Please god help, 60k in debt and feeling suicidal

Humdinger1

@eleanor189 you are doing brilliantly! Your soon-to-be-ex is about to start a crash course on What it means to be an Adult.  Is it rude to call him a juggins? I hope so...I have subscribed love Humdinger xx

Humdinger1

Just wondering how you are @eleanor189

eleanorl89

Hi all

I have had the following letter from Wescot

I offered a monthly repayment amount of a measly £2pm, i know this is low but I genuinely cannot afford more at the moment. I couldnt find any correspondence from them i regards to this offer & have now received the below letter, I am absolutely beside myself. Please advise (the debt is for £20k)

“As you have failed to repay the above debt, we have been granted authority by Natwest UK Card Services to issue proceedings against you. We will shortly instruct Drydens Solicitors to issue a claim in the County Court.

If Legal proceedings are issued, Court fees and costs will be added to the claim, which will increase the outstanding balance.

If the claim remains unpaid, Drydens Solicitors will be instructed to apply for a County Court Judgment against you, which is likely to significantly affect your ability to obtain future credit.

You can avoid legal action and a County Court Judgment by contacting us on 01482 484 606 to agree an affordable and sustainable repayment plan.

If you continue to ignore this matter and a County Court Judgment is granted, our client may take further action to enforce the County Court Judgment. This could be by:

Securing a Charging Order against any property you own.

Obtaining an Attachment of Earnings Order which may result in instructing your employer to make payments direct from your salary.

Payments can be made by the methods provided on the reverse of this letter.

If you are unable to pay and require independent advice on the management of your finances, you can obtain free advice from such organisations as Citizens Advice Bureau, Step Change Debt Charity, National Debtline or any other similar organisation.

We hope further action will be unnecessary and recommend you either contact us or make a full repayment of the outstanding balance by the 04 July 2025.”

I have literally just bank transferred them £25 & also emailed them with the details on the back of the letter. Does this mean then will not instruct the solicitors at all? I’ve not read great things about Drydens. I’m not trying to avoid paying, I just can’t pay much atm with not working

Is this likely to go to court? This is what I was terrified of!

Grumpelstiltskin

OK So their letter worked, it frightened you into paying more than you can afford.

It is not a letter before action, if you get one of them with a form that needs a reply within 30 days then we would have advised you what to do.

Stop panicking, nothing is magicked out of thin air there is a process they have to go through if they are thinking of applying for a CCJ which they aren't at the moment, they are just using frightening tactics which you fell for.

sourcrates

Wescott do not own your debt, they are acting on behalf of the client, so they themselves cannot obtain a CCJ.

It would be Dryden`s who would do that, on orders from NatWest.

Why are you terrified of court? I don`t understand it when people say this, the court is there to be helpful to both sides, not just the claimant.

When a CCJ is granted, it is set according to your budget, not the claimants wish list.

You won`t actually attend, its all done by post and online, if anything it will benefit you the most, they have everything to lose, you have nothing to lose here, if what they are asking is not affordable, the court will back you up on that, they are not there to persecute you.

Court judgements set in stone the fact you owe the money, nothing more, any payment to this debt is set according to the budget you complete for the court, so if £2 is all your budget shows is affordable, then that is what they will get.

As long as you maintain the payments, no further action can occur, and if your home is jointly owned, any charging order they may pursue would just be a restriction.

This is fantastic news for you, let them fill their boots, as long as a CCJ will not affect your job, and you won`t be wanting any more credit for 6 years, there is no down side here for you.

They use legal action, and solicitors as a threat all the time, but in many situations this is the last thing they actually want, if they can bully you into paying £25 a month with just a piece of paper, they will win, but a court judgement ordering you to pay just £2 a month, you win, do you see now?

Emmia

eleanorl89 said:

I have the following debts

MBNA CC- 9286

MBNA Loan - 9193

Barclaycard CC -14,094.50

Natwest CC - 19,719

Virgin CC - 4811

Very - 2750

I have used up breathing space of 60 days with all of them apart from Virgin & Very who i am managing to pay £50pm each to & have not gone into bad credit with them yet

The rest are in the 2 month process of defaulting me

I attempted to launch a new business (using these debts stupidly) at the end of last year and it has tanked. I am bringing in Universal Credit of £666pm & Child Benefit of £102pm. My partner is paying our joint mortgage & has absolutely no idea of the mess I am in

I have just given birth at the beginning of december, so I have a barely 1 month old and also a 3 year old

please tell me how to get out of this mess. I want to die. Am i going to lose my family our house? It’s jointly owned. I know if my husband finds out about all of this that will be the end of our marriage

Thank you

Judging by your other thread you've told your husband/partner about the £60k debt, and he too has another £60k of debt - so £120k of debt between you?

You're hoping to port your mortgage to a cheaper property - is this to pay off some of your debts?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6624318/porting-mortgage-with-recent-defaults-significant-debt#latest

eleanorl89

@Emmia yes he knows about it now. We split up for a while over it & got back together, now trying to make it work. He took out a new (large) car finance during our brief separation, which pushed up what he owes in his name. He did already have some of that £60k when we originally took out the mortgage

Want to pay off the debt in his name as his credit score is still good & paying everything on time. At the moment i’m on repayment plans with collection companies for my debts

in the meantime we are trying the snowball method to really pay down the debts - starting with his. We want this gone. Still want to own our own property but would like to try & move to a smaller (yet still suitable for our children) property to release some cash & have a slightly smaller mortgage payment too

HampshireH

Is there a reason why his debt has is now taking priority?

It was reckless of him to go and get a large car debt on top knowing the situation if that's not affordable, can he not return the vehicle to repay that and get a small less expensive vehicle?

Emmia

eleanorl89 said:

@Emmia yes he knows about it now. We split up for a while over it & got back together, now trying to make it work. He took out a new (large) car finance during our brief separation, which pushed up what he owes in his name. He did already have some of that £60k when we originally took out the mortgage

Want to pay off the debt in his name as his credit score is still good & paying everything on time. At the moment i’m on repayment plans with collection companies for my debts

in the meantime we are trying the snowball method to really pay down the debts - starting with his. We want this gone. Still want to own our own property but would like to try & move to a smaller (yet still suitable for our children) property to release some cash & have a slightly smaller mortgage payment too

Paying off "his debt" first is nice, but that continues to leave you in a precarious position.

I agree with HampshireH blowing (or should I say owing) £60k on a (new?) car, on finance - an expensive item with steep depreciation is very unfortunate. Can he return the vehicle and get something much cheaper? Even if you got out of £40k of that debt, it would make a significant difference to the overall total to be repaid.

Have you done a fresh SOA for both of you as a household?

Grumpelstiltskin

So you are more than happy to the fact your husband's reaction to finding out about your debt was to rush out and take on another large debt?

No one on here can give marriage advice but you need to think very seriously what the future will bring.