New Start, Help Please

4littleone

Hi,
i've just joined today. It's good to see i'm not the only one who's gotten a little out of their depth financially.

The short (ish!) story is;
Was a single mum for several years, had a loan for about £1500 from black horse and one for 1200 from welcome finance.
Also had a credit card years ago in my mis spent youth. When i fell pregnant with the little one, i went to the bank (hsbc) and told them i couldn't afford the repayments on the card. The advisor told me my repayment protection was not valid as it doesn't cover pregnancy and told me i would have to make the payments.... i couldn't.
I ended up with it being referred to a debt recovery agency. Paid the lot off in 2002 but it still sits on my credit report.
I moved home in 2006 and wrote to both loan companies as i had been made redundant as well.
Both have refused to use my payment protection insurance as they said i was intentionally unemployed. I wasn't, i was geneuinely made redundant.
They both kept writing to my old address even though i'd written a total of 3 times to each and made phonecalls as well to get the change of address sorted.
During the period i was unemployed, i offered both companies £80 a month each. The original payment for both was £120 approx each month.
Welcome Finance accepted but refused to allow me to pay by direct debit or standing order. They wanted me to visit their office monthly, sign a new loan agreement (with massive interest) and allow a visit to my home every now and then from one of their "account managers".
I refused and kept paying the monthly £80. After 4 months, one of their reps rang me and told me i am not allowed to pay them until i sign a new agreement for a new loan with the higher interest rate.

Black horse refused the offer point blank, and took me straight to court for a ccj and attachment to earnings. I attended the hearing and they were ordered to produce a statement of my account as they have set the debt at over 5k, the attachment to earnings was denied and i was ordered to pay £50 monthly until the debt is paid off. The ccj is on my file though.
Black horse have still not produced the statement more than 6 months later.:mad:

I'm in a pickle here, my credit rating is shot and i can't see how to fix it.
I wanted to get an unsecured loan for the total amount owed to the two companies to pay them off and then have one monthly payment to one company.
Also, as i understand it, this would improve my rating if i have the two old debts removed, the credit card debt should "drop off" next yr i believe.

My question is;
what in your experience, is the best way to sort this and get me back on track.
I work full time and have a decent salary, but not much disposable income. I pay approx £600 per month childcare, live with partner in his home and pay half the mortgage and bills. I can't get any tax credits to help with childcare as my partners income is good also, however he contributes nothing to the childcare. I don't receive any maintenence.

Floss

I'm sorry I can't help with the main question, but can I ask why you don't get any maintenance for your child? That would help with childcare costs, giving you a bit more disposable income to reduce the debts.

Why not post an SOA (see MSE Andrea's sticky for help) and let people see if they can reduce your outgoings to help?

4littleone

hello floss, thanks for your reply.
daughters father is dead, hence no maintenence.
I'll try the soa thigummy tho, will have a look now.

GeorgeUK

Looks complicated.

Did the court say anything about them not accepting the PPI cover?
Not sure about CCJ's - we need a few of the experts in here to come along. Not sure if it can be contested as the statement was never produced.

Getting any loan/credit will be difficult with a CCJ against you so most of the things i usually suggest probably won't be applicable to you.

I think finding areas to make savings should be your first port of call, so as Floss suggested, a SOA would be a good idea.

4littleone

hi george, thanks for that.

Can either of you tell me where i do an "SOA" and what it is? I've just had a look but i suspect i've got forum blindness!

The court asked them for the statement and from there the payment insurance issue was supposed to be sorted, as we would need to know exactly what should have been paid for the period i was unemployed.

GeorgeUK

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=107280