New to the site sorry this is so long winded

mattyharw

Hi all really need some advise and help, Firstly I'll give you a run down on what’s happened and what’s happening. Sorry it’s so long winded
2003 I was going through a rough time in my life I'd been suffering from depression since leaving being medically discharged from the army and got involved in a relationship I moved from Grimsby to Northampton because that’s were the ex lived at that time we were living in a shared house but things started getting bad were we lived, so we decided to move out I had a loan with HSBC for 3k and increased it to 5k so that we could move. The ex had alot of dept and where we moved to turned out to be a nightmare there seemed to be trouble all the time (not with me might I add). The ex decided our only option was to get a joint loan to cover her dept and a bit more to move I objected but due to my depression and feeling obligated and pressured I agreed, Long story short our relationship ended but due to the dept agreed to stay in the same house until the contract was up, Things got nasty so I found somewhere to move to on the day I was to move out the ex contacted the police saying Id been violent even though I had a witness to me not doing anything but trying to move the agreed we had agreed was mine, Things then changed I then ended up moving out with nothing but what I had when I met her, because the police stated I could only remove what the ex agreed which was nothing so she kept everything that had been bought with the money from the dept. The dept was at that point being paid by the ex's insurance because of unemployment and illness. I tried to contact her a few times about the dept but she would not even talk to me, she then vanished and to this day I do not know where she is. I began getting harassing phone calls from HSBC about the dept about 9 months later, bearing in mind HSBC had my address I have never got any letters from them or was not told that this loan was in arrears ant statements nothing they have never contacted me, when the loan was opened even though it was a shared loan I was not on the insurance. I asked for the ex's address from HSBC so I could contact her to arrange how we would pay the dept they refused, I told them to stop contacting me by phone and to only contact me via letter due to quite a few bad experiences when making arrangement over the phone. I sent them letters via registered mail to try to come to some sort of arrangement which they never replied to (please see below) This morning I got a letter from a dept collection agency saying I owe them £26k surly HSBC should have contacted me about my letters and not just passed to the dept to somebody else. In a way I’m lucky because my girlfriend knows about my dept and is very supportive she’s said she will help me as much as she can but how can I let her pay for a dept that isn’t even hers (or to be far mine). We were getting married next year but how can I marry her and make her responsible for my dept to. Any advice would be much-appreciated can I get this dept put back to the original format, can I get it split in 2 I cant understand why I should pay the full amount I only owned 5K of the dept. Also have they breeched their contact with me by never contacting me about this loan, sorry its long winded by am very upset things had just started looking up for me again have not suffered from depression for the last year since meeting my fiancé now it looks like am gonna lose everything.

Letter sent to HSBC

PE2
Dear Sir/ Madam,

Re: ******account number*************

As this is the second letter that I have sent to you regarding this matter please reply ASAP. The original letter as below:
I am encountering financial difficulties and no longer have contact with the other party involved in the above loan, and as a result of this, I would like to make arrangements to have a meeting with you regarding the above loan so that we can come to some sort of arrangement.

In order to bring matters under control, please send the following information before the meeting. It would be helpful if you confirm the following:
The date and type of the original agreement.
Also a breakdown of the loan itself how the loan is made up and if there is insurance on the account and to who.
Also what original debts made up the original loan.
The rate and frequency of repayment made so far.
The current balance and level of arrears.
Any current recovery action.

Please send the above to the address supplied as soon as possible, I will also not make any arrangements over the telephone so please contact me by letter only. I would be grateful if you would take no further action for the time being, and freeze any interest or charges accruing on this account.
Thank you for your help on this matter.
Yours faithfully,


Matthew Harwood

Toto

Hi Matt, welcome to MSE. First things first, have you got a copy of your credit file? This should give you some idea of how much is owing to who and the state of the repayments to date. It's pretty tricky getting info out of the debt collection agencies to be honest. I found dealing with them a nightmare.

Personally I would make an appointment with the CAB, take all of the information you have and ask them to help. Or, you could contact payplan or the CCCS, these are both free charities set up to help people with debt issues. The people from any of these organisations tend to get a better response from the debt collection agencies. I know mine constantly ignored me, when I thought it was supposed to be me ignoring them. They are really friendly and non judgmental, so give them a try, I promise you'll feel tons better after that chat.

You have been through a rough time of it, I'm glad you now have the support of your girlfriend. Your situation isn't the end of the world and there is loads of help out there for you so don't feel you have to battle alone.

hypno06

Hi, I agree with Toto, make an appointment with the CAB but make sure that you ask for an appointment with their financial bod as not everyone there has the right amount of knowledge for debt advice.

Good luck and keep posting.