day loan!

Initially it was for £265, but they are now asking for £983.03 to be paid back! I am in a posistion now to pay back the initial amount, maybe even a little bit more, but I don't know what to do, any advice?

Thanks