Richard Branson's e-mail address & More

magicmaria

Hi all

I know you probably think I am going mad but I am getting made redundant in 90 days so I have a brainwave of e-mailing the top people at the companies I owe money to asking for their help.

I need the e-mail address off


Richard Branson - Virgin Loan
Halifax - the chairman ??
Northern Rock - again the chairman
Goldfish - another chairman???

I know this is a long shot but at the minute anything is worth a go - if you know where I can get the e-mail addresses please please let me know - I will keep you all updated on how I get on with them

Emma37

You could do some research yourself, e.g. type in 'Richard Branson email address' into Google and see what comes up. Prominent people may not make their email addresses readily available or they'd get thousands of emails that had to be dealt with. I'd imagine getting an address to write to would be an easier option.

You could try emailing the banks you've named and ask them for the email address of their chairman. If they're not prepared to give you it, ask for his name and an address where he can be reached.

Let us know how you get on.

Crown

Hi, Can I ask why you feel that you will get more attention emailing the top people if you havent already tried the proper procedure of trying to set up some type of repayment plan?

If you know you are getting made redundant in 90 days then you have a great oppurunity to start the process of sorting things out. some of us never had 90 days to prepare. Have you started looking for another job? Have you done a budget to see how much you will be able to spend each month before you hit crisis point?

If you dont have any luck going down the official route of contacting there customer service teams or using one of agencies to sort out a DMP (CCCS, payplan ect) then I would say go for it and email them. I just think your jumping gun.

Hope that this post hasnt come across to negative as I dont mean to be although just wondering if you have explored all the options.

Good luck

magicmaria

thanks no Crown your response was not negative just realasitc I suppose I am in panic mode, I earn a very good wage £28k BUT after paying out all my outgoings and debts I am left with just £300 a month this feeds me & my 13 yr old son buys us clothes etc., run the car. I just know that I will not get another job paying that sort of money in this area. I have never defaulted on my debt payments but they cost me over £700 per month. It is my own stupid fault, I lost my husband 4 years ago and turned to gambling as a way of escape, running up thousands in debts and having to re-mortgage my house from £20K to 73K. I am not looking for sympathy as everyone deals with death differently. But now I am scared very very scared the jobs I have been looking at pay around £18K to 20K so I would not be able to pay my debts as well

wherediditallgo

Crown has made some very good points. If I were one of those people with loads in the bank, I'd be asking you what you were doing about it yourself. 90 days is loads of time to restructure your finances, find & get another job (it doesn't have to be your dream one, just one that covers the bills etc until you can find something better) etc. You can also contact any of the free services they listed for help with doing a budget, contacting creditors if need be.

A friend of mine was in the papers a few years ago after winning the lottery, & later told me that allowing his win to be publicised was the worst move he could ever have made because he got begging letters galore - literally thousands. He gave money to the ones who contacted him within the first month or so (partly because he was still elated about the win), but after that he got fed up & paid his niece to look up financial solutions for people on the internet, such as charities they could contact, benefits they might be entitled to. Any solutions she found were sent to them without any money. Not one of them replied.

Richard Branson has previously been bankrupt & has come through the other side, so I think you could be looking at better ways of resolving your problems. I'm not trying to rain on your parade either, but begging for money isn't really the way to go about sorting things out when it's not even necessary. Why not ask them for a job instead?

wherediditallgo

Sorry, maria - your post appeared while I was typing mine, & I didn't see it.

If things are worrying you this much, you should really speak to CCCS, National Debtline, Payplan or the CAB's money advice unit, so that they can help you sort out a payment plan of some kind. They're not going to sit in judgement of you, but they'll be realistic about what you can afford & may suggest that you cut back in certain areas. For instance, if you have Sky tv, or have contract mobile phones - they're not being horrible, just trying to help you see where you can save money.

Crown

magicmaria wrote: »

thanks no Crown your response was not negative just realasitc I suppose I am in panic mode, I earn a very good wage £28k BUT after paying out all my outgoings and debts I am left with just £300 a month this feeds me & my 13 yr old son buys us clothes etc., run the car. I just know that I will not get another job paying that sort of money in this area. I have never defaulted on my debt payments but they cost me over £700 per month. It is my own stupid fault, I lost my husband 4 years ago and turned to gambling as a way of escape, running up thousands in debts and having to re-mortgage my house from £20K to 73K. I am not looking for sympathy as everyone deals with death differently. But now I am scared very very scared the jobs I have been looking at pay around £18K to 20K so I would not be able to pay my debts as well

Hi Maria,

I totally understand your panic but try and stay calm and start the process of getting things into order. If you havent already done so please get together your current SOA and post it up. I am sure that once you start and you have a plan in place you will feel much better. You have a golden oppurtunity here to sort out longer term financial arrangements like a fixed rate mortgage deal and maybe getting a better rate on your credit cards before you default and have your credit file trashed for 6 years.

I too was made redundant and took a cut in salary and yes it was hard to begin with but you adapt. dont let this chance slip as it will be devastating if in 90 days you are out of work and you then start gettingthe default notices and phone calls!

On the gambling front do not feel ashamed or embarrassed. Last year I got involved way over my head with online poker. What started out as a bit of fun and a way to make a few extra pound led me into a addiction that helped me escape reality & also has lost me a fortune. I am happy to say that with the help of Gamblers Anonymous I have been Bet free for 5 months and things are getting better as a recovering compulsive gambler. If you are still involved with gambling I cant recommend the help and support you will receive from them.

I look forward to further info on your situation

Emma37

Even though I answered the query by giving Maria advice to enable her to contact the people mentioned, I agree with everything the other posters have said. In reality you can't expect the debts to be written off and there's been some really helpful suggestions posted.

wherediditallgo

Well done on staying bet free for so long, Crown! :j

magicmaria

thank you - I am not expecting these people to write off the debt I will pay what I owe, but would just like to ask them to stop the interest and let me make lower payments each month - I will look at doing a SOA this evening although I don't really think I can cut back any more - but its worth a try. Thank you all for help and advice

chunky79

i may be wrong here but does insurance on them kick in after 60 days, could you not speak to employer to redate your redunacy letter and get them insured???