Persistent Debt Discussion

anyusernameleft

Yahoo_Mail said:

anyusernameleft said:

To be fair, most credit card interest rates are >15.9% so I wouldn't exactly be upset about the loan interest rate, it may (although not a guarantee) actually be less than whatever you're on now.

At the end of the day you can't be forced onto a payment plan, or to take out a loan but they can close the account or freeze the card to prevent any further spending.  And you really should consider upping your repayments when you can, it's absolutely in your best interests to do so.

After a conversation with the Nationwide about nine months age I upped my monthly payment to the amount that the Nationwide assured me put me on the "right" side of the equation.
I haven't used the card in several years and want shot of it and the Nationwide altogether and was looking at a 0% card transfer or loan when Lockdown the first came and I rather got distracted.
The fact that the Nationwide are using the Financial Conduct Authorities advice, which is supposedly to help people, to stick them on very extortionate loan rates seems to have passed you by.
Do you work for the Nationwide or similar by any chance?

jonesMUFCforever

Re the letter - that will give Nationwide a chuckle anyway- nothing more I'm afraid.
If you were eligible for a 2.9% REPRESENTATIVE loan I'm sure they would have offered you one - in fact why don't you apply for the loan to see what they wil offer?

anyusernameleft

jonesMUFCforever said:

Re the letter - that will give Nationwide a chuckle anyway- nothing more I'm afraid.
If you were eligible for a 2.9% REPRESENTATIVE loan I'm sure they would have offered you one - in fact why don't you apply for the loan to see what they wil offer?

Now why in the world would they do that when all they want is to extort yet MORE money out of me?
Do you really have NO IDEA how this works??

John_

anyusernameleft said:

This is a letter I have written to the Nationwide, in reply to a letter from them, on the subject of what they call "persistent debt" and I call a "Credit Card".
This was after receipt of a letter received during Lockdown offering me a totally extortionate loan at 15.9% in spite of the fact that I have never defaulted on my card payments and always pay more than the minimum rate:

"Dear Nationwide,

Thank you for your letter of XXth of November 2020 your reference XXXXX.

Thank you for your offer to switch my credit card to a four year loan at the extortionately usurious rate of 15.9% which will cost me £2,097.21 in interest charges, however, I choose to decline at this time.

I point out that I am not, nor have I ever been, in breach of your terms and conditions and always pay more than the minimum monthly payment.

I point out that the Bank of England Base Rate is currently 0.1% and therefore wonder how you justify the levels you propose to charge me?

I note also that your headline loan rate you offer on loans of up to £25,000 on terms of up to five years is a still healthy 2.9%.

I am happy to take out a loan at your advertised rate of 2.9% for four years and use this to pay off the credit card and close it down.

The minimum amount I can borrow being £7,500 I calculate that on a four year term this will cost me £165.55 per month, which is about the same as my current Credit Card costs, but only £446,44 in interest charges, which, as you are so very concerned about what you choose to call my “persistent Debt”  (which I call a “Credit Card”) you will doubtless be overjoyed at this solution.

With this 2.9% four year loan you can recoup your entire credit card outlay immediately and I can cheerfully close that card with you.

Sincerely yours,

XXX"

I await the Nationwide's response.

That’ll probably get passed around the office for a laugh, both for the fact that you think that you are as credit worthy as a commercial bank, and because you are getting up on your high-horse despite seeming to have managed to get yourself into a bit of a mess with your spending.

Why would you think that you would get the headline rate when you are already struggling to pay off your debts?

John_

anyusernameleft said:

jonesMUFCforever said:

Re the letter - that will give Nationwide a chuckle anyway- nothing more I'm afraid.
If you were eligible for a 2.9% REPRESENTATIVE loan I'm sure they would have offered you one - in fact why don't you apply for the loan to see what they wil offer?

Now why in the world would they do that when all they want is to extort yet MORE money out of me?
Do you really have NO IDEA how this works??

No-one’s extorting anything out of you. You’ve been running up debts that you can’t afford for at least a decade now; it’s time that you took some responsibility for your situation and came up with a plan to sort yourself out. This is no way for you to go through life, and it’s exactly people like you who the legislation was written for.

Have you posted a statement of affairs on the Debt Free Wannabee forum to get advice about the best way forwards?

Yahoo_Mail

anyusernameleft said:

Yahoo_Mail said:

anyusernameleft said:

To be fair, most credit card interest rates are >15.9% so I wouldn't exactly be upset about the loan interest rate, it may (although not a guarantee) actually be less than whatever you're on now.

At the end of the day you can't be forced onto a payment plan, or to take out a loan but they can close the account or freeze the card to prevent any further spending.  And you really should consider upping your repayments when you can, it's absolutely in your best interests to do so.

After a conversation with the Nationwide about nine months age I upped my monthly payment to the amount that the Nationwide assured me put me on the "right" side of the equation.
I haven't used the card in several years and want shot of it and the Nationwide altogether and was looking at a 0% card transfer or loan when Lockdown the first came and I rather got distracted.
The fact that the Nationwide are using the Financial Conduct Authorities advice, which is supposedly to help people, to stick them on very extortionate loan rates seems to have passed you by.
Do you work for the Nationwide or similar by any chance?

Yes, of course, anyone who you happen to dislike the response of works for the company involved.

What is your credit card interest rate?  I seriously doubt it's less than 15.9% and if it is, maybe by 1 or 2% less. How long do you think your "minimum + a bit" repayments are going to take to repay?  More than 4 years? Less? And how much interest do you think you'll be paying if you avoid the loan?  More than you'd going to pay if you keep your current agreement I suspect.

With all due respect, you sound like someone who really hasn't sat down and actually worked out how much all this is going to cost in the long term, has been coasting along for some years without taking any interest in the money they're flushing down the drain in interest and is now taking umbrage at a company who is ultimately stuck between a rock and a hard place.  And seem to be taking great offence at a company wanting to get their money back...  Heaven forbid.

jonesMUFCforever

anyusernameleft said:

jonesMUFCforever said:

Re the letter - that will give Nationwide a chuckle anyway- nothing more I'm afraid.
If you were eligible for a 2.9% REPRESENTATIVE loan I'm sure they would have offered you one - in fact why don't you apply for the loan to see what they wil offer?

Now why in the world would they do that when all they want is to extort yet MORE money out of me?
Do you really have NO IDEA how this works??

The way it works is like this - you have spent their money and now they want it back, now if you knew how the money world works you would have applied for cheaper finance to repay - would you not?
They are only extorting interest that you signed up for - no more no less.

Susanparker711

I received a letter, and when I checked my statement.  The interest rate has been raised to 3.14. And the credit charge was £100.85.  my debt is nearly £3,000  buy I e had the catalogue for about 5 years and only missed 1 payment and paid double on the next payment.  Over Christmas I paid half the pAyment due before Xmas, and the other half on the 9th January.   I can't afford the change in the credit charge and!  Don't know what to do.

Bicycle_Bill

My husband passed away at the end of December 2020 and there is a loan outstanding for 12,700 for a car.  The estate is still not settled (it may need to go to probate), but I have received two letters from Santander, one in February the other yesterday 27 April, which come across as intimidating and saying that if I do not contact them regarding repayment they will refer me to their partners, Philips and Cohen for repayment.  The amount outstanding has also risen from the original 12,700 to 13,200 with no explanation as to why.  I have contacted both Santander and Philips an Cohen to explain and neither can give me any explanation as to the increase in amount.  It is not the first time that I have complained to Santander - I called after receiving the first letter and they offered me £100 compensation but this second piece of correspondence has left me very distressed.  Once the estate is settled it will be very easy to pay off the amount outstanding but the way that the bank is behaving is absolutely disgraceful.  I don't know if anyone else has had a similar experience.

[Deleted User]

Have you written or called the lender and told them your husband died and that you are dealing with probate before you can settle the debt from the estate?

Ring up the bereavement team on 0800 587 5870 (M-F 9-5) and speak to a team that actually understands how to deal with deceased people's debts so they stop mailing you. I'd hazard a guess the debt is up £500 due to interest and maybe charges from payments not being made (hence the referral to a debt collector).

https://www.santander.co.uk/assets/s3fs-public/documents/bereavement_guide_apr_20_h.pdf

My condolences for your loss