Cost of Living Helplines - No Help Whatsoever

Rooster_Mc

Hello. I wish to convey my experiences in dealing with the so called "Cost of Living Helplines" that the Banks, Lenders and Credit Card Companies are touting.

My wife and I have been struggling to make ends meet and had built up a lot of Credit Card and Loan Debt.

In an attempt to give us some breathing space for a month or two, we contacted our Mortgage Lender and Bank Halifax to explore all available options using the Cost of Living Helpline. We spent over two hours on the phone and there were actually NO AVAILABLE options available to us such as Having a Payment Holiday etc. There actual advise to us what to DEFAULT on our Mortgage - What sort of Advice was that.

We also contacted two of our Credit Card lenders, MBNA and Barclays. Again we contacted the Cost of Living Helplines and asked for a payment holiday or avai;able solutions to both companies. Again, after lengthy discussions they had NO AVAILABLE solutions whatsoever. There advice was to DEFAULT on the payments, which would goto their "other" departments to be dealt with. Again, no help whatsoever.

We have now resolved our debt and cost of living situation, without the assistance of our Bank / Mortage Lender and Credit Card  companies.

I can say that the Cost of Living Helplines we spoke to were of NO PRACTICAL help at all.

TheBanker

I am sorry you found the helplines to be unhelpful, but things like payment holidays only really help if you expect your circumstances to change soon. For example if you are starting a new job in a couple of months, or selling your property. If nothing is going to change, then the payment holiday just delays the inevitable and you'll be in exactly the same situation in a few months when it ends.

My advice would have been to contact one of the charities such as Stepchange for advice (and don't feel guilty about using a charity - they're funded by the banking industry), but I'm pleased to see that you've resolved your problem through other means. 

born_again

So to help others.
Just how did you resolve your debt &cost of living situation?

I just hope it is not one of the companies that set up a debt management plan & charge you for the privilege of doing so.
 Rather that you used one of the debt charities such as 
https://www.stepchange.org/

Sometimes the only practical option that can be given is to default. As short of the banks giving you a massive handout, there is nothing they can do.

Payment holidays only add more interest to the debt. They can offer to stop the interest, but that means any cards will be cancelled, so you can not use them.

Secured debt's are a priority. unsecured (CC'S etc) can be defaulted.

Best advice is to go to the debt section, post a statement of affairs & get unbiased & non judgemental advice.

Newly_retired

Sometimes defaulting is the only way to trigger further help.

TimSynths

Rooster_Mc said:

We have now resolved our debt and cost of living situation, without the assistance of our Bank / Mortage Lender and Credit Card  companies.

Does this mean that you didn't need their help all along as you could resolve it yourself so they banks were right after evaluating your situation by saying there was nothing they could do? What did you do in the end? this could be a helpful bit of advice to anyone else reading this thread.