Defaulted everything

lionatus

My middle son was diagnosed with ALL Leukaemia May 2015. We spent everyday at the hospital for 11 months only going home to feed the cats, who were also being watched by a family member, to collect post and maybe do some admin. I was self-employed. Contracts went and offers of more work too I wasnt bothered. I did keep a core of my best as it was an obligation more than work and these folks were friends just like the good old days when I was a Transport Manager out of Southampton docks earning my ccmpany hundreds every hour with logistic friendliness; I used a core team of sub-contractors along with my drivers and we dominated the re-route market. So all was good I had a reputation and a core that knew I can deliver, lol I smile now as I actually did deliver. But 11 months of daily medication/chemo and living 60 miles from home well I added 100k to the family car, just picking things up and checking the house. Then the DWP demanded my invoices and they said no dice you're not working enough WTC is stopping despite my weekly timesheets. Apparently profit earned must match hours worked????

So 2016 I'm on IS, dropping income by around 150 per week. I was getting CT and HB already as I actually earned little. We have 2 autistic sons so we get carers and IS has deductions for both carers allowances. IS is 74 a fortnight whereas I was getting 73 back then WTC no matter what I earned which never broke the Carers threshold of 110. We managed for a bit but I saw the trend we had no money when we needed it so I applied for a credit card, which added repayments as we hit max almost on the 1st shop. so add another and another until jointly we have 12-16 accounts and I spent the next 3 years robbing peter to pay paul. We were desparate, not working, our son was dying before our eyes I didn't actually do ANY accounting until 14 months later, by then it was too late. Every 3 months the credit limit would jump and so it was used to get clothes and other things we couldn't afford. It could have continued but early/mid 2019 every credit I had announced an interest hike of between 1-5%. I ran the numbers and went NO. I rang them all suspend the account, freeze the interest and stop charges. NOT ONE helped. SO I defaulted everything, am now getting chased a bit as its passed around but have been advised to try and reclaim interest due to lending regulations i.e. they should have checked before offering more credit despite my flawless repayment record due to the fact we were using 97-100% of credit every month.

Lastly a brief calculation showed me during that period we borrowed, actually spent 13-14000 but have paid back close to 34000. Its scary because we still owe the full 16k balance. So repaid 34k still owe the original... OUch!!

Just been advised 3 months ago to ask for compensation due to lending regulations as they couldn't have checked when they upped our limits. 60 days in still no reply and they're meant to reply in 40. How long do I leave it before transferring everything to someone like Resolver?

Regards, any help appreciated, Alan

lionatus

Any help advice would be appreciated

zwilcoxen

Personally I would get on to step change. Start out by freezing the debts and getting them paid off. If you can claim something back in the mid /long term that's a bonus but these things can take years (been there) and until it is all frozen and payment plans /defaults are in place you will owe them more https://www.stepchange.org

adamj1984

Hi Alan,

Can't offer much help on how to get things sorted, although stepchange have helped me in the past with freezing interest payments etc, but I just wanted to wish you luck with it, can't imagine how hard it must have been watching your son fight that horrible illness, my heart goes out to you.

Fingers crossed you can find some resolution and get back on track with everything.

All the best
Adam

elsien

With regards to the potentially irresponsible lending, this sets out the steps to try. It says that the financial ombudsman would be the next step if you don’t get a response within 8 weeks, but you need to get all your ducks in a row first:
https://moneynerd.co.uk/how-to-get-a-refund-on-your-loan-with-letter-templates/

How did you contact them about your complaint and did they acknowledge it? I’d probably write again but get the free proof of posting from the post office. 

With regards to your present finances and situation, is that something you are looking for advice on as well? 

sourcrates

Firstly, unaffordable lending complaints about credit cards don`t have a very high success rate, as you have a choice whether to accept limit increases or not, but it does vary case to case, its very different to claiming for payday loan mis-selling, and with that many accounts, it will take a long time to come to fruition, if at all.

You may want to deal with your current financial situation first, can I ask, are you a homeowner, or do you rent ?

How much debt  do you have in total, roughly ?

Are they all credit cards ?

Re, your complaints, as someone has already mentioned, creditors have 8 weeks to investigate complaints, and issue a final response, after that, you go to the financial ombudsman, who will either tell them to deal with your complaint, or if they already have, and you remain unsatisfied, look into it themselves, and decide the outcome on the balance of fairness to both parties.

This can take a very long time, a year or more, (currently much longer due to covid).