please help! i don't know where to turn!

em.1986

Hi, my name is Emma.

Please bear with me as it is quite a long winded story and i am at my wits end. This is the first time i have posted too, so, here goes;

I bought a car on finance through carcraft and ended up in the same predicament as a lot of people from what i have read (wish i had done some research first!) with all in one finance and the drive happy guarantee.
we found that the monthly re-payments became a struggle as our hours at work suddenly dropped and there was talk of redundancy where i was employed.
we went with a debt managemnt company and everything seemed fine to begin with. after a couple of months we managed (through enourmous family generosity) to pay off the balance on the car with black horse themselves and a few months later we managed to get a settlement figure from all in one finance through the debt management company.
we paid this through them and i thought everything was taken care of. This was in October 2012.
We subsequently moved house and it wasn't until a couple of weeks ago, when all in one finance got in touch through an e-mail to let me know that my account was in arrears of £1100+ that i even knew there was some sort of problem.
They say that they tried to contact me (at the address i no longer lived at) and that they had recieved no payments from the debt management company for the settlement figure of nearly £2200.
I have tried to contact the debt management company who are now no longer trading, and have disappeared with my money.
i contacted the CAB and they just put me through to national debtline who said that i am liable for the outstanding balance as the debt management company no longer exists.
all in one finance are now telling me i have to pay the balance plus the accrued arrears.

i have no idea what i can possibly do, but i cannot afford to pay this debt now, let alone the fact that i have already attempted to clear it once.

any/all help and advice would be greatly recieved.

i am utterly utterly lost and have no idea on how to go forward and it is causing so much strain on mine and my partners relationship that i just feel like giving up.

please help

many thanks

Emma x

ASingleParent

What a nightmare. If CAB have said you are liable then it's most probably true but it's worth exhausting all options. My suggestion would be to try and get some free time with a solicitor, you can usually get a half hour free consultation, and see if they can fight on your behalf.
Have you got all the original paperwork etc?

hettiecarro

Hi Emma
I'm sorry to hear of your current predicament.
Unfortunately it is the case that there are many rogue Debt Management Companies who take peoples money and then cease trading.
You are actually still liable to your creditors for the debts, even though you have already 'paid' them off through the DM company.
That having been said, you need to contact one of the debt charities such as Stepchange, to get advice on a way forward.
In the meantime you can make a token payment to your creditor (this can be as little as £1.00 per month). Write to them stating clearly that this is a token payment whilst you get help to review your financial position.
They cannot have what you haven't got, so don't panic about this.
If you want advice from others here on the forum the best place to start it to post a SOA (Statement of affairs).
http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php
Use this and fill in as honestly and as accurately as you can what you current income and outgoings are.List everything, including any credit cards, loans etc, with the relevant APR's.
Have you checked that all other debts were cleared by the DM company?
Once you have posted the SOA others will also be along on here to offer their advice.
Keep you chin up - this can be sorted.
Hettie

savingmummy

Oh my I really do feel for you!


Do you have any of the paperwork detailing the money given to the debt management company?
I would seek some legal advice as previous poster has already mentioned!

-taff

how did you pay the management company?

sourcrates

If it was a creditcard you could claim under section 75 !!
but as you were in a DMP im suspecting you may not have done.