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Help with loan from 2010

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Money saving expert post.

Hi everyone, sorry to open with such a long thread but I'm in need of some advice and hope somebody can point me in the rite direction.

Anyway, the story.

In 2010 I went into Stoneacre in York to be a guarantor for my partner who wanted to purchase a new car on finance.
After going through all the paperwork etc I signed and all was done.
Total came to £22000 ish and we drove home in the new car.
When we returned home I was told to get bank statements and send them in to Stoneacre as proof of my earnings.
Before I did this I had a sickening feeling that I really have done the wrong thing and this was made worse by seeing that I wasn't a guarantor, but this was a personal loan to me in my name.. Nothing linked to the vehicle or to my partner. Just £22k to my name.

So I didn't arrange bank statements and went in the following work day to tell them I didn't want to go through with it and wanted it all canceled. They stood there in Stoneacre and told me I couldn't cancel and that I had to go through with it. I was only 23 at the time and accepted what they said.
I thought if I didn't send my bank details in then I would be okay because it wouldn't go through. But it did. :-(
I then had a personal loan on my credit file of 22k and nothing I could do about it (that I knew of at the time)
Since then my partner couldn't keep up payments and she started to miss payments..
I then told her to sell the car and use the money to make the repayments... Unfortunately though due to interest, gap insurance and negative equity on previous car this meant we only got £10000 ish
This was used to get her a little cheap car and the rest was put in the bank and paid direct debits. (All her bank not mine)

Anyway the time came when that money ran out and the payments were been missed again and with no spare money nothing could be done... Letters, phone calls etc for ages.
I lodged complaints about how the loan was dealt with and why I wasn't given a cool off period.
I sent the case the the financial ombudsman and they pushed my case, but only returned to me with the signed document saying in very small print "there is no 14 day cool off period for this loan"

To me this is disgusting, I was not in the right frame of mind that day due to a family death and I tried my best to get out of it because I knew it may come to this.

I'm now stuck in the position with this big debt on my head that I haven't ever seen a penny of and its dragging me down and stopping my life.
I'm self employed, I rent my property and am starting to get very very stressed with it all..
Some people say I should go bankrupt, others say iva.. I just don't know... The only mistake I made ever was one signature in 10 minutes in an office. I tried to stop all this and it's ruined me.

Any help and suggestions will be appreciated and any questions I will answer as best I can...
Sorry to drop this on you all. Lol
Mat
«1

Comments

  • Gaz83
    Gaz83 Posts: 4,047 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Contact StepChange, a free organisation who will help you manage your debt.
    To me this is disgusting, I was not in the right frame of mind that day due to a family death and I tried my best to get out of it because I knew it may come to this
    With the greatest respect, this is not the company's fault - it's yours.
    "Facism arrives as your friend. It will restore your honour, make you feel proud, protect your house, give you a job, clean up the neighbourhood, remind you of how great you once were, clear out the venal and the corrupt, remove anything you feel is unlike you... [it] doesn't walk in saying, "our programme means militias, mass imprisonments, transportations, war and persecution."
  • I know I made a mistake in signing :-( and I regret that every day.. But it's not like I have taken some money and done whatever i want with it and refused to pay them back .I have literally never seen a penny of it and I did everything I could that next day to cancel it. But the no cool off period has chained me too it for that 1 bad descision.

    If I go down the bankrupsy or iva route then which one is best suited for me. I have no assets to lose or anything so do they both look as bad as each other on credit file and stay just as long or is one a considerably better choice than the other?
  • CLAPTON
    CLAPTON Posts: 41,865 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    I know I made a mistake in signing :-( and I regret that every day.. But it's not like I have taken some money and done whatever i want with it and refused to pay them back .I have literally never seen a penny of it and I did everything I could that next day to cancel it. But the no cool off period has chained me too it for that 1 bad descision.

    If I go down the bankrupsy or iva route then which one is best suited for me. I have no assets to lose or anything so do they both look as bad as each other on credit file and stay just as long or is one a considerably better choice than the other?

    how much do you owe?

    how much are the monthly payment ?

    how much do your earn now?

    how much does your partner earn now?
  • Foxy-Stoat_3
    Foxy-Stoat_3 Posts: 2,980 Forumite
    How long was the term for?

    I don't know many unsecured loans that go on for longer 5-6 years.
    "Dream World" by The B Sharps....describes a lot of the posts in the Loans and Mortgage sections !!!
  • andyfromotley
    andyfromotley Posts: 2,038 Forumite
    Contact Stepchange.

    I in no way wish to sound harsh but theres no point moaning about the loan and how it was handled now. 23 is hardly a babe in arms and you should have known what you were signing. So treat it as water under the bridge and work out how to deal with it.
    Stepchange is your best point of call. Of course however this pans out there is no magic bullet for it. Your Credit history is now shot and this will have implications for your ability to get credit for many years, however life does still go on and this too will pass and become history over time.
    £1000 Emergency fund No90 £1000/1000
    LBM 28/1/15 total debt - [STRIKE]£23,410[/STRIKE] 24/3/16 total debt - £7,298
    !
  • Thank you for your input guys.

    Clapton:
    I owe about £16k on it, My monthly profits are about £1300 ish a month and my partner gets about £800 but is soon going on maternity and will drop to £300
    The repayments were £370 a month but they won't have received that from my partner in years. Think she just pays £10 a month. I have never made a payment to them the whole time, it all got set up to my partners bank.

    The term was over 5 years

    What is Stepchange? I'm weary about ringing companies who offer free advice because all they want to do is drag me into a Iva and get money out of me.
  • Apples2
    Apples2 Posts: 6,442 Forumite
    Step change is a charity, they provide an excellent service for free.

    someone has to drag money out of you because you owe it.
    Step change will help you work out how much you can afford.
    you need to take it seriously and be prepared to provide complete information regarding your finances.
    they will leave you enough to live on, plus a bit extra and the rest goes to your debt.

    it would not have made a difference even if you were a guarantor, you would still be saddled with the debt.
  • DCFC79
    DCFC79 Posts: 40,641 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 16 March 2015 at 7:55PM
    Thank you for your input guys.

    Clapton:
    I owe about £16k on it, My monthly profits are about £1300 ish a month and my partner gets about £800 but is soon going on maternity and will drop to £300
    The repayments were £370 a month but they won't have received that from my partner in years. Think she just pays £10 a month. I have never made a payment to them the whole time, it all got set up to my partners bank.

    The term was over 5 years

    What is Stepchange? I'm weary about ringing companies who offer free advice because all they want to do is drag me into a Iva and get money out of me.

    Google stepchange or payplan or contact national debtline.

    They wont drag you into anything, they will layout your options but don't agree to anything your not sure about. You can even ask on here anything your not sure about.

    Still trying to get over how you thought you were signing for 1 thing and it turned out to be another.
  • Ok I will give stepchange a call once I know the status of the loan..
    I'm utterly shocked that I wasn't given a cool off period and think It is shocking that 10 minutes of stupidity can literally ruin a huge part of my life :-(
    Prior to this loan I had brilliant credit rating having never missed payments on any loans I had completed.
    I tried my best to get out of this that following day and feel like I was pushed into IT and these companies dont care... All they Want is to get me on there iva books so they can make money off me.

    I'm not sure what the loan status is because I tried logging into Experiun and they wanted £15 and noddle didn't work because I'm not on electoral register.

    So Iv registered for that and will be able so see my credit fine within a week I presume.

    1 question I do have though, is if this loan is defaulted then is there any point of going bankrupt or iva or anything because isn't that just swapping one bad mark for another. Can't I just wait Untill it drops off or something... I don't know, my minds frazzled now. 4 and half hours of Googling all about this and feel no closer to clarity. :-(
  • DCFC79
    DCFC79 Posts: 40,641 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Wait and see what stepchange say, they might say to just default.

    Theres the debt free board where others with debts post and who have contacted 1 of the charities been mentioned.
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