Struggling with debt? Ask a debt advisor a question

nicnic1

Hi not sure if you can help me with this as quite complicated. short version is that 5 years ago i was contacted by the DWP asking me to pay back £730 i'd claimed in benefits while working at a haulage company in 1995. Whilst I was in receipt of benefits during this time, I've never worked for a haulage company, and am not the sort of person that would work and claim.

anyway i've been in dispute with them for 5 years and now under threat of them contacting my employer i've had too agree to them taking £10 a month, which i resent. my appeal was rejected as it was not within the original 1 year period back in 1995, even though i knew nothing about it until 2000. they say that it is not subject to any legal limitations.

I suspect that back in 1995 someone in a shared house that I was in used my name, NI and address whilst they were working on benefits, there was a pretty dodgy guy living there that used to do driving jobs, DWP has sent me all the evidence which is basically a note from the firm, a few letters and a record of a phone call back in 1995 where i supposedly agreed to pay the sum back (it was not me that called them)

I think it was triggered when I signed off, moved out (which is why I new nothing about it) and ironically got a job as a young peoples benefits adviser, i've never been off the electoral register, always been paying tax/ni etc, so it would have been easy to find me in the 15 intervening years. police are not interested and DWP staff whilst cautiously sympathetic are only interested in the debt recovery (it must have cost them £1000's to chase this) .

is there any way forward with this? as after 5 years of it i'm stuck, and on point of principle i don't want to pay it back. To fight it legally would cost more than the £750 i think

any ideas?

andyman122123

Good afternoon guys,
I'm struggling to get some precise advice as I am being directed to solicitors.
My gf and her ex have joint debts of 95k from a business some yrs back and for the past 5 yrs have been paying Baines and Ernst - which has kept the wolves from the door. (Their repayment plan is 893 mths)
Her ex has somehow managed to ring B&E and remove his name from the joint debts thus leaving my gf with the full whack.
The obvious thing is to go bankrupt - but her name is on her mother's deeds for the house along with her sister.
My question is, can the house be force sold - which would leave her mother who is a pensioner and has parkinsons without a home. (Gf share is poss worth 50k)

has her ex got away scott free?

thank you for any help and advice you can give.

Andy

Hiraeth

I am on a pension and owe $10,000. I am not a spendthrift in fact just the opposite, however due to the illness of my adult son and helping him with medical costs and other costs when he was unable to work my credit card just crept up. I thought that all would be well, but now - not only do I have a maxed credit card - but I have finally realised I can't just pay a bit of each month and expect it to go away. I realise I have to work on it and work hard.

I have a pension (which is all I have to live on) and this went into a savings account and I would then use that for payments and then also a credit card if I had overspent out of the savings account. This overspending, along with medical bills, and a lack of care on my part has caused the problems.

I have decided to concentrate paying it off, regardless of time involved (although the sooner the better of course). What I had previously done was to pay all my payments (car insurance, medical insurance, telephone, internet, house insurance etc) from my credit card and then transfer money across from my savings accounts to cover it (assuming I could cover it all).

What I then decided was that I would set up all my payments by direct debit so no danger of default and I would have them all coming out of my credit card. What I would then do is to arrange that as soon as my pension went into my savings account I would transfer the majority of it into my credit card - giving a slightly lower balance for interest to be charged on. I also bought a book and am writing down everything I spend.

I would like though some advise as to whether putting it into my credit card (to lower the balance) and making payments from there is best - or should I leave it all in my savings account, make all my payments from my savings account and include with them a regular amount into my credit card. At the moment that amount is only $200 per month, but hopefully it might be more in time.

I have no other debts at all - just the one card. Being on a pension I cannot apply for a no/low interest rate card - although this one is not too high at all.

I am finally in the right frame of mind to start getting it done, but am frightened that if I do not start and see something coming from my balance I will get more upset and depressed.

Thank you for any help and suggestions that anyone can give me. I'm struggling with the recent loss of my parents and the ongoing health issues of my son and have to get rid of this worry in my head about how much I owe. While I don't want to get to the point of feeling that it doesn't matter, I desperately need to get to the point of knowing I am doing the right things and the balance is going down.

Former_StepChange_Matthew

I'm wanting some advice on money transfer & 0% debt shift cards - I've read the relevent MSE pages.

I have a credit card currently with £500(ish) on it and an overdraft of roughly the same amount, I'd like to shift them to one 0% card to make paying them off easier. - What I want to know is, is this possible? From what I've read, I gather money transfer cards are fund transfer to a bank and so would help with my overdraft but debt shift cards are what I need for my credit card, but I'd like both on one card ideally. I hope that makes sense and hope you can offer some advice.

Thanks
Emma

Hi there.

Welcome to the forum and thanks for posting.

From my understanding, a money transfer is solely used for switching your overdraft to a credit card for a fee and a balance transfer is switching the debt from one credit card to another (again, for a fee).These are two different services/ products and I don't believe that there is a service that combines both at present.

If you were to use these 2 services to switch to a 0% interest rate, it is worth looking into the options that are available. Below are some links on MoneySavingExpert.com that can provide you some guidance:

Money transfer - http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/cut-loan-overdraft-costs
Balance transfer - http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/balance-transfer-credit-cards

With both of these options however, it's worth trying to clear these off within the 0% period otherwise you could be paying more money in the long term.

I hope this helps.
Matthew

Former_StepChange_Matthew

Hi not sure if you can help me with this as quite complicated. short version is that 5 years ago i was contacted by the DWP asking me to pay back £730 i'd claimed in benefits while working at a haulage company in 1995. Whilst I was in receipt of benefits during this time, I've never worked for a haulage company, and am not the sort of person that would work and claim.

anyway i've been in dispute with them for 5 years and now under threat of them contacting my employer i've had too agree to them taking £10 a month, which i resent. my appeal was rejected as it was not within the original 1 year period back in 1995, even though i knew nothing about it until 2000. they say that it is not subject to any legal limitations.

I suspect that back in 1995 someone in a shared house that I was in used my name, NI and address whilst they were working on benefits, there was a pretty dodgy guy living there that used to do driving jobs, DWP has sent me all the evidence which is basically a note from the firm, a few letters and a record of a phone call back in 1995 where i supposedly agreed to pay the sum back (it was not me that called them)

I think it was triggered when I signed off, moved out (which is why I new nothing about it) and ironically got a job as a young peoples benefits adviser, i've never been off the electoral register, always been paying tax/ni etc, so it would have been easy to find me in the 15 intervening years. police are not interested and DWP staff whilst cautiously sympathetic are only interested in the debt recovery (it must have cost them £1000's to chase this) .

is there any way forward with this? as after 5 years of it i'm stuck, and on point of principle i don't want to pay it back. To fight it legally would cost more than the £750 i think

any ideas?

Hi and welcome to the forum.

I can understand your resentment around paying a debt that you feel isn't yours to pay.
You have mentioned you have appealed this and this was rejected but depending on how far you took your dispute, you may be able to take this further.

The first step when appealing is to request a revision or ‘mandatory reconsideration’ of the overpayment decision. In most cases this must be made in writing or by phone within 30 days of the letter which states the overpayment amount.

If this is refused, the next step is to appeal to the First-tier of the Social Security and Child Support Tribunal. This will involve a hearing that you will need to attend so it is worth seeking specialist benefits advice for this.

The Money advice service has a page with organisations that you can contact for benefits advice. Depending on your circumstances, certain organisations may be able to help you.

You can find the page here - https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/where-to-get-help-and-advice-about-benefits

I hope this helps
Matthew

Former_StepChange_Matthew

Good afternoon guys,
I'm struggling to get some precise advice as I am being directed to solicitors.
My gf and her ex have joint debts of 95k from a business some yrs back and for the past 5 yrs have been paying Baines and Ernst - which has kept the wolves from the door. (Their repayment plan is 893 mths)
Her ex has somehow managed to ring B&E and remove his name from the joint debts thus leaving my gf with the full whack.
The obvious thing is to go bankrupt - but her name is on her mother's deeds for the house along with her sister.
My question is, can the house be force sold - which would leave her mother who is a pensioner and has parkinsons without a home. (Gf share is poss worth 50k)

has her ex got away scott free?

thank you for any help and advice you can give.

Andy

Hi Andy.
Thanks for posting and welcome to the forum.

When you declare yourself bankrupt, a judge called the official receiver (OR) will look into your financial situation and seek to realise any valuable assets to contribute to your debts. In your girlfriends scenario, they would look for the £50K share (assuming that is the share of the equity available). The OR could in theory force a sale of the property for this share of the equity and they have 2 years and 3 months to consider this. To avoid this, another party could buy your girlfriend's share in the property however, this can be complex and there are fees involved for the third party.

If your girlfriend is considering bankruptcy, it's worth seeing if this is a suitable solution to manage her debts or if there is a better alternative. It may be worth her giving our Helpline a call on 0800 138 1111 and speak to a debt advisor about her circumstances. Bankruptcy may not be best option to manage these debts so it's always worth seeing what the options are.

In regards to her ex partner, it's unlikely that speaking to a third party debt advice service would result in having names removed from a credit agreement however, they may have proceeded on a debt solution to stop creditors being able to enforce the debt. This is speculation however, as it's impossible to know how her ex partner may have dealt with their debts.

I hope this helps
Matthew

Former_StepChange_Matthew

I am on a pension and owe $10,000. I am not a spendthrift in fact just the opposite, however due to the illness of my adult son and helping him with medical costs and other costs when he was unable to work my credit card just crept up. I thought that all would be well, but now - not only do I have a maxed credit card - but I have finally realised I can't just pay a bit of each month and expect it to go away. I realise I have to work on it and work hard.

I have a pension (which is all I have to live on) and this went into a savings account and I would then use that for payments and then also a credit card if I had overspent out of the savings account. This overspending, along with medical bills, and a lack of care on my part has caused the problems.

I have decided to concentrate paying it off, regardless of time involved (although the sooner the better of course). What I had previously done was to pay all my payments (car insurance, medical insurance, telephone, internet, house insurance etc) from my credit card and then transfer money across from my savings accounts to cover it (assuming I could cover it all).

What I then decided was that I would set up all my payments by direct debit so no danger of default and I would have them all coming out of my credit card. What I would then do is to arrange that as soon as my pension went into my savings account I would transfer the majority of it into my credit card - giving a slightly lower balance for interest to be charged on. I also bought a book and am writing down everything I spend.

I would like though some advise as to whether putting it into my credit card (to lower the balance) and making payments from there is best - or should I leave it all in my savings account, make all my payments from my savings account and include with them a regular amount into my credit card. At the moment that amount is only $200 per month, but hopefully it might be more in time.

I have no other debts at all - just the one card. Being on a pension I cannot apply for a no/low interest rate card - although this one is not too high at all.

I am finally in the right frame of mind to start getting it done, but am frightened that if I do not start and see something coming from my balance I will get more upset and depressed.

Thank you for any help and suggestions that anyone can give me. I'm struggling with the recent loss of my parents and the ongoing health issues of my son and have to get rid of this worry in my head about how much I owe. While I don't want to get to the point of feeling that it doesn't matter, I desperately need to get to the point of knowing I am doing the right things and the balance is going down.

Hi there.

Thanks for posting and welcome to the forum.

I'm sorry to hear about the difficulties that you're facing, especially at a time with the loss of your parents and your son's medical issues.
It's difficult to say what the best option is to manage your debts without being fully aware of your full financial situation. If you're struggling to pay your debts, taking out further credit will only help if they reduce your contractual payments and you can clear the debt before interest starts to accrue. If you're struggling to meet the payments for your debts at the moment, it may be worth exploring your options to deal with the debts and seek debt advice.

I noticed that you have listed your income in dollars. We can provide advise on debts taken out or being collected in the UK. You can contact us at StepChange on 0800 138 1111 and we can have a look at your circumstances and advise you on the best way to manage your debts. The service is free of charge and we provide impartial advice.

I hope this helps
Matthew

nicnic1

Thanks Mathew, the appeal was turned down a couple of years ago, so probably timed out, one of the problems has been, that when i've written to them they've literally taken a year+ to reply. but I will pursue it and see what happens, should have taken advice at the appeal stage, but just didn't think that it would get this far, i stupidly thought they too would see how crazy the whole situation was. thanks and i'll go down the routes you suggest. thanks again

joespa89

Hi there,

Through years of not really having a handle on my finances (and being wreckless), I've managed to accrue quite a large amount of debt, which can be summarised in the following

2.5k overdraft
2.5k credit card
loan (of which there is 10k left and 48 months.

I took the decision at the start of the year to get my things in order, make a real effort of paying off my over draft and credit card. I started a budget, and the micro management of every thing coming in and out really helped.

Unfortunately, the interest on my overdraft and credit cards has meant it wasn't really possible to make a serious dent in my OD or CD (based on how much I earn). I never miss payments, but I'm not making a serious dent in either of them.

I looked at balance/money transfer cards, but unfortunately the amount my credit score only allowed 2.2k credit limit and a shorter 0% term wasn't really viable. The other option was I looked at extending my loan to pay off the OD and credit card. the rate on the new loan is 25.5%, while the existing one is 8.9, so obviously a large amount of interest but the monthly payments over all are less than the separate payments I currently make.

Are there any other options I'm not considering? Although the loan extension amount is huge, it does reduce my monthly payments, I get rid of my OD and CD, and then I could also use any extra I had to pay of extra on the loan.

Appreciate any help or advice!

Bear04

Hi


I am currently trying to reclaim interest and charges from a large number of PDLs for loans which I have had from them over the last few years. I have recently been talking to someone on another forum who has been doing the same but has had a reply from one of the PDLs stating that they may pursue him for application fraud as the info he gave them regarding income and expenditure must have been false.

Is this a possibility as I would imagine the majority of people applying for PDLs have basically lied about their income and/or expenditure as they were desperate for money?