I'm Finally Facing this Head on

MrDebt

Hi Folks,

Here is the scoop:

Total Debt Balance: £35,000

About our Situation:
• Me: 38 years old, work Full Time
• Wife: 40 years old, diagnosed Psychosis, Depression, OCD and other related MH conditions and physical ailments.
• Daughter: 13 years old
• Debt Position: Around £35,000 in debt. All currently unsecured as this is the outcome of offering up our home under voluntary repossession circumstances.
o Natwest (shoosmiths) £19k
o HMRC (overpayment of Benefits) £10k
o Mixture of debt recovering agencies with balances under £1k, including credit cards and store cards, an old energy bill and other ad hoc stuff.
• Payment Situation: These are all getting paid the bare minimum each month. I am not being chased any more which is good, I have negotiated a payment plan with each. I don’t need to worry about anything other than making sure they are paid.
• Welcome Finance & Blemain Finance: Before we lost our house and my wife was unable to work, I made the decision to take out two secured loans on the house in an attempt to prop up the finances and keep the wheels moving until my wife was better again and could work. This ultimately led to us losing it, probably inevitable looking back.
o Big note. Both these companies are not in contact with me, haven’t been for years, so I am not paying them or being asked to pay. I am not avoiding them, they just haven’t approached me.
o The balances on these are ridiculous, they have added so much interest it's unreal and Blemain ultimately was forcing a repossession for £400 arrears which triggered my reaction to go for voluntary repossession before they got chance.
• Current Residential Status: We currently rent, and have done for 6 years since leaving the previous house. I am up to date and never miss payments.

Our current finances are under control, in the same way, that most peoples are, Balancing some credit cards and healthy credit. Everything is getting paid.

My question: I always have this constant fear that this debt is balancing over my head as well as the constant care and attention that my wife needs, my daughter needs and working full time.

I am curious if anyone can offer me some support, guidance and support to be able to help me clear these as soon as possible. I am not averse to scabbing out of paying them, I just want to know the best and easiest way forward.

Note about the HMRC Debt: My wife dealt with this as at the time, no-one has done this intentionally nor were we aware that this was an issue until the overpayment was revealed…How this can have happened is beyond me, I do believe that potentially my wife (who was in hindsight not well enough to deal with finances) might have had a play in it but this would be subjective.

Thanks in advance and please don’t judge me. I want to be able to hold my head up, debt-free and look forward in our lives with a positive outlook and no debts…

Thanks
MrDebt

Willing2Learn

Hi and welcome to the forum

From what you have said, all your unsecured debts are over six years old. Have you considered submitting a CCA request on all eligible accounts? This would place the onus on your creditors to provide you with compliant paperwork or the accounts become unenforceable. The older the accounts, the less likely they are able to produce the right paperwork. Have a read of the article linked below for guidance:
https://debtcamel.co.uk/ask-cca-agreement-for-debt/

Edit: For best advice, guidance and support, we need to see your Statement of Affairs (SOA). Please complete your SOA and post it up into this thread.

MrDebt

Thank you. I will have a look at it and send them out to the ones that it's relevant to.
I will continue to pay until/if i get a response?

Willing2Learn

MrDebt wrote: »

I will have a look at it and send them out to the ones that it's relevant to.
I will continue to pay until/if i get a response?

No. You should stop paying when you submit the CCA requests. Because as soon as the request is made, the account becomes unenforceable until your creditor provides you with a 'true copy' of your agreement.

What we recommend is that the you put the money that would have been repaying into a separate savings pot. That way, if they produce the paperwork you will have money available to make a payment. If they cannot provide the paperwork, then you would have a choice:

• Permanently withhold payment on the account as it is unenforceable
• Use the fact that the account is unenforceable to make a very low full and final settlement offer (due to increase leverage).