Struggling with debt? Ask a debt advisor a question

richardawaller

StepChange_Rachel wrote: »

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

Thanks for the reply Rachel.

As I say, I've been in the agreement for several months and Very have continued to make charges despite claiming they're not managing the account. There's something very wrong here, I'm being lied to one way or another. I've been waiting a week for a response, looking forward to another fobbing off and then I'll take the Financial Ombudsman route if I need to. I might take it anyway even if they do refund the charges, it's a disgusting way to operate.

sandcastle11

Hi - I hope someone can help. I have two problems...!

1) A payday loan company I am trying to agree a repayment plan with is refusing to go ahead unless I send them bank statements. I have already sent them a detailed income & expenditure form. I don't want to share bank statements with them for privacy reasons, and no other creditor has asked for them. Can they really refuse to deal with my case like this?

2) One of the reasons I don't want to share bank statements is that this same payday lender has just sent me a complete stranger's completed I&E form by mistake. It has the customer's full name on it and all his budget details. This is pretty outrageous isn't it? What should I do (other than complaining to them, which I will). Should I report this data privacy breach to someone else?

thanks very much in advance for any help!

SashaP

Hi
I have 21k of credit card debts over 5 cards. I pay minimum charges totalling £500 per month. This is crippling the family budget.
My Dad has amazingly kindly offered to GIVE me 10k to help clear the debt.
I have also been approved for a 10k debt consolidation loan over 5 years with Natwest - but it's 20% Apr and £260 a month.
I'm not sure how to make best Use of the money I am being given to reduce my monthly outgoing and my debt footprint.

StepChange_James

fierybird wrote: »

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

Hi there,

You could send the company a letter of complaint to let them know you're unhappy about the level of charges that have been applied to this debt - £500 of charges and interest on a £100 debt by the sounds of it.

Whether they are entitled to do this will depend on the original agreement you signed up to with them but you can still make a complaint even if these charges are covered in the small.

They'll have to investigate and respond to your complaint. If you're not happy with how they deal with it you'll then have the option to ask the Financial Ombudsman to investigate (you can only do this after you've gone through the company's complaints process).

Kind regards

James

StepChange_James

carlne wrote: »

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.

Hi there,

Thanks for posting. It's a sensitive subject, so I wouldn't want to tell you what to do, but hopefully I can bounce around a few ideas and try to answer your questions.

1) You can add a notice to a credit file. Usually people do this to try and make them look more creditworthy but you could use it to do the opposite. More info here: http://www.experian.co.uk/consumer/faq/AR5.html.

My understanding is that he'd need to do it with all three credit reference agencies (Experian, Call Credit and Equifax).

2) As a charity we've called for more thorough affordability checks for payday loans in the past. There's been some progress since the FCA took over regulation but in your brother-in-law's case it seems that the system didn't' spot he was applying for so many loans simultaneously.

3) It's not possible to comment on which debt solution would best suit his situation without knowing more about his circumstances. IVAs can be a good way to pay back some debt without having to be stuck with a very lengthy payment arrangement.

There are other solutions though and I'd recommend he get in touch with us for in-depth debt advice. He can do this by calling our Helpline (http://www.stepchange.org/Contactus.aspx) or by going through our online Debt Remedy advice tool: http://www.stepchange.org/DebtRemedy.aspx.

4) I didn't know the answer to this question, but was curious, so did some googling. There isn't a universal system to get excluded from all forms of gambling (though it sounds like a good idea). However, Gamcare's website says that all gambling providers have to allow people to self-exclude themselves. So he could ban him self from each place he's likely to gamble. There's more info here: http://www.gambleaware.co.uk/confidential-support-and-advice/self-exclusion


I hope this helps. You mention that he's asked you to help bail him out, it may be better for him to get advice about repaying these debts himself. It may be that there are solutions available that mean he can deal with the debts himself, rather than rely on help from family.

Kind regards

James

StepChange_James

Razororg wrote: »

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.

Hello,

I've checked with a colleague that deals with Scottish and English debts and she said that the debts remain under the law of the country they were taken out with, for the purposes of whether they are statute barred or not.

There's more information about statute barred debts on our blog here: http://moneyaware.co.uk/2013/10/statute-barred-debt/.

In terms of the timing, if it's been over six years since your last payment it shouldn't matter. If you send the template letter the company should then either leave you alone or provide you with evidence that the debt isn't statute barred.

Kind regards

James

StepChange_James

tinstar101 wrote: »

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

Hi there,

If you think the charges applied to the account are unfair then you could make a complaint to the company. They'll investigate and get back in touch. If you're not happy with their response you could then ask the Financial Ombudsman Service to look into your case.

Alternatively, if you're not disputing the charges but want to get the debt cleared for less than the total balance, you could try to negotiate a full and final settlement. This is where you offer less than the total amount you owe as a final payment to clear the account. There's no guarantee the company will agree to this but many do, particularly if the debts has been hanging around for a while.

There's more info on our website: http://www.stepchange.org/Debtinformationandadvice/Debtsolutions/Settlementoffers.aspx.

Kind regards

James

StepChange_James

richardawaller wrote: »

Thanks for the reply Rachel.

As I say, I've been in the agreement for several months and Very have continued to make charges despite claiming they're not managing the account. There's something very wrong here, I'm being lied to one way or another. I've been waiting a week for a response, looking forward to another fobbing off and then I'll take the Financial Ombudsman route if I need to. I might take it anyway even if they do refund the charges, it's a disgusting way to operate.

You're right, it does sound like something's not quite right.

You're already doing what we'd recommend: making a complaint and escalating to the Financial Ombudsman if you don't feel like they've sorted the problem out.

All the best.

James

StepChange_James

sandcastle11 wrote: »

Hi - I hope someone can help. I have two problems...!

1) A payday loan company I am trying to agree a repayment plan with is refusing to go ahead unless I send them bank statements. I have already sent them a detailed income & expenditure form. I don't want to share bank statements with them for privacy reasons, and no other creditor has asked for them. Can they really refuse to deal with my case like this?

2) One of the reasons I don't want to share bank statements is that this same payday lender has just sent me a complete stranger's completed I&E form by mistake. It has the customer's full name on it and all his budget details. This is pretty outrageous isn't it? What should I do (other than complaining to them, which I will). Should I report this data privacy breach to someone else?

thanks very much in advance for any help!

Hi there,

Creditors can ask for additional information to support a budget but it's not standard for this to happen. You're under no obligation to provide them with this sort of information though, you can refuse.

In similar situations I've known people to send statements with only relevant information showing and the rest of the details blanked out. As I mentioned above, you don't have to do this, but it could be a potential compromise solution.

It does sound like quite a big mistake to have sent a completely different person's information to you. Making a complaint to the company directly is a good first step. The higher organisation that deals with information being stored securely would be the Information Commissioner's Office or ICO. Here's their website: https://ico.org.uk/concerns/.

Kind regards

James

StepChange_James

SashaP wrote: »

Hi
I have 21k of credit card debts over 5 cards. I pay minimum charges totalling £500 per month. This is crippling the family budget.
My Dad has amazingly kindly offered to GIVE me 10k to help clear the debt.
I have also been approved for a 10k debt consolidation loan over 5 years with Natwest - but it's 20% Apr and £260 a month.
I'm not sure how to make best Use of the money I am being given to reduce my monthly outgoing and my debt footprint.

Hi SashaP,

Thanks for posting.

There are a few ways you can use a lump sum to reduce debts. I wouldn't want to tell you what would suit you best without knowing your full situation. You could use it to pay off your most expensive debt, probably those with the highest interest rates, which means the remaining debts will cost you less in interest.

Alternatively you could look to reduce your monthly commitments by paying off the debts with the highest monthly payments (often the most expensive but not always). This may cost you more in the long run but mean there's less pressure on finding monthly payments.

Another way to deal with them would be to pay off as many small debts as possible, to leave you with the fewest possible debts left over. This makes life more simple but can be more expensive in the long run.

You mention that you've been approved for a consolidation loan but the interest rate is 20%. I'd recommend being cautious about taking out a consolidation loan.

Firstly, we speak to a lot of people that run up new debts after consolidating their debts. Secondly, even if 20% is lower than the interest rates on your existing debts, it could still cost more in the long run as debts like credit cards allow you to repay them faster if you can afford to.

So I'd suggest getting a pen and paper out and working seeing which options suit you best. I wouldn't want to say don't take the consolidation loan, but I would recommend being very cautious before taking it out.

Kind regards

James