Virgin Money card asking for earning and expenditure details.

Lemonbelly

Ive been in an arrangement with virgin money card for the last 4 years and have just  about one year to go where i pay them £100 a month at no interest as i got into difficulties 4 years ago. This has been adhered to without fail. They gave me a 3 month payment holiday due to covid and this finishes this month and i intend to resume payment from then on. They have suddenly written to me and phoned me twice saying i need to go online and fill out and income and expenditure form, whether or not i can or cant pay them. I said that as i probably can and will pay them, why should i ?  They said i must , i said i wasnt going to and have no intentions to, They threatened defaulting me (even though it was already defaulted 4 years ago) and passing the debt on to a third party. I told them to do what they want.   Am i being stupid or is there any reason i should do this form?

[Deleted User]

Sounds to me like you have already made up your mind. The banks have an obligation to determine what you can sensibly afford to repay if you are in financial distress. You have an obligation to be transparent if your circumstances have changed. If you say no, they might just decide to start adding interest and/or take you to court for full payment. What have you got to hide? They have helped you manage the debt you created and by being obstructive you are biting the hand that helps you. 

Lemonbelly

they phone me once a year (last time was january) to ask if im ok to carry on with the arrangement, very informal. I agree and it carries on. Ive kept to it, apart from the offered 3 month covid "holiday" and will resume it next month. Im not convinced they can add interest as theyve agreed it for another year, If they want to take me to court i think its likely to all be paid off anyway by the time a court date is set. Yes, i have made up my mind as it seems strange to start making demands on someone who has agreed  a plan and kept to it and not made further demands. I dont have anything to hide but its asking about other people in my household so why should they be brought in to it.

cymruchris

As an opinion (which is why you asked) - and in answer to 'Am I being stupid' - I would say 'Yes',

Are you trying to hide the fact that you now earn £90k and so can afford more than the £100 a month? What's stopping you from filling out a straightforward form that would likely have no impact on your plan and repayments? They've set up a plan, stopped you paying interest, given you a payment holiday, and you don't want to fill out a form? Unless you have anything to hide - seems a bit of a daft refusal to me.  

Lemonbelly

cymruchris I unsderstand what you are saying.They have been reasonable and fair. Im concerned if i was to give them details they might conclude i should pay more (or less) than what i am. And to be honest i believe i know better than them what i can or cant afford, and as im paying what was agreed 4 years ago without fail and more than happy to carry on. With less than a year to go until its finished i dont want to do it.

cymruchris

Lemonbelly said:

cymruchris I unsderstand what you are saying.They have been reasonable and fair. Im concerned if i was to give them details they might conclude i should pay more (or less) than what i am. And to be honest i believe i know better than them what i can or cant afford, and as im paying what was agreed 4 years ago without fail and more than happy to carry on. With less than a year to go until its finished i dont want to do it.

Has anything materially changed in your life? If you're in roughly the same place as when you had the plan put in place, and your income/outgoings have a similar structure - they aren't going to try and put the payment up. What you really don't want is another default. Yes you had one a couple of years ago on your original debt - but that will disappear in 4 years. If you have another one - that's going to last 6 more years. I'm not an expert - and someone else might be able to clarify - as to whether defaulting on an agreed payment plan results in a new default, because if it does - I certainly wouldn't want another one. 

Lemonbelly

Changes in my life? yes, last couple of years i earned considerably more than 4 years ago, although since march i havnt earnt at all and probably unlikley to earn until November/december, im self employed. i have enough put by to ride it out and continue my obligations to them but dont want them to say itl looks like i could pay them more. (even if i could)

cymruchris

Lemonbelly said:

Changes in my life? yes, last couple of years i earned considerably more than 4 years ago, although since march i havnt earnt at all and probably unlikley to earn until November/december, im self employed. i have enough put by to ride it out and continue my obligations to them but dont want them to say itl looks like i could pay them more. (even if i could)

That all sounds positive 👍 would you really want another default though? You sound like you’ve made some good progress that could hurt future credit applications if you don’t submit their form. There’ll be others who can advise on whether defaulting on a payment plan actually gives you another credit file default - as it’s not something I’m sure of myself - but I am sure if I was in your position I wouldn’t do anything that jeopardised my credit history any further than it has been already. Isn’t there a way - being self employed you can present the figures in such a way that they won’t ask for an additional payment? I imagine they won’t anyway based on your current lack of income (which hopefully won’t last too much longer)  

phillw

Lemonbelly said:

Changes in my life? yes, last couple of years i earned considerably more than 4 years ago, although since march i havnt earnt at all and probably unlikley to earn until November/december, im self employed. i have enough put by to ride it out and continue my obligations to them but dont want them to say itl looks like i could pay them more. (even if i could)

What have they asked for in terms of income? If its current income then it sounds like zero or universal credit.
If you have enough to keep paying it, then why not just pay them off now? Or just give them what they want and see what they say?
It really doesn't sound worth the risk that they start charging you interest or worse.

jjames1985

cymruchris said:

Lemonbelly said:

cymruchris I unsderstand what you are saying.They have been reasonable and fair. Im concerned if i was to give them details they might conclude i should pay more (or less) than what i am. And to be honest i believe i know better than them what i can or cant afford, and as im paying what was agreed 4 years ago without fail and more than happy to carry on. With less than a year to go until its finished i dont want to do it.

Has anything materially changed in your life? If you're in roughly the same place as when you had the plan put in place, and your income/outgoings have a similar structure - they aren't going to try and put the payment up. What you really don't want is another default. Yes you had one a couple of years ago on your original debt - but that will disappear in 4 years. If you have another one - that's going to last 6 more years. I'm not an expert - and someone else might be able to clarify - as to whether defaulting on an agreed payment plan results in a new default, because if it does - I certainly wouldn't want another one. 

a debt can't default twice.  there isn't really much incentive for the OP to play ball with them really.  they won't add interest to it as it has defaulted and they can't re-default it.  they can sell it to a DCA who can really only do what they're doing, although they'll probably pester the OP a lot more.

Lemonbelly

i thank you all for your input. I will consider the options again.  part of me is thinking i could just pay it all off now and be rid, but with all the uncertainty right now i feel its safer to just carry on as agreed.  I guess i could fill in the form as theres no way i can think they can check, but i didnt want to involve members of my family in the house as its not their debt so dont want their income to be considered.