Debt Help/Advice - Please help 30 June 2018 at 1:47PM in Debt-free wannabe 6 replies 849 views

jahunt89

Hi,
I am new to this site. I am 29 years old and basically I have been avoiding my problems for years and have gone into a bad routine which is causing a lot of problems and bad feelings. I have been in this continuous cycle for around 7 years and have never really faced my problems.

I need some advice or help in regards to facing my debts if possible? I really want to change my life and get things back on track. I have this week been promoted and I have had a 8k payrise so I am in a better position to start rebuilding my life and facing my debts. I now earn 30k but I have a daughter who I provide CSA payment for of £260 per month.

The simple answer as to why is I used to gamble. I used to spend the majority plus more on gambling which was uncontrolable. I lost a job/career through this 3 years ago and I learnt the hard way. I have been gamble free for over 2 years now following GA meetings on a regular basis.

I have rebuilt in a lot of areas of my life, but I am stuck with the final stage of this. Clearing my remaining debt. I have tried to contact some of these, and been unsuccesful, I have searched on google and been told, "do not pay these back", however they are on my credit file. I am lost with this and I have numerous letters going to numerous properties all demanding money.

I owed a lot of money to one creditor which I am now free of. This took over 2 years to clear however I have neglected a lot of my other creditors.

I need some advice if somebody could help me? Please, as I am losing sleep, weight and most importantly friends.

The breakdown of my debt is -

Credit Report - Noddle

This is what is appearing on my credit report - being honest I thought I had more.

Wageday Advanced =
DEFAULT - £387
Date - 10-02-2015 - I have emailed requesting payment plan options. No reply yet.

Kapama Limited =
DEFAULT - £1102
Date - 04-07-2014 - Reading on Google people are saying DO NOT PAY. I don't want to take this advice because this is still on my credit report. I cannot get on the website and don't have an email address for them. I have no letters to my recent address. Unsure what to do.

Active Securities =
DEFAULT - £150
Date - 13-01-2016 - Email sent requesting payment plan options/settlement figure. No Reply yet.

Lowell =
DEFAULT - £78 - 14/04/2014
DEFAULT - £306 13-09-2014
DEFAULT - £249 09/09/2014
Payment Plan requested. No reply yet

Hoist Portfolio -
DEFAULT - £1730
Date - 12/11/2010 - Can't find details to contact. Google says don't pay. Not sure what to do. Unsure what debt is for.

Tmobile -
DEFAULT - £460
Date - 09-08-2012 - No contact yet. Unsure what to do.

Housemate - I owe him £2,000 from falling behind with rent in the last 2 years. He is ok with this and luckily for me he has supported me (very good friend). Paying a little extra rent every month when I can afford.

Friends - I owe friends £800. I am in contact to pay this back and I am slowly doing this.

I am sorry if I annoy people with this post, but I am just lost. I have filled in step2change forms to be told, IVA, DMP or Bankruptcy are my options. All of my friends say don't do that and just pay them. Some people say if they are older than 6 years then don't pay. I can't get credit anywhere, my credit rating is very poor. I just want to rebuild this and finally get out of this mess. Please help me guys. I appreciate it.

Thanks.

sourcrates

Hi,


By my reckoning your unsecured credit debts are around £4500.

Your rent arrears are £2000, and you owe a mate £800.

Do not believe everything you read on the internet, a lot of it is complete and utter rubbish, sometimes with the best intentions, but rubbish non the less, also ignore what your friends are telling you as they obviously read from the same script.

You can be chased and taken to court for any debt of any age, that is the point you should start from, do not think they will magically disappear after 6 years, with no input from you at all, because they wont.

There is a law called the Limitations act 1980, basically for simple contract debts such as yours, if no payment or written acknowledgement is made within any period of 6 years, the debts will become statute barred.The creditors have 6 years to take legal action against you, if they do so after the debt has become statute barred, you can tell them the limitations act applies to this account and they must then prove it is not SB.

You cannot simply ignore correspondence as they will simply take you to court and win by default.

Anyway, most of your accounts are not near that window yet, except the Hoist account, so i would say your best option is a debt management plan, where by you draw up a budget, after you have paid your essential payments, rent, food, CT etc, whatever is left you split between your creditors, you write and tell them your situation, that you want to enter a DMP and to please stop charges and interest.


Now you can easily do this yourself, or contact stepchange who will do it for you for free.


I would tell them you are taking a month or two to consider your options, (grace period) this will allow you to save a small emergency fund.

fatbelly

Let's deal with these in order of age

Hoist should not be showing on your file if a default was registered 12/11/10. Complain to Noddle, and sign up to mse credit club so that you have free access to a decent credit agency, Experian. As for the debt, if you have not paid it or acknowledge in in writing since June 2012 then it's statute barred and you can ignore it or write to them to point it out.

Similarly Tmobile will be going statute barred in 6 weeks - ignore that one too for the moment .

As for the others (with one exception) you are setting up a self-managed debt management plan, which seems sensible. The stepchange advice to consider an IVA or bankruptcy seems bizarre unless you want to avoid repaying your housemate and friends, which clearly you don't. Your debt total is too low for these strategies anyway.

The exception is Kapama Limited DEFAULT - £1102 Date - 04-07-2014. You could write an old-fashioned letter to them with a view to offering payment or with a view to challenging misselling (perhaps other payday lenders too)

Kapama Ltd, 2nd Floor, 15 Meadowbank Street, Dumbarton, G82 1JR


https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-loan-refunds/comment-page-7/

knightstyle

I will leave the advice to the experts but the amount you owe is nowhere near as bad as some on here.
PLUS a great big well done for going 2 years without gambling! You deserve much credit and with a positive attitude I can see you celebrating being debt free in the near future.
So take the advice offered by regular posters on here and keep us up to date, problems shared are easier to solve!

rockabillygirl

Didn't want to read and run. Some excellent advice from Sourcrates and Fabelly. Just wanted to congratulate you on facing your gambling issue and tackling you debts. Good luck!

Dobbibill

Hi jahunt89 - welcome to the forum.

sourcrates & fatbelly have give brilliant advice as usual. Follow this and you will start to make a difference to that debt. It is relatively small and with the recent payrise (congrats on that) you will be able to really address this.

Congrats on addressing your gamling too.

Here's the link for the SOA - feel free to post it here if you want to. This will give you a good starting point to create a budget.

All the best.

zippygeorgeandben

I can only echo what Dobbibill has said here about the advice you have received.

Don't apologise for your post but make sure that you deal with the priority debt first and keep us informed so we can advise more along the way in your journey.