Please help me

molly_maloo

Hi my name is libby, 4 years ago my husband purchased a bike on hp for our son, it was £2000 , alas my husband got cancer, we are reduced to living on disability benefits, for 3 years Black horse accepted reduced payments of £100 a month, which we never failed to pay, but in doing this our interest went up, we have now paid over £4000 pounds and our debt has been passed to Mckenzie Hall who for the last 6 months have hounded me, we are down to £318 , they keep phoning and have threatened us with court action or bailiffs, i have no spare money at the mo, we are living on beans on toast, i am so worried, i do not want to worry my husband with this, he is to ill after having another dose of chemo, i have 3 children still at home, the other 2 have left but are not in a position to help me. Is it better to let them take me to court and plead poverty with the judge, or if i offer them £30 monthly is the interest going to rocket again, i am on my knees and desperately want to stand up again, the payments i have sent to Mckenzie Hall have been in £100 postal orders i always send a sae for a receipt and have never to this day received a receipt for my payment, i do not owe money to anyone else at all, Please advice me if you can, i will be most grateful for any suggestions. thankyou for taking the time, Libby

peb

Unfortunatley they will keep houding you; you will need to write to them and ask for no telephone calls; tell them your husband's sad position and put a payment plan to them. Also ask that interest not be added - has anyone got a precedent?

If I am right and you owe £318 you have done really well to get the debt down so far; and it you can afford £30 a month you will be rid of them in less than a year. The debt is not worth upsetting yourself over; you have to be there for your husband and children.

Try not to worry; if you don't have it they cannot take it.

Kevicho

Do you have anything you could sell (even the bike) to clear this last bit off?

Also have you posted an SOA to see if we can help you reduce your outgoings, and earn possibly you some cashback which will help as well?

best wishes

Kev

luxor4t

Have you thought of going to the Citizen's Advice Bureau? they have debt advice, as well as huge experience in financial matters and can check that you are getting all your entitlements.
Hope this helps.

Mollymop5

Hi Libby, please don't let this get you down.Have you rang them to try to talk to someone.I have alot of debts and have found that some of them are really happy to have you talk to them and explain your situation too. If you get no joy from them try the citizens advice.They often help.
Is it just the £318 you owe now?

When you bought postal orders did you get receipts? did you keep them?

RAS

Molly

There is loads of help on here to which we can direct you later, re budgets, benefits, freebies, on-line income etc, but first lets deal with MH who are very well known on here unfortunately.

You need to send them this letter. Often we do this to confirm that the DCA actually have the right to collect the debt. Here what you want is them to provide the statement, as MH are appallingly bad about this. If they do not, they cannot continue collecting the debt.

This is Crowns letter, but I have edited it a bit. Send it registered mail - believe me it will be worth the extra cost. They have 12+2 days to respond to you and then can only pursue the debt by getting court permission.


If a debt collecting agency is chasing you send them this:


Dear twits

I do not acknowledge ANY debt to your company. I require you to supply the following documentation before I will correspond further on this matter.

1. You must supply me with a true copy of the alleged agreement you refer to. This is my right under your obligation to supply a copy of the agreement under the legislation contained within s.78 (1) Consumer Credit Act 1974 (s.77 (1) for fixed sum credit) - your obligation also extends to providing a statement of account. I enclose £1 in payment of the statutory fee.

2. A signed true copy of the deed of assignment of the above referenced agreement that you allege exists.

3. You are notified that you are obliged to supply these documents, whether you are the original creditor or not under S189 of the CCA 1974.

Non-compliance with my request is a criminal offence under the above Act and will result in a report being submitted to the relevant statutory authorities.

As you are aware, a credit agreement that is not properly documented and signed by the customer is totally unenforceable under the CCA and therefore is a complete defence to any court claim that is issued.

Take note at this stage, that any legal action you may contemplate will be both vigorously defended and contested.

You will be aware that this household survives on state benefits and that my partners is receiving chemo-therapy. Your constant telephone calls cause distress and affect our welfare. Under OFT Guidelines, you are required to comply with any reasonable request regarding methods of communication. Please take this letter as notice that any further communication by telephone will constitute harressment and will be reported to Trading Standards, the OFT, and the Financial Ombudsman. All furtehr communication must be by letter.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Yours,

RAS

Molly

Once you have that letter in the post check these out.

Free confidential advice re debts can be obtained from the debt charities if you need it - see this link. If necessary they will deal with MH, who are not going to take you to court as they would only get a £1 per month.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/debt-help-plan#help

Are you getting all the benefits that you can? Put your circumstances in here:

www.entitledto.com

Also have you signed up for www.freecycle.org? This is the equivalent to e-bay except that people give stuff away. You can sign up to your local area and surrounding ones if you can get there transport wise. great for white goods, furnishings and electrical kit, clothes for the kids or even yourself etc

And check mystery shopping, here http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....html?t=454437 - but this does count as income for tax and benefit purposes

Chevalier has a really good list of links nicked wholesale good way to get vouchers for presents etc. Some people here reckon that they can get £50 per month for clicks, surveys etc in vouchers mainly.

finally get onto the freebies forum here, http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.html?f=37 sometimes more useful for pressies but also samples of stuff that make life more interesting.

Chev wrote:

Here are some survey sites, which will increase your income a little. Hope they help.

Good luck
chev

www.lightspeedpanel.com - this is a survey site, where you get points which turn into vouchers (you choose). May not help with the cash flow, but the vouchers could be saved towards birthday/xmas or given as presents.

www.ciao.co.uk - survey site that gives money. A bit fits and starts ie no surveys for a couple of weeks, then three or four the same day.

www.yougov.com - again paid surveys. However takes a while to get to the minimum payout level

www.mytns.com - again this is a survey site, but it pays you in points that convert into Nectar points at Sainsbury’s.

www.pigsback.co.uk - this is a points site, ie they give you points for buying things via their site. BUT you also get points for signing up for news letters (some of which are even interesting!), and also for clicking on adverts with pink borders. I have spent NOTHING with them but got a £10 voucher through this week (only been registered since January). There is also a thread in the freebies section, of www.moneysavingexpert.com which gives you all the daily answers to the competitions so you can have a better chance of winning on them.

www.mutualpoints.com - another points for clicks site. You can also buy things via their site and get points too. For a long time, I just clicked the links in the emails they send you, and that gets you 5 points. At 3000 points you get £20 I think. You can do searches via their site and that gets you points too.

www.quidco.com - this is a cash back site, so very good, for checking if any potential new insurers (ie if you have checked your contents insurance say and found a new provider), are offering cash back. Eg Lloyds was offering £120 cashback on new policies at one point (the offers do change). You can also get small amounts of cash again for doing searches via their site. You can earn 52p a day by doing this. Every little helps.

www.greasypalm.co.uk - another cash back site, where you can do searches and get small amounts of money. But it all adds up. I think you can get about 50p a day on there for nothing. Minimum payout is £20 I think, but you can sign up to survey sites via there, and get extra money that way for nothing.

consultant31

Hi Molly, first of all I think you need a big (((hug))). You should be very proud, you've done well to get the debt down and keep your family from worrying about it.

If you have a little bit of free time, could you look into being a mystery shopper? I just signed up this week and have already had 2 assignments with an earning of £20.......just like that, I was amazed how easy it is. Look into it here: www.grassrootsmysteryshopping.com.

I really hope things work out for you and send best wishes to your DH too

In_Search_Of_Me

aww big hugs for you all. If you feel happy post your SOA and see where you can cut down...is your husband getting DLA? I suspect that if he isnt you would be entitled to this a dyou may also be able to get carers allowance. Any child bens, tax credits etc. I would suggest that you ring CCCS and ask if they can act on your behalf to take the pressure of you a bit. Have you anything you can sell? Pisgback etc are a great way to earn dosh and the answers on here really help and you can use vouchers to buy pressies etc! Keep posting & feel free to ask as many questions as you need to! Big hugs & welcome!

globbits

CAB is best bet, as others say. Contrary to gut feelings, if the worst comes to the worst and they take you to court, the court will decide what you can afford - and this is 'good news', because they're on your side. Usually once matters go to court, all interest stops. Court hearings are fairly relaxed affairs and even friendly, so don't worry too much about the worst-case scenarios.

In_Search_Of_Me

How you doing?