I have come here to chew bubblegum and clear debt - and I'm all outta bubblegum AKA the £83,000 saga

Guybrush_Threepwood

Starmummy wrote: »

I knew I recognised the name from somewhere.

Best of Luck Guy. You've done amazingly well so far you should be proud

Thank you :-)

-taff

On a totally unrelated note, I saw a DVD for sale in sainsburys of all places for They Live...Bizarre!

Debt_buster_2

Hi, can I ask a question. To be able to claim back from creditors if you feel they have allowed you to borrow when they shouldn’t have, would you have to have faulted on repayments, DMPs etc? I ask because I’d like to look into the claiming side for myself but I’m not in arrears with anything or DMPs

Kitten868

Really, really impressed with your commitment to GA. Really fantastic news. Your partner must be so impressed with you. You've done a total 180° on everything. You've got so much determination and focus. You can definitely do this.
I think in your circumstances you're taking the right action in focusing on reducing credit with interest charges and reducing creditors. Are all your larger debts interest free?

Keep going!!!

Guybrush_Threepwood

Debt_buster wrote: »

Hi, can I ask a question. To be able to claim back from creditors if you feel they have allowed you to borrow when they shouldn’t have, would you have to have faulted on repayments, DMPs etc? I ask because I’d like to look into the claiming side for myself but I’m not in arrears with anything or DMPs

No - you don’t have to have defaulted. If you feel irresponsible lending has taken place it doesn’t matter even if you have since paid the loan off or if it’s been passed to a collection agency. There’s a good article on the Debt Camel website about this that I followed. I recall the first step was to ask the lender for a Statement of Account showing all debts you have (or have had) with them. From there you can send a complaint if you believe they should not have lent to you - I used the Resolver website for this.

Guybrush_Threepwood

Kitten868 wrote: »

Really, really impressed with your commitment to GA. Really fantastic news. Your partner must be so impressed with you. You've done a total 180° on everything. You've got so much determination and focus. You can definitely do this.
I think in your circumstances you're taking the right action in focusing on reducing credit with interest charges and reducing creditors. Are all your larger debts interest free?

Keep going!!!

Thank you! GA is an amazing fellowship. My partner attends the GamAnon group for family and friends or compulsive gamblers. They have been amazing too.

Yup , my largest debts have all had interest frozen.

Guybrush_Threepwood

So yesterday I called round all my creditors just to make sure my figures matched theirs (they did - except for one where I was out by £60, which was a nice surprise).

One call to a high street bank was interesting - I owe them just over £1k on an overdraft. I’ve been in an agreement to make monthly payments since April and haven’t missed a single one.

However, they told me that they have actually sold the debt on to a third party and I should be paying that company now.

Nobody had told me this which was quite surprising. This sale happened in September I’m told. I asked if it is usual for a debt to be sold off even if the debtor has kept to an agreed repayment plan and they said it was quite normal and that they had recently sold off hundreds of these debts.

I’m not overly concerned, just a bit surprised that they didn’t tell me by letter or anything. I’d have still made payments to the original bank had I not called and found out I need to be paying them to another company now!

I’ve steered clear of naming my various creditors on here, but sometimes it’s tempting to name and shame....

Guybrush_Threepwood

Haven’t updated for a while... it’s that time of the month where things are just ticking over until next payday.

As mentioned in previous posts, I’ve not named my creditors - however, the time has come to name and shame one particular nuisance, and it may surprise you. I’ve owed money to all sorts of ‘less reputable’ lenders, but the firm I’ve had the most issues with these last few months:

NATIONWIDE BUILDING SOCIETY

I’ve banked with Nationwide for coming up to 20 years, at one point having my current account, savings, mortgage and credit card with them. I never had any complaints and often recommended them to people as the best of the high street banks (I know, they’re not a bank...) but since I’ve been tackling my debts over these past six months they have been absolutely useless. I’ve spent more time on the phone to them than all my other creditors put together. They repeatedly sent letters with incorrect information and then when you try to correct them, they have to launch an investigation, listen to phone calls etc before they accept what you’re telling them is true. In one case it took them four attempts to send me a letter as the first three all had various errors. They’ve accused me of not sticking to agreed payment plans when I religiously have been; they have charged interest when they previously stated interest was frozen; their phone lines have been closed at times letters have stated they should be open...

Today was the last straw... with regards to my Nationwide credit card, I’ve been in a payment plan of £100 per month which came up for review last month. I received a letter asking me to call to review the plan. I did this and agreed to continue paying at the same rate for another 6 months. This was 2 weeks ago. Then today they send a final demand as I have apparently ignored their letters.

It’s incredibly frustrating and stress inducing. They’ve already sent me two cheques for compensation relating to some of the issues mentioned above and there’s another in the post. Now in the morning I need to call about this latest error.

Anyway, rant over. Nationwide - named and shamed.

Guybrush_Threepwood

So the letter I got from Nationwide said I should call ASAP. I rang the number on the letter, which stated they are open 9am to midday on Saturdays - but when you call there is a message saying lines are closed! Another Nationwide fail. I did get through to another team who were unable to assist, but they did confirm the opening times for the recoveries department were the same as stated on the letter - yet they also couldn’t get through. In the end I was put through to the complaints team once again. Absolutely useless. I now have to wait until Monday to speak to the right team, meaning this will be on my mind all weekend. What’s worse is that the letter was dated 9th Nov and stated in mildly threatening language that I needed to call within 7 days of the date of the letter - yet I only got the letter last night when home from work, after the 7 days were up. So I’m probably going to get another one for ignoring them!

ellie.52

You sound so determined and are doing amazing. Well done.

Would love to hear more in how you changed your monthly spending (i.e Aldi Aldi Aldi :j)