HELP! Lloyds have made my life hell...

ed84

Hi,

God where do I start...

Maybe I should start by trying to keep this brief.

I opened a student account with Lloyds in 2004. I was on a 4 year course but 3 years in, Lloyds turned my interest free account into a Graduate account. I went in store with all my documents, I was refunded some charges and I thought the account was back on track.

After Graduating, found it hard to find work so was unemployed for a while. Was on Job seekers allowance which did help a bit but I still had a backlog of people I had borrowed money from.

Anyway, shortly after I found my account was with collections. I went into the branch and they said they had tried contacting me because my overdraft (£2k) was being reduced to £1750. This meant I owed £250 to Lloyds. They then told me I had to pay this to take my account away from collections so they could increase it back to £2000. I tried to explain that I was in no position to even attempt to pay this back in full at that time.

In the meantime, my JSA was being swallowed from these charges so I managed to borrow the money from a friend, paid up but then they said due to my poor credit rating, I was unable to increase this back to £2000.


So I'm £250 down, my credit rating was damaged and I'm broke. I was living on my friends sofa at the time so as you can imagine, things were not looking too bright for me.

Luckily, Lloyds bank offered me this "great deal" to help people like me who are worried about their credit rating. It was called ID AWARE. I was pretty much bullied into signing up, cost £5 a month which I clearly didn't have!

I moved banks at this point. Natwest was my new home for my JSA. My Lloyds account was now no longer being used.

I'll be honest here, time had flown by, maybe a year had even past and I was still in no mans land. I was stressed through family problems, boroowing from friends and living hand to mouth. So the Lloyds account was the last thing on my mind.

It's now 2011, my Lloyds account had ceased as there was no activity. The debt was sold onto the debt collectors and obviously they were on the hunt. I had changed address a number of times but Lloyds knew that my mothers address in London (I was with Lloyds for 10 years).

(Sorry I'm trying to keep this short)

I contacted Lloyds but the debt was sold. I called the debt collectors - "Not interested. Give us our money. NOW"

Financial Ombudsman to the rescue! So I thought. After a number of months of toing and frowing, the FOS said that because Lloyds made the effort in contacting me, I had to pay the debt. What I couldn't understand was why I didn't hear anything from them about them closing the account?

After a bit more investigating, I called Lloyds to try and come to an agreement in settling the debt. I didn't pass the security questions? I had to call again, same thing. I couldnt for the life of me understand why my details were different to what Lloyds had.

I went into the branch and gave them my ID. They said that they were trying to contact my university address (from 2004). I was in and out of my local branch and they still never changed these details. They had my contact number, email address and even wrote responses to me when I was complaining to them about ID Aware.



So, I'm here now. The debt is the same and I've defaulted every month since. I really want to get this sorted out as I am now in a position to start paying my debt off (YAY!!).

I have been very active in contacting my bank and the FOS but during this whole time, the debt collecters have harrassed me, the defaults have meant I cant get credit on anything (I'm on payg mobile).

Lloyds have admitted that there was an error on their part and they gave me £100 as a goodwill gesture. The problem is that the £100 is miniscule compared to the overall dark cloud that sits above my shoulders every single day.

Because the debt has been sold on, Lloyds want nothing to do with me. Is this my fault?

Question time -

I'm concerned about my credit rating and really want to sort my life out now. Any recommendations on how I can rid of all these years of monthly defaults?

Will the debt collector negotiate if I pay in full? How will this be marked on my credit file?



Any help would be greatly appreciated. I know the above seems quite long winded but that is not even half the story.


Thanks for your time!

happy_bunny_2

What is the date of the default? Is it accurate? It will stay on your report for 6 years, paid or not. Its not a new default each month, its the same one being applied.

What did they admit fault for with the £100?

If the account has been sold to a DCA, Lloyds don't own it any more. So all letters have to go to the DCA. Which DCA is it? Have they been writing to you?

They will likely settle for less if you can pay in full or a couple of payments.

Bit more info needed, hence the questions.

HB

[Deleted User]

Moral of the story? Don't ignore your debts

chiefsfanuk

Missu I think that is a little unfair and rather unhelpful... OP hasn't ignored debts, rather been overwhelmed with all that life has thrown at them. To be fair there are probably plenty of us here that have been guilty of 'ignoring our debts' at some point or another.

Ed84 - I didn't want to read & run but I also wouldn't like to give you inaccurate info. I would have thought there was a case for miss selling for that ID thing on the grounds of pressure selling, but you have already taken this to the ombudsman you say?

I think if this were me I would look at it this way. There is already a default and that will be there for 6 yrs from date of default. Make an arrangement with the debt collectors and pursue Lloyds for some compensation on the grounds of financial hardship while you were on benefits. Any money you get back from them put straight on that debt.
As I said though, there are many more qualified than I here so there will more than likely be better advice for you from others.

Glad you have found yourself in a better position now and I wish you luck getting past all this

sourcrates

Hi,
As Happy-bunny says above, bit more info needed, from what I can piece together it seems like you may have a case for mis-selling on the "id aware" thing, just clarify what the £100 compensation was for.

eyeopener2

Missu wrote: »

Moral of the story? Don't ignore your debts

OP isn't asking for a moral judgement, the OP is asking for advice.

Your life must oh so perfect that you have never made a mistake which enables you to sit in judgement on others. Congratulations.

patman99

Op, as you are now in a position to start paying-off the debt, why not ask them in writing for a full and final settlement figure?.

Once you have this, then you can look at either applying for a loan though one of the peer-to-peer lenders such as Zopa or Ratesetter, or try for a credit card with a limit high-enough to cover whatever they come back with.

Before someone shoots me for suggesting taking-on extra debt to pay-off the existing debt, if the op keeps up the payments (or even over-pays them) then this will help to rebuild their credit worthiness.

bossymoo

And check to see if you ever had PPI missold on any of your previous borrowings. Could provide a lump sum to start you off.

Best of luck!

[Deleted User]

eyeopener2 wrote: »

OP isn't asking for a moral judgement, the OP is asking for advice.

Your life must oh so perfect that you have never made a mistake which enables you to sit in judgement on others. Congratulations.

It wasn't a judgement nor am I perfect. It was an observation about the danger of not dealing with issues at the time. I feel for the OP of course I do and lots of folk could look at this as a warning of what can happen.

Thanks for the judgement by the way

ViolaLass

sourcrates wrote: »

Hi,
As Happy-bunny says above, bit more info needed, from what I can piece together it seems like you may have a case for mis-selling on the "id aware" thing, just clarify what the £100 compensation was for.

There's no indication that the ID Aware thing did not deliver what the OP was told it would i.e. just because s/he could not afford it (and should not have agreed to pay for it), doesn't mean it was mis-sold.

-taff

ed84 wrote: »

Question time -

I'm concerned about my credit rating and really want to sort my life out now. Any recommendations on how I can rid of all these years of monthly defaults?

Will the debt collector negotiate if I pay in full? How will this be marked on my credit file?

They will stay on your file for 6 years from the default date.

They may accept a full and final setlement figure much lower that you owe, but it will still stay on your credit file and it will be marked as partially settled.

Lloyds may have sold the debt on completely, or they may have passed it to a DCA that is affiliated with them.You will have to find out.


That's as far as I understand it, but I may be wrong. I'm sure someone else will be along soon.