Unfair debt?

NumberWang74

...is there such a thing?

I'm being chased by Moocroft and Cabot for some very old debts that relate to unsecured loans and credit cards.
I was paying them through stepchange until a few years back when I became unemployed and was unable to pay. i am now working again.

Most of the debt relates back to buying a house over ten years ago (pre-credit crunch) - Looking back I don't think I should have been given a mortgage at all based on income but Halifax gave me a mortgage (with no deposit), they consolidated all of my borrowings into a loan and gave me a platinum credit card.
I told them that the deal was ridiculous at the time (as the interest rates were stupidly low (for them) - the salesperson obviously got a big commission out of this!) and i was told to "just sign it or you wont be able to move house".

The house has been and gone and doesn't owe me anything but I struggled to keep up the payments on the loans and credit card and a few years down the line, I split up with my then partner - which was when I contacted Stepchange.

My question is....
I have no problem with paying what I owe but I am wondering if anything can be done about the fact that I shouldn't have been accepted for the credit in the first place - I'm left with un-secured debt that Halifax took a huge gamble on.
I see a lot of ads for law firms that claim to 'reduce your unsecured debt' - is this something worth pursuing??

sourcrates

Hi,

Can't do anything now because of the passage of time.

The "law firms" are just trying to sell you an IVA.

How long since you stopped paying the Accounts ?

Would the Limitations act apply ?

EssexHebridean

You knew you were overstretching yourself, you knew it was "ridiculous" - and yet you still signed? Doesn't sound terribly unfair to me, I must admit.

One thought though - was there PPI on the loan? Were you by any chance told you had to have that as well? If so you were mis-sold and can almost certainly claim back what you paid.

MEM62

NumberWang74 wrote: »

...is there such a thing?

Morally, yes. Legally, also yes but far less often and more difficult to prove.

NumberWang74 wrote: »

I don't think I should have been given a mortgage at all based on income but Halifax gave me a mortgage (with no deposit), they consolidated all of my borrowings into a loan and gave me a platinum credit card.
I told them that the deal was ridiculous at the time.

If you thought is was ridiculous at the time then why did you proceed with the arrangement? There is such a thing as irresponsible borrowing as well as irresponsible lending.

NumberWang74 wrote: »

the salesperson obviously got a big commission out of this!) and i was told to "just sign it or you wont be able to move house"

How would he have known that?

NumberWang74 wrote: »

I split up with my then partner - which was when I contacted Stepchange.

Maybe this was the larger contributory factor in the loan being unaffordable for you - and something that neither you or Halifax would have been able to predict at the time of taking the loan.

NumberWang74 wrote: »

My question is....
I have no problem with paying what I owe but I am wondering if anything can be done about the fact that I shouldn't have been accepted for the credit in the first place - I'm left with un-secured debt that Halifax took a huge gamble on.

All borrowers represent a level of risk. It was up to Halifax to decide whether it was a reasonable risk for them. You have no redress for risks that they take.

NumberWang74 wrote: »

I see a lot of ads for law firms that claim to 'reduce your unsecured debt' - is this something worth pursuing??

The advice you received from StepChange would have been sound. If you see an offer to reduce your debt that looks to good to be true that it because it probably is. There are a lot of sharks operating in that arena praying on the naïve and desperate.

Based on what you have posted, I cannot see that you would have a claim against Halifax, although I can appreciate why you feel hard done by. You felt that it was not sustainable at the time.. That's when you should have walked away but you made a different choice so now you need to chalk it up to experience. You are wiser for the experience and hopefully would not enter into another situation that your gut is telling you is not right.

NumberWang74

Thanks for the replies!

Just for clarification - We knew what we were doing at the time of the mortgage as we were young and both starting careers that would see out incomes double (which it did). I was just a bit shocked at how aggressive the Halifax were at getting us to sign up - of course it was entirely our choice.

I stopped paying Stepchange in 2014 when I lost my job but forgot all about it when I started working again.
Over the past six months the letters from Moorcroft have got more and more pointed and the last one was hand written by one of their 'officers'.

Like I said, I intend to pay back the money....I'm not trying to get out of anything but before i hand over any cash, i want to make sure that I've taken the best options.

I've asked them to send me proof of the debt and I will then start to negotiate a settlement figure.

sourcrates

Just FYI Moorcroft only manage accounts on behalf of there clients.

You would be better served dealing directly with the original creditor.