Debt Advice

Brie

Back to the original question - yes ask for the CCA for each of the cards.  Lowell etc are unlikely to have them and so will have to go back to the original lender.

But also always keep in mind that any bank that these cards are from are likely to keep a record of you when it's comes to remortgage time so even if the CC debts have dropped off your credit history those banking groups may still be unwilling to give you a mortgage or at least not at a great rate.  

RAS

stressy123 said:

Brie said:

Ignore your credit score.  The banks don't look at it.  They look at your credit history instead.  And as long as the defaults are showing on that then I suspect you will have trouble moving to a different bank.  But your current bank will have to offer you something even if it's not what you might pick, given a choice.

Have you paid anything since you defaulted on the cards?  If not maybe you need to stick with your current bank until those drop off your credit history and then things won't look so bad to a new bank.  So that's going to be 2026 at the earliest for them all to be gone.  

Yes, I have been paying the £20 per month on three of them but the one that went back to the original lender has not been paid for a couple of years, they went silent on me, but I am hoping that one will go from my record next month.

If that happens, don't prob the bear.

Any debt that has not been acknowledged in writing or had a payment made towards it is statute barred.

There's always a chance that when you contacted the debt collector, you may have written something before it went back to creditor. You need a good clear 6 years since that date. Any idea when you set up the £20 payments with the other creditors?

Brie

Quite agree with RAS.  But should you query anything always make it vague.  "do you know if i have any debt with you?  If you think that's the case can you provide me details?"  Don't say "I know I owe you" because that resets the clock.  

Rob5342

stressy123 said:

MattMattMattUK said:

stressy123 said:

The only debts that are now outstanding are 4 credit cards between £9k, £10800, £13200 and £18500 each.  No CCJ's, just debts, 2 with Link, 1 with lovell and 1 with the original card company, but they have not been in touch for a a couple of years.  All the personal guarantees have been satisfied now.

As they are personal debts then you can submit a CCA request, it may or may not result in anything beneficial.

stressy123 said:

I would like to be able to re-mortgage next year 

Do you mean a rate change (eg. you deal ends and you want a new one), or or do you mean a re-mortgage, eg. move to a different provider, borrow more etc? If the former then you can do that with your existing lender regardless.

stressy123 said:

so keen to get my credit score in a better place

Your score is entirely pointless, it means nothing, ignore it!

stressy123 said:

and really just want to clear my name and put this all in the past if there is a way.  It is so stressful and I am on my own so noone to share the problem with.

You do not need to clear your name, you are not a criminal. You might want to clear debts, the CCA might mean some get dropped, or you might need to repay them, how you do that depends on your capacity to pay, how much you are earning etc. and whether you would rather pay a few debtors £20 a month for a few decades, or clear then quicker by using any extra income you have. 

MattMattMattUK said:

stressy123 said:

The only debts that are now outstanding are 4 credit cards between £9k, £10800, £13200 and £18500 each.  No CCJ's, just debts, 2 with Link, 1 with lovell and 1 with the original card company, but they have not been in touch for a a couple of years.  All the personal guarantees have been satisfied now.

As they are personal debts then you can submit a CCA request, it may or may not result in anything beneficial.

stressy123 said:

I would like to be able to re-mortgage next year 

Do you mean a rate change (eg. you deal ends and you want a new one), or or do you mean a re-mortgage, eg. move to a different provider, borrow more etc? If the former then you can do that with your existing lender regardless.

stressy123 said:

so keen to get my credit score in a better place

Your score is entirely pointless, it means nothing, ignore it!

stressy123 said:

and really just want to clear my name and put this all in the past if there is a way.  It is so stressful and I am on my own so noone to share the problem with.

You do not need to clear your name, you are not a criminal. You might want to clear debts, the CCA might mean some get dropped, or you might need to repay them, how you do that depends on your capacity to pay, how much you are earning etc. and whether you would rather pay a few debtors £20 a month for a few decades, or clear then quicker by using any extra income you have. 

I did look into getting a loan to try and settle the debts, but can't becasue of my bad credit score.  Any experience of how much these debt collectors would settle for as a percentage?

You have interest free unsecured debts at the moment that will drop off your credit report relatively soon, with each of them having the possibility if being settled for a reduced sum. Its much safer to keep paying them at whatever rate yoy can afford than to tie yourself into future repayments that could push you back into the situation youve just got yourself out of. 

I would send CCA requests to all of them, make minimal payments to the ones that can produce the cca and then save as much as possible for making settlement offers. What they would accept dependa on a lot of things. I've been offered a 30% discount without asking, you might get it down to 50% if you tried hard, and maybe more if you were vwry lucky. Play the long game though. Once you have enough saved make an offer to one, if they don't accept make an offer to another, and if nobody accepts then wait 6 months and do the same again. Maintain the silence with the quiet one.