Struggling with debt? Ask a debt advisor a question

Former_StepChange_Rachel

Covmum wrote: »

I will try to make this short but it's quite a long story. In 2015 I was taken to court for council tax arrears from 6 year's before. I owe £6000 and I had ignored all the letters hoping it would go away. Anyway the magistrates agreed I could pay £200 a month but they gave me a suspended committal order. After Xmas my circumstances changed and I could no longer afford the £200 so I went to the CAB for advice. They were really helpful and tried to liase with the council but they wouldn't accept a lower amount and said I would have to go back to the magistrates and ask for the order to be adjusted. I was given a date in may 2016 but on the morning of the hearing my partner was taken ill and I had to stay with him and my son. I rang the courts and sent in a letter plus the statement from the cab. A few days later I received a letter from the courts saying that because I hadn't appeared in court I had to contact the court officer in 5 days or a warrant for my arrest would be released. I rang the court officer and was told someone would be in touch. Nobody contacted me so a week later I rang again and even offered to pay a lower amount but they wouldn't accept it. Since then I have heard nothing. Now a baliff has contacted me and told me I have to present myself at the court tomorrow and I will be arrested and put before the magistrates. I am really scared they are going to send me to prison. My children simply couldn't cope without me. My son has autism, my daughter has anxiety and self harms if she is stressed or separated from me and my partner has MS.
I am trying to see a solicitor today but can anyone offer any help or advice . I really don't want to go to court. I'm willing to pay the council a £100 a month.

Hello

Thank you for your post. I'm sorry to hear about your situation but I can help you with this.

Based on what you have told us it would appear the court have arranged a further hearing because you have been unable to pay the previously ordered amount.

The best advice I can give you is to attend the hearing which is arranged for tomorrow. When you attend the hearing we would recommend you take evidence of your financial situation, if you have a household budget and list of your other debts that would useful.

You should explain that you haven't been able to pay the previously arranged amount due to financial difficulties. Explain the steps you taken to try and pay the debt and come to an agreement.

It would also be a good idea to inform the court of your personal circumstances including, if you're comfortable with sharing this information, your responsibilities to your dependant children. All of this information will be taken into account by court.

You do have a right to be represented by a solicitor at the hearing so if you can get representation like that then please do so. Alternatively you can take someone with you to the hearing to support you.

Anyone can come with you to the hearing, even if they aren't legally qualified, but they won't be able to address the court without a judge's permission.

Unfortunately the court will be making a decision about whether to commit you to prison. Therefore any information you can give them is vital.

It is extremely rare that the court will commit you to prison but there is a risk.

To summarise it is very important you attend the hearing tomorrow and take as much supporting evidence of your financial and personal situation as you can. By doing this the court will be aware of everything when they make a decision.

We do offer long term advice with debt so if you need any further help with this, or your finances in general, please come back to us.

Rachel

Me2u

HI i have set up a dMP through step changed , i have sent off all of my forms can you tell me what happens next please as i have not been informed

Former_StepChange_Rachel

Me2u wrote: »

HI i have set up a dMP through step changed , i have sent off all of my forms can you tell me what happens next please as i have not been informed

Hi

Thank you for your post.

The next step in the process is usually for us to review the paperwork we have received from you and get back to you with any queries or confirming everything is now in place.

If you haven't heard from us then please get in touch. There should be the telephone number for the department you would need to speak to outlined in the pack you received.

If you are having trouble locating this number you can try call us on 0300 303 5666, we're open Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm and Saturday 8am to 4pm.

I hope you find the above helpful

Rachel

Me2u

Hi Rachel

Thanks for your reply , I got a text today saying my DMP has been set up , and gave me my payment date I take it that this means everything is ok , is there any thing I need to do now.?

Many thanks

StepChange_Rachel wrote: »

Hi

Thank you for your post.

The next step in the process is usually for us to review the paperwork we have received from you and get back to you with any queries or confirming everything is now in place.

If you haven't heard from us then please get in touch. There should be the telephone number for the department you would need to speak to outlined in the pack you received.

If you are having trouble locating this number you can try call us on 0300 303 5666, we're open Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm and Saturday 8am to 4pm.

I hope you find the above helpful

Rachel

Former_StepChange_Richard

Me2u wrote: »

Hi Rachel

Thanks for your reply , I got a text today saying my DMP has been set up , and gave me my payment date I take it that this means everything is ok , is there any thing I need to do now.?

Many thanks

Hi there

We're unable to look at any details of an account through this forum so we can't confirm if everything is ok or not.

Unless you have recieved any other correspondence from StepChange, I can only assume that your plan is ready to begin.

If you're in any doubt please call and speak to an advisor who can check your account for you.

Take care
Richard

Hungary

Hi, first off I am sorry if this is the wrong place for this question - I am a little flustered and confused by the situation I find myself in.

In short - I have found out I have a county court summons for an old debt I know very little about.

The full story. I live and work in Hungary and have been here for 3 years (but I am from the UK). My sister has been receiving an unusual amount of post for me and eventually opened it as she was concerned it could be something important. Fortunately she did as it appears that I have a court summons. I don’t know how they got her address, I have not had anything except my drivers licence registered there (but that’s probably my answer).

Apart from a student loan the size of a small country's GDP I am pretty much debt free, although was quite reckless previously. I live a fairly simple life here, comfortable but not earning much. The summons is from HSBC for an old overdraft - apparently from 5 years ago. HSBC just decided to close my account one day and asked me to pay for the whole overdraft while I was a student (it wasn’t over its limit, but not enough money had been paid in). The total amount is £1300 (about 2.5 months wages for me). I thought this had been dealt with although I am genuinely unsure exactly how old it is and what happened to it. I struggled for a long time to pay for past mistakes so am genuinely surprised by this. There is a large amount of interest added (8% since its existence) and the summons is requesting for interest to be added after the court decision.

I have confirmed that the summons is real and have applied for an extension to the amount of time I have to reply to it. Apart from that I am really unsure about what I can do. I have no ability to check my past records from here - I can’t be certain of the amount, the age or what I had paid to HSBC previously. Is there anything I can do, do I just have to get shafted by this collection agency who have not actually contacted me directly. My sister is already very uncomfortable with the situation I have put her in. I am very worried that they will continue to harass her, or worse visit her.

Do I have any options? It seems I can’t dispute this action without more information.. I am a bit bamboozled by this.

Thank you very much for any help.

Former_StepChange_Richard

Hungary wrote: »

Hi, first off I am sorry if this is the wrong place for this question - I am a little flustered and confused by the situation I find myself in.

In short - I have found out I have a county court summons for an old debt I know very little about.

The full story. I live and work in Hungary and have been here for 3 years (but I am from the UK). My sister has been receiving an unusual amount of post for me and eventually opened it as she was concerned it could be something important. Fortunately she did as it appears that I have a court summons. I don’t know how they got her address, I have not had anything except my drivers licence registered there (but that’s probably my answer).

Apart from a student loan the size of a small country's GDP I am pretty much debt free, although was quite reckless previously. I live a fairly simple life here, comfortable but not earning much. The summons is from HSBC for an old overdraft - apparently from 5 years ago. HSBC just decided to close my account one day and asked me to pay for the whole overdraft while I was a student (it wasn’t over its limit, but not enough money had been paid in). The total amount is £1300 (about 2.5 months wages for me). I thought this had been dealt with although I am genuinely unsure exactly how old it is and what happened to it. I struggled for a long time to pay for past mistakes so am genuinely surprised by this. There is a large amount of interest added (8% since its existence) and the summons is requesting for interest to be added after the court decision.

I have confirmed that the summons is real and have applied for an extension to the amount of time I have to reply to it. Apart from that I am really unsure about what I can do. I have no ability to check my past records from here - I can’t be certain of the amount, the age or what I had paid to HSBC previously. Is there anything I can do, do I just have to get shafted by this collection agency who have not actually contacted me directly. My sister is already very uncomfortable with the situation I have put her in. I am very worried that they will continue to harass her, or worse visit her.

Do I have any options? It seems I can’t dispute this action without more information.. I am a bit bamboozled by this.

Thank you very much for any help.

Hi there,

Thanks for your post and welcome to the forum. I'm sorry to hear of the difficult situation your family are in, but we can certainly help you with this.

For this case, the key thing is to establish is are you liable for this debt? That may seem obvious, but it's the most important part of this in terms of trying to resolve the matter.

If you are liable, presumably HSBC will have evidence to show this and that's why they have escalated the matter county court. If you feel that you are not liable however, it will be up to you to provide evidence to prove this. This is where things could get difficult with you not being in the country.

For most people who can't recall debts from a long time ago, it's best to check through paperwork, letters and statements to see if anything links back to this. It's a good idea to check your credit file to see if any information matches here. Failing these, calling the creditor and asking them what evidence they have to prove that you owe the debt should help out too. I appreciate the difficulty you may have with all of these given your current location.

Your current location is also the reason why, I suspect, that the letters have been sent to your sister. As there was post of yours sent there once, I would assume they have connected the dots and come to the conclusion that this is your last known address. If you contact anyone that has been sending you letters to your sister's address and give them your new address, this should stop any further correspondence going to your sister's address.

Ultimately it's up to you to decide how you wish to respond to the court paperwork, but the important thing is that you do respond either way. If you don't, a decision will be made against you.

If you are not liable, you can respond to the court forms using the N9B (Defence) form. If you are liable you should respond using the N9A (Admission) or the N9B (Counterclaim) if you feel that you only owe part of the debt.

I hope this helps.
Richard.

Riceboychrispy

Hi there,

I have an outstanding credit card debt with Natwest and they have today said that they are going to refer me over to Allied International Credit (I have researched this company and it seems they are a bit of a nightmare).

The situation is that I had a really good job just over a year ago, paying my credit card wasn't a problem. Then I had a severe accident and lost my job and got kicked out of the place that I was living as a result of it. I also lost all of my possessions and had to sleep rough for some time. I met my current partner in a group and have now moved in with her and her child.

I owe £2,239.29. I don't have any means to pay (I get £125 per fortnight ESA at the moment due to depression, anxiety and PTSD). Also I have no car or possessions of any kind of value.

Supposedly I'm told that I will be hearing from AIC in 14 days so am now quite worried.

What should my next move be? This is causing me great distress.

SkyKyo

I have £8000 owed all on 0% cards or overdrafts

2k overdraft 0% ends July 17 on 1k
2300 card £45pm Feb 17
2800 card 30pm 0% July 19
1166 card £30pm 0% sept 17

What priority should I pay these off? I have £50 a week to live on after all bills so have some scope to pay extra although I do pay £6-£18 badminton fees a week. How much do people actually live on should I cut back more and overpay? I used to live £15 a week but found I never could go out or do anything and got quite down.

Former_StepChange_Richard

Riceboychrispy wrote: »

Hi there,

I have an outstanding credit card debt with Natwest and they have today said that they are going to refer me over to Allied International Credit (I have researched this company and it seems they are a bit of a nightmare).

The situation is that I had a really good job just over a year ago, paying my credit card wasn't a problem. Then I had a severe accident and lost my job and got kicked out of the place that I was living as a result of it. I also lost all of my possessions and had to sleep rough for some time. I met my current partner in a group and have now moved in with her and her child.

I owe £2,239.29. I don't have any means to pay (I get £125 per fortnight ESA at the moment due to depression, anxiety and PTSD). Also I have no car or possessions of any kind of value.

Supposedly I'm told that I will be hearing from AIC in 14 days so am now quite worried.

What should my next move be? This is causing me great distress.

Hi

Thanks for your post. Welcome to the forum. I'm sorry to hear about your job and the difficult time you have been through. I'm glad to hear you are getting support now and that you've found a new home with your partner.

You can often read information about peoples individual experiences with a certain company, but bear in mind that these are individual cases. There's no reason to assume that this company will treat you unfairly. If they do, you can use your rights to make a complaint. I have no reason to suspect that they will be anything less than professional in their business with you though.

I would suggest building a budget with us so we can explore the options you have for dealing with this debt. You can use our Debt Remedy tool on our website. Its free and will guide you through your budget in your own time. Once its complete it will present the best options to you for dealing with your debts.

If you prefer, you can call our Helpline and speak with an advisor. They will make your budget for you and then explain your options to you.

If you are contacted by this creditor before you get the chance to build your budget, please don't feel pressured to pay if you cannot afford to. Bear in mind that their job is to collect the money that is owed, but you cannot be expected to pay money that you don't have. If you're in any doubt, call one of our advisors for help.

Take care
Richard