Struggling with debt? Ask a debt advisor a question

herts-kidder

Hi, a couple of questions.
after burying my head for far too long a letter from Westcott has prompted me to sort things out. in a stupid cycle of using cc for day to day stuff, minimum payment is going up and up, can't afford it and all other bits, borrow more yadda yadda...

I have this morning looked on stepchange and plan to sort a dmp as also have debt with barclaycard, a small store card balance and an overdraft.

I have applied for a bank account with Halifax, but now I'm not sure if this was the best move. I had intended to pay everything else and keep my overdraft. I asked for an account transfer including the overdraft- was this the right thing to do?

Also, do I contact Westcott- and if so, what are my options? they are asking for a final payment of approx £900. obviously I don't have this-will struggle to find anything from them this side of payday.

also (possibly stupidly)I don't feel in a position to reveal any of this to my other half - is correspondence from yourselves logo'd on the envelope?

thankyou so much for any advice - can't believe I have been so stupid as to get in this situation.

System

Imagnu wrote: »

if a person goes into a dmp or DAS will that affect their position as a trustee for a charity?

Hi and thanks for your comment,

You’d need to check the wording of the Trustee contract. Sorry we can’t help more with this but we can’t speculate on the terms and conditions of your trusteeship.

It’s worth noting that if you went on a DAS you would be on the DAS register and this is searchable.

Kind regards,

Mat

Imagnu_2

thanks for replying Mat, will investigate further.

jokie

i had a dispute with Halifax selling an account to APEX. This was all caused because i went into arrears when i lost my job.
APEX applied a default but blamed it on Halifax, Halifax denied this but after lots of research from myself and digging out information, it turned out the account was not subject to a credit search.
Halifax advised the company APEX that a default should not have been applied due to this reason. Back in 2008 APEX applied a default illegally and have caused me to be paying high interest rates on credit cards, i got denied a mortgage because of this and loans and all because of the default that should not have been there. I made APEX aware that i should not have been defaulted back in 2009 but the wouldn't remove it.
APEX have now admitted the default should not be there are are now removing it. I don't owe APEX money as the account was cleared. Ive confirmation from Halifax that the default should not have been there.
Because of the affect this illegal move has caused on me, where do i stand legally on this?
From august 2008 APEX have been responsible for me being denied credit and paying big interest.

System

herts-kidder wrote: »

Hi, a couple of questions.
after burying my head for far too long a letter from Westcott has prompted me to sort things out. in a stupid cycle of using cc for day to day stuff, minimum payment is going up and up, can't afford it and all other bits, borrow more yadda yadda...

I have this morning looked on stepchange and plan to sort a dmp as also have debt with barclaycard, a small store card balance and an overdraft.

I have applied for a bank account with Halifax, but now I'm not sure if this was the best move. I had intended to pay everything else and keep my overdraft. I asked for an account transfer including the overdraft- was this the right thing to do?

Also, do I contact Westcott- and if so, what are my options? they are asking for a final payment of approx £900. obviously I don't have this-will struggle to find anything from them this side of payday.

also (possibly stupidly)I don't feel in a position to reveal any of this to my other half - is correspondence from yourselves logo'd on the envelope?

thankyou so much for any advice - can't believe I have been so stupid as to get in this situation.

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Well done on taking the first step, it’s a big achievement to admit that you need debt help.

The overdraft is a debt and should be treated the same as the credit cards and store cards. When you open a new bank account it needs to be a basic account without an overdraft.

I’d recommend you use our online service Debt Remedy (http://www.stepchange.org/msehelp) to help you find a solution to your debt problem quickly.

You’ll receive a downloadable booklet with details of your solution and the best way to proceed.

When we do send letters to you the envelopes are plain, but if you use Debt Remedy and our online DMP service you can do most transactions online.

I’d recommend that you tell Wescott that you’re seeking advice from us, you can also ask that they only communicate with you in writing. You’re fully within your rights to do this, at the present time you can send them a token payment of £1 until your solution is in place.

You’ve taken the first step to sorting out your money worries and we can support you with free and impartial advice along the way.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Mat

System

jokie wrote: »

i had a dispute with Halifax selling an account to APEX. This was all caused because i went into arrears when i lost my job.
APEX applied a default but blamed it on Halifax, Halifax denied this but after lots of research from myself and digging out information, it turned out the account was not subject to a credit search.
Halifax advised the company APEX that a default should not have been applied due to this reason. Back in 2008 APEX applied a default illegally and have caused me to be paying high interest rates on credit cards, i got denied a mortgage because of this and loans and all because of the default that should not have been there. I made APEX aware that i should not have been defaulted back in 2009 but the wouldn't remove it.
APEX have now admitted the default should not be there are are now removing it. I don't owe APEX money as the account was cleared. Ive confirmation from Halifax that the default should not have been there.
Because of the affect this illegal move has caused on me, where do i stand legally on this?
From august 2008 APEX have been responsible for me being denied credit and paying big interest.

Hi and thanks for your post.

You should first make a direct complaint to APEX, they’ll have eight weeks to respond.

If you’re not happy about the response you should complain to the Financial Ombudsman, you can find more details below-

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumer/complaints.htm

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Mat

marleyhull

I got heavily in credit card debt when i was trying to save my business in 2009. I still have four debts totalling circa 25K all of which are with collection agencies and have been getting a minimum monthly payment of between £1-£10 each month for about 2 years now. I received letters from 2 new collection agencies (MKDP and Drysdenfairfax) saying they had bought two of the debts some months ago and wanted a payment plan. As i was not aware of this and had continued to make minimum payments (to previous collection agencies) on these debts i asked them to send me a copy of the original credit agreement (template from here) and details of when they had taken over the debt. Both have written to me saying they do not have that info at the moment and are liaising with the original lender.
Should i continue sending minimum payments to these new companies for these debts.?
My business is no better and i cannot afford to make any offers to clear these credit card debts at the moment.

mum2one

Sorry if this sounds an odd question - thinking aloud - thought I'd ask this way incase someone was in / or going to be in same boat.Presently I'm on DMP and touch wood everything going ok, but if things went wrong, - big drop of income, creditors weren't happy with min payments - and 1001 other posibilities, what would the likelyhood of going bankrupt if you had debts over 15k so couldn't apply for a debt relief order?I know everything is done on an indiviual basis, - but was wondering what imput would CCCS be able to offer x

Chrisas

Please help I need some advice I have 3 credit cards which I owe approx £12000 and a £11000 loan. I have never missed a payment but only pay min payments on credit cards. I have tried to apply for 0% balance transfer cards but have been declined! Should I try to get another loan to pay off these damn cards. What would be the best way of dealing with this debt. Hope someone can help !

System

marleyhull wrote: »

I got heavily in credit card debt when i was trying to save my business in 2009. I still have four debts totalling circa 25K all of which are with collection agencies and have been getting a minimum monthly payment of between £1-£10 each month for about 2 years now. I received letters from 2 new collection agencies (MKDP and Drysdenfairfax) saying they had bought two of the debts some months ago and wanted a payment plan. As i was not aware of this and had continued to make minimum payments (to previous collection agencies) on these debts i asked them to send me a copy of the original credit agreement (template from here) and details of when they had taken over the debt. Both have written to me saying they do not have that info at the moment and are liaising with the original lender.
Should i continue sending minimum payments to these new companies for these debts.?
My business is no better and i cannot afford to make any offers to clear these credit card debts at the moment.

Hi and thanks for your post.

It sounds like you would benefit from some free and impartial advice.

It’s not unusual for debts to be sold onto other collection agencies, this can happen numerous times.

You can only pay them what you can reasonably afford and you should continue to do so; I’d recommend that you put together an accurate income and expenditure budget to send to the collections agency along with your payment. We can help you with this.

If you visit our online debt advice service Debt Remedy (http://www.stepchange.org/msehelp) it’ll give you advice and help regards putting together a budget. It may also suggest solutions you hadn’t yet considered.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Mat