A day in the life of National Debtline - Monday 24 March

fermi

Thanks Dennis.

National_Debtline

Good evening,

It's David here again. I'll be around for a few more hours so will hope to add a couple more calls to today's diary.

Caller I has come out of work due to illness. He has a couple of insurance policies connected to his mortgage, one in particular is refusing to pay under the policy. The provider is stating that since his diagnosis was made by a GP rather than a specialist, and that they cannot be sure that the diagnosis is accurate. I does not know whether he should try and complain.

National_Debtline

National_Debtline wrote: »

Good evening,

It's David here again. I'll be around for a few more hours so will hope to add a couple more calls to today's diary.

Caller I has come out of work due to illness. He has a couple of insurance policies connected to his mortgage, one in particular is refusing to pay under the policy. The provider is stating that since his diagnosis was made by a GP rather than a specialist, and that they cannot be sure that the diagnosis is accurate. I does not know whether he should try and complain.

I suggested to I that a formal complaint could be worth undertaking. It was explained that a complaint should be made to the insurance provider first, and that it should be in writing. I should bulletpoint the key reasons for the complaint. Outlined that if the insurance company does not resolve the complaint, I can take their complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. It was made clear that I wouldn't be able to give an opinion about what the likely outcome would be although the Financial Ombudsman Service often obtains favourable results. Outlined also that I should keep his mortgage provider up-to-date with what was happening.

David.

National_Debtline

The final caller of the evening is caller J who would like further help with request information from his creditor under the Data Protection Act. The creditor in question is looking to bring legal proceedings against him. J believes that the creditor is trying to sue him for far more than they are entitled to.

National_Debtline

National_Debtline wrote: »

The final caller of the evening is caller J who would like further help with request information from his creditor under the Data Protection Act. The creditor in question is looking to bring legal proceedings against him. J believes that the creditor is trying to sue him for far more than they are entitled to.

I spoke to J about making a formal request for information under the Data Protection Act. This is known as a 'subject access request'. The fee is £10, it can take up to 40 days to receive the information. Oulined that it may also be possible to formally request information under the Civil Procedure Rules. These are the rules which underpin court action in the civil courts. Nearly all court action we speak to callers about is action via the county courts.

As we cannot provide qualified legal advice I also suggested to J that he should seek the advice of a solicitor should be be looking to file a defence. Outlined the claim process and made clear that a defence would require a realistic prospect of succeeding. I briefly outlined the various enforcement options available to a creditor once a county court judgment has been obtained and mentioned that most would not be possible if a court allows the judgment to be paid in instalments. I pointed out that a creditor can look to secure a judgment to J's house via a 'charging order'. A judgment would stay on his credit file for six years.

Depending on the type of agreement, it may also be possible to request information by using a right within the Consumer Credit Act. Our 'Credit Agremeents - Getting Information' fact sheet explains more:
https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/factsheets/Pages/39%20EW%20Credit%20agreements%20-%20getting%20information/Default.aspx

David.

National_Debtline

That concludes our 'day in the life of' thread. We hope that you found it interesting. If you have any questions please feel free to ask. No doubt we'll look to do another in the future. In the meantime you can keep up with my 'Diary of a Debt Adviser' blog right here on MSE.

Thank you and very best wishes,

David (and Dennis!)

Tixy

Just caught up with this thread David and Dennis.
Really interesting insight and thanks for sharing with us.

National_Debtline

Tixy wrote: »

Just caught up with this thread David and Dennis.
Really interesting insight and thanks for sharing with us.

Thank you for reading!

As you can see, we really do get a mixed bag of situations to help with. A few from yesterday I couldn't write about as they were so unique to that person it would be clear if they came across this thread that it was about them. We plan to do a few more of these in the future. We both enjoyed writing about our day

Best wishes,

David.

Sazzie23

Hi David and Dennis, thank you, a useful insight into dealing with debt. I get the feeling a lot of people you deal with have been struggling for a while before they get in touch?

I noticed as well that the people you dealt with tended to have lower debt levels than are often quoted on the DMP support thread, (often 50k +). I wonder if you might have any thoughts why that might be?, or was it purely coincidental on this particular day?

National_Debtline

Sazzie23 wrote: »

Hi David and Dennis, thank you, a useful insight into dealing with debt. I get the feeling a lot of people you deal with have been struggling for a while before they get in touch?

I noticed as well that the people you dealt with tended to have lower debt levels than are often quoted on the DMP support thread, (often 50k +). I wonder if you might have any thoughts why that might be?, or was it purely coincidental on this particular day?

Hi Sazzie,

It's a real mixed bag. Often people will call right at the start of their 'unmanageable' debt journey (or shortly after the payments start being missed) or they'll call when a huge event occurs (bailiffs turning up, repossession action being brought - that sort of thing). I'm not sure that yesterday's calls were truly indicative of an average caller (if there is ever such a thing!), but I hope it gave a useful insight about the scope of queries we can receive.

More and more creditors proactively give their customers our number. In fact, it is a legal requirement for most creditors to provide their customers with information about where they can seek free help if they start to struggle. I think this is incredibly useful as those seeking help are provided with their options early. As you can imagine, the earlier a situation is addressed the greater the chances of it being rectified quickly it becomes. All that said, I have never had a caller where I've not been able to help find a solution.

Very few of our callers would have debts of over £50k, in February it was about 4.5% of them. This debt total does NOT include any money owing on mortgages or secured loans unless there are arrears. In that case we would only regard the actual arrears amount as the figure that is listed within the total amount of debt.

I'm truly grateful for you taking the time to ask your questions, I'm glad you found the thread a useful insight!

David.